It seems everywhere I turn there are lists and formulas the experts tell us we should adhere to. We should eat a certain ratio of protein to carbohydrate to fat. We should exercise no less than thirty minutes a day with some portion of the exercise being vigorous and another portion moderate activity. Our stock [...]
Did you ever have a teacher that answered all of your questions with a question of her own? That’s the way I felt sitting in the nation’s largest annual professional estate planning conference held in Orlando last week. I’ve attended this conference for the better part of twenty years and haven’t seen anything like what [...]
More than 90% of all U.S. businesses are family businesses, accounting for over 78% of our country’s employment and 150 of the Fortune 500 Companies. Yet only 30% of these family businesses will survive into the family’s second generation, 12% will make it to the third generation and only 4% survive to the fourth generation!
The [...]
On April 25th I’ll be competing in the St. Anthony’s Triathlon at St. Petersburg along with 4,000 other contestants. It’s one of Florida’s premier triathlon events, with participants coming not only from around the country, but from around the world. This particular triathlon is an “international distance” event – meaning that the swim is roughly [...]
Most of us need a certain amount of money to pay our everyday bills. People who are in the workforce usually rely on their paychecks, and try to keep a little extra on hand for emergencies. Financial professionals refer to the “extra” amounts on hand, such as savings or investments that can readily be turned [...]
We’re all familiar with the refrain “you can choose your friends but not your family”, which usually refers to the fact that we often prefer the personalities of our friends over those of certain relatives. Imagine how much more this holds true when you throw in relationships, money and inheritance into the mix.
As second marriages [...]
Everyone who has a revocable living trust has named a trustee of their trust. Typically you name yourself – which means that you have total control over all of the trust assets. Your trust will also name someone or some institution to administer it when you die – and ultimately make distribution of the trust [...]
“Harry” complained to me recently while reading over his estate planning documents. “These seem so…cold….so….’legal’…” he said slowly, searching for the right words.”I understand that these documents have to use this legal language so that my estate gets the benefits of the law, but I’m having a hard time knowing that these will be my [...]
With three daughters at home (two of them teenagers) you might think that our house is a continual mess of clothes, shoes, backpacks, electronic gear, school books, papers and what not.
And you would be right.
Patti and I are constantly badgering the kids to put everything in its place. Folded laundry goes in the dresser. Books [...]
A potential client called to ask a question that he claimed was “simple”. After a ten minute dissertation outlining a very complicated fact pattern – all I could say was, “It depends.”
He wasn’t very thrilled with my answer, and I can understand why. It would seem that lawyers sell more “Depends” than Walgreens and CVS [...]