By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about the concept of “quiet quitting”. You may have seen conversations on LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok or even some articles online or on news outlets. Many employers are experiencing this concept and there has been a lot of debate about exactly who is to blame and what, if anything, can be done about it. What is Quiet Quitting? So, what is it exactly? “Quiet quitting” is a term to describe employees who are not outright quitting their jobs, but who may be essentially “quitting” in other ways. …
Why Nine of the Domestic Asset Protection Trust Jurisdictions Have a Big Problem
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Nineteen domestic jurisdictions have statutes that allow a person to set up a Domestic Asset Protection Trust (“DAPT”). A DAPT is an irrevocable trust set up by a person (the “settlor”) for the benefit of him/herself and other beneficiaries. Under the statutes of each of those jurisdictions, after a certain waiting period, the assets transferred to the trust by the settlor should be protected from the settlor’s creditors. Affidavit of Solvency Asset protection planners will generally have their clients sign an Affidavit of Solvency which essentially says that the client isn’t making a…
Estate Planning Attorneys – Stop Sending Your Clients Drafts!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach At just about every single Ultimate Level event that we hold, the issue of sending clients drafts of their estate planning documents comes up. There’s always at least one, but usually several, attorneys that have a regular practice (or as part of their estate planning process) to send clients drafts of their estate planning documents prior to signing them. It is to no surprise that these attorneys then also complain about some (or all!) of the following challenges: Trouble reaching clients to get them to move forward An enormous amount of questions Hours of…
Projecting the Year-by-Year Estate and Gift Tax Exemption Amount
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The federal estate and gift tax exemption is currently $12,060,000 per person. This number increases (or decreases) each year based on inflation and then is rounded. This article does nothing extraordinary. It simply lays out the projected increases over the next few years based on the most recent inflation rate which is 8.5%. Anybody with a calculator can compute these numbers, but many people have not yet done so, so the numbers outlined herein may come as a shock! Trump Tax Act The Trump Tax Act increases (or decreases) the federal estate and…
Successful Seminar Marketing 101: Tips for Getting Started
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…