Podcasts about beneficiaries

My Will is different than my beneficiary - who wins?

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3488: Jeff Rose explains why choosing a life insurance beneficiary requires careful wording and thoughtful planning to avoid legal complications and unintended payouts. By clearly defining beneficiaries, accounting for complex family situations, and ensuring adequate coverage for debts, income replacement, and funeral costs, Rose shows how proper planning can protect loved ones from financial stress. His guidance helps families avoid disputes while ensuring benefits reach the right people when they're needed most. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/beneficiary-review-designation-form-life-insurance-retirement-accounts/ Quotes to ponder: "The main goal of your life insurance plan is to give your family the money needed to pay off all your bills and debts." "When choosing a life insurance beneficiary, it is very important to be clear in the designations of who is going to receive the benefits after the death of the insured." "You always need to calculate your current debt situation first." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Friday Five for March 13, 2026: Headline Quick Hits AI & Critical Thinking CMS Notification: 1.3 Million MBI Reassignments 2026 Medicare Part D Enrollment Stats Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Demonstration   Get Connected:

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3488: Jeff Rose explains why choosing a life insurance beneficiary requires careful wording and thoughtful planning to avoid legal complications and unintended payouts. By clearly defining beneficiaries, accounting for complex family situations, and ensuring adequate coverage for debts, income replacement, and funeral costs, Rose shows how proper planning can protect loved ones from financial stress. His guidance helps families avoid disputes while ensuring benefits reach the right people when they're needed most. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/beneficiary-review-designation-form-life-insurance-retirement-accounts/ Quotes to ponder: "The main goal of your life insurance plan is to give your family the money needed to pay off all your bills and debts." "When choosing a life insurance beneficiary, it is very important to be clear in the designations of who is going to receive the benefits after the death of the insured." "You always need to calculate your current debt situation first." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Jon Sanchez discusses the complexities of retirement planning, focusing on how taxes can unexpectedly erode your savings. He offers strategies to avoid the retirement tax bomb, including tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing, Roth conversions, and estate planning tips.Chapters00:00 Market Overview and Economic Indicators01:22 Understanding the Retirement Tax Bomb04:01 Strategies to Mitigate Retirement Taxes09:55 Stock Market Activity and Oil Prices20:21 The Retirement Tax Bomb Explained29:01 Planning for Social Security Taxes32:49 Sanchez MWF Disclaimer .mp3Resources & LinksSanchez Gaunt Wealth ManagementConnect with Jon SanchezLinkedInFacebookInstagramYouTubeBlog

