Why Blended Families Should Pay Special Attention to Estate Planning
Roughly forty percent of American families today are blended, yet most estate plans are still built as if the household has one set of parents and one set of children. Introduce Probate Isn’t the Villain: The Real Estate Planning Risks Hiding in Plain Sight
The general consensus in wealth management is that probate should be avoided, but the reality is more complicated. Probate can be genuinely painful: public, slow, costly, and emotionally draining in the What to do with an Existing Permanent Life Insurance Policy
The decision of what to do with a permanent life insurance policy – such as a whole life or universal life policy – at the point of retirement is often A New Chapter for the 401(k): Access to Private Markets
U.S. retirement plans hold roughly $13.8 trillion in assets, with 401(k)s alone accounting for an estimated $8.7 trillion. For decades, that money has been almost entirely confined to public markets. That may be changing. Last August, President Gaps in Otherwise Good Estate Plans: Why Documents Are Only Half the Battle
Lately, a troubling pattern has surfaced in even the most carefully constructed estate plans. The work looks excellent on paper because competent attorneys drafted the documents, and specialized CPAs handled the tax The 2026 Property Tax Squeeze: Drivers and Mitigation Strategies
If you opened your latest property tax assessment with a wince, you are far from alone. Recent industry data suggests that nearly two-thirds of U.S. property owners were caught off guard by Why Now May Be the Time to Lock in Today’s Tax Rates
April 15th has come and gone. For most taxpayers, the instinct is to file the return, pay the liability, and put taxes out of mind for another year. However, there is Reduce the Risk of Retiring at the Wrong Time
Retiring this year? There is something worth thinking about before you circle that date on the calendar. Consider a scenario where the Iran conflict or other geopolitical events plunge your Forgotten Annuities, Found Opportunities
A fair amount of people are sitting on old annuity contracts they haven’t thought about in years. These contracts typically carry values between $50,000 and $250,000 – and are often modest relative to a household’s broader