Newsletter Category: The Wealth Counselor

Test From J.R. Hastings Law Law Offices of J.R. Hastings   1003 Third Street San Rafael CA 94901 415-450-6692     How to Jumpstart Your Clients’ Year-End Planning October 2017     Don’t Wait Until the Busy Holiday Season As summer fades in the rear-view mirror, it’s a good time to give yourself a reality…
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Volume 1, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor The Pension Protection Act: New Opportunities for Retirement Planning The new Pension Protection Act of 2006 (signed into law on August 17, 2006) creates significant planning opportunities for advisors and their clients who understand it. This newsletter focuses on two key provisions: (1) non-spousal rollovers from a qualified…
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Volume 1, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor 529 Plan Benefits Made Permanent by the Pension Protection Act Whether your client is a parent with future educational obligations for young ones, or perhaps a loving aunt, uncle, grandparent, or stepparent, now more than ever 529 plans are an attractive tool for the escalating costs of education,…
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Volume 1, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor Understanding Educational Savings Vehicles Last month’s issue of The Wealth Counselor examined the many benefits of 529 Plans, including the income tax and gift and estate tax benefits of these popular educational savings vehicles. There are, however, several other educational savings vehicles that clients should consider; this issue…
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Volume 2, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor The Continuing Need for Life Insurance Last month’s issue of The Wealth Counselor examined the various educational savings vehicles available to clients, including 529 plans, UGMA/UTMAs, Coverdell Education IRAs and life insurance. Using life insurance as an education savings vehicle prompted several questions about other uses for life…
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Volume 2, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor 10 Tips for Helping Families with Special Needs This month’s issue of The Wealth Counselor examines the unique planning requirements of families with children, grandchildren or other family members (such as parents) with special needs. There are many misconceptions in this area that result in costly mistakes in…
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Volume 2, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor Policy Reviews of Trust Owned Life Insurance (TOLI) – Why you should make it part of your standard estate planning process This issue of The Wealth Counselor explores many of the common misperceptions about trust owned life insurance – plus a process for you to add significant value for your…
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Volume 2, Issue 4 The Wealth Counselor Planning for Tax-Qualified Plans Planning for tax-qualified plans, which includes IRAs, 401(k)s and qualified retirement plans, requires a careful examination of the potential taxes that impact these assets. Unlike most other assets that receive a “basis step-up” to current fair market value upon the owner’s death, IRAs, 401(k)s…
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Volume 2, Issue 5 The Wealth Counselor Planning for Disability No one likes to think about the possibility of their own disability or the disability of a loved one. However, as we’ll see below, the statistics are clear that we should all plan for at least a temporary disability. This issue of The Wealth Counselor…
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Volume 2, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor Understanding Medicaid Planning Opportunities – For Your Clients and You The last issue of The Wealth Counselor addressed the significant need for clients to plan for the possibility of disability, and how proper disability planning more often than not involves the coordination of financial and legal solutions. This…
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Volume 2, Issue 7 The Wealth Counselor Life Settlements: Understanding the Opportunity for Your Clients This month’s issue of The Wealth Counselor addresses a topic that many professionals do not understand fully, life settlements. For the right clients, a life settlement offers a significant advantage over the alternatives – and one that the client and…
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Volume 2, Issue 8 The Wealth Counselor Understanding the Opportunities with Aid & Attendance Benefits A prior issue of The Wealth Counselor addressed the planning opportunities that exist with planning for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California), particularly where the client’s advisors work together to create a plan that addresses all aspects of the client’s planning needs….
