If your clients get the chance to choose where they want to die, suggest it not be Connecticut. Because of budget cuts, the state legislature slashed all funding for the state probate system, causing the government to double the assessment rate and eliminate a $12,500 cap; some relatives of the recently deceased with estates in probate can receive bills for as much as $1 million. The new fees went into effect on July 1, and are retroactive to Jan. 1. They affect only those estates worth $2 million or more - or about 700 estates in Connecticut each year, .02 percent of the state population, according to Fox Business.
Medicare’s recent announcement that it will pay for end-of-life counseling as a legitimate medical service was largely greeted as routine. Indeed, the most controversial aspect of the announcement was the lack of controversy over it. It seems like only yesterday that so-called “death panels” were the hottest issue in the raging debate about Obamacare. How far we’ve come. Oxford University Press offers an interesting look at what’s changed and why these decisions remain so difficult. In short, as the elderly population rapidly grows, more and more Americans are experiencing the realities, and expenses, of end-of-life care firsthand. Funny how quickly people can change their tune when something becomes their problem too.
LPL’s new campus in the Charlotte, N.C. area is coming together. The last pieces of steel of the building’s framework are in place, reports the Charlotte Business Journal. LPL is spending $150 million to construct the Fort Hill campus, which eventually hold 3,000 employees in two buildings that have a combined 450,000 square feet of office space. Area employees signed the final beam, which was lifted into place during a "topping out" ceremony on Wednesday.
Everyone has a mentor at some point in his or her professional career, but what makes a good one? The editorial team at LinkedIn asked some of the world’s most successful professionals about the people that helped them get started and guided them to success. Before becoming a “Shark Tank” shark, Robert Herjavec received important business lessons from his then-boss Warren Avis, founder of Avis Rent a Car. Herjavec said people should stop asking for mentorship and instead be open to and embrace the learning opportunities that are already all around. Richard Branson found inspiration from his parents and an eccentric great uncle, whose reputation taught Branson, “whenever everybody else thinks your idea is absolutely barmy, it could actually prove to be a stroke of genius.”
