Apr 10, 2012
By Conrad Teitell, LL.B., LL.M.
How can you advise clients when the Washington legislative tax climate is foggy? And sometimes the fog lifts retroactively....
Mar 28, 2012
By Lena S. Rizkallah
As financial advisors, attorneys, CPAs and estate planning practitioners, we know that the keys to a successful financial future are setting goals and planning. In fact, our businesses depend on guiding individuals and families to help them create their financial and estate plans....
Mar 20, 2012
By Michael K. Kirsh
The drama over Whitney Houston's estate continues to unfold....
Jan 20, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
Plan ahead to avoid these traps and transition your practice. ...
Jan 1, 2012
By Kevin McKinley
Retirement account beneficiary designations are easy to overlook, but the consequences of doing so can be severe.
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Nov 28, 2011
By Matthew T. McClintock and Jonathan A. Mintz
WealthCounsel and Trusts & Estates unveiled the preliminary results of their annual electronic survey to identify trends in the industry and to probe the mindset of professional advisors regarding the impact of the economy on their clients. The results indicate that estate-planning professionals aren’t optimistic about the nation’s economy and cite partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill. ...
Sep 8, 2011
By Mark Miller
Bob Morrison was working up a comprehensive financial plan last year for new clients when he began noticing some odd behavior. Morrison, a planner based in Littleton, Colo., had been working with the couple—a 64-year-old man and his 52-year-old wife—over a four-month period, and several conversations with the husband concerned him. ...
Aug 12, 2011
By Diana Britton
Product development in the retirement income space has exploded, and for good reason. With about 77 million Baby Boomers coming up on retirement, advisors will have to deal with a larger pool of clients transitioning from the asset accumulation phase of their lives to the asset distribution phase. On top of that, the future of social security benefits is in doubt, and many employers no longer offer defined benefit pension plans and instead put the onus of savings on the employee in defined contribution/401(k) offerings. ...
Aug 9, 2011
By Charles Paikert
S&P’s downgrade isn’t the problem, say wealth management and family office executives; it’s worse than that. The problem is the nations’ underlying structure of political, economic and fiscal problems—they are a legitimate cause for long-term concern. To put it in computer-speak: the United States is hardwired for doom....
Aug 1, 2011
By Bill Singer
Many supposedly sophisticated professionals fail to stay on top of their estate planning....
Jul 26, 2011
By Charles Paikert
U.S. Trust, as things turned out, remained a major contributor to BofA’s wealth management empire with $367.7 billion in assets, fending off persistent stories that the unit would be sold off by its beleaguered corporate parent. Now it's focused on growth. ...
Jul 11, 2011
By Bernard A. Krooks
Jul 1, 2011
By Kevin McKinley
Tough times are affecting many young adults, but parents can still provide a safety net without moving to the poorhouse...
May 18, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Despite Congress’ eleventh-hour move in December to head off sharply higher estate taxes, confusion remains over the future of the levies. The tax revisions lawmakers made at the end of last year set a maximum rate of 35 percent with a $5 million exemption for 2011 through 2012...
May 17, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Larry Swedroe calls it the Holy Grail—the search for managers who can deliver returns that beat the appropriate risk-adjusted benchmarks. And it’s “a fool’s errand,” he adds; he spends much of his new book, The Quest for Alpha (John Wiley & Sons), reviewing the evidence for that view...
Apr 29, 2011
By Steven B. Gorin
Meet your clients' needs for a comfortable retirement cushion through a sale to a beneficiary grantor trust; and reduce assets enough to avoid taxes...
Apr 29, 2011
By R. Hugh Magill
Estate planners and trustees should consider the distinctive social and demographic phenomena that shape their clients' needs...
Mar 29, 2011
By Michael J. Jones
Executors of estates of decedents dying last year have a choice: Pay the retroactive estate tax and get a date-of-death basis or opt out and into modified carryover basis. It's not a decision for the faint of heart...
Mar 29, 2011
By Alan Breus
No longer need your policy? Consider donating it to charity — but first find the right person to value it correctly...
Mar 8, 2011
By Charles Paikert
Bankers need to flaunt their status as fiduciaries to battle expected competition from broker/dealers, ...
Mar 3, 2011
BY AVI Z. KESTENBAUM, JEFFREY A. GALANT & K. ELI AKHAVAN
How the new law influences the way we practice now and in the future...
Mar 3, 2011
BY KEVIN JOHNSON
On Oct. 26, 2009, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), announced the IRS' creation of a new audit unit, the Global High Wealth Unit ...
Mar 1, 2011
By Kevin McKinley
Some smart money moves adult children can make when caring for elderly parents' finances....
Feb 28, 2011
By Hilary Johnson
One of the most challenging conversations for a financial advisor to have is getting a married couple to agree on a financial plan. Husband and wife may have very different views on risk, as well as spending and saving priorities....
Jan 19, 2011
Radd L. Riebe
As uncertainty took center stage in the estate-planning community, valuation issues added to the perplexity...
Jan 4, 2011
By Lauren Barack
“We’ll probably see, especially now, clients less interested in investments and more interested in managing cash.So [software] solutions that do more than just spit out an investment [idea], but also a debt management and emergency cash reserves will be potentially desirable.”...
Jan 1, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Kids of wealthy parents almost always fire their parents' advisors after they inherit the money. They also tend to fail to meet their financial goals. There are many reasons why. Here are some ways to keep their business....
Dec 7, 2010
By Jerry Gleeson
The gift that ultra-high-net-worth investors want most this holiday season is one step closer to reality: imminent congressional action on new estate tax rules. ...
Sep 21, 2010
By Alan Lavine
Should your empty nester clients get life insurance? Perhaps--if they have a lot of personal and/or business liabilities or concerns about estate taxes. ...
Sep 9, 2010
By Richard A. Behrendt, Senior Estate Planner, Robert W. Baird & Co.
Why Super Rich Clients Should Consider Making Taxable Gifts in 2010....
Sep 1, 2010
By Lisa A. Cohen
But you need to get over it....
Jun 3, 2010
By Jerry Gleeson
Some attorneys are working feverishly to get clients’ assets into a specialized trust before proposed federal legislation eliminates the provisions that have made it so popular as a means of significantly reducing taxes....
May 14, 2010
By Jerry Gleeson
Legislators in Congress are reportedly considering creating a kind of Roth IRA version of the estate tax. On The Money, a blog of the congressional newspaper The Hill, this week said lawmakers are considering whether to let taxpayers have the option of paying estate taxes in advance so they don’t owe that money when they die. ...
Feb 1, 2010
By Kevin McKinley
A few good moves you can make for clients in today's uncertain environment....
Nov 1, 2009
By Richard A. Behrendt
While Congress is preoccupied with other matters, legislation reforming estate taxes remaind stalled. What should advisors be discussing with their high-net-worth clients to alleviate some of the uncertainty?...