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Volume 2, Issue 9 The Wealth Counselor Understanding the Significance of Trusts This issue of The Wealth Counselor addresses a topic that is important to clients and all wealth planning professionals – trusts. When used properly, trusts can provide significant advantages to clients and to the advisors who recommend them. Given the numerous types of…
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Volume 2, Issue 10 The Wealth Counselor Simplifying the Taxation of Trusts The last issue of The Wealth Counselor examined trusts and the asset protection benefits provided to trust makers and their beneficiaries through the utilization of ongoing trusts. This issue of The Wealth Counselor addresses related and important questions about the taxation of trusts,…
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Volume 2, Issue 11 The Wealth Counselor New Planning Opportunities with Non-Spouse Rollovers Before 2007, a non-spouse beneficiary of a qualified plan was stuck taking distributions under the terms of the plan, which typically required full distribution within five or fewer years of the participant’s death. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006) authorized…
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Volume 2, Issue 11 The Wealth Counselor New Planning Opportunities with Non-Spouse Rollovers Before 2007, a non-spouse beneficiary of a qualified plan was stuck taking distributions under the terms of the plan, which typically required full distribution within five or fewer years of the participant’s death. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006) authorized…
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Volume 2, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Opportunities with Planning for Pets For many clients, pets are members of the family. These clients often say that if something happens to them, they are more concerned with what will happen to their pets than to their children or spouse. This issue of The Wealth Counselor examines the…
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Volume 6, Issue 9 The Wealth Counselor Niche Trusts Revocable Living, Irrevocable Life Insurance, Charitable Lead, and Grantor Retained Annuity – these are trust descriptors that are familiar to estate planning professionals. However, there are many less well-known types of trusts that clients may ask about or benefit from having. Some of those other types…
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The Wealth Counselor Asset Protection Planning – Teamwork Is Required for Success Asset protection planning is a growing area of practice for many members of the estate planning team. But, it is not something that one member of the team can do alone. It may not take a village, but it does take a team….
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Volume 6, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Retirement Planning: Coordinating with the Client’s Overall Planning Objectives Coordinating retirement plans with wealth transfer planning can be challenging. This is primarily because retirement accounts are driven by income tax laws designed to encourage Americans to accumulate wealth for retirement, not for transferring wealth upon death. In this…
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Volume 7, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor Continuum of Care: Client Update Meetings/Financial Control System You want a satisfying, long-term relationship with clients, meaningful recurring revenue and referrals from existing clients. Your clients want a trusted advisor relationship with you and they want coordinated estate, financial and tax planning that protects them, their family, and…
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Volume 7, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor Paying for College According to the College Board, the average cost of attending an in-state four-year public college in 2011-2012 is more than $19,000 per year; for a four-year private college it is nearly $40,000 per year. Over the last decade, published tuition and fees for in-state students…
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Volume 7, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor An Overview of Estate Planning Our clients expect their estate planning will cause their property to go to whom they want, the way they want, when they want and that it will minimize the impact of taxes, professional fees and court costs. They also expect their estate planning…
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Volume 7, Issue 4 The Wealth Counselor Using Advanced Irrevocable Trusts for Income and Estate Tax Savings: Making 2012 Count The next nine months are an exceptional window of opportunity for your clients to make family wealth transfers. The federal gift and estate tax exemption is $5,120,000, and both income tax rates and interest rates…
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Volume 7, Issue 5 The Wealth Counselor Understanding Practice/Business Transition Planning A large part of many financial service professionals’ practices is helping clients with business succession planning. Yet only 29% of these professionals have created a formal practice transition plan for their own businesses. In this edition of The Wealth Counselor, we will look at…
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Volume 7, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor Planning for Advanced Asset Protection Asset protection is vitally important in our ever more litigious society, and more wealth planning teams are needed who understand the intricacies of this area and can collaboratively implement advanced strategies. Whether creating an entire plan for the client or creating additional asset…
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Volume 7, Issue 7 The Wealth Counselor Estate Planning for Business Owners “Small businesses,” that is, those that have less than 500 employees, comprise 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United States. The owners of these businesses will, someday, exit their businesses due to retirement, incapacity or death. But most are so busy working…
