Posts Tagged: Blog

A basic, very good article by Lawrence D. Sprung.  Might it be a nice piece to forward and share with some of your clients?

• Estate planning isn’t about focusing on your demise; it’s about taking control and making decisions that ensure your loved ones are cared for.
• It’s a way to share your wishes and protect the people you care about most, leaving them a roadmap instead of unanswered questions.
• Without a will and a plan, state intestacy laws determine what happens to your hard-earned assets.

The full article can be found by clicking here.

From an excellent WSJ article by Ben Cohen interviewing Ron Shaich, billionaire entrepreneur; 

• “What can I do in the next three to five years that I will respect looking back from my deathbed?”
• “I imagine my body old and fragile, my breathing shallow, my life energy almost extinguished, he wrote in Know What Matters, his 2023 book.  I try to evoke the feeling I want to have in that moment – a sense of peace, completion and, most importantly, self-respect.  Then I ask myself:  What am I going to do now to ensure that when I reach that ultimate destination, I’ve done what I need to do?” 
• “I realized that the time to be having that review was not in the ninth inning with two outs.  It was in the seventh inning, the fifth inning and third inning.”

The most important question estate planners can ask their clients; If we (client, spouse, collaborative advisors) were gathered here today and you had died last night what would we be discussing?  The follow-up questions are situation and client specific.  The answers to the questions will help the advisors and the client to determine whether or not there are problems/issues that should be addressed today.  The degree to which the client is dissatisfied/unhappy with his/her current situation and the potential outcomes if premature death were to occur will determine how smoothly, quickly, and successfully the rest of the planning and implementation process moves forward.

I believe this is the most important question that we estate planners should ask every client now, not in the ninth inning with two outs.  It is the essence of what we do and, perhaps, the most productive thing we can do this year.

The WSJ article can be found by clicking here.

“Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, is the 10^th-richest person in the United States, worth $127 billion.  In theory, when he dies, his estate should pay 40 percent of his net worth to the government in taxes.  He is also the beneficiary of a series of tax dodges that will enable him to pass on much of his fortune tax free….The savings for his family are on a pace to be roughly $8 billion.  It likely ranks among the largest tax dodges in the United States.”

“’From an estate-tax-planning perspective, it’s a grand slam,’ said Jonathan Blattmachr, a prominent trusts and estates lawyer who reviewed Mr. Huang’s disclosures for The Times.  ’He’s done a magnificent job.’”

To read the full article, click here.

The Washington Report: – Wealth Transfer Edition

“The close of 2024 is the ideal time to initiate planning to maximize the remaining fruit of the TCJA, while beginning to position for a new, but familiar, landscape following the potential sunset. These approaches should work well regardless of the new tax environment. Clients looking for areas of impact should focus on (1) Roth conversions; (2) optimizing charitable deductions; and (3) acquiring life insurance.”

To read the full report click here.

The Washington Report: – Wealth Transfer Edition

“All trust jurisdictions are not created equal. Choosing the jurisdiction with the best laws for the successful family is critical. In this modern, mobile world, the residence of the settlor, beneficiaries, and fiduciaries must be monitored and managed to avoid unintended consequences.  Successful families, no matter their location, are beginning to think nationally when deciding where to establish their irrevocable trusts.”   

To read the full report, click here.

“High-end business partnerships like hedge funds and wealthy individuals such as real estate investors have inappropriately used labyrinthine structures to shield tens of billions of dollars from taxation, Treasury Department officials said Monday as they vowed to crack down on the practice. They announced several steps to address a tax planning strategy known as basis shifting, in which complex business partnerships can move assets from one entity to another on paper for no reason other than to avoid taxes.”

The Washington Post article which can be found by clicking here.

“While a very important tool, premium financed arrangements should be carefully evaluated and actively managed post implementation. Since the success of the arrangement is based on a positive economic arbitrage, advisors should carefully evaluate and stress test (i) fluctuations in interest rates; (ii) fluctuations in the insured’s portfolio; (iii) the parties assigned to monitor performance; (iv) exit strategies; and (v) tax implications.”