There is a storm coming with the challenges of navigating the TRUSTEE CRISIS. It is one of the biggest blind spots in the “GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER” and will be the source of mountains of litigation for the unwary, https://youtu.be/hwQev88A03M Summary In this conversation, Frazer Rice and Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey discuss the current crisis in trusteeship, highlighting the shortage of qualified trustees amidst a significant wealth transfer. They explore the importance of modern trust planning, the challenges faced by individual trustees, and the need for better education and training in the field. The discussion also covers the emotional and interpersonal aspects of trusteeship, the functions and responsibilities of trustees, and the necessity of managing risk effectively. They emphasize the importance of building a pipeline for future trustees and improving the perception of the profession, while also identifying opportunities within the trust industry. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qpkrVdaUa2AfDxgl7j3yN?si=XVgG3jE_Qpqq2JTqi8XLXQ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠) Takeaways The coming crisis in trusteeship is already here. There is a significant shortage of qualified trustees. Trusteeship requires strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. Managing risk is a fundamental aspect of trusteeship. Trustees critically need education and training. The role of a trustee is evolving with increasing complexity. Beneficiaries need to understand their rights and the trustee’s role. Custodial responsibilities are essential for asset protection. There are many opportunities for growth in the trust industry. Trust law and investment management are distinct fields. This Episode is for . . . Anyone that has an estate plan with a trust in it and doesn't know what a trustee does Any advisor who works w/ multi-generational situations (that’s everybody in wealth management) Any RIA looking to sell Financial types worried about compliance world Fiduciary litigators Chapters of “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” 00:00 The Coming Crisis in Trusteeship 02:06 Importance of Modern Trust Planning 04:11 Challenges with Individual Trustees 08:03 The Dwindling Pool of Qualified Trustees 10:06 Functions and Responsibilities of a Trustee 12:20 The Emotional and Interpersonal Aspects of Trusteeship 16:05 Managing Risk in Trusteeship 19:07 Building a Pipeline for Future Trustees 22:10 The Role of Education in Trusteeship 25:07 Improving the Perception of Trusteeship 28:19 The Need for Better Trust Education 30:39 Bifurcation of Trustee Functions 33:26 Distribution Functions and Beneficiary Relations 36:52 Custodial Responsibilities in Trusteeship 40:19 Consequences of Poor Asset Management 46:41 Curriculum for Trustee Education 52:13 Opportunities in the Trust Industry Transcript of “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” Frazer Rice (00:01.068)Welcome aboard, Jennifer. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (00:02.723)Thanks Frazer, how are you today? Frazer Rice (00:04.782)I am doing great. We’re going to dive into a topic that is near and dear to both of our hearts. And that is what I’m describing as the coming crisis in trusteeship, but I think it’s already here. Which is the concept of qualified trustees being in short supply, right in the face of a gigantic wealth transfer. And first of all, before we get into that, just describe what you do on a day to day basis first. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (00:33.445)Sure, I actually wear a bunch of hats. Day to day, right now, I’m a full-time practicing trust and estate attorney. I’m also an individual trustee for a variety of trusts that need either somebody here physically located in Delaware for a short period of time or even a successor trustee. But I’ve also spent many, many years building programs in trust management and trust administration. Because there is this crisis of human capital that just does not exist. I built multiple programs. They’re housed out of the University of Delaware. So I act as a trust and estate attorney, do planning, administration, I teach in the area, I build programs in the area, and I serve as a trustee. PEAK TRUST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE Frazer Rice (01:23.182)A full plate to be sure. To me, I came out of Wilmington Trust and another trust company served an individual trustee too. I’ve seen all these different flavors of trusteeship. My general sort of bon mot around that is that the individual trustees. I’d say 95 % or higher don’t really have an appreciation of the risk and responsibility that they’re taking on. And then the corporates have their own issues, which we’ll get into in a little bit. If we pull back even further, modern trust planning in wealth management, why is this so important? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (02:06.275)That’s massively important. It’s not just for the mass affluent or the ultra high net worth. It’s for everybody. We have all of these assets that we have this hyperfocus on building and increasing our wealth. Making sure that we have the ability to sustain ourselves throughout our entire lives. But if we don’t do this type of planning, if we don’t have structures and implementation for when we die, then our assets that we’ve planned so diligently for will fall off of a cliff. We lose the ability to control ultimately what happens to those assets. Layered on top of that, of course, is the tax component for ultra high net worth folks who are trying to really focus and direct their assets to make and create generational wealth transfers. Without this type of functionality and wealth planning and estate planning long-term, people lose control of what they’ve spent so much time building. Frazer Rice (03:13.338)One of the things I tell people as far as trusts are concerned is that, you know, we’re putting these structures together. They’re durable enough to withstand taxation or creditors or other asset protection features, create some guidelines around distributing the assets to the next generation or other constituencies. But also have some flexibility to be able to deal with the things we can’t look into the crystal ball and figure out over time. And that those three things just putting a document together that tries to do all that is hard enough, but then to put it in the hands of somebody or something to administer and to exercise discretion around it. That’s where the real art and science kind of stitched together and create this issue. You know, as we think about that too, the idea, the history of these types of scenarios kind of goes back to, you know, you’d put a structure in place and then you’d go hire a bank and they’d take care of everything. How do you look at that and say, all right, we’ve gone well past banks to individuals and then to dedicated institutions. What is the problem there? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (04:22.956)Now the problem, there’s two problems. In my opinion, what I see is that, you know, your individual trustee by and large is Uncle Joe, right? He’s the guy that everybody goes to in the family. The responsible one. He’s the smart one. The wealthy one who, great, doesn’t know what the fiduciary duties are. He doesn’t know that he has a duty of impartiality. He doesn’t know that… Frazer Rice (04:32.419)Right. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (04:48.475)He can’t self deal unless the instrument says so. Doesn’t understand how the instrument works. He doesn’t understand the nuance and the legalese written into the instrument. But he’s flying by the seat of his pants and everybody looks to him as the respected one in the family. No one knows that they have the ability to challenge him. So with your individual run of the mill trustee named in the instrument, they just don’t have the expertise, they don’t have the technical knowledge. Don’t know what they don’t know. They can get into trouble in that way. The other problem that you have with professional individual trustees oftentimes is that they are not formally trained. They may be an attorney who is working in that area, who’s doing plans for people who may or may not know what the full scope of being a trustee is. They may not realize, I have to get a special insurance policy because my malpractice insurance policy doesn’t actually cover this type of fiduciary engagement. There’s a lot of landmines that individuals can run into when they’re doing this type of work. On the corporate side, the problems that we run into is that there’s just a complete and utter lack. Frazer Rice (05:50.061)Hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (06:12.059)Of available educational programs to teach people the proper way to be able to understand trusteeship. It has always been, and it just has developed over time through, you know, oh, we’ll give it to the bank, the bank will do it. This apprenticeship model, and that just does not scale well because if you learn improperly at the edge of a desk from somebody that learned improperly at the edge of the desk. Then the person that you’re teaching now at the edge of the desk is learning what you learned improperly. So anecdotally, I did karate for a long, long time. And the man who taught me karate, I’m almost a secondary black belt to like, was serious in karate. And the man who taught me karate said, you practice, it makes permanent. Don’t practice wrong. Because when you’re practicing wrong, you’re making permanent wrong things. And that’s what the apprenticeship model has the risk of lending itself to. It’s not that every trustee that learns at the edge of the desk learns wrong, but the risk is too high because the fiduciary responsibilities and the duties are too high to run that risk. The other problem is that we have a dwindling pool of really qualified senior trust officers because of just the nature of the job. You’re a human being, you’re an individual, you age, you retire. And it’s not something that people go to school and say, when I grow up, I want to be a trustee. They fall into it sideways. And unless there are academic programs that are out there that people are aware of and that they can get some formal training, some formal education to enter into the field. Frazer Rice (07:49.742)Yeah Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (08:03.82)Separate and distinct from, I’m in the field and now I want to get a CTFA. I want to earn my certification to really show that I have the chops in this area. We have this shrinking pool of expertise. We have a lack of knowledge, a lack of formal education, and an apprenticeship model that doesn’t scale. On top of, with the individual side and the corporate side, this massive wealth transfer and an explosion of trust complexity that’s all taking place at the same time. Frazer Rice (08:31.918)One of the issues at the corporate level too is that as you say that the impregnance model is not necessarily the best way to do it. They’re cutting back on training programs. The business model around being a trustee or even a specific trustee does not make the big money. And so the ability for those types of institutions to develop the people.who ultimately are now in a very sort of pro-employee environment where there’s such a demand for trustees that they can kind of switch around and get a 10 or 20 % bump each time they go because people are desperate to have them. There’s a real cavern there to try to create the permanence that you’re looking for in a structure that really rewards consistency over time, especially as it relates to discretion and process of decision-making. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (09:23.15)Yeah, that’s exactly right. And that leads to this revolving door in the industry, because people are just trying to make more money and they’re going and bouncing to different trust companies. And there isn’t that backfill. Just because it’s a trust company and there’s policies and procedures, trusteeship is about relationships that you make with your beneficiaries, the relationships that you develop with multiple generations in a family. And when you have somebody that’s acting and serving in that and they move, they leave, they’re no longer acting and serving in that capacity, a new personality comes into the mix and it can really be disruptive. So having that consistency and minimizing the attrition is so valuable. Frazer Rice (10:06.766)The other thing I try to bring up, especially to individual trustees, is that the thing that you’re signing up for is probably going to look a lot different in five or 10 or 15 years when people are aged on, they remarry, they have kids, etc. That the conditions are a lot different than what they were before. And it’s going to be difficult to take on a structure that has eight people when before there were two. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (10:37.517)Yes, and that’s that complexity, that increased sophistication and complexity of trust structures that are available now to people. With the increase in the exemption, these trust structures, they’re not necessarily changed. For example, qualified personal residence trust, if people really need that anymore, but there’s a ton of them sitting around there. Are trustees properly administering it? Did you actually transfer the real estate into the trust at the time? So there’s all kinds of sophisticated structures that the trustees may or may not have the right skills. But they’re saddled with having to do it. Frazer Rice (11:19.47)Let’s take a step back and just talk about the functions of a trustee for a second. I break them down basically into three. Which is the first one. You have to administer the trust, meaning you have to dot the I’s, cross the T’s, make sure things get executed, tax returns are filed, statements get sent out to the extent that that happens, and that the administration of a structure like that occurs. Then I talk about the concept that the investments have to be made monitored moved around decided and that they’re appropriate for all classes of beneficiary that are in there and then the distribution function which is The assets have to be distributed according to the law. First the trust then maybe the intent or the law if everything is silent and that those three things are very different components and that it’s tough to find somebody who’s great at all three housed within one brain. