Tax and Wealth Advisor Blog

I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now–Congress passed sweeping tax legislation at the end of 2017. These changes to the tax code will affect everyone from hairdressers to private equity fund managers. Everyone now wonders, what do I need to know about the tax plan? Over each of the next several weeks, we will […]

Given my combination of experience (13 years in the home office of a national life insurance company) and expertise (working with clients on the creation and execution of succession strategies), a growing part of my practice is in leading financial advisors in the creation of a succession plan that ultimately leads to the sale of […]

A successful succession plan maximizes the value of the business in order to take care of the people the owner cares about.  Of course, that raises an important question: “What factors maximize the value of a business in transition?”  That question leads to another important question: “Why does a buyer want a particular business?” The […]

One of the critical planning tools a closely held business plan should have is a buy-sell plan. A plan that addresses what happens to ownership of the company upon certain “triggering events,” such as the death, disability, or termination of an owner.  A buy-sell plan is a common document for a closely held business, and […]

Virtually all of my clients leave property to the next generation through trusts. Generally, these trusts last for the lifetimes of their children and oftentimes for further generations, as well. We setup trusts this way to protect those children from creditors, predators, and divorcing spouses, and previous blog posts have fully described how and why […]

As I have stated before, when people find out what I do, the most common “cocktail party” question I get is “do I need a will?” Over time, my answer to that question has evolved. I used to respond by asking a couple of questions: Do you have minor children? Who do you want to […]

My last blog post focused on how to build the plan to get from where you are to where you want to go. The plan, to bridge the gap to our most awesome future, requires us to figure out what we need to stop, start, and continue doing to get from where we are to […]

The last two posts to this blog have focused on how to build a great plan.  First, you need to create a compelling vision; one that describes, in detail, where you are going and why. Then, you need to define where you currently are with empathetic honesty.  The third step, and the focus of this […]

My last blog post talked about the critical role vision plays in building an effective plan.  Today’s post focuses on the other end of the planning spectrum: if vision is where the plan is going, the plan must start with an objective, intelligent analysis of where we are.  This part of the planning process is […]

Building any successful plan, whether a strategic plan, estate plan, or succession plan, requires capturing a specific vision. The question is, “what exactly is vision?” It is not some weird, new age concept that finds its way into the movie Office Space. While the term “goal” is a good analogue, “goal” is not quite right—because […]