5 Website Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

Special thanks to ebootcamp.com and Corey Perlman for this article. Often times, your Website won’t win you the sale, but it can easily lose it for you. Here are five mistakes that will frustrate your Website visitors and have them running towards your competition: 1. Not Mobile Responsive 2. No Value Proposition 3. No Social Proof 4. Hard to Find Your Contact Info 5. Dated. In Layman’s Terms: Needs to be ‘Thumb Friendly’ – easy to navigate from a mobile phone. What do you do? If a visitor can’t figure that out within five seconds, then you’re doing it wrong….

Getting It Right the First Time

By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA This article tells the unlikely account of a second chance and presents a framework for making sure protection is airtight. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The whistle blows. At the count of “two”, my 9-year old son, Spence, kicks the soccer ball, and just as the whistle is blown, he’s on the ground writhing in pain. I sprint onto the field to comfort him. He says he can’t feel his wrist and can’t move his hand. Rewind to exactly one week before. I’ve been on the phone with his healthcare provider for over an…

David vs. Goliath: How Nevada Became a Leading Trust Jurisdiction

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) “Always remember…Goliath was a 40-point favorite over David.” -Shug Jordan (1910-1980), athlete and football and basketball coach Many years ago, Delaware was considered the go-to trust jurisdiction.  However, other jurisdictions enhanced their trust laws through the years, and the consensus now is that Nevada, South Dakota, Alaska and Delaware are the first-tier jurisdictions, at least in the minds of most trust practitioners. Delaware has always been the Goliath in the trust industry, whereas the other jurisdictions have served the role of David.  But Delaware has made less material enhancements to…

To Lead or Not to Lead: That is the Question

Download Printable Article By: David Giuliano, Business Coach Whether you run a solo practice or you have 30 employees working within your firm, effective leadership is the solution to 90% of your everyday challenges. I am passionate about leadership because I’ve seen the difference it makes.  For example, I’ve witnessed how much financial and emotional balance my clients achieve after they’ve redefined or built new leadership within their firms. The results are infinite not only to the bottom line but even more so to yourself as you transform from living a reactive reality to a proactive one. There are a…

Look Inside Your Practice for the Answers, Not Outside

Download Printable Article By: David Giuliano, Business Coach Whether you’re a new solo practitioner or have many years running a practice under your belt, often the biggest problems you face in the workplace reflect some confusion or lack of clarity you carry inside of yourself. You may have some clear goals:  Make more money.  Find ways to grow the practice.  Work less (or more!).  Have more satisfaction and peace of mind.  The problem is, you’re having trouble achieving them, but don’t know why.  You know something’s wrong:  wrong staff, wrong marketing, wrong economy, etc.  But the real reason may not…

Eliminate Most of Your Interruptions with One Simple Technique (the U & I Rule)!

By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law If there’s one thing that I have learned to master over the years, it’s to control the number of interruptions when I am in the office – – not just others interrupting me, but my interruptions of others. The main reason why interruptions happen is because there are no rules or protocols for how people will interact. The result is not only a loss of productivity, but the loss of money.  If you just look up the statistics online…

The #1 Step Towards a Happier, Healthier YOU!

Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant The office is busy.  Life is busy.  Things get crazy and hectic.  Some days and weeks are worse than others.  You have probably felt at one point or another that there was far too much to do and not enough time to do it.  This can create a great deal of stress and anxiety on anyone, regardless of whether you’re an estate planning professional (such as an estate planning attorney, CPA, financial advisor, life insurance or trust officer) or you’re a part of the ever-important team of support staff. Despite this, it…

Incomplete Gift, Non Grantor Trusts (aka DINGs, NINGs): Not Just for State Income Tax Avoidance

Download Printable Article By Edwin P. Morrow III, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), CFP®, RFC® There is increasingly becoming an important tool in their trust planning arsenal for high income taxpayers– the incomplete gift, non-grantor trust (“ING”).  These trusts are often colloquially known as “DINGs” or “NINGs”, short for Delaware or Nevada Incomplete Gift Non Grantor Trusts, even though other states with similar strong DAPT laws, such as Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming or Ohio, may also be used.  Let’s explain the ING, why it’s used, what state limitations exist and how it can be used beyond state income tax avoidance. What is…

Hybrid DAPTs, Regular DAPTs and the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) A small minority of states have adopted the new Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (“UVTA”).  This Act is actually not a new Act.  It is supposedly merely a renamed version of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, but with certain changes. These changes include substantial Comments (i.e., comments made as a part of the UVTA by the Drafting Committee) that have generated controversy in large part because of their conclusive nature on certain open issues.  This article will focus on those Comments that are specifically directed at Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (“DAPTs”)….

Five Outstanding Questions in the Estate Planning Industry and the Odds That They Will Happen

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) There are always a number of outstanding questions in the estate planning industry, many of which are talked about over and over, seemingly at every large conference and on various listservs.  Internet bloggers write about these questions, often making bold statements that sometimes come true, but in most cases turn out to be false. This article seeks to highlight some of these questions and posts the odds of them happening in this author’s opinion.  The list is posted in order of those which are most likely to happen in 2016,…