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (12:20.217)Yeah, I agree with that 100%. It is a three legged stool. It’s the investments, the administration and the distributions. And in that administration umbrella in and of itself, there’s a tremendous amount of work that sort of goes unsung. know, it’s not the sexy stuff where you’re investing and making a bunch of money for your income beneficiaries and managing to preserve the corpus for your principal or your remainder beneficiaries. And it’s certainly not the personal interaction that you’re doing with your beneficiary day to day. Making distributions, helping them, seeing the product of that help. It’s the making sure you file ax returns are properly. Understanding how to read that tax return. Even if you’re not preparing it, making a proper selection on the accountant that you’re using to prepare those tax returns if you’re not preparing it. Make sure to set up statements properly, make sure that in this world of silent trust documents that you’re not sending a statement to somebody who’s not supposed to have it. Communicating with beneficiaries on an even keel. Making sure that you’re not inadvertently violating your duty of impartiality because it’s more than just a substantive duty, there’s a procedural duty as well. That’s really, really challenging to find within one human being, let alone add on top of it somebody who’s financially savvy enough to understand investments and all of the different complex investment tools that are out there, as well as having the personality and the interpersonal skills to keep beneficiaries engaged and happy. Frazer Rice (13:56.426)Just on top of that, the EQ, the bedside manner, and the ability to simplify the complex, et cetera. At the same time, that dedicated note taker that is able to document everything that happens within a decision. Whether distribution or investment or otherwise, that it’s just two different people most times. I find that something falls apart as time goes on. Ultimately if things aren’t laid out correctly, that’s when conflict starts to simmer. Then you know if there is something that’s wrong. That’s allowed to compound that’s where you get into a huge problem later on. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (14:36.922)It’s all that feeling. People are behaving in ways that they may or may not be able to articulate their emotional proximity to. When you’re talking with beneficiaries. There’s something simmering under the surface that you inherited because you’re a trustee. You may not even be aware of it because the beneficiaries may not even be able to articulate it. You have to have a certain sense. A gut check of feelings of rntuitively being able to read what’s going on under the surface. To pull it out of people in a very balanced and even keel way. It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. On top of financial literacy and personal liability and executive functioning skills, being detail oriented, making sure your documentation is not overly explicit. isn’t, you know, scarce. You’re now wondering how and why did you make those decisions? People don’t think about the decisions that they make on a day to day basis. We don’t think in a way to articulate why I made this decision. Why I exercised this type of judgment. And that’s what we’re being asked to do as trustees is to document what is my decision making process? Why am I making the decision? What are my factors involved in making that decision in a way that’s defensible. If we ever need to defend it. Frazer Rice (16:05.292)Well, in favoring one class of people over another is usually where the rubber hits the road on this. People who are used to seeing the income from a trust and don’t want that touched come hell or high water. Then future beneficiaries who’d like to see the trust go from X to 2X to 5X. So that they have something larger to enjoy. You have a natural tension that you have to manage. It’s just not easy. If you don’t document the hows and whys of what you’re doing, you set yourself up for a problem. From one class or another looking at you saying, you you should have done it differently. To go back to that liability component. You’re the only one who sits in the chair of having made that decision. You’re the one with the bullseye on your back when it’s called to account. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (16:53.093)That’s right, that is exactly right. And now add on top of it, you’re just named because you’re Uncle Joe and everybody goes to Uncle Joe. You have no technical background and you just don’t know the landmines that are there. You don’t know what you don’t know. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were able to create a pipeline of really sophisticated entry level employees or folks that are, you know sophisticated in financial literacy that now want to take the job to become trustees, that we were able to give them this technical roadmap for what the job actually is and then have them get the ability to apprentice on all of those policies and procedures. What does this corporation do? How do we document things? When you’re trying to learn it all at one time, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. Let’s give people the ability to really have a chance at doing it successfully. Frazer Rice (17:53.048)So let’s dive into that pipeline issue for a second. We already diagnosed that the, let’s call it the trust companies or the banks are, they’re just not resourced enough. They can’t run people through an internal school to do it quote unquote correctly. The apprentice model really kicks in. Which means you’re at the sort of mercy of what people are good at, not good at, et cetera. People turn over quickly so that apprenticeship doesn’t even work anymore. The RIAs I think are the worst place to learn about this type of thing. They have a completely different modus operandi as far as keeping clients happy. The word fiduciary means something so different to them than it does to an actual trustee. I wouldn’t feel good about the training on that front to sort of create trustees And then so law schools. They’re they’re just trying to create people the trust in the states vertical as a general matter. Let alone trying to delineate into a trustee situation. You’re putting the pipeline together and you put these programs together. How do you stitch together the needs and what does that manifest itself into? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (19:07.642)So that’s a really, really good question. I think that the very first place that we start with answering that question is advising on a trust as an attorney. It’s different from the administration of a trust and the skills that you need for that. So when you create a program like this where you’re trying to teach about trust management. You have to start with the technical skill. The legal side of what is it that we’re even doing? What is a trust? What are the fiduciary duties? Where do they come from? Then we have to, after we teach or create a structure or foundation on what the legality is. Now we go into how does this translate into administration? So when I created the programs, I looked at what’s the law they need to know? What is the level of sophistication of the student? And what do I need to, from a foundational perspective, teach first? What are the building blocks? And then how do I translate that into administration? The one thing that I have found is trust law does not equal investment management. So if people are coming along… Frazer Rice (20:26.254)No question. I’m nodding audibly at that comment. I like that. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (20:31.226)Your fiduciary duties as a trustee are fundamentally different than those of an RIA, where some RIAs are not even fiduciaries by law. They’re not. So being able to delineate and explain where that line is, what makes you a fiduciary, what are those duties, after you know the legal basics. And taught to you at a level that you can understand. I don’t expect everybody to be a lawyer. And people have asked me time and time again, do I need to be a lawyer to know this? No, you don’t need to be a lawyer because you’re not advising on the law. You’re advising on the administration of a legal structure and how that administration affects the fiduciary duties that are inherent in the relationship. Then how those fiduciary duties are translated out to the beneficiary. That’s the way that I’ve always built these programs. Where do I start? Start with the law. Where do I go from there? Start with how the administration translates the law. And then how does that administration get heard by the beneficiary? Where does the RIA come into the mix? The RIA should not be dabbling in advising on trusts. They should know that they need to bring in somebody who has this particular skill. And if they’re not doing that, they’re doing the client a disservice by trying to give one-stop shop advice. Frazer Rice (22:06.85)Yep, no question about it. One of the things that…we delve into the world of trusts and their function, et cetera, is that you’re dealing with an ecosystem from client to outside advisor, whether RIA or even accountant, et cetera, that they’re looking for certainty and airtight. quality to these structures that you put them in place and then everything runs like a clock going forward. When in actuality, I think there is a bandwidth of risk around everything. And so it’s the poor trust officer or individual trustee who sometimes has to be the bearer of bad news to say, yeah, you know, I think this is going to work 98 % of the time, but there’s a 2 % problem here or we’ve got this to fix or something like that and everybody else sort of sighs with disappointment and gets mad at the administrative function when in actuality they’re really doing their job and trying to, you know, keep a lot of things that are spinning out of control kind of within view. How do you get a trust officer or that administrative function or even the full trustee function to be comfortable with that risk and everything that’s involved with that? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (23:20.504)You have to start with explaining that there is risk and we’re not our job is not as a trustee to eliminate risk. Our job is to manage and identify risk. It is inherent in the job. There is going to be risk. No matter what you do, you cannot divorce risk from trusteeship. It’s a matter of identifying perceived risk and actual risk. And if you can teach that, if you can teach These are the things that are going to trigger a likely outcome. They’re gonna trigger a likely risk. Then you can essentially, you can’t foresee everything. I mean, there are things that are just gonna happen. But in a trust instrument, you’ve got contingency plan upon contingency plan upon contingency plan. That’s what the flexibility of those structures are building. We need to, as trustees, be able to recognize What is the risk with contingency plan A? The risk with B? What is the risk with C? How can we minimize the risk? And how can we make sure that we’re managing perception of risk versus actual risk? Frazer Rice (24:29.31)as someone who’s been in trust companies, advised trust companies, advised trustees, and advised clients, the lack of appreciation for the management of that risk and that that as the intersection of the business model of trusteeship and risk management and use of discretion and making hard decisions and even kind of an insurance quality around these structures, how do you fix that, where people place a level of respect on the job that I think is completely lacking in the wealth management ecosystem? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (25:09.089)Absolutely. It’s a tough one to answer. How do you fix it? First and foremost, I think that it’s a top-down fix, especially at a corporate trust company, a bank, and even an independent trust company that’s not affiliated with a bank. The management has to… really understand the function of the trust company. For so long, it’s been just an extra service that we provide and and we’ll do this, the back office trust company. It’s really, really important that the management recognizes what the functionality of the trust company is and stops treating it as sort of a back office stepchild. From the corporate level, I think that’s the very first place we start. Frazer Rice (25:38.478)Mm-hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (25:57.818)The second place we start is investing in our trust officers, investing in the team, giving them the education that they need, continuing to give them education, providing training programs, whether they be in-house, external, bring in trainers. None of this is set it and forget it. At the individual level, I think it’s really, really important to have functions like the Individual Trustee Alliance, groups like that, where you have an ability to talk to other professionals that are doing what you’re doing. That’s another way to impress upon people that we have to manage the risk and we can’t do it all alone. Nobody knows everything. You really have to, you have to talk to other people. You have to engage. have to, what is it called when we were practicing law and we’re a little bit outside of our comfort zone, we have to consult with other people who know more than we do. It’s our obligation as lawyers. It’s the same thing with a trust company, with a trustee, whether you’re an individual or you’re not. Widen that circle. Frazer Rice (27:08.474)I think this is my idea for the day that there’s got to be a bit of a public relations campaign sort of describing what’s going on here because I think especially when we go into the family members that sort of occupy these roles, they have no earthly idea what they’re doing. They’re usually doing it for free. Everything’s hunky dory up until a point and everyone hopes that everyone is not going to sue each other if something goes wrong. But the level of wealth that’s being transferred now is now so significant that everyone sort of talks about, AI is going to get rid of lawyers. Nope, not in fiduciary litigation. I think that’s a medium term growth industry, especially around insurance, around ILITs, around revocable trusts, around elder care. But this is my advertisement for people who are in law school looking for a productive way to go. I think that one is going to be, I think that one’s recession proof, at least for a while until I retire anyway. So my thought is that awareness over these things, and it’s probably going to take a very difficult case or a class action suit, something like that, where somebody really gets hurt in order for that awareness to come up. