By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law It’s no secret that I am a big proponent of seminar marketing. That’s because I have regularly used seminars to successfully build and grow my practice over the past 40 years. Benefits of Doing Seminars Before we get into how to start up the seminar marketing process, it’s important for you to understand the benefits of doing seminars. Some people believe that seminars are about educating people on estate planning or building your image and firm name in the…
The Importance of Taking Time Off and Getting a Break from Work
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach The concept of taking time off of work or stepping away from work seems like an obvious one, but for those that are super-dedicated to their job, this can actually be a difficult task to do sometimes. It took me some time, but it was something that I had to learn over a number of years of going full-steam, with very little to no breaks. I can recall when I was first hired by Phil back in 2004, I was an eager, freshly graduated college student. There were a lot of details to my…
Don’t Require a Prenup for a Trust Beneficiary to Be Eligible for a Distribution!
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) I have seen so many trusts drafted with a provision requiring a married beneficiary to have a prenuptial agreement in place in order to be eligible to receive a distribution from the trust. This seems to be a staple in many law firms’ “form” trust agreements. Let’s analyze the logic. The attorney (or many times the client) believes that by requiring that a beneficiary have a prenuptial agreement in place it will therefore almost force the beneficiary to do so and therefore somehow magically protect the trust assets. However, such a provision actually…
Strength in Numbers
By Bert A. Cooper, CES Can a solo Financial Advisor effectively offer all the expertise their clients deserve? While we’d all like to think we’re exceptional at what we do, the real answer is no. The most successful Advisors are those with a team behind them. I saw a growing need among clients for comprehensive wealth management and my vision was to build a cohesive team that consisted of specialists who offered these services exceptionally well. In order to make this vision a reality I had to make a series of important strategic decisions. I knew from the start I…
5 Reasons Why You Should Have an Office Manager
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach If you are an estate planning attorney, CPA, financial advisor, or life insurance agent and you’re running your own practice, then you already know how precious your time is and, hopefully, how valuable that time is to your practice and its overall success. It is important that you see yourself as the “talent” and that you maximize the use of your time for tasks that only you can do. You need someone else to be the “producer-director”, handling other necessary details. All too often, we see estate planners that are spending far too much…
Google Me! Fame in Estate Planning
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Google me! Come on, I said Google me! No, really — Google me! Read my bio! Read all about me and my accolades all over the internet! Marketing Yourself: Being Famous You have to market yourself. This article is about the importance in doing so and how to do so. Don’t be shy. Don’t be passive. The more you market yourself, the more famous you become. This concept applies not only to estate planners, but also in every profession. You might be the most technically skilled estate planner with an extraordinary understanding of…
Happy 70th Birthday, Phil!
On June 9th, nationally renowned estate planning attorney and Ultimate Estate Planner President, Philip Kavesh, will be celebrating a milestone birthday—70 years! We caught up with Phil and thought we’d share some reflections from Phil about turning 70. Q: What are you up to these days? Phil: I’m what I call “semi-retired” (although I am sure my dear wife would dispute that description!). I don’t meet with law firm clients anymore or do the legal work. But I’m still active in my law firm in some key ways. I help out with important management decisions (including marketing) and regularly meet…
Top 6 Strategies for Managing Interruptions in the Workplace
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach According to a study, the average time spent per day by employees being interrupted and trying to refocus is 2.1 hours. Interruptions at the workplace is estimated to cost businesses in the U.S. over half a trillion dollars each year! While interruptions at the workplace are inevitable, it doesn’t mean that they cannot be minimized or reduced. Below are what I consider to be the top ten strategies for managing (and reducing) the amount of interruptions at the workplace. Strategy #1: Evaluate (and change) your physical workspace. One of the biggest eye-openers for me…
Did You Know That Nevada Has Laws Allowing for Larger Valuation Discounts Than in Every Other State?
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Estate planners have been rushing to help clients make large gifts before the gift and estate tax exemption drops in half at the end of 2025. But are estate planners truly maximizing the wealth transfer for their clients? Most are not doing so, simply because they’re failing to take advantage of a legislation I authored that passed and became law in Nevada’s 2009 legislative session. This was likely overlooked because the gift and estate tax exemptions exponentially increased soon after that thereby making it unnecessary for the smaller net worth clients to fully…
Top 9 Mistakes Attorneys Make Bonusing Support Staff
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach The concept of financial bonuses is not unknown to most people. It is highly used in a lot of sales and marketing industries. Even in the legal world, many lawyers have, at some time or another when working for a firm, received some kind of bonus. However, the concept of bonusing non-attorneys is relatively new, particularly for the estate planning lawyer world. Attorney and Ultimate Estate Planner President, Philip Kavesh, did not consider or implement the idea of a formal staff bonus system until about 12 years ago. He, as well as the attorneys…