Giving Insights

During a routine check-in meeting, your client casually mentions that their employer, a local company, was just acquired. The client and dozens of fellow employee shareholders are now flush with cash. “I’d like to use some of the money to give to charity,” the client tells you. “Let’s talk about a family fund at the […]

September 8, 2022

Despite cautionary tales most Americans do not have a will. Even those clients who do have estate plans in place may not truly understand the difference between a will and a trust (and the reason they still need a will even if they have a revocable living trust). A client also may not understand that […]

July 7, 2022

Retirement planning is an important discussion topic during client meetings every year. In recent months, though, you may have observed an uptick in clients’ questions about their plans for retirement related to:  –Required minimum distributions (“RMDs”) from qualified retirement plans, including questions prompted by media coverage of pending legislation known as SECURE 2.0;  –Stability of […]

July 7, 2022

Advisors frequently comment that they’re surprised to discover the many ways the Community Foundation can help their clients, especially compared with national donor-advised fund programs affiliated with brokerage houses or financial services firms. Here are three examples of the types of comments community foundations have heard over the years from attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors:  […]

Your clients will arrive in 15 minutes. You’re reviewing the file. Everything is in order. The estate planning documents are up to date, you’re ready to share the latest investment results, and you are prepared to debrief the 2021 tax season and make tax planning recommendations for the remainder of this year. It sounds pretty […]

May 10, 2022

Over the last few years, especially as social consciousness has increased, many of your clients have no doubt become more interested in how they can make a difference in both their local community and the world at large. Whether those activities include providing financial support to favorite charities or volunteer service, purchasing products that support […]

May 10, 2022

Qualified Charitable Distributions, or “QCDs,” have been in the news a lot lately, especially in light of proposed SECURE Act 2.0 legislation that passed the House of Representatives in March and is now pending in the Senate. Through a QCD, starting at age 70½, your client can instruct the administrator of an IRA to direct […]

March 8, 2022

Ranging from $175 million to a whopping $15 billion, the 10 largest gifts to charity in 2021 may have caught your clients’ attention. Not only do philanthropic gifts seem to keep getting bigger, but the future looks bright, too, with more than $84 trillion projected to be handed down in what may be one of […]

January 6, 2022

“The greatest wealth transfer in modern history has begun,” according to a mid-2021 report in the Wall Street Journal. And, with tax reform’s big bite into estate values off the table, at least for now, many of your older clients may be thinking seriously about their legacies. And these legacies will be significant. As of […]

More than half of the country’s GDP is generated by the 5.5 million family-owned businesses in the United States. Profits aren’t the only priority for most family businesses; indeed, the vast majority of family business owners report that other factors, such as culture, community, charity, and values, are also important to the business. Although it […]