Bicycle Trusts

I was recently reading about setting up trust funds and thought I’d highlight this interesting trust structure. A bicycle trust is similar to traditional trusts except there are certain milestone and requirements that must be met by the beneficiaries. These milestones can be virtually anything ie-graduating university, turning 35, etc...So much like riding a bicycle you have to “pedal” to make it work. This is a great structure to ensure that your hard earned inheritance is being used in an appropriate and responsible manner. A properly thought out bicycle trust would ensure that if something did happen your 18 year old son couldn’t drop out of school and use the $300,000 trust fund to tour himself and his band around the country for a few years. Instead, the trust could be setup so that he’d receive $20,000 upon your death however, after that milestones would have to be met to receive more money, $15,000 after the first year of university, $15,000 after the second etc...

If your interested in reading more here is a link to an article about bicycle trusts.