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (28:24.922)Yeah, I would agree. think that some of the solutions would include better trust education, you know, whether it be for RIAs, lawyers. Trust in the states is a throwaway class in law school. And there are so many law schools that are essentially rolling it back because bar exams aren’t testing it anymore in a variety of states. And ACTEC is definitely working with the law schools to try and increase trust in the states being taught and certainly being tested. So education for lawyers coming out of law school, education for RIAs that are advising on trusts, education for trust officers, for trust administrators, trust professionals in general, clear role delineation. What is the role of the RIA? The role of the trust officer? What is the role of the trustee if they’re an individual trustee? And then creating a culture of collaboration on what we’re doing as a team for the beneficiary, not substitution, but collaboration with the advisors and the trustees. Frazer Rice (29:32.59)Let’s go into the role delineation for a second. About 20 or 30 years ago, the concept of bifurcating or sort of cordoning off the different functions I described before the investment, the administration and the distribution has come into vogue. I think that came out of frustration with bank trust companies where you got one set of advice for every trust that they had as far as investments and distributions and administration and a lot of modern larger families wanted something a little bit more specific to their needs. And that’s really turned, it’s exploded as an industry for increasing sophistication and size of wealth. Along those different functions, where maybe the administration goes to a professional trust company or a trust officer in the state that you want, Then there’s some intersection maybe in the distribution committee. And then the investment side of it is a bit of a free for all, think, depending on what you’re, dealing with. How do you educate the, that continued the delineation, but the coordination within those types of structures. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (30:41.275)Yeah, I think it’s really important. And I’m a Delaware lawyer. I’m licensed in multiple states, but Delaware is my home. It’s where I learned how to be a lawyer. It’s where I grew up as a lawyer. So this directed trust model that you’re describing, where you’re bifurcating, truly bifurcating these particular functionalities of a trustee, it originated in Delaware. sort of, we didn’t, I mean, we invented it, right? We codified it. It was being done, but we codified it. The idea of making sure that everybody understands what their function is and knowing that there’s a limit of liability that’s built into the instrument and communicating what that means to the RIA that is named in the document. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard companies, heard trust companies say, we’re advisor friendly. And I’m like, not unless you’re directed, you’re not. Frazer Rice (31:37.528) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”Yeah. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (31:40.439)If you are directed, you are 100 % advisor friendly because there’s no chance that that trustee is going to try and take the investment management. They’re not a portfolio manager. Not a clerical administrator. They’re not a passive rule follower. We need to identify what does that trustee actually do when they are an administrative or directed trustee. Clarify that role so that people who are engaged in this bifurcation, this structure where we’ve got a distribution committee, maybe it’s individuals who are close to the family, close to the beneficiaries, where you don’t have somebody who’s objectively uninvolved with the family members making decisions as to whether or not there’s a distribution that should be made. But also advising those rolls those advisors that your administrative trustee is not just a pencil put a paper pusher. Not just checking boxes. They really do add value to the role that they provide and making sure that everybody understands what each other are doing, having regular meetings amongst the team instead of operating in a vacuum or operating in a silo. And taking the approach of it’s not my job, misunderstanding trustee powers and the advisor’s authority. So when that’s delineated, when that’s really understood, not just by the advisors, but also by the beneficiaries, there are so many beneficiaries out there, Frazer, that have absolutely no idea that they actually hold all the cards. They don’t know. Frazer Rice (33:25.87)Along that line, so in the administrative, we just walked through pretty nicely. The distribution function is one that, let’s talk a little bit for a second about what it means to ask a trustee for a distribution and maybe the difference between income and principal and why having a steady hand at the wheel within that function, whether it’s a corporate trust company of qualified individual or family input in that function, why real good thought needs to go into how that’s staffed. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (34:04.73)Yeah, absolutely. 100%. In a corporate trustee ship or a corporate trust company structure, there’s always going to be distribution committees, right? So if you are the trustee, you’re going to have to go through a committee that’s looking at what your reasoning is for making that distribution. They’re asking questions about what have been the prior distributions? Have they come from principal? Have they come from income? What is the spend rate on that trust? How is this going to affect long-term spend rate? Is this an aberration? Is this something that’s gonna become a habit? Really understanding what the distribution, the guidelines are in the trust. What is the distribution standard? Making that decision? What are our factors? And how many people are at the table? Who’s communicating that to the beneficiary? Does the beneficiary know that the trust officer alone does not have the ability to say yes or no? That when they’re in this ecosystem of a corporate trust company, they have their checks and balances to make sure that that risk is being managed. So when you’re looking at corporate trust companies, are a lot of layers behind understanding what the distribution standard is, whether it’s hems or if it’s purely discretionary. The other thing that you need to look at when it’s not a corporate trustee and it’s an individual trustee is, how is that individual trustee making that decision? Are they doing it in a vacuum? Alone? Are they favoring one beneficiary over another because they like them more, you need to have some communication to the beneficiaries so that they understand what they are, what their interest is, what they are entitled to, if anything, and why the trustee stands in that position as the gatekeeper. And I really think in my heart of hearts, we need to make a shift from a gatekeeper trustee Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (36:16.708)to a beneficiary enhancement trustee, where the beneficiary is really taking on the understanding that the trustee is there to facilitate enhancing the beneficiary’s life. That even though the trust may have started at the outset as a tax strategy or something that the grantor decided they needed to do with the advice of counsel. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t have been named as the beneficiary if there wasn’t some sense of love or obligation even, that it’s for your benefit. It’s in the name. Beneficiary. Trustees need to understand that and beneficiaries need to be taught. Frazer Rice (36:54.958)Right. Frazer Rice (37:00.646)And it goes to the circle back to the notion of making sure that you write down the whys of the decision because ultimately if the concepts of favoritism or you didn’t communicate this or anything, the idea of having the beneficiary submit a budget but having them understand why they are submitting a budget and then if there is some discretion that’s happening around that decision that the data points that are informing that discretion, that’s gonna keep everybody safe a lot later on. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (37:32.666)Absolutely. I break it down into a couple of different factors. It’s fiduciary decision making. How is that fiduciary making the decisions they’re making? Why are they making those decisions? And who is being affected by the decisions? Document interpretation. Do you understand the document that you’re administering? If you don’t understand the document you’re administering, hopefully best case scenario, you know what you don’t know and you ask. But if you don’t understand the document and you don’t even have the wherewithal to say, hey, I need help to understand the document, it’s really problematic. The third part, balancing beneficiary interests. Really taking on board this idea of the principal income problem that all the assets in the trust are not the same. That some of it doesn’t at all in any way affect a certain class of beneficiaries. And at the same time, it’s inextricably intertwined in the way that it affects another class of beneficiaries. And then risk management and governance. How is this being governed? How are we managing perceived and actual risk as a trustee? Frazer Rice (38:40.13)The investment function, which I alluded to before, I see storm clouds on that horizon, not really at the RIA level, because I think there’s sort of a default mode that investment policy statements are in place. Diversification is a true commodity at this point. And I never really worry about an RIA sort of understanding how to invest to get to a certain expected return and deal with the risks and drawdown and all that stuff. The storm cloud I see is when individuals sit in that role and they are being tasked with, let’s call it quote unquote, overseeing concentration, meaning that trust is holding a building, farmland, a nuclear reactor, crypto, all of these different things that sometimes can be, A, they have their own different maintenance responsibilities that are not just looking at a fidelity statement, but that they also have their own volatility And, you know, in the case of a building, you got to make sure it’s managed correctly. are they going to get sued or the windows kept up, all of that stuff, and that there’s a whole different component there. And I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on some fact pattern there where somebody is sitting in the role of an investment advisor. It doesn’t say trustee in the document, so they don’t really think that they have trustee liability. But. they sit in that role and all of a sudden somebody finds 10 55 gallon drums of green fluid in the basement of a building and all of a sudden the trust has a big set of red brackets that say minus $100 million that you owe to the federal government and the EPA. How do you think about that? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:21.454)Hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:25.242)That’s a heavy question. so the Delaware stock answer, obviously, direct it, right? It’s just to get the trust, cut off the liability. At the first, at the inception of your hypothetical is bad drafting, right? So if there’s no statement as to whether or not your investment advisor is acting as a fiduciary or not, Frazer Rice (40:35.042)Right. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (40:52.836)What does your statute say? Does your statute impose that they are as a default a fiduciary or not? So that’s the very first step. That’s bad drafting. We need to know. But if it’s silent, let’s say it’s just a lousy document, there’s, God knows. Anybody who’s seen trust documents knows that, you’ve seen them all, right? And everything in between. Some are good, some are bad. If this is a bad one. Frazer Rice (41:13.08)Seen good and you’ve seen bad. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (41:20.079)Then we need to document the statute. If we can correct it, modify the document, let’s modify it. But if all of that can’t happen, then I would say the best way to handle it, make sure you have adequate insurance. mean, over-insure that, over-insure it. Make sure that there’s regular checks on the actual… Assets that are in the trust, if you have a concentration and that concentration is real estate, get the advice of counsel, put that bad boy into an LLC, get yourself some distance from the actual asset itself being held in the trust, hold an interest, hold a financial interest, push it down to the corporate level. But if you can’t do all of that and you’ve got those 500 gallon drums of green fluid and now you’re… Frazer Rice (42:14.286)You Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (42:15.371)You you’ve got a super fun site. What do you do? You don’t shy away from it. Have to address it head on. You got to take the accountability. You got to communicate and document, communicate and document some more. Talk to your beneficiaries. Make sure that they’re aware of where it went wrong, why it went wrong. Because I have found in my exposure in the industry over time and in reading case law, it’s when you’re trying to cover stuff up. Frazer Rice (42:43.913)Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (42:44.027)You’re just making more problems. Bad news doesn’t age well. It doesn’t get better over time. You have to approach it head on and make sure that there’s communication and documentation. Meet with your beneficiaries. If there’s a trusteeship where you are appointed as a trustee individually and you’re not having at least quarterly meetings with your beneficiaries, If you’re not going out and seeing the asset, if you’re not going out and making sure that the asset is properly custodyed, you’re not, you’re violating your fiduciary duty. You are not doing what you’re supposed to do. Frazer Rice (43:21.804)You brought up an interesting word there, custody, which is the administrative function, whether held corporately or individually, one of the major things you have to do is to safeguard the assets. And that’s a big two syllable word that carries a lot of weight with it. That custodial function, how do you teach the trust officers or the individual trustees where that starts and stops? