Archive for the ‘estate planning’ Category

What Is Family Wealth Planning?

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Family Wealth Planning is the Web 2.0 version of estate planning. Whereas "estate planning" is about preparing and passing on your financial assets at the end of your life, Family Wealth Planning is about making the right financial and legal decisions for your whole family wealth throughout your lifetime and leaving ...

How Much Life Insurance Do You REALLY Need?

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Quite frequently when I'm working with clients, I am asked the question - how much life insurance do I need? Like any good lawyer, my answer is "it depends." There's no set answer. Personally, I have $1,500,000 on my life. And, by the way, it's not payable to my kids or my ...

What Kind of Life Insurance Do You Really Need?

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

I get massively ticked off when I meet with prospects for a Family Wealth Planning Session and see on their Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment they've been sold life insurance they don't need. Life insurance is critically important for families, no doubt. But, it's important you get the right type of life ...

One of Your Family Member’s Stole $300,000 From You

Friday, April 4th, 2008

A few days ago, I got an email from my cousin asking me whether I wanted to hear about how one of my family members stole $300,000 from me and my sister. Let me start at the beginning ... About a month ago, my grandmother (Nana) died in Florida. Nana was my ...

ABC News article confirms why your estate plan is likely to fail

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Last week, I was contacted by Alice Gomstyn, a reporter from ABC News who was writing a story about Heath Ledger, who as you'll recall from my article last week, died with an out of date Will that didn't mention his daughter Matilda. Alice's article confirms what I've been saying all ...

Why Every Adult Needs to Plan!

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Another sad case of a woman on life support who didn't do any estate planning. Deanna Suzanne Fruggiero is only 31 and not married, so she probably didn't think it was important. Now, her divorced parents are fighting over who will make decisions about her care. Every adult ...

The Rich Get Richer - Why Not You?

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Monday's Wall St. Journal article Market Turmoil Creates Opening to Enrich Heirs highlighted one way the current downturn in the market can be a huge opportunity for the wealthy. This is a fantastic time for you to pass assets on to your heirs at a major discount. For those of ...

Heath Ledger Estate Planning Out of Date and No Mention of Daughter Matilda or Her Mother Michelle Williams in Will

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Once again, another celebrity has died with an out-of-date Will. Heath Ledger's Will has been made public (as all Wills are public documents after death) and it turns out that the Will, made three years prior to his daughter's birth, leaves everything to his parents and sister. We saw the ...

Estate Planning? But I’m only 35! Secrets of the Old Rich Guys Revealed

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Unless you were born into an Über-rich family (and sometimes even then), your parents’ probably never discussed estate planning when you were growing up and didn’t have any kind of relationship with a personal lawyer (at least not one you remember discussed with fondness!) It’s not a surprise.  70% of people ...

Moms: Take Charge of Your Family’s Future

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

I'm hosting a free teleconference for MOMS ONLY and if you are a mom, you need to be there. It's next Tuesday, February 19 at 1p PT/4p ET. We are close to sold out on our line block, so please get registered now if you plan to attend so I can tell ...