By Eden Rose Brown, Esq. The statistics are compelling: Over 90 million American households own companion animals – a total of more than 218 million pets of all shapes and sizes! These pet owners spend an average of $500 on each pet, totaling more than $12 billion annually, and that does not include toys, grooming and food. Of these pet owners, over 63% say that they consider their pets to be family members and 79% allow their pets to sleep with them. The strength of the human-animal bond is powerful. Through the years I have found that…
The Dynasty Trust: Jurisdictional Choices
By Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished) Most trusts are designed as Staggered Distribution Trusts which are trusts that make mandatory distributions to the beneficiaries upon reaching certain ages. For example, many trusts pay out one-third of the assets upon the beneficiary reaching age 25, one-half of the balance upon the beneficiary reaching age 30 and the balance upon the beneficiary reaching age 35. The philosophy used by the scriveners of these types of trusts is that the beneficiaries have multiple opportunities to learn from their mistakes. Those who recommend Staggered Distribution Trusts fail to properly consider the estate tax…
7 Tips for Making More Appointments – – Right at a Seminar!
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Many seminar speakers forget (or don’t realize) that the main goal of a seminar is not to educate, but to motivate the attendees to make appointments with you before they leave the seminar! Our goal is always to make appointments with a minimum of 80% of the “units” attending (husband and wife equal one unit). That may be a lofty goal for you to begin with, but you should at least shoot for an initial appointment rate of 50%. …
Year-End Gain Harvesting May Create Impressive Tax Savings, But Be Careful!
By Robert S. Keebler, CPA, MST, AEP (Distinguished) Bracket management has always been an important part of income tax planning. As we noted in our May newsletter, however, the 3.8% Medicare Surtax and higher tax rates make it even more important in 2013. We listed the following strategies that taxpayers can use to avoid the surtax and stay out of the higher tax brackets: (1) Income smoothing CRTs; (2) income shifting CRTs; (3) using NIMCRUTS as a substitute for or supplement to a retirement plan; (4) CLATs; (5) Life Insurance; (6) deferred annuities; (7) installment sales; (8) managing IRA distributions;…
Important Fraudulent Transfer Case: Cutuli v. Smith
According to asset protection attorney, Jay Adkisson, the Cutuli v. Smith case is one that estate planners and those doing asset protection planning need to carefully study and understand, particularly where you get a client that wants you to do asset protection planning and has an existing claim against them. FRAUDULENT TRANSFERS TRIGGERS CRIME/FRAUD EXCEPTION AND $10 MILLION PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN CUTULI By Jay D. Adkisson, Esq. From Forbes.com, reproduced with the expressed written consent and permission from Jay Adkisson. Sometimes the Courts will “throw the book” at a debtor and all those who assist the debtor in hiding assets…
Robert Keebler Charts Promotion – Get All 7 for Just $99!
Until tomorrow, September 18th, you can get all seven of Robert Keebler’s Client-Friendly Laminated Charts for just $99, normally $19.99 each. These charts are 11″x17″ and come printed in full color and laminated. These are great for explaining complex tax and retirement benefit planning concepts to clients. You can purchase multiple copies and even purchase a customized design to brand the chart with your firm’s logo. >>MORE INFO The seven charts include: The Personal Exemption Phaseout & PEASE Impact This chart evaluates the Personal Exemption Phaseout and the PEASE impact, along with projected tax rates for 2013. The Healthcare Surtax…
The Ever-Growing Popularity of Our Teleconference & On-Demand CD Packages
Who doesn’t like getting stuff in the mail? Earlier this year, we began offering the option to purchase CD packages for all of our teleconference and On-Demand programs. This allowed our fellow estate planning professionals that preferred to be shipped a physical copy of the handout materials and an audio CD (or CD set, for longer programs) the opportunity to do so. Since we offered this option, we have seen a huge increase in the number of CD packages ordered for each of our teleconferences. In fact, the image above was just taken of the CD packages going out today…
Phil Kavesh to Present at the AVIVA 2013 Sales Expo in Arizona
Today, our President, Philip J. Kavesh, is in Arizona for AVIVA USA’s Sales Expo 2013 speaking on the topic, “The Top 22 Overlooked Uses of Life Insurance in 2013” before a select group of AVIVA’s finest brokers and agents. According to Phil, they’ve made some pretty big announcements here and there are some exciting things coming to AVIVA in 2014! Thanks again AVIVA for this wonderful opportunity to help educate your agents!
Teleconference On 709 Preparation HUGE Success!
Earlier today, we had almost 100 people attend our popular educational program entitled, “The Ins & Outs of Correct 709 Prep“. It is very clear that this is an area that many estate planners want further guidance on how to properly plan and prepare the gift tax return. Here are what just a couple of people had to say about today’s program: “Very good session on a most-confusing area!” – D. Zanish, CPA “Excellent, as always!” – C. Boomgarden, CPA Still a popular area, we will be looking to put together another program with either further in-depth discussion on the…
September 11th: Staff Tell Their Personal Stories of That Day
Today is September 11th. It is hard to believe that it has been 12 years since that tragic day. That day when television seemed like the movies and reality was so far out of reach for so many. If you ask anyone what they were doing that day, they all remember and they all have a story. Here are our staff’s stories of that day that will never be forgotten. MEGAN’S STORY I grew up in a suburb just south of Washington, D.C. and was in my 8th grade language arts class on the day of the 9/11 attacks. Our…