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Volume 7, Issue 8 The Wealth Counselor Estate Planning for Disability Planning for the possibility of disability is probably the most overlooked part of estate planning. While many people will give serious consideration to estate planning for their death, few will seriously consider planning for their disability. Yet disability planning should be the more important…
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Volume 7, Issue 9 The Wealth Counselor Income Tax Issues When Planning for the Sale of a Closely Held Business When a closely held business is a significant part of a client’s estate, as is often the case, business succession planning becomes an important part of the client’s estate planning. Estate planning issues include how…
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Volume 7, Issue 10 The Wealth Counselor How to Talk to Prospective Clients about Estate Planning Helping clients build, manage and protect their wealth is the goal of each member of the advisory team—financial/investment advisors, CPAs, attorneys and insurance agents. Estate planning is part of this larger process and, as a result, should be on…
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Volume 7, Issue 11 The Wealth Counselor Uncovering Charitable Planning Opportunities Charitable giving is discretionary spending. It is affected by both the economy and the income tax rates. Not surprisingly, charitable giving has been down in recent years, but this does not mean clients are less charitably inclined. Many just need to be pointed in…
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Volume 7, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Year-End Tax Planning In 2012 Year-end tax planning is always important, but this year it is especially difficult because of uncertainty about what the tax laws will be for 2013. The Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire on December 31 and the President and Congress have once…
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Volume 8, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor Don’t Let the Tax Tail Wag the Dog: Client Concerns, Not the Estate Tax, Should Drive Estate Planning Washington’s negotiations about 2013 tax laws are getting lots of press. As estate planning professionals, we are often asked our opinions about what the 2013 estate tax laws might be…
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Volume 8, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor What the New Tax Law Means to You and Your Clients On January 2, 2013, the President signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the 2012 Tax Act) to deal with the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The 2012 Tax Act included revisions to estate, gift and…
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Volume 8, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor Using Trusts to Protect Inherited IRAs Many clients have large IRAs and retirement plan accounts and need special estate planning for these assets. A 2009 study by the Investment Company Institute found that retirement plans account for 34% of all household financial assets, up from 14% in 1978;…
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Volume 8, Issue 4 The Wealth Counselor Income Tax Planning with Alaska Community Property Trusts The Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) provides substantial income and estate tax benefits to the married residents of the nine “community property” states. A tenth state – Alaska – allows married couples to opt in to the community property regime and…
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Volume 8, Issue 5 The Wealth Counselor Income Tax Planning: What Estate Planners Need to Know The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (which became law on January 2, 2013) made permanent the temporary estate/gift/generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions established in December 2010, increased the rate on non-exempt estates/gifts/generation-skipping transfers to 40% and introduced substantial new…
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Volume 8, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor Why Estate Planning Is Still Important With the federal gift and estate tax exemption currently at $5.25 million per person ($10.5 million for married couples), some clients and potential clients with “smaller” estates may wonder if they need any estate planning. But there are many reasons to do…
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Volume 8, Issue 7 The Wealth Counselor Including Life Expectancy and Health Care Costs in Retirement Planning The collision between economics and demographics is increasing client concerns about running out of money in retirement. Defined benefit plans are pretty much a thing of the past, and people are living longer. Clients need income that is…
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Volume 8, Issue 8 The Wealth Counselor Planning for Blended Families: Part I – Intake Process The “blended family” comprises a fast-growing segment of US households. Whether an attorney or investment advisor, fine-tune your intake or initial interview process to determine the desirability of representing a blended-family client, assess the accepted client to determine your…
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Volume 8, Issue 9 The Wealth Counselor Planning for Blended Families: Part II – 3-Step Counseling Strategy for Blended Families It is vital for each member of the advisory team to understand the roles of the other members in meeting their client’s needs. Therefore, in this issue of The Wealth Counselor, we will focus on…
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Volume 8, Issue 10 The Wealth Counselor Identifying Hidden Financial Risks Creates Sales Demand The world changes; clients’ circumstances change; motivations and interests change. As these changes occur—often gradually—“hidden” risks emerge that can significantly deteriorate future wealth if left unattended. By “hidden” risks, we mean exposures of which the client or potential client is likely…
