Find all of the following explained in Plain-English with no technical jargon: The Accounting Equation and why it's so significant How to read and prepare financial statements How to calculate and interpret several different financial ratios The concepts and assumptions behind Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Preparing journal entries with debits and credits Cash method vs. accrual method Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold How to calculate depreciation and amortization expenses

As a surviving spouse, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the administrative to-do items that you have to handle soon after the death of your spouse. There's a lot to do, much of which you've never done before. And you're supposed to get it all done while grieving.

This book walks you through it, in plain language.

Part One: Immediate Next Steps

1. Learn the Terms (The Estate Administration Process)

2. Getting Organized

3. Notifying Necessary Parties

4. Initial Responsibilities as Personal Representative

5. Updating Your Own Estate Plan

Part Two: Intermediate Next Steps

6. Social Security Planning

7. Further Responsibilities as Personal Representative

8. Handling Inherited Retirement Accounts

9. Additional Options as a Beneficiary and Surviving Spouse

10. Tax Returns

11. Reassessing Your Own Finances

12. Reassess Your Portfolio

13. Finding Professional Assistance

Conclusion: What's Next?

Appendix A: Does an Inheritance Create Taxable Income?

Appendix B: Social Security Widow(er) Benefit Math Details

Appendix C: Dealing with Trusts

Find all of the following, explained in plain-English with no legal jargon:

• The difference between deductions and credits
• Itemized deductions vs. the standard deduction
• Several money-saving deductions and credits and how to make sure you qualify for them
• How to calculate your refund
• How to know which tax forms to fill out
• State income taxes
• Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
• Capital Gains and Losses

Most financial media deals with the topic of accumulating enough savings to cover your expenses throughout your lifetime.

Among people who read personal finance books, many are super savers-saving a high percentage of their income through most of their careers. One thing that eventually happens for many such people is that they reach a point at which they realize they have not only saved enough, they have saved more than enough. Their desired standard of living in retirement is well secured, and it's likely that a major part of the portfolio is eventually going to be left to loved ones and/or charity.

That realization raises a whole list of new questions and concerns. Some of those are financial (e.g., how much can I afford to give away to charity during my lifetime?), and some are non-financial (e.g., how should I communicate my estate plan to my intended heirs?).

This book's goal is to help you answer those questions that arise when you realize you have accumulated-or are on track to accumulate-more than enough.

Part One: Non-Financial Considerations (What's the goal? And why?)

1. Do You Have More Than Enough?
2. Who Gets the Money?
3. Talking with Your Kids or Other Heirs

Part Two: Financial Considerations

4. Giving and Spending During Your Lifetime
5. Learning to Spend and Give More
6. Impactful Charitable Giving
7. Impactful Investing
8. Reassess Your Asset Allocation
9. Trusts
10. Asset Protection

Part Three: Tax Strategies

11. Qualified Charitable Distributions
12. Donating Appreciated Taxable Assets
13. Deduction Bunching
14. Donor-Advised Funds
15. The Roth Question(s)
16. (State) Estate Taxes
17. Developing a Workable Plan

Part Four: Finding Professional Assistance

18. Working with an Attorney
19. Working with a Financial Planner

Conclusion: Mission Accomplished. Now What?

Afterword: Our Most Limited Resource

Find all of the following, explained in plain-English:

• Fixed costs, variable costs, and how to use them to perform cost-volume-profit analysis for a business
• Product costs, period costs, and why the distinction is important
• Direct costs, indirect costs, and how to assign each of them to cost objects for better decision-making
• How to use activity-based costing to allocate overhead costs
• Job order costing and process costing
• How to budget for a business and how to use variance analysis to identify potential problems when results vary from budgeted amounts

Find all of the following, explained in plain-English:

• What is corporate finance?
• What's the difference between finance and accounting?
• Methods for raising capital (borrowing, selling equity)
• Dividend policy
• Capital structure, weighted-average cost of capital
• Forecasting cash flows
• Time value of money (future value, present value, discount rate)
• Net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and other capital budgeting methods
• Bond valuation
• Stock valuation
• Market efficiency