Thinking of naming minor children as beneficiaries of your life insurance policy, retirement account, or investment account? Think again. While minors can certainly inherit assets, they are still legally ineligible to manage those assets. If no trust or guardianship...
Directives
Wine and Estate Planning — More Similar Than You Think
"Wine and investing are more similar than you think", Bryce Sanders tells financial advisors, suggesting they use wine-related analogies to create "aha" moments in conversations with their clients. Interestingly, several of the analogies Sanders mention apply to the...
Attorney and Power of Attorney — You Need them Both
"It's easy to see how an advisor could feel they were doing the right thing", Steve Garmhausen explains in Financial Advisor, describing a situation where a financial advisor acted as Power of Attorney for a client. When an advisor at an SEC (Security and Exchange...
Graduation – It’s About More Than the Tassel
"Moving the tassel from the right side of the cap to the left signifies a rite of passage, marking the transition from one phase of life to another," the Honor Society Magazine explains. "The gesture also represents the graduates' readiness to take on new challenges...
Talking About Giving — Where’s the Disconnect?
Last week in our Geyer Law blog, Cara Chittenden discussed the fact that estate planning attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners each have a role in helping clients as they prepare to sell a business. It appears, from recent studies, however, that when it comes to...
Before the Business Sale, Bolster the Estate Plan
Last week in our Geyer Law blog, Cara Chittenden discussed the importance of having estate planning attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners work together to help clients realize their goals. Nothing demonstrates the need for precisely that kind of coordination than...
Bizarre Reminders of the Importance of Pre-Planning
"Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent," Steve Jobs is known to have said. "Not every historical figure meets a cinematic or heroic end," Colin Scanlon writes in Mental Floss. While the article may have been...
Don’t Forget to Ask the “What If?” Question
"As life expectancy extends, a retirement nest egg needs to account for not only extra spending years, but also the out-of-pocket healthcare costs that accompany it," financial advisor Andrew Crowell cautions clients planning for their golden...
Talking About Death Might Help — Both You and Them
Death is difficult to talk about, but JADE, the Jewish Association for Death Education, exists to make those conversations a little easier. Founded By Susan Kramer and David Zimmer in 2023, JADE's mission is to guide Jewish individuals and families through dying,...
For Later-Rather-Than-Sooner Divorce, New Directives Needed
When older people divorce, the entire estate plan needs to be reviewed and new documents are often mandatory.