To read the full report, click here.

 The Washington Report: – Wealth Transfer Edition

“The IRS continues its attack on valuations, and there’s no end in sight.  The U.S. Tax Court recently issued its decision in Estate of Cecil v. Commissioner. The decision is important because it contributes to the discussion whether tax affecting is necessary and/or appropriate when valuing an S corporation. Additionally, the decision reveals the zeal with which the IRS is pursuing wealthy taxpayers on valuation matters and highlights the importance of deep expertise needed for successful business succession planning and using reliable appraisals. Taxpayers with successful family-owned businesses who desire to retain ownership of the business within the family are well advised to engage advisors well versed in business succession planning.  Reliable appraisals matter.”

To read the full report, click here.

From the New York Times, “The High Stakes of Low Quality” by Yvon Chouinard, founder and former owner of Patagonia at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/23/opinion/patagonia-environnment-fast-fashion.html

• “I know firsthand the high stakes of low quality. When I started forging climbing equipment and selling it out of the back of my car in the 1950s, I was my own best customer. My dirtbag climber buddies and I wanted stronger pitons and sturdier carabiners to support us as we hung thousands of feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. If the metal were too soft or a joint too weak, the resulting fall would have killed me or one of my friends.  I wanted to stay alive, so I chose quality at every turn, creating products that were simple, versatile and made with the lightest, strongest materials I could find.”
• “People ask me how it has managed to stick around so long when the average life span of a corporation is less than 20 years. I tell them it’s been our unrelenting focus on quality, which includes making things that last and that cause the least amount of harm to our planet.” Quality is smart business. Even during economic downturns, people don’t stop spending. In our experience, instead of wanting more, they value better. Consumers should demand — and companies should deliver — products that are more durable, multifunctional and, crucially, socially and environmentally responsible.”

How does this relate to your practice and the clients you serve?  Do you believe that it’s better to do excellent planning and provide flawless implementation upfront, rather than to try to unwind poor planning and flawed implementation down the road?  The cost for working with the cheapest, least experienced, and perhaps, ethically-challenged professional can be prohibitively and dangerously high.

Reading the WSJ article below made me wonder how the facts represented impact the planning we do for our older clients.  There are so many issues that depend on our understanding of aging and longevity.

The WSJ article which can be found by clicking here.

What is usually referred to as life expectancy typically means life expectancy at birth: how long a hypothetical newborn would live if current age-specific death rates prevailed through her entire life. For older individuals, we care more about how long someone their age can expect to live, which can be calculated with the Actuaries Longevity Illustrator.  Geriatricians are increasingly seeking ways to measure not just how many years someone will live but how many healthy years, sometimes called healthspan. The evidence for Trump and Biden is favorable. The University of Connecticut’s Healthy Life Expectancy Calculator suggests (again, based on what’s publicly known) that Trump and Biden are likely to not only be alive, but in good health, for at least 10 years. 

Regular drinking of two or more drinks, three or more times a week, shortens life expectancy by about seven years. Both Trump and Biden are teetotalers, in addition to being nonsmokers.  “Those are two of the biggest killers right there,” said Bradley Willcox, a professor and research director at the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawaii.  Biden and Trump are each highly educated at a time when the life-expectancy gap between the educated and uneducated has been growing. They are wealthy, also a strong predictor of longer life. They receive excellent healthcare.  Median life expectancy is just that, the middle. Nonsmokers and nondrinkers, who are educated, wealthy and have long-lived parents and good medical care, are generally going to outlast the median quite a bit, which is why many people are not only reaching their 80s but continuing to thrive.  “Many people who are 80 years old now have more in common with people a couple generations ago who were 60,” said Willcox.

Putting together all the known data, Olshansky estimates that Trump and Biden would likely have at least an 80% chance of completing their terms in good health, far better than voters think.