By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Knowing the steps of how to properly confirm an appointment – – any kind of appointment, including a phone appointment, client meeting, lunch meeting, etc. – – is extremely valuable to any office looking to continue to operate efficiently and effectively. However, I have found that a lot of people don’t do this (or don’t do it properly) and this can result in a lot of disruption in the office. Whether or not you are the one responsible for confirming appointments, if you know that your office could benefit from a makeover in your…
Should You Be “Tweaking”?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Most estate planning professionals would love to make more money, while reducing their work time and stress. Unfortunately, many believe that in order to achieve these lofty goals, you have to do a complete “makeover” of your practice – – and that degree of change is scary! However, this is more myth than truth. In fact, there’s a universal business principle sometimes called “the law of incremental change”, which I call “the law of tweaking” (shame on you if…
The 3.8% Surtax for Trusts & Estates
By Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA Executive Summary The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 created a 3.8 percent surtax on certain net investment income effective for tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2013. The tax applies to estates and certain trusts as well as to individuals. Given the low income threshold at which the tax begins to apply, the tax will have broad application to trusts and estates. This article summarizes application of the 3.8% surtax to trusts and estates and offers some initial planning ideas What Trusts are Subject to the…