There’s the joke about the insurance advisor who said to her client:  “I have some bad news and some good news!  The bad news is your premiums will be higher than we thought!”  Client:  “Gee, what’s the good news?”  Advisor:  “It’s because you’re highly rated, so you won't have...

The satirical tabloid is still in publication.  But certainly anyone with any age to their credit remembers the heyday of its popularity back in the 1960s and 1970s when Mad Magazine was on the stands and in the hands of its huge adolescent readership. Its regular features were the stuff of the contemporary...

They say that you ought to think of your life expectancy as a yardstick. If you are age 25 you’ve reached one foot, at 50 you have both feet on the two-foot mark, and at 65 you’re somewhere between 31-32 inches. You get the drift. As you get toward the short end of the stick you start thinking...

Johnny Carson, one-time king of late night television, once quipped, “There’s only one fruitcake in the U.S. and it’s passed around from family to family.” The joke works because many don’t like fruit cake and, consequently, pass on any received to others at the next holiday season. The...

The control that the artist Prince assiduously maintained over his creative property during his life was tighter than a rusted nut. YouTube searches turned up precious little for those who tried to listen to his recordings and concerts on the cheap. Given such attention to detail it, it surprised...

Retirement planning is the major focus of many financial advisory firms – but guiding clients to a safe and prosperous retirement remains one of the great challenges that advisors face. So what does retirement planning really mean? Simply put, it requires the advisor to help their clients systematically...

On occasion, a client walks through our door who makes more than they can spend – complaining openly about how much they’re paying in income taxes on money they don’t even need. Sounds crazy, I know, but it happens and we must face the facts and address it nonetheless. While this “problem”...

We have discussed previously how a business sale can be a windfall for charitable giving opportunities [LINK]. Lottery winnings, law suit settlements, or an inheritance from great aunt Sarah are also instances where the money may arrive completely unpredictably. If you happen to be in the right place...

We are well into the New Year and now your wealthy clients can pass away a little richer than if they had not made it to the most recent Rose Parade. Here are three things to pass on to those you advise concerning taxation of their estate at death: The federal gift and estate tax lifetime exemption...

Maybe there’s some favorable news for insurance agents and brokers, but don’t jump too high! Recall that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) lowered the highest tax rate on C-corporations to 21%. To afford at least a partially similar benefit to pass-through businesses (S-corporations, partnerships,...