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Volume 8, Issue 11 The Wealth Counselor Trusts Solve Client Needs and Add Value to Wealth Plans Some think that trusts are used only for end-of-life planning. Trusts, however, are like wrenches: they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, each particularly suited to a particular need. Some are for wealth accumulation while others…
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Volume 8, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Be Your Clients’ Hero: Decision Time for Income Tax Reduction as Trust Taxes Soar Income Tax Options Run Out December 31 for Non-Grantor Trusts! Most clients and advisors have not yet caught up to the impact of soaring income tax rates on non-grantor trusts and on estates in…
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Volume 8, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Be Your Clients’ Hero: Decision Time for Income Tax Reduction as Trust Taxes Soar Income Tax Options Run Out December 31 for Non-Grantor Trusts. Most clients and advisors have not yet caught up to the impact of soaring income tax rates on non-grantor trusts and on estates in…
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Volume 9, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor Building Creative and Flexible Wealth and Estate Planning Solutions for Your Clients in 2014 The signing of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”) on January 2, 2013, certainly marked a transition for wealth and estate planning professionals and their clients. Before ATRA, planning was often dominated…
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Volume 9, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor Three Simple Ways to Sell Complex Solutions When it comes to financial and wealth planning issues, more often than not, people go to a professional they trust. They may be working with a financial planner, CPA, agent, or banker, but when trust and estate concerns arise, clients need…
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Volume 9, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor Three Key Strategies for Helping Clients Navigate Aging Plans Many of your clients are baby boomers (now ages 50-68) moving into retirement and dealing with all the issues related to aging: elderly parents, kids in college, saving enough to last a lifetime and protecting what they have. With…
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Volume 9, Issue 4 The Wealth Counselor These Four Childfree Prospect Tips Will Grow Your Business – And They’re Not What You Think Childfree individuals and couples often face choices, decisions, and questions, which you are uniquely qualified to address.  Like many allied financial professionals, you may focus on helping clients pass the maximum amount…
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Volume 9, Issue 5 The Wealth Counselor Portability and Married Couples: No Downside Portability laws and the opportunities they create have significantly increased advisors’ roles in estate planning. No longer is the standard credit shelter trust (with QTIP or outright distribution to spouse) the only way for married couples to plan. Now, CPAs, insurance professionals,…
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Volume 9, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor How to Avoid a Basis Management Disaster Many of us in the legal, financial and accounting worlds discover our new clients’ well-intentioned, yet disastrous, plans after the fact.  The widow has already transferred her house into her children’s names or an inherited IRA is drained to pay for…
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Volume 9, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor How to Avoid a Basis Management Disaster Many of us in the legal, financial and accounting worlds discover our new clients’ well-intentioned, yet disastrous, plans after the fact.  The widow has already transferred her house into her children’s names or an inherited IRA is drained to pay for…
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Volume 9, Issue 7 The Wealth Counselor How to Protect Inherited IRAs After the Clark v. Rameker Decision In a landmark, unanimous 9-0 decision handed down on June 12, 2014, the United States Supreme Court held that inherited IRAs are not “retirement funds” within the meaning of federal bankruptcy law. This means they are therefore…
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Volume 9, Issue 8 The Wealth Counselor Asset Protection Planning for the Modern Client Only the very wealthy and those in high-risk professions need asset protection planning, right? That’s a myth. In reality, we all need asset protection.  Why?  Because we all can be sued and lose everything we have.  A car accident, business failure,…
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Volume 9, Issue 10 The Wealth Counselor Strategies for Reducing Income that Individuals and Trustees Can Use Now Knowing the ins and outs of reducing income in view of the new tax laws will add value to your client relationships. In this issue you will learn how: Charitable trust-based planning can be used by individual…
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Volume 9, Issue 11 The Wealth Counselor How to Become a Multigenerational, Purpose-Driven Advisor Studies have shown that more than 90% of family wealth is lost by the end of the third generation. To help clients avoid this, advisors must become adept at bridging the disconnect among generations when it comes to the transfer of…
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Volume 9, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor How to Help Clients Avoid a Disastrous Will or Trust Contest A will or trust contest can derail a client’s final wishes, rapidly deplete their estate, and tear their loved ones apart.  But it doesn’t have to end like this.  In this issue you will learn: What a…
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Volume 10, Issue 1 The Wealth Counselor Five Ways to Make Trusts More Flexible Trusts that continue for the benefit of a surviving spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations have become the norm.  Drafting trust agreements that will cover the administration, investment, and distribution of trust property over the span of…