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (43:48.579)Yeah, mean, custody is super, it’s a really touchy, touchy subject, especially with the dynamic way that trusts have developed in the current climate from tangibles. You know, I’ve got artwork and my beneficiary wants to hang the artwork in their house. Well, do you have custody? Has it been assigned to the trustee and how do you maintain that asset? Make sure nothing’s happening to it. Do make an appointment, go over to the, visit your artwork? What if it’s prize horses, you know? What if it’s, you know, a stud that, you know, we’re gonna need to breed and it’s gonna be the next Triple Crown winner? How do you make sure that the barn is properly safeguarded? It’s a really touchy subject, especially with things like tangibles and things like assets held away when you technically custody the asset, but you don’t have control over the asset. I think in the education part for custodying, what I do in my programs and when I teach this is I make sure that we talk about different types of asset classes. And what the risks, again, what are the risks that you run with these asset classes? How can we manage the actual and the perceived risk of holding that asset? Even if you have custody and name only, but you don’t have physical custody, how do you maintain your control over that asset? Because it’s really the C’s, right? The custody and control. Just because you don’t have custody doesn’t mean you don’t have control. So we have to make sure that there’s an education that’s provided about the different asset classes, whether it’s tangibles, intangibles, assets held away, if it’s a concentration of stock, if it’s crypto, and most trust companies are not taking crypto. I think that there’s like a circuitous way that they’re getting in right now, but it all boils down to education, isolating what the issue is and educating people on it. Frazer Rice (45:59.586)I’ll give you a third C, it’s consequences, which is what happens when you don’t understand these functions. on the crypto side of things, Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (46:01.786)Uhhh Frazer Rice (46:11.544)Holds the key to get to the crypto. What happens if that trust officer quits and walks away with the key and they’re like, well, multi-sigil figure this out. I’m like, okay, that’s not that. That doesn’t make me feel great at the moment. And now there have been some advances, which is good, but traps for the unwary to be sure. the good news too for crypto is for people who want exposure, the spot ETFs take away 90 % of the problems with that. But as we start to think about winding down here, because I have a feeling we could probably talk for four or five hours on this subject, when putting your programs together, what does a curriculum look like? And we don’t have to go through it bit by bit, but how does that work when someone comes to your program? How much time does it take? What’s the commitment? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (46:47.172)Yeah, I think so. Frazer Rice (46:54.851)Mm-hmm. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (47:06.33)So the program that I created that’s really available anywhere across the country is called the Peak Trust Management Certificate Program. Peak Trust Company, may be familiar with it. They have name rights because they gave the donation to the University of Delaware for me to build the program. So it’s housed at the Lerner College at the University of Delaware, but bears the name of Peak Trust Company. I look at five different things. The first thing is trust law and administration. So like I said previously when we were talking, you lay that foundation of what is the legal component of this? What is the baseline that people have to know? And then what is the administration? The second component is, and it’s inextricably intertwined as taxation. What is the income tax? What are the deductions? And now let’s take all of that income tax knowledge, individual income tax knowledge, and build on it with fiduciary income tax. What is DNI? What is FAI? How does it go out to the beneficiary? What’s the character of the distribution? How do we manage that? What are we deducting in the trust? So teaching taxation and not because trustees necessarily are tax preparers, but because the trustees obligation is to be able to understand and read that tax return, they need to know how to spot problems. So from my perspective, teaching fiduciary income tax is a critical component. It also helps. Yeah. Frazer Rice (48:38.828)No, no, I was gonna say no question about that. And there are elections to make, just because it doesn’t just go on autopilot, there are choices to be made so that if you’re the trustee, you may not have to prepare the tax return, but you may have to make a choice on the tax return and you’ve got to be informed because that can be an issue. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (48:58.651)65 day elections, perfect example, right? You just, you need to understand what your role is and how it overlaps with that of the CPA. The third part, of course, investments. Investments are inextricably intertwined, whether you’re doing it yourself as the trustee or you’re directed or even delegated, which is like the hairy scaries of every trusteeship known to man, because you’re not actually in control, but you’re responsible. So it’s the gray. When I build a program, because of the, you know, the directed trusteeship being so popular in today’s day and age, we have to talk about not just investments of, you know, marketable securities, not just the custody of tangibles, but also subscription documents, because so many alternatives are held in trust right now. unique assets, need to know how the trustee is actually carrying out their fiduciary duty when it comes to engaging in an investment that is an alternative investment. The fourth component is of course compliance. We cannot ever get away from compliance and I think we could do a whole nother podcast on compliance in trusteeship but. You know, it’s a regulated entity. And even if you’re an individual trustee and you’re not using what those compliance frameworks are, what the guidelines are by OCC, Reg 9, FDIC, if you’re not looking at that and using that as a guideline, don’t do the job. understanding KYC, BSA, AML, all of those compliance components that have tentacles. That’s the fourth part. And then for the fifth part of this program, because it’s specifically geared toward trustee education in trust companies, although it can be applicable, very applicable to individuals, is operations. I was very fortunate that I was able to partner with SCI on building the operations component. So we license their platform called Plato. It’s essentially their training platform. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (51:12.888)so that trustees can see how fees are set up, fees, that’s a whole other podcast, fees, statements, distributions, how are we doing this? How are we documenting everything? What are the logistics of the day-to-day operations? So that’s how I built the program and it’s available anywhere in the country. It’s 10 weeks, how long does it take? I would say from three to five hours a week of an investment that you’re making at a bare minimum. Obviously there’s a whole lot more of depth that you can go into. The resources are built in. But I would say 10 weeks, about 50 hours of time where you’re actually engaging with the material. And then I bring in guest lecturers on each different area of expertise for lack of a better description. And they get a certificate at the end, they get a digital badge, and now they really have something where they can add value day one in a trust company or as a trustee. Frazer Rice (52:17.902)With Delaware being, you one of the real gold standards as far as trust jurisdiction, I assume that everything that comes out of this program is pretty transportable to the other useful jurisdictions, let’s call it, within the country. know, the Tennessee’s, the South Dakota’s, the Nevada’s, the Alaska’s, Wyoming’s, New Hampshire’s, et cetera. Obviously, there are hairs to split with different foibles in their law, but everything that you’re describing sounds like works everywhere else. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (52:47.928)And I’ve always taken the approach, you’re 100 % correct, I’ve always taken the approach of UTC. I base everything off of UTC and if there’s something different or unique based upon the jurisdiction that you’re in, I always encourage people you have to look at your statute, you have to look at the jurisdiction that you’re actually practicing this in and administering in. I use Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska as examples quite often when we’re talking about the directed stuff, but By and large, it’s UTC. Frazer Rice (53:20.966)It just a weird subset. So special needs trusts and islets, which are two types of trusts, very specific. One holds life insurance. The other is designed to really take care of people who can’t take care of themselves. And they are types of trusts that a lot of trust companies don’t like to take on because the liability is harder or the profit margin is less. For those individuals who get the opportunity to participate in those and I put that in air quotes. How would you advise people to get ready for those types of situations? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (53:58.308)People who are in need of those types of trusts. Frazer Rice (54:02.122)Well, maybe both. The people who need those trusts, you know, they’re going to, they, you know, it’s almost like they get set up and then the staffing gets kind of figured out later, barely. And then, you know, the, for the people who end up taking on that role, they really have no idea of what they’re in for in a sense. Is there sort of like a mini, I’m not going to say a full course like you’re describing, but a crash course in, in what’s going on here and what can I do to keep myself safe? Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (54:30.271)Unfortunately, no, I don’t know of one. and there isn’t much built in. there’s, we talk about a little bit in the program that I built, but, those are specialized and eyelets we talk about a little bit more there, you eyelets had their day and sort of they has done ish. but special needs trust. It’s a whole other ball game because It really incorporates state law and social security and Medicaid, all of those government benefits that I think you would need something more specialized than my program that I developed. And I don’t have a great answer for that, I’m sorry. Frazer Rice (55:12.482)No, there’s not a great answer for it because it’s tough. it’s a, all of which is to say for someone who’s involved with those things and feels confused by what’s going on, that’s one where it’s worth it to spend the money to lean on a dedicated Medicaid elder care, special needs type of lawyer on that front because there are traps for the unwary. Okay, now we’re starting to butt up against an hour here of. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (55:29.764)Yes . . . Frazer Rice (55:38.827)Four hours. No, I’m kidding listeners. We’re not going to talk for four hours, but How do people find your program and and then I’ll ask a bonus question at the end Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (55:49.339)So the program is on the University of Delaware’s website. You just type in peak trust management certificate and it’ll pop up. My name will be there. I think my picture might be there. It’s all over my LinkedIn. So if you look me up, you’re going to see the peak trust management certificate program. You can always email me, jennifer at zeldenlaw.com. Happy to push people into it. start, I’m in the new cohort right now. We’re two weeks into a 10 week program. But we have a new cohort starting in May. I think it’s May 4th. So may the fourth be with you. Frazer Rice (56:24.622)Terrific. So the final question here is really more of a crystal ball question. In this trust industry, trustee industry, what are the real, I’m going to say opportunities out there, and we’ve sort of painted a picture of doom and gloom and its low profit margin and things like that. Where can someone who is thinking from a business perspective about this find something? Once they’re properly educated about it and being able to participate in it. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (56:57.582)There are so many opportunities. There is an absolute need for good trustees everywhere. Trust companies from coast to coast, individual trustee alliance. People really, really need trustees. There’s tremendous opportunity with Heritage Institute, not the Heritage Foundation, but the Heritage Institute. There’s opportunities with…various family offices and various trust companies for education, for beneficiary education. So many opportunities out there. Trust companies are just clamoring for people. So if people are interested in becoming a trustee, getting that education, you will not have a hard time finding a job. Like you said, it’s basically recession proof. This wealth is going to transfer. We need sophisticated, knowledgeable trustees. on the receiving end of that transfer so that it happens correctly. Frazer Rice (57:56.578)I’d go so far as to say financial advisors. I just gotta say, a CFP is useful, CFA is on your investment side, but something like this, you know so much more about how intergenerational wealth works than what’s happening in those particular situations that I think it helps people stand out when I see something like that on a resume. Jennifer Zelvin McCloskey (58:00.302) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”That’s all the podcast. I hear you. I hear you. Frazer Rice (58:24.386) “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges”All right, with that, Jennifer, it’s great to catch up and I will have all of your information on the show notes and I will either see you at the ITA conference in Dallas or what I’m down in Delaware next. More Around “THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges” BUILDING A TRUST COMPANY TENNESSEE AS A JURISDICTION DIRECTED TRUSTEES DELAWARE WELL BEING TRUST THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/ Keywords for THE TRUSTEE CRISIS: Navigating the Challenges trusteeship, wealth transfer, trust management, fiduciary duties, trust education, estate planning, risk management, trust administration, individual trustees, trust companies, the trustee crisis, navigating the challenges, the great wealth transfer,

