Winding Up A Qualified Personal Resident Trust
May 10, 2012The Qualified Personal Residence Trust, or QPRT, became popular a couple of decades ago as a way to save gift and estate taxes. Now that many of the earlier trusts are expiring, families have to proceed carefully to protect their tax benefits. Let’s take, for example, the case of a man called Brian. In August 1997, Brian met with his estate planning attorney. Because he was a widower with a …
The Romney Trust: A Masterpiece
April 2, 2012
As a financial adviser, I look at a well-executed financial plan in the way an art lover looks at a painting. Mitt and Ann Romney’s 1995 Family Trust, with its reported $100 million, is my financial planning Mona Lisa.
Estate Planning In An Uncertain Environment
April 2, 2012A few years ago, I was working with a client, a retired executive, to update his estate plan. Like most retirees, he enjoyed playing golf and spending time with family and friends much more than working through his estate plan. His aversion was magnified because he just wasn’t comfortable with the important decisions that had to be made. We’d talk on the phone about the next steps; he’d meet with …
Tax Changes In 2012
April 2, 2012
As you complete your 2011 tax return checklist, you may not have considered the last step: thinking about your 2012 taxes. Avoid the temptation to ignore taxes until this time next year. The good news is that most taxpayers will be affected only by a few small changes for 2012. However, many tax provisions are set to expire at the end of the year, which makes it an important one …
Duly Noted
April 2, 2012Attorney’s failure does not excuse estate’s penalty. News flash: Trusting your lawyer’s soothing words can cost a lot of money. A federal judge in Pennsylvania drove home that lesson once again by refusing to disturb penalties that the Internal Revenue Service imposed on an estate whose executor was reassured when the attorney said everything was under control. Unknown to the executor, Thomas Freeman, attorney Dennis Byrne suffered from “a litany …
Rising Professionals Need Financial Help Too
March 9, 2012Life comes at you fast. The decisions you make between ages 25 and 35 will perhaps have the most significant impact on your success later in life – especially financially.
Yours, Mine and Ours: How Spouses Share and Transfer Property
February 8, 2012Most couples tend to overlook important consequences and planning opportunities when deciding how to take or maintain title to property.
The Making Of A Good Manager
January 6, 2012Nineteen years ago, I returned from my family’s winter holiday, unlocked a small, empty, rented office, and started my own tax and financial planning firm. I knew what it would take for my business to succeed. I would have to become the best financial adviser I could be. I would also have to attract enough clients, and the right sort of clients, to support a growing company, as well as …
Beware Mutual Funds Using Hedge Fund Strategies
January 6, 2012With hundreds of mutual funds that use hedge fund strategies being rushed to market, there are bound to be some real dogs. After a decade of low stock market returns and high volatility, investors are clamoring for products that seek to profit regardless of the market environment. Mutual fund companies are doing their best to fill the void with products that employ hedge fund strategies. The $2 trillion private hedge …
Performance Reviews That Work
January 6, 2012I can’t think of any ritual in American business that is more widely despised than the annual performance review. Employees fear and loathe reviews that are vague or inconsistent, (How can one manager love you for showing initiative, while another lambastes you for failing to seek direction?) or that are used in some opaque way to determine compensation, or that, worst of all, are coupled with a rule that says …
