financial planners

The Revocable Living Trust: Helping Clients, Growing Your Practice

Posted by Robert L. Arone Prevention Is the Greatest Cure Your clients trust you with their financial future and the legacy they want to leave behind. They rely on you to anticipate challenges, foresee trouble, and take preventative measures. When it comes to a client’s financial wellbeing, it is up to the trusted advisor to know what problems are likely to arise and to have solutions ready to help avoid conflict in the family, waste of resources, and other common pitfalls. One crucial tool to keep assets safe and to ensure they are distributed in the way your client wants is through the use of a revocable living trust. What Is a Revocable Living Trust? A revocable living trust (RLT), sometimes called a revocable trust or living trust, is an alternative to a will. It’s a document that instructs a trustee on how to manage the client’s assets during the

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Portability and Married Couples: A Viable Option

Posted by Robert L. Arone For maximum benefit, estate planning should happen as a team effort, with CPAs, insurance professionals, financial advisors, and attorneys working together strategically and cooperatively. When it comes to helping married couples plan, today’s strategies need to be considerably more thoughtful than in previous years. Although the estate tax exemption is ever increasing, portability is still an important option, particularly for high net worth clients. Portability Is Here to Stay In fact, there’s really no downside to including portability in a plan, other than having to file a federal estate tax return. In the past, planners did not know whether portability was here to stay and were hesitant to rely on its benefits. However, at the beginning of 2013, portability laws became “permanent” under the American Tax Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). It is now an essential part of estate and financial planning. Portability provides estate

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Want to Connect with Your Clients? Make It Simple

Posted by Robert L. Arone Estate planning is a complex, nuanced process. Properly done, it requires a specialized team of experts in investment, tax, and legal strategy. At its center, however, is the client and their particular needs, hopes, and goals. It’s vital that over the course of working together, you engage your client and help them gain comfort and understanding of the process. Delving into a client’s plan together is a great opportunity to interact more closely. Be an Active Listener As an experienced financial advisor, you may feel as if you’ve heard and seen it all. But every client is unique. Each one’s story, background, goals, hopes and fears are different, and it’s up to you to ensure you’re getting all the necessary information before proceeding with the next steps. If you’re not entering client consultations with the goal of being an active listener, you could be setting

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Don’t Allow New Accounts to Catch Clients Unaware

Posted by Robert L. Arone   As a financial advisor, what could be more important than the financial health of your clients? As you know, a comprehensive trust-centered estate plan allows your clients to provide for loved ones, affording them immense peace of mind. But, estate planning is not a one-time event since trust-centered estate plans require careful supervision and regular reviews to function properly. Accordingly, it’s crucial that you participate in the maintenance of your clients’ trusts by monitoring important financial changes and helping clients to update their plans to reflect these changes. Significant Changes in Wealth Setting your clients up for success with their trusts is not difficult. Keep an eye out for any significant changes in wealth. One such important development in a portfolio is the addition of a new account, such as an IRA or new taxable investment account. Any time a new account is opened,

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Financial Planner vs. Financial Advisor – what’s the difference?

Posted by Gerald J. Turner – At first glance, the terms “financial advisor” and “financial planner” may seem interchangeable. However, when seeking the advice of a financial professional, it’s crucial to know which type of expert you need. Here is a quick overview of each professional, what they offer, and which one you need: Financial Advisor A financial advisor is a generic, broad term for a person who can help you manage your finances. Advisors can help with managing your investments, buying or selling stocks, or give general tax or budgeting advice. Advisors should hold a Series 65 license which is earned by passing the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam. This test covers legal issues, regulations, ethics and fiduciary duties, as well as portfolio management best practices and strategies. However, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, claim there are more than 100 different certifications available that a financial advisor

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