Legacy Insights is a new podcast series by Providend that explores what it truly takes to plan a meaningful and lasting legacy, beyond just writing a will, or engaging with a corporate trustee.This series explores the critical collaboration between wealth advisers and legal professionals in safeguarding your family's future. Joined by lawyers Cynthia Tang of Tang Thomas and Soo Chye from OAKS Legal, each episode shares real-life stories showing how thoughtful planning can protect your family and make a meaningful difference, offering practical insights for your own legacy journey.In this episode, Cynthia and Yong Cheng discuss the three often-overlooked risks that can quietly derail legacy plans, such as divorce and bankruptcy, and whether the next generation is truly ready to steward the wealth they will receive. We examine what can happen when inheritance becomes part of matrimonial assets and why financial readiness cannot be solved by legal documents alone.They also discuss another hidden gap many families miss, the role of the executor and whether loved ones are equipped for such responsibility. From considering professional executors to the importance of open family communication, this episode shows why legacy planning is about people and preparation, and not just paperwork.In managing over S$1.7 billion of our clients' hard-earned assets, Providend believes legacy planning goes beyond wealth plans or legal documents. It starts with clarity over your non-negotiable ikigai goals, assets, family circumstances, and long-term intentions. If you have ever wondered what could go wrong after your wealth is passed on, this is a thoughtful place to begin.Music courtesy of ItsWatR.The host of this episode, Loh Yong Cheng, is the Deputy Head of Advisory at Providend, the first fee-only wealth advisory firm in Southeast Asia and a leading wealth advisory firm in Asia.The full list of Providend's Money Wisdom podcast episodes from Season 4 can be found here.Did you know that our Providend's Money Wisdom podcast is now available in video format on YouTube? Follow us on our YouTube channel for new episode on Thursday at 8pm.Mentioned in this episode:Subscribe to Our Newsletter Today!If you're interested in getting more of our thought leadership contents, click this link to subscribe to our newsletter today: https://providend.com/#newsletter-subscribe

