I have an extended-family member who lives alone. He’s 69-years old, retired and socially isolated. He can occasionally be seen walking to the local store to buy groceries, but outside of that, there isn’t enough activity to be noted.  He doesn’t leave his apartment often enough that neighboring tenants would notice his presence and/or absence. […]

California is no stranger to wildfires. In fact, this past week Northern California has had to battle some pretty dangerous wildfires. The scariest thing about wildfires is they can occur with no warning at all! However, these blazes are a reminder to always be prepared in the case of any fire. Although the Academy offices […]

This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning. When a decedent dies, a federal estate tax return (IRS Form 706) is not required to be filed unless the decedent’s gross estate exceeds their remaining federal estate tax exclusion. In 2017, for someone who has not used any exclusion during […]

To say “thank you” to our blog community for being such valuable Members of the American Academy community, we’ve decided to release THREE of our most popular training resources as a FREE year-end gift! Don’t miss the opportunity to listen to one of our most powerful education sessions presented by SAM DONALDSON, LL.M, from George […]

Truth: Marketing to the public, even when you’ve worked with a Direct Mail company to narrow down your target audience, can be pricey. And what’s more, it can also be unpredictable. Don’t get me wrong, public seminar marketing works great for some and I’m not implying that you should rule it out entirely. But the […]

President Trump and Republican lawmakers recently unveiled a Blueprint for tax reform. Here’s a link to a story about this in U.S. News. Here’s a link to a deeper look at the proposal in the Atlantic. As I discussed in last week’s blog, there are many uncertainties in the plan and in the prospects for […]

Regardless of your estate planning talent and skill… without rapport, people in general don’t feel like they “know” you. Trust is nearly impossible without rapport. Even if building rapport is not your strength, there are a few specific efforts you can fine tune and practice on everyone from the dry-cleaning lady to the guy next […]

While web design trends continuously change over time, the underlying needs of your website visitors remain the same. Users still need to find information, be able to read it, know what to click on and where those links will lead.By providing a good user experience on your website, not only will your visitors be inspired […]

President Trump and Republican lawmakers recently unveiled a blueprint for tax reform. Here’s a link to a story about this in U.S. News. The blueprint calls for many things, including a reduction in and compression of income tax rates, a doubling of the standard deduction for income taxes, an elimination of most tax deductions other […]

If you attend any big direct marketing conference, the largest being DMA (Direct Marketing Association) held annually in Chicago, you will see hundreds of exhibit booths and towering structures featuring the latest innovations in printing technology using digital imaging and personalization. Yes, printing nowadays has taken enormous leaps into very advanced variable messaging. They were […]