By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA As I view the world around me, I often consider the following question: “If we designed this from scratch, how would it look?” And frequently, it wouldn’t resemble what currently exists. How would, say, the airline industry look? What would be the structure of healthcare? Would women wear heels and men wear ties? If we could get thoughtful, provocative pragmatists in a room, what would they create? I often think about how this relates to financial planning – estate planning, investment planning, retirement planning, and insurance planning. In this article, I begin with the aforementioned…
Did Law School Fail You?
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Graduating law school is quite an accomplishment for anyone. But, with the growing popularity of becoming a lawyer, there’s an over-saturation of graduates and simply not enough lawyering jobs to employ those coming out of law school. Burdened by thousands of dollars of school loan debt and a desire to put to use the countless hours of hard work they put into it, many lawyers have been (or will be) forced to start up their own practice, whether they wanted to or not. And this is where most people are going to…
The Top Eight Trust Jurisdictions If There Was a Jurisdictional Super Bowl
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The jurisdictional competition for state trust law supremacy is similar to the National Football League’s biggest annual event — the Super Bowl. Every year there are changes to state statutes that create more and more competition among the most proactive trust jurisdictions. The adrenaline and effort put forth by the trust promoters often equals or exceeds that of an NFL football player. If there were Jurisdictional Playoffs ending in a big game called the Jurisdictional Super Bowl, the question is, “Who would win the big game?” The Competitors Alaska, Delaware,…
With Estate Tax Planning Basically Dead, Here’s a Trust You Should Be Selling to a Lot of Your Clients
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law It’s not a Living Trust (but it does have broad application). Nor is it an Asset Protection or Medicaid Trust (though it does have some asset protection features). And, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, this Trust has been made even better (or more valuable). Okay, here it is. The Standalone Retirement Trust (or “IRA Beneficiary Trust”, or, as I call it, the “IRA Inheritance Trust®”). It’s simply a trust that acts as beneficiary of a client’s IRAs…
My Spouse (or other loved one) is Heading Into a Nursing Home… What Should I Do Now?
Download Printable Article By Louis W. Pierro, Esq. If your estate planning clients are like mine, it takes time to educate them, and get them across the threshold, before they are willing to commit and pay the fees that you are looking to charge. On the other hand, by far the most motivated clients I have are those who are in crisis — they (or another family member) need nursing home care now, and are looking for help getting Medicaid, and saving some portion of their life savings. The value of our services is abundantly clear — and our clients…
The Top 8 Staff Training Tips for Estate Planning Law Firms – PART 2
Download the Full Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant In continuation of the December 2015 issue… Law Firm Staff Training Tip #5: Have the Staff Member Create a Detailed Procedures Manual. Another important part of the staff member training is to have the staff member that is being trained be the one to create a detailed procedures manual out of the training that he or she received. Not only will it be helpful to have them write out the procedures manual in a detailed and very thorough format that would allow him or her to pick up the manual…
The Top Seven Estate Planning Stories of the Past Half-Decade
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The past half-decade provided the estate planning community with plenty of drama and a lot of uncertainty and twists and turns. This article will briefly describe a number of estate planning-related stories, sometimes dramatic, and other times just plain unexpected and unpredictable. These stories will appear in reverse-order, David Letterman style. Obergefell: States Can’t Prohibit Same-Sex Marriages On June 26, 2015, by a 5-4 majority, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that a state can’t prohibit same-sex marriages and also must recognize valid out-of-state marriages. The rationale…
Understanding People’s Natural Fears
Download Printable Article By Tom Hopkins What is it that jumps in and brings presentations that were previously sailing smoothly along to a screeching halt? You may think it’s the financial aspects of your offering. Perhaps you think it’s the prospective client’s inability to make a decision. And, you would probably be correct. But, with selling being what it is — a bottom line business — let’s dig deeper and find the bottom line of what lies between you and your ‘potential future client’ coming to an agreement. The greatest enemy to the process of helping people make decisions about…
Should You Leave Assets in Trust for a Financially Savvy Beneficiary?
Download Printable Article By Jeremy Spackman, Esq. Absolutely! Traditionally, leaving assets to a beneficiary in trust, especially a financially savvy beneficiary, has been viewed as restricting the access and control the beneficiary would have over his or her inheritance. The common thought was that only spendthrifts should receive their inheritance in trust (with a third party in control of the trust), while the financially savvy beneficiary should receive his or her inheritance outright. This is not ideal since receiving an inheritance outright exposes those assets to the beneficiary’s creditors, including divorcing spouses. Instead, clients should leave assets to financially savvy…
The Top 8 Staff Training Tips for Estate Planning Law Firms – PART 1
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Having worked with so many estate planning attorneys and support staff members, time and time again, I have seen that one of the major breakdowns in firm systems comes with the lack of proper job training. Things start to slip through the cracks and while one or two details won’t make or break the success of your firm, the compound effect of multiple staff members not trained right and doing their job duties as originally intended will become one of the biggest challenges for any brilliant estate planning attorney trying to manage…