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Volume 10, Issue 2 The Wealth Counselor It’s Not Just Death and Taxes: Clients Need an Incapacity Plan that Works When It’s Needed Estate planning is not only about having a plan in place to deal with what happens after a client’s death, it is also about having a plan in place to deal with…
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Volume 10, Issue 3 The Wealth Counselor How Clients Can Easily Integrate Asset Protection Trusts into Their Estate Plans Protecting assets against loss has become a common goal of estate planning.  Asset protection trusts come in many different forms and can be used to protect property for the use and benefit of clients as well…
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Volume 10, Issue 4 The Wealth Counselor Three Liability Planning Tips for Physicians The practice of medicine is a profession fraught with liability. It’s not just medical malpractice claims either – employment related issues (wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and discrimination), careless business partners and employees, and contractual obligations (personal guarantees, leases, business agreements, etc.) add…
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Volume 10, Issue 5 The Wealth Counselor Three Estate Planning Mistakes Farmers and Ranchers Make and How to Avoid Them Farming or ranching is more than a means of livelihood – it is about preserving a legacy and unique way of life.  Unfortunately, many farmers and ranchers don’t fully protect their legacy with an up…
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Volume 10, Issue 6 The Wealth Counselor The Shocking Truth About Asset Protection Planning Some view asset protection planning with a skeptical eye.  They believe there is a moral obligation to pay one’s debts.  They think that asset protection planning is immoral because it prevents a creditor from collecting on a judgment entered by a…
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Volume 10, Issue 7 The Wealth Counselor How Will the 2015 Supreme Court Decisions Affect Your Clients? While approximately 10,000 cases are appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court each year, only 75 to 80 make it to oral argument.  Of those 75 to 80 cases, there are usually only a few that grab the media’s…
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Volume 10, Issue 8 The Wealth Counselor What’s Hot in Estate Planning Right Now May Surprise You Estate planning has truly evolved over the past 20 years. Gone is the uncertainty about federal estate taxes and the absolute requirement for married couples to use complex trusts to minimize these taxes. But also gone is planning…
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Volume 10, Issue 9 The Wealth Counselor The Lifetime QTIP Trust or How to Maintain Control of Your Estate and Keep Spouse No. 2 Happy Estate Planning for couples in a second or later marriage can be tricky, particularly when one spouse is significantly wealthier than the other.  One solution for allowing the well-to-do spouse…
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Volume 10, Issue 10 The Wealth Counselor Don’t Miss Out on These Year-End Tax Planning Strategies Now is the ideal time to start year-end tax planning so that credits and deductions can be maximized before the December 31st deadline.  Below you will find a variety of tax-saving strategies clients should consider using immediately so that…
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Volume 10, Issue 12 The Wealth Counselor Is There an Income Tax Time Bomb Lurking in Your Client’s Estate Plan? As the federal estate tax exemption has ballooned from $1.5 million ten years ago to $5.43 million today, the need for estate tax planning has drastically decreased.  Instead, higher income tax rates that were ushered…
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The Wealth Counselor Be the Hero: How to Help Your Clients Avoid Probate Your clients likely set up a living trust with the goal of avoiding probate. When properly prepared and funded, a trust based estate plan will avoid the public, costly, and time-consuming probate court process. Shockingly, many people still make a big mistake,…
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The Wealth Counselor How You Can Protect Inherited IRAs The United States Supreme Court has determined that inherited IRAs are not protected from bankruptcy creditors. Although this development presents a serious risk for clients, it also presents a planning opportunity for financial advisors. How Protecting Inherited IRAs Benefits Financial Advisors If a retirement account is…
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The Wealth Counselor Revocable Trusts Are The Solution to Your Client’s Needs Find Out What a Trust Can Do That a Will Can’t A revocable trust-centered estate plan offers many benefits a plain old last will and testament can’t. Trust-centered plans are better for clients and make your work easier. Understanding the benefits of trust-centered…
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The Wealth Counselor Just When You Thought an Irrevocable Trust Couldn’t Be Changed: 5 Ways to Modify an Irrevocable Trust Irrevocable trusts shouldn’t be left to languish as the years go by. In this issue, we’ll show you why and how an old or out-of-date irrevocable trust can be modified to benefit you, your clients,…
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The Wealth Counselor The Perils of Outright Distributions and Gifts “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”   Murphy’s Law applies itself with surprising vigor in the estate planning field. If your clients are leaving outright, no-strings-attached inheritances or gifts to their beneficiaries, they are practically inviting disaster. But, there’s hope. A properly designed estate…
