Michael Jackson: Securing HIs Financial Legacy

4 Steps the King of Pop Took to Secure His Financial Legacy

Itâ€™s been one year since the world was rocked by news that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, had passed away. In that time, much of the reporting about his finances focused on what the pop icon did wrong. For instance, only $70 million of his reported $500 million indebtedness has been paid off, AP reports. However, there are many financial moves Michael Jackson got right. The documentary, Michael Jackson's This is It based on his final concert rehearsal footage, has sold more than 5 million DVDs worldwide and Sony Music, Jacksonâ€™s record company grossed $252 million. In fact, his estate has earned more than $250 million alone in the year since he died thanks to attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, who are building several new streams of income, including sales of a video game and through many licensing agreements. Although Jackson's executors manage millions of dollars, his estate planning requirements arenâ€™t too different from what the average Joe or Jane should be doing. You may not have Jacksonâ€™s millions, but estate planning attorney Wynne Whitman, a partner with Schenck, Price, Smith & King L.L.P., and the author of Smart Women Protect their Assets (FT Press; $13.99), recommends four things you can do that Jackson did to ensure that his children and his legacy would be financially secure. (Source: MichaelJackson.com/us).

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Marcia Wade Talbert

Marcia is a multimedia content producer focusing on technology at Black Enterprise Magazine. In this capacity she writes and assigns stories to educate readers about social media; digital integration; gadgets, apps, and software for business and professional development; minority tech startups; and careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). In 2012, she received two Salute to Excellence Awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and was recognized by Blacks in Technology (BiT) as one of the Top 10 Black achievers in the tech arena for 2011 at SXSW in Austin, Texas. She has spoken about technology on panels for New York Social Media Week, at The 2012 Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Summit, as well as at Black Enterpriseâ€™s Entrepreneurs Conference and Women of Power Summit. In 2011, SocialWayne.com chose her as one of 28 People of Color Impacting the Social Web, and through crowdsourcing she was listed as one of BlackWeb2.0's/HP's 50 Most Notable African American Tastemakers in Social Media and Technology for 2010. Since taking on the role of Tech editor in September 2010, she has conceived and produced five cover stories on Technology and/or STEM and countless articles, videos, and slideshows online. Before joining BlackEnterprise.com as an interactive general assignment reporter in 2008, she freelanced with Black Enterprise beginning in 2003 while working as the technical editor at Prepared Foods magazine. There she further honed her writing skills and became an authority on food ingredients, including ingredients used in food fortification and enrichment. Meanwhile, her freelancing with Black Enterprise and BlackEnterprise.com helped her stay current on issues pertaining to the financial and business welfare of African Americans. As a general reporter for Black Enterprise she attended and reported on the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, where she interviewed Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Marcia has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture with an emphasis in food science from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Science degree in journalism from Roosevelt University in Chicago. En route to her secondary degree, she served as the editor-in-chief of the Roosevelt University Torch, a weekly, student-run newspaper. An avid photographer and videographer, Marcia is one of several employees at BLACK ENTERPRISE who interned for the publishing company as a college student. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, a food scientist; her seventeen-month-old daughter; and â€œThe Catâ€, but still considers Chicago home.