When you open a retirement account or buy a life insurance policy, you're asked to name a beneficiary. It might seem like just another form to fill out, but this simple step can affect your family's future.

Nippon Life Insurance Co. has sued U.S. artificial intelligence developer OpenAI for allegedly giving legal advice via its ChatGPT chatbot without a license to a former insurance beneficiary, it was learned Thursday.

WHAT BENEFICIARIES NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INHERITED IRAS FROM BALTIMORE WASHINGTON FINANCIAL ADVISORS Lawrence M. Post CPA, MST, CFP®, CIMA® Senior Tax & Planning Advisor Tessa Hall Media and Communications Specialist About This Episode Tessa speaks with BWFA Senior Tax & Planning Advisor Larry Post about inherited IRA rules, how the 10-year distribution requirement works, and what beneficiaries need to understand before making withdrawal decisions. To better understand how inherited assets fit into your broader strategy, visit our Financial Planning page. Read Full Description Inherited IRA rules changed significantly in recent years, and many beneficiaries are still unclear about how the 10-year distribution requirement applies to them. As a result, inherited retirement accounts often create confusion at an already emotional time. While these accounts can provide financial opportunity, they also come with strict timing and tax considerations. In this episode of Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, Tessa speaks with BWFA Senior Tax & Planning Advisor Larry Post about how inherited IRA rules work, who qualifies as an eligible designated beneficiary, and how required distributions differ depending on the relationship to the original account owner. In particular, the conversation explains how the SECURE Act altered long-standing stretch IRA strategies and replaced them with the 10-year rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries. Instead of spreading distributions over a lifetime, many beneficiaries must now fully distribute the account within ten years. Consequently, taxable income can accelerate quickly if withdrawals are not managed carefully. For that reason, timing distributions strategically becomes essential. Larry also discusses common mistakes. For example, some beneficiaries wait too long to develop a withdrawal plan, while others misunderstand annual distribution requirements. In either case, failing to act intentionally can lead to unnecessary tax exposure and potential penalties. Additionally, the episode highlights planning considerations for surviving spouses, minor children, and certain special categories of beneficiaries. Each situation carries unique rules that can change the tax outcome. Therefore, classification matters just as much as timing. Ultimately, inherited IRA rules are not one size fits all. However, with thoughtful planning and proactive coordination, families can better manage distributions while remaining compliant with federal regulations.

