The Top Four Mistakes Individual Trustees Make

By Mark Dreschler, CFP®, President & CEO at Premier Trust and Deborah Erdmann, QKA, CISP, Vice President & Trust Officer at Premier Trust | Volume 2, Issue 4 (April 2014) Whatever your connection with a trust, whether it is as an attorney, trustee, beneficiary, trust creator or financial advisor, you need to be aware of the top four mistakes that can derail financial goals and tear families apart. This article is based on the experiences of our trust company’s team members, now more than 38 strong, with more than 150+ years combined experience dealing with estates and trusts of all…

Where is the Stock Market Headed?

By E. Dryden Pence III, CPM®, AIF®, LPL Registered Principal, CIO Pence Wealth Management Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC. | Volume 2, Issue 4 (April 2014) Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of periodic market watch articles provided by E. Dryden Pence III, whose investment advisory firm Pence Wealth Management has been recognized as one of the top in the United States by Barron’s, Forbes and The London Financial Times. Bottom Line Up Front We are positive for 2014. We think the economy will continue to improve consistently. We believe the market is a…

How You & Your Assistant Can Work Better Together

Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant (UPDATED JULY 2015) Trust in the workplace is always a difficult, but necessary, part of running a successful practice.  A lot of estate planners, regardless of his or her professional designation, struggle with this concept.  Although just about every single one of these professionals could benefit from having some kind of assistant or other administrative support, they have difficulty in trusting others to take on important tasks.  Unfortunately, estate planners are only ever making any real money if they are either meeting with clients or doing some kind of marketing or networking…

Training Associate Attorneys & Staff

By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law | Volume 2, Issue 4 (April 2014) Over the past couple of months, we covered the importance of properly hiring and incentivizing your associate attorneys and support staff in order to build and maintain a successful estate planning practice.  Now, we will address training. As I’ve stressed in all other aspects of your practice, you must have processes, procedures, forms and systems for everything that happens in your law firm on a daily basis.  This includes your marketing, client…