Over the years I have learned a great deal from observing the coaching that takes place in our Peak Performers meetings. When I first joined the Academy as an Event Coordinator, my role in the program was to coordinate the logistics of the meeting space and look after our Peak Performers and Co-Founders to ensure […]

When problems arise in an estate plan, often the source is a lack of clarity. Tom Petty died in 2017 and left a fortune estimated by Newsweek to be around $38 million. Petty did some things right, but he could have done better. What did Tom Petty do right? First, he planned. Most people just […]

To say “thank you” to our blog community for being such valuable Members of the American Academy community, we’ve decided to give away a few of our most popular training sessions from last year so that you can stay on top of the “legal/technical” issues that power your practice. The first session is a two-part […]

What if you could give your children assets in a trust and they could use them and yet they’d avoid estate taxation at their death? That’s what a “Generation-Skipping Transfer” Trust, or “GST” trust does. It is a trust which is designed to avoid estate taxation at the death of the beneficiary. During the life […]

I can admit that I am bit addicted to my smartphone. I have everything I could possibly need at my fingertips! There’s some comfort knowing I’m not the only one out there who has this addiction. If you Google ‘smartphone addiction’ there are articles and websites abound that talk about it. The worst part is, […]

The “Kiddie Tax” is a tax on the “unearned” income of a child. In other words, it applies to the child’s income from interest and dividends, but not from wages from a job like their paper route or McDonald’s. The Kiddie Tax has been around since 1986 and applies to the unearned income of a […]

Online marketing has evolved tremendously over the last several years, yet email marketing continues to be one of the most important online marketing tools. It allows you to connect with your target audience, building relationships with clients and prospects in a personalized way, at an affordable cost. According to Hubspot, the inbound marketing software platform, […]

Estate planning is a complicated area of the law. It’s the nexus of several substantive areas of law, including taxation, property law, family law, and other substantive areas. The American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys held its semi-annual conference last week in Atlanta. The Members of the Academy learned the latest developments in the law […]

Do you find Lunch and Learn community outreach events to be effective lead generators for estate planning clients? By making your Lunch and Learn part of a Before I Die festival, you can reach even more new clients. Before I Die festivals offer a range of activities to get people to think about, talk about, […]

It seems there are often new tax proposals. In fact, a couple of prior articles this year examined other tax proposals, such as those from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). But, regardless of their merits, those proposals are not likely to go anywhere given they are opposed by most Republicans. However, […]