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Recent Posts in Insurance Category

  • How to Build your "TDT" - Trust Dream Team

    Perhaps you have been in control of your finances for the majority of your life. You pay the bills, file the taxes, and make savings and investment decisions. But in the violent, chaotic, and busy world we now live in, it’s becoming more and more difficult to stay on top of the ever-changing stock markets, tax rates, and estate laws. More importantly, your golf handicap needs a bit of work. Now ...
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  • Charitable Giving: A Legacy at Every Income Level

    “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop Since 2010, over 240 signatories from 29 different countries have joined the Giving Pledge, a global initiative, uniting individuals of diverse backgrounds towards the common goal of a public commitment to philanthropy. You may be familiar with some of its founders, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet, alongside additional individuals ...
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  • 11 Year-End Tax Tips & So Much More

    The following is our checklist of year-end tax strategy items and matters we believe you should consider addressing between now and the year’s end. Many of these helpful tips require a discussion with your financial and tax advisors, and we are available to collaborate. Before we begin, remember that your CPA and financial advisor have invaluable information that is a simple phone call away, be ...
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  • GENERATIONS Newsletter Summer 2022

    Dear Clients and Friends, Recently, many of our clients are approaching a time in their lives when they are making major transitional decisions. At these critical milestones, many will face having to address challenging issues/conversations - starting with themselves. - When are you going to stop driving? - When will you have the conversation with your children/heirs about your finances and ...
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  • 2019 Risk Management Self-Audit: Extended Version

    Today’s world presents new and old dangers to individuals and families. Information technology, now essential to our work and private lives, makes it easier than ever for bad actors to reach out and harm us. A parade of novel financial products bid us to invest, lest we miss out on the next big opportunity, but the modern, algorithm-driven market may tank for reasons the average investor is not ...
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  • Life Insurance Policy Self-Audit

    Clients often ask us about their life insurance policies and their value to their estate plans. We often hear, "Should I go or should I stay?" "Should I keep my existing policies, or should I buy more life insurance to replace the wealth that may be needed in the future to pay taxes and other expenses?" "How do you know if you have too little or too much life insurance for your estate and ...
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  • When Should I Review My Estate Plan?

    With so much uncertainty in the world this past year, you may be asking the question, “Do I need to review my estate plan?” and perhaps “When is the right time to review my estate plan?” If you ask these questions, you have already taken the most challenging step; getting started. Once you have designed an estate plan to meet your needs, the next step is ensuring that your documents are up to date ...
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  • Building Your Estate Plan’s Legacy Component

    This is the sixth of a six-part series on building a comprehensive estate plan designed to protect you and your heirs for many generations to come. As our mantra states, “Today’s Plans Become Tomorrow’s Legacy.” Part 1 - Building a Road Map for Estate Planning and Financial Success Part 2 - Team Building: Original building of estate planning team Part 3 - Risk Management Part 4 - Core Documents ...
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  • What Makes a Great Estate Plan: Introduction to our 6-part series

    If you are reading this article, you are probably curious whether or not you are on the right path with respect to your estate and financial plan. Over the 30 years of being in practice, we have built and executed thousands of estate plans. To help you better understand the key elements of an effective estate plan, we have created metrics to analyze our client’s plans and the resulting outcomes. ...
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  • Hurricane Preparedness Checklist What is Truly Important to You?

    If you were told that you had one hour to prepare your home for a hurricane and leave the area, what would you do? What would you take with you? What is irreplaceable? Is your home hurricane-ready and do you have an exit strategy? This article is the first of a three-part series on preparing for an emergency. The second article will cover financial documents that are essential to secure in case of ...
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  • Important Financial and Legal Documents Are You Ready for a Quick Getaway?

    Are you ready for a quick getaway? Whether going on a vacation or evacuating in the case of a hurricane, being prepared is more than packing suitcases or storing water and supplies. In Part One, we shared our checklist for things to do to prepare for a hurricane and evacuation in the case of an emergency - here we are discussing the important financial, legal and other documents that you should ...
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  • The SECURE Act Special Report

    Create your legacy and shift your tax dollars to your favorite charities while maintaining an income stream for you and your family. After much anticipation, new federal legislation titled, The SECURE Act was recently signed into law on December 20, 2019. Inside of the SECURE Act, one of the big changes is the elimination of a popular tax-deferral strategy known as the "Stretch IRA". Without the ...
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  • Tax Tips for Dealing with YOUR retirement accounts

    Roth it? Really? —— Should I Pay Tax Now on Purpose? Is it time to consider a Roth IRA ? When does it make sense to accelerate your obligation to pay more taxes electively? General answer: NEVER The general rule of income tax planning is to defer income (into the future) and accelerate deductions (into this year) to lower your income tax bill. So, when does it make sense to pay taxes early in ...
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  • Risk Management in Your Estate Plan