Divorce is emotionally and logistically overwhelming, which is exactly why insurance details can get missed. Farzana Damji, Senior Director at RBC Insurance, walks through the biggest pitfalls, including outdated beneficiaries, cancelling coverage too soon, and not discussing insurance during settlement conversations. They cover life insurance, disability, and critical illness, and the key questions newly single people should ask to protect financial stability. Find out more at rbcinsurance.com and connect on LinkedIn (RBC) and Facebook (RBC). Connect with Farzana on LinkedIn.

The Government believes its traffic welfare system is increasing people's chances of getting a job. The system was introduced in August 2024 and uses traffic light colours to help beneficiaries stay on track with their obligations. An evaluation has found nearly 99% of Ministry of Social Development clients are fulfilling their obligations, and the number of sanctions issued has dropped 10.6%. Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston told Mike Hosking 83 thousand people have left the benefit into work. She says people are more clear of the expectations, and the consequences if they aren't filled. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people spend significant time planning how to build wealth, but far fewer consider how their family would access that wealth if something unexpected happened. For Americans living in Israel who maintain U.S. brokerage or retirement accounts, that question can be more complex than it appears. The challenge usually involves authority, documentation, and cross-border procedures. From the outside, U.S. accounts often appear unchanged after someone relocates to Israel. Statements arrive, online access continues, and the accounts seem stable. That familiarity can create comfort, but it can also hide administrative challenges that surface during estate transitions. When inheritance meets two legal systems Inheritance is often assumed to be simple. A relative passes away, assets transfer to heirs, and accounts continue under new ownership. Cross-border estates rarely follow that pattern. Consider a common situation. A son lives in Israel while his parent maintains brokerage accounts in the United States. The parent passes away and the will names the son as the heir.  From the son's perspective, the next step seems straightforward. Notify the financial institution, submit documentation, and transfer the accounts. Instead, access to the accounts often stops immediately after the parent's death. Financial institutions typically freeze accounts once they receive notification. This step protects assets and ensures that only properly authorized individuals can act. At that point, the focus shifts from who should inherit the assets to who has legal authority to act on behalf of the estate. That distinction frequently creates confusion. Family expectations often rely on intent. Legal systems rely on documentation and verification. When required paperwork is incomplete or delayed, inheritance can slow significantly. Beneficiary designations and wills Many retirement and brokerage accounts use beneficiary designations on their retirement accounts. When completed correctly and kept current, they normally allow assets to transfer directly to heirs without probate. Financial institutions still require verification before releasing assets. But regular brokerage accounts don't usually have the possibility of a beneficiary designation. "What about transfer-on-death accounts (TOD)?" you might ask. If the account owner and heirs all live in the United States, that might work, but for people who live overseas, the TOD may not work and the brokerage firms may require a probated will. Probate is the court-supervised process that confirms who has legal authority to inherit assets. Depending on jurisdiction and estate complexity, it can take considerable time and delay account access. Power of attorney can create misunderstandings. While it may allow someone to manage accounts during a person's lifetime, that authority generally ends at death. Even if a family member previously helped manage accounts, that control disappears once the account holder passes away. Online account logins do not replace legal authority and continued use after death can create additional complications. Additional documentation cross-border families often face Cross-border inheritance frequently introduces procedural steps that families do not anticipate. Documents may require notarization, apostilles, or translation. Financial institutions may request tax clearance before releasing assets. Communication often involves multiple time zones and unfamiliar regulatory processes. Each requirement exists for protective and regulatory reasons. Financial institutions must verify identity, confirm authority, and comply with legal obligations. For families managing responsibilities from another country, the administrative process can still feel overwhelming. Many individuals assume that having a will resolves these challenges. A will remains an important estate planning document, but it functions within the legal system where it was created. When heirs live abroad, additional validation steps may still be required. Why inheritance paperwork often continues after assets transfer Inheritance rarely ends when accounts transfer. It often unfolds in stages that may include estate administration, account restructuring, and tax considerations across multiple countries. In the United States, estate taxes may apply depending on estate size and applicable thresholds. In Israel, receiving inherited assets may create reporting obligations depending on the circumstances. If inherited investments are later sold, capital gains rules in one or both countries may apply. Retirement accounts such as IRAs can introduce further complexity. Required minimum distributions may create ongoing reporting responsibilities and potential taxable events based on the heir's individual situation. This article is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or tax advice. Each situation involves unique factors and should be reviewed with qualified professionals. Planning that may help reduce future delays Cross-border estate planning does not eliminate complexity, but it can reduce uncertainty and help coordinate financial, legal, and administrative processes. Families who experience smoother inheritance transitions often share several habits. They periodically review beneficiary designations to confirm they reflect current intentions. They maintain organized records of accounts, financial institutions, and contact details. They revisit estate planning documents after relocating to Israel to confirm the structure remains effective. When planning evolves alongside life changes, families often encounter fewer unexpected administrative obstacles. Practical steps that may improve preparedness Americans living in Israel who maintain U.S. investment accounts may benefit from several foundational steps. Maintaining a consolidated list of accounts can help family members identify financial institutions and contact details if needed. Reviewing beneficiary designations can help confirm retirement accounts align with estate planning goals. Discussing financial account access with family members may help clarify who should contact financial institutions and which documentation may be required. These steps do not eliminate every challenge, but they may reduce uncertainty and help families navigate complex situations more effectively. Schedule a Conversation If you are living in Israel and managing U.S. brokerage or I.R.A. accounts, and you are unsure whether your investments still make sense for your situation, it may be worth taking a fresh look. You can book a free cross-border evaluation call here: https://profile-financial.com/call. It is a no pressure conversation and a chance to see whether your current setup aligns with how you live today.

Host Steve Legler speaks with Buddy Thomas, the author of Love, Wisdom, Money: The Family Fiduciary's Guide to Generative Wealth. Together, they discuss the concept of a 'Family Fiduciary' and the importance of putting those three elements—Love, Wisdom and Money—in the right order. All views, information, and opinions expressed during this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Family Enterprise Canada.   Guest bio Buddy Thomas is the founder of Superior Planning – Family Office, specializing in customized family wealth and relationship enrichment programs for HNW and UHNW families since 1982. A Certified Financial Planner and Accredited Estate Planner with a background in psychology and economics, Buddy is a thought leader in personal wealth management. He has authored four books, over 50 articles, and produced 200+ educational videos, including the Fifty-Five Second Family Fiduciary series. You can learn more about Buddy Thomas on LinkedIn and on the Love, Wisdom, Money website.   Key Takeaways [:23] Steve Legler welcomes Buddy Thomas and launches the episode by asking about his book Love, Wisdom, Money: The Family Fiduciary's Guide to Generative Wealth.   [2:15] Buddy explains what a Family Fiduciary is, how Love, Wisdom, and Money must come in the correct order, and how he came to understand why the order is so important.   [6:06] From Jay Hughes, through years of meeting families: translating "human capital" into an understandable concept for all was key for Buddy to flesh out this book.   [7:42] Learning to write books is quite the experience. "No one wants to read a whitepaper!" Buddy shares how finding your author's voice is part and parcel of learning how to write for good reading.   [10:03] Buddy shares how his own family founded and grew their own successful family enterprise.   [11:42] How can advisors encourage families to foster "the right stuff" and support them in growing?   [14:24] The family fiduciary has to lead the movement for the benefit of the whole family.   [15:54] How The Gift of Lift by David R. York opened Buddy's eyes.   [17:23] The gamification of enterprising families' dynamics.   [20:13] Why separating the portfolio and the cash flow games is really important.   [21:57] What Buddy believes a comprehensive planner should hope for.   [23:11] Helping families see what they have not been able to understand, so that they can make the best decision for themselves.   [25:32] If you've seen one family office… You've seen one family office. Buddy shares that in the course of his 40-year career, he has concluded that no two families will take the same decision.   [27:34] Buddy talks about separate vs. community property law and how surprised he was by the differences between Ohio and California.   [29:02] Buddy's book recommendation and advice for families and advisors.   [31:26] Steve thanks Buddy for sharing so much of his experience and invites listeners to sign up for Symposium, which will be held May 25‒27 in Vancouver, BC.   If you enjoyed today's episode, you can subscribe to Let's Talk Family Enterprise on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast apps. Please remember to share this episode with family, friends, and colleagues. Share your thoughts with us at fea@familyenterprise.ca.   Mentioned in this episode Values-Based Estate Planning: A Step-by-Step Approach to Wealth Transfer for Professional Advisors, by Scott C. Fithian Family Trusts: A Guide for Beneficiaries, Trustees, Trust Protectors, and Trust Creators, by James E. Hughes Jr. Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family--How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations, by James E. Hughes Jr.   Symposium 2026   More about Family Enterprise Canada Family Enterprise Canada FEC on Facebook FEC on Twitter FEC on LinkedIn

The National Lotteries Commission has announced that funding allocated in the 2025/26 financial year has created or retained 1,303 jobs and supported nearly 10,000 beneficiaries across South Africa. Most of the jobs were held by women and youth in community-based organisations. The NLC also reports improved compliance among funded organisations. Funded projects focused on skills training, arts, sports, and social support services. The initiatives were mainly in Mpumalanga, Free State, North West and Limpopo. Elvis Presslin spoke to National Lotteries Commission's Commissioner Jody Scholtz

Grocery Card Use Associated With Increased Care Among Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries: Jennifer L. Kowalski, MS by Managed Care Cast

In this episode, we are joined by Siddhant Bhandari, CIO at Persistence Capital. we do a complete market temperature check on the Indian stock market, especially small caps. We analyze earnings trends across sectors, identify industries showing strong growth, and discuss emerging themes like manufacturing, CDMO, internet businesses, and data center proxies. We also decode why small caps corrected, what history teaches about market cycles, and how long-term investors can find opportunities even during drawdowns. This conversation helps investors understand where the market stands today and which sectors could surprise with future earnings growth.

During the Poock's Post segment of Ep. 32 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following warning: Warning to T&E Attorneys: Clients Do Not Necessarily Hire the Same Firm that Prepared an Estate Plan for Probate & Trust Administration As Poock explains: “What we continue to see with Trusts & Estates attorneys is that when the clients for whom Trusts & Estates attorneys prepared wills and trusts - when they pass away, their children [and] their named fiduciaries, they will go to Google [and] ask for ‘Best Trusts & Estates attorney near me.'”   In terms of why children and fiduciaries ask Google, or their preferred AI thought partner, to suggest the best Trust & Estate attorney to hire, Poock shares the following:   Beneficiaries and