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The Wealth Counselor How to Overcome the Challenges of Legacy Planning that Plague Blended Families As you’ve probably already noticed, estate planning can be challenging – not only for the “traditional” nuclear family but, also for the millions of “non-traditional” families. The blended family scenarios are virtually endless – a spouse with independent wealth that…
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The Wealth Counselor Help Your Clients Save at Tax Time 6 Important Conversations to Have with Your Clients Before the Hustle and Bustle of the Holidays As summer gives way to fall, it’s time to start thinking about year-end tax planning. This is an opportunity to communicate with your clients, offer solutions, and deepen your…
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The Wealth Counselor Preparing for a New Administration Risks And Opportunities For Your Clients Under President-Elect Trump A new Presidential administration can bring sweeping changes in the tax codes, new rules for how wealth is taxed, and a litany of other legal and regulatory changes. As a result of Donald Trump’s electoral victory on November…
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The Wealth Counselor Harnessing the Power of Trusts to Help Your Clients Protect Their Heirs Happy 2017! Hopefully, you’re beginning to recover from the holiday season and getting ready for a busy and prosperous year. As you settle back into your routine, here’s a question to ponder: Are all your clients’ estate plans structured to…
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The Wealth Counselor The Superior Alternative to “I Love You” Wills Guide Your Clients to Lifetime Beneficiary Directed Trusts Instead As Valentine’s Day brings heart-shaped chocolate boxes and roses by the dozen into your clients’ imaginations, seize the moment to educate them about the drawbacks of “I love you” wills and introduce them to the…
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The Wealth Counselor Estate Planning Should Always be a Team Effort A Team of Coordinated Professionals Is Your Clients’ Best Bet Picture a symphony’s worth of classical musicians all trying to play a piece in perfect harmony, but they can’t see one another. Each of them also has slightly different sheet music. It doesn’t take…
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The Wealth Counselor How a Community Property Trust Can Save Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Capital Gains Taxes Community property trusts can save your clients tens of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes, and that is just one of their many benefits. This lesser-known strategy is not necessarily the best fit for all…
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The Wealth Counselor Trump’s First 100 Days: Looking Back and Planning Ahead How to Help Your Clients Future-Proof Their Estate Plans Through tried and true estate planning measures, we can make sure your clients’ plans are both flexible enough to handle change and sturdy enough to weather the uncertainty. In addition to providing wills, trusts,…
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The Wealth Counselor Free Your Clients From Old, Obsolete Trusts The Perils of Outdated Plans and How to Overcome Them Estate planning needs evolve. An old, obsolete estate plan often fails to achieve client goals, resulting in dissatisfaction, unnecessary taxes or probate costs, and a greater likelihood of lost assets under management. Fortunately, we can…
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The Wealth Counselor Dynasty Trusts – A Planning Tool for the Masses? Think Twice Before Ruling One Out When most people hear the term “dynasty trust,” they assume it is something for only the wealthiest of families. Dynasty trusts are not as out of reach as many people and advisors might think, and can be…
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The Wealth Counselor Tell Your Clients It’s Not Too Late for a Portability Election New Opportunity for Late Portability Just Opened Up by IRS Portability has brought both convenience and confusion to the estate planning community. Available for surviving spouses after 2011, portability allows an unused estate tax exemption to be transferred from a deceased…
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The Wealth Counselor 4 Times You Should Call an Estate Planning Attorney Right Away: Using Your Clients’ Entire Financial Team Improves Results From savings-building strategies to concerns about investments, financial advisors like you work closely with your clients throughout the year. As estate planning attorneys, we typically see those same clients far less often, but…
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The Wealth Counselor How to Jumpstart Your Clients’ Year-End Planning Don’t Wait Until the Busy Holiday Season As summer fades in the rear-view mirror, it’s a good time to give yourself a reality check: Clients never have enough time to meet for year-end planning during the busy holiday season (and you might not, either), which…
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The Wealth Counselor Avoiding Disastrous Will or Trust Lawsuits: How to Keep Family Squabbles from Undermining Estate Plans Family discord that results in a will or trust contest can be costly, time-consuming, and emotionally painful for your client’s family. For you, the advisor, this disharmony usually leads to severely damaged relationships and a loss of…
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The Wealth Counselor Tax Reform: Solutions for Your Clients and Their Estate Planning In December 2017, Congress passed, and President Trump signed a sweeping tax reform bill commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This new Act contains several significant changes that will impact your clients and their estate planning. Estate Tax Changes…
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The Wealth Counselor Helping Clients Plan From the Heart: Beyond Money in Estate Planning Many clients and advisors think of estate planning as a logistical process designed to reduce taxes, avoid court, and protect assets. Of course, proper planning does enhance the security of their families and assets, but estate planning is actually much more….