    Don't forget to cover your assets! Florida is one of the best states for estate planning and asset preservation. You’ve heard the expression, “a little knowledge goes a long way.” This is very true when it comes to protecting your assets from unforeseen creditors in Florida. While Florida has yet to enact legislation that allows self-settled domestic asset protection trusts, it does have several ...
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  • Long Term Care Insurance - A Changing Landscape

    Long term care coverage is changing..... There are risks in life that are insurable ; for example, premature death (while in good health) or living long enough to require health care services. For premature death, we have life insurance and for health care services, we have long term care insurance. So, which is right for me? Life insurance has been around for over 100 years while long term care ...
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  • Life Insurance: Consider a Very Impactful Gift

    Ten Considerations Before Cancelling Your Life Insurance Policy With the enormous increase in the gift and estate tax exemption (from $5 Million to $10 million indexed for inflation), many of you have valuable life insurance policies that you no longer desire to keep or pay future premiums. This article explains why cashing in the policy may not be in your best interest. Alternatively, a gift of ...
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  • Art Law: It's Not Always a Pretty Picture!

    This is NOT gold, securities or cash, it is “Art”; precious, difficult to value and highly subjective as to taste. Art is the asset class that is often ignored in the estate planning process. Unlike securities, Art rarely has a title to its ownership, therefore, why bother planning for its disposition, simply take it off the wall (or pedestal) and hand it over to your loved ones without a shred of ...
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  • Risk Management Self-Audit: Are You Exposed?

    As you go through the following Risk Management self-audit, examine whether your estate plan thoroughly addresses these essential questions. Have you analyzed how you are going to cover the high costs of long term care? Have you reviewed your long-term care insurance option, including the new combined products such as the accelerated benefit/living benefits options built inside of life insurance ...
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  • How Are You Dealing with the Major New Tax Act?

    A year has passed - what do we do now? a) Sit tight. b) Give, give, give. c) Analyze how the new Tax Act affects you and your family. d) None of the above. e) Procrastinate, NOW! To be honest, we do not know that any one of these answers is best. Obviously, as your law firm, we suggest “c” - analyze the impact of the new Tax Law changes on your personal family situation. In this article, we will ...
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  • Snowbird Traffic Jam: The Mass Migration to Sunshine Savings

    Whether you’re in it for the sunshine, the savings, or both … It’s a great time to be a Floridian! While the new tax changes make moving to Florida seem like a no-brainer, the ideal conditions are likely to raise red flags for tax authorities. If you are planning to change your domicile to Florida in the coming year, it is critical that all details are reviewed with an experienced tax advisor. ...
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  • Planning for a Healthy Future

    As we age, the issues of how and where to live begin to loom larger. Current and projected physical and mental decline often drive housing and care decisions. Medical costs alone are escalating and may be difficult to predict. While the majority of Americans successfully age-in-place at home, it is often not possible. Careful management of your health and detailed planning are critical to staying ...
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  • Downsizing Made Easy... You Can’t Take It With You!

    A few years ago I helped my mom de-clutter and organize her home, keeping only those items she needed, wanted, liked and used on a regular basis. While in the throes of figuring out what to keep and what not to keep, we also rearranged her accessories, knick-knacks, lamps and artwork, giving her condo a fresh and updated look. When we were done, my mother turned to me and said; “My home is in ...
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  • Navigating Life Insurance - Part III: Slow and Steady Wins the Race… A Policy That Lasts Your “Whole Life”

    Previously published in FINE Magazine In our last two articles, we explored the differences between Term Life Insurance and Universal Life Insurance. To recap, term life insurance is ideal for short-term liquidity needs with a guaranteed death benefit & universal life insurance provides a permanent solution with more flexibility than whole life. Alas, this leaves us with whole life insurance. ...
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  • Navigating Life Insurance - Part II: The Goldilocks of Life Insurance

    Previously published in FINE Magazine In the first article of our series, we explored the differences between term life insurance and permanent life insurance. Simply stated, the most distinct differences between the two involve longevity. Term life insurance offers coverage for a limited period of time, whereas, permanent life insurance provides coverage until death. Naturally, each life ...
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  • Navigating Life Insurance Part I: Find the Best Policy for your Unique Situation

    Previously published in FINE Magazine There are many great reasons to purchase life insurance. Common uses range from paying final expenses to replacing spousal income to distributing your wealth and business interests evenly amongst heirs. One of the most famous adages is the following: Buy term life and invest the rest. Is it true? A quick online search generates hundreds of articles recapping ...
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