Charitable Remainder Trust

You have a lot of money. (Just use your imagination.) Unfortunately, despite all those investments in cryogenic technology and research into voodoo mind-swapping, you're probably not going to live forever. But if you have to die, you want some of your money to go to your family and friends, and the rest to go to charity. And, of course, as little as possible to go to the government.

Hence, the charitable remainder trust. This setup creates a trust that provides an income stream for you or your beneficiaries, while donating the rest of your assets to a charity.

Here's how it works: you put assets into the trust. Some of the income from these assets gets sent to you (until it's cryogenic time) and/or your selected family and friends. This income continues for a while (it can last for a set term of a certain number of years, or for the life of the beneficiaries). Once those payments reach the end, the charities receive the remainder of what's left in the trust.

Because of the charity component, there are tax benefits. Plus, the trust structure avoids certain estate taxes. Now, when you're filling out those beneficiaries, remember, Shmoop is spelled S-H-M-O-O-P.