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The Wealth Counselor Which Asset Protection Strategies Are Right for Your Clients? How You Can Keep Claims From Threatening Their Property Most of us do not expect to be sued. However, lawsuits are filed every day the courthouses are open. If your clients’ estate plans don’t include adequate asset protection, they could end up losing…
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The Wealth Counselor Taking Full Advantage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Key Points to Discuss With Your Clients Like all things, tax laws are constantly changing. An important part of serving your clients is responding quickly and strategically to new developments in the tax law landscape. But at the same time, a…
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The Wealth Counselor Preparing Your Clients for the Rising Costs of Education 5 Strategies to Help Pay for a Child’s Academic Future Higher education costs are just that – higher.  The steady increase in educational expenses means your clients have much steeper bills for their children’s college tuitions than they had for their own. To…
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The Wealth Counselor What 199A Regulations Mean for Your Clients Tax-Saving Opportunities for Business Owners Are any of your business-owning clients curious about the new Section 199A deduction? Although the deduction became effective on January 1, 2018, guidance on how it would be calculated was delegated to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by Congress. For…
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The Wealth Counselor Three Charitable Giving Solutions to Consider for Year End Strategies Your Clients Can Use Right Now It may seem too early to talk about year-end planning. But the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set many changes in motion for charitable giving. Whether a clients’ charitable giving stems from a concern for…
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The Wealth Counselor What the 2018 Midterm Election Results Mean for Estate Planning and Deepening Client Engagement Estate planning is an ongoing process, not a one-time transaction. While your core objective is to help your clients remain financially sound in the face of whatever comes their way, our core objective is to ensure a client’s…
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The Wealth Counselor 5 Hidden Client Risks That Demand Your Immediate Attention How to Steer Your Clients in the Right Direction Estate planning provides your clients with a wealth of opportunities to strategically grow their net worth while also planning for their families’ future comfort and security. Opportunity brings risk, but also the potential reward…
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The Wealth Counselor Planning for Individuals and Couples Without Children How to Tailor the Conversation to Their Goals Financial advisors often have a clear path to starting the estate planning discussion when their clients have children, as many estate planning discussions center around clients’ objectives for passing their wealth, properties, and legacy to the next…
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The Wealth Counselor Don’t Allow New Accounts to Catch Clients Unaware As a financial advisor, what could be more important than the financial health of your clients? As you know, a comprehensive trust-centered estate plan allows your clients to provide for loved ones, affording them immense peace of mind. But, estate planning is not a…
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The Wealth Counselor Want to Connect with Your Clients? Make It Simple Estate planning is a complex, nuanced process. Properly done, it requires a specialized team of experts in investment, tax, and legal strategy. At its center, however, is the client and their particular needs, hopes, and goals. It’s vital that over the course of…
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The Wealth Counselor Portability and Married Couples: A Viable Option For maximum benefit, estate planning should happen as a team effort, with CPAs, insurance professionals, financial advisors, and attorneys working together strategically and cooperatively. When it comes to helping married couples plan, today’s strategies need to be considerably more thoughtful than in previous years. Although…
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