Wealth Planning

Who should consider life settlement as one alternative to managing life insurance capital? When is a settlement a wise decision? What factors should be considered before selling a life insurance policy? Who will benefit from a settlement? Have...

Bruce D. Steiner, attorney, Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C , New York, has this overview of the recently adopted Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA): There are three key provisions of the PPA that are particularly relevant to wealth...

Inheritors of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) who don't enjoy the tax-favored status of a surviving spouse can face steep income and estate tax bills. Many estate planners are aware of the tax raid that can fell large IRAs. It has become a...

If you are thinking about naming a trust with a charitable beneficiary as the recipient of some of your retirement assets, here is a word of advice: Don't! With the important exception of a charitable remainder trust (CRT), such a trust can pose...

David T. Leibell and Daniel L. Daniels of Cummings & Lockwood in Stamford, Conn., take a closer look at the Pension Protection Act's provisions on charitable giving and warn that the PPA signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 18, includes...

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a seminal report on tax information collection and exchange practices in 82 countries. The principal achievement of this long-awaited report, Tax-Cooperation Towards a...

Over the past few years, our clients' estate and life insurance planning have become far more complicated than they bargained for. Even if clients' personal situations and objectives were relatively static, which is a bold presumption, factors...

Providing true “life advice” is fast becoming an opportunity for conscientious and serious financial advisors to earn a special designation in retirement planning

Executive long-term care insurance can be an attractive benefit both for the company offering it and the insured.

Pension Protection Act of 2006, which President Bush signed into law yesterday, allows Series 7-holders to provide advice to 401(k) plan participants and directs the Secretary of Labor to issue a class exemption for advice provided to IRA holders.