Educating Heirs on Student Debt
One of my favorite television shows is Shark Tank, which shows aspiring entrepreneurs pitching their business plans to seasoned investors, the “sharks,” in hopes of an investment. The sharks use their own money to invest, so they ask tough questions to help evaluate the business’s potential. Have they demonstrated sales? How much does it cost […]
College Savings
With America’s student loan debt growing larger every year, saving for college is on the minds of many of our clients. Whether you want to help pay for some of all of college, you likely want to do it as efficiently as possible. Which savings vehicle is best for me? How much do I need […]
Balancing Saving and Giving
Most of our clients aspire to be financially self-sufficient. As those clients age, we notice some amount of transition into wanting to benefit others with accumulated resources. This giving can range from donations to charities of interest to paying for a grandchild’s education to helping a friend in need. We have been fortunate since the […]
Cash Flow Planning and Long Term Care
One of the most challenging planning areas for us as practitioners is Long Term Care. In principle, it should be easy to universally recommend everyone go out and buy a Long Term Care policy that pays for skilled nursing needs at the end of their life. However, we have found planning in this area to […]
Evaluating Pension Options
Each year we are seeing fewer workers covered by a company pension plan. Overwhelmingly companies are trending away from the traditional pension- a defined benefit, to a defined contribution plan like a 401k. By and large employers have decided that guaranteeing a retirement income is too expensive. If you are lucky enough to be in […]
Life Insurance – Protecting Against the Unexpected
Coming in at number two (just behind estate planning) on the list of dreaded-but-necessary financial to-do’s is life insurance, because, let’s be honest, no one wants to reflect on the circumstances in which life insurance would come in handy. We’ve heard nearly every reason in the book as to what keeps people from getting the […]
Risk Management in Estate Planning
When thinking about estate planning, most people think solely about how their assets will be distributed at their death. Obviously, that is of primary concern but many of our clients’ estate plans encompass the often-neglected area of risk management. In each of our lives, there are risks that must be considered and therefore planned around. […]
Charitable Estate Planning
Estate planning can achieve many goals, from simple to complex. The foundations of good estate plans we have discussed thus far in our Atheneum articles make sure that a family has formalized their personal wishes to make for a graceful transition to the next generation. Many families wish not only to provide for their next […]
The Investor Taxation Lifecycle
We are not CPAs nor are we tax preparers, but a great deal of our time is spent working with clients and their professionals honing a financial plan that is tax efficient. We advise our clients to hire a CPA with whom we can work together to manage their financial plans. The financial plan and […]
Takeaways From a Week at the Chicago Booth School of Business
As all the children in our community are getting ready to go back to school, I am reflecting on my week back in the classroom this summer. I was lucky enough to spend time at the Chicago Booth School of Business learning from the country’s leading practitioners in estate and tax planning. Earlier this year, I set […]
Educating Your Next Generation
Key Takeaways: Our most successful planning relationships are those in which we work with our client’s other professional advisors – and their children and heirs as well. Involving heirs in your financial and estate planning makes the next generation’s estate administration job much easier. You do not have to tell them every detail, but at […]
Cash Flow Planning and Long Term Care
One of the most challenging planning areas for us as practitioners is Long Term Care. In principle, it should be easy to universally recommend everyone go out and buy a Long Term Care policy that pays for skilled nursing needs at the end of their life. However, we have found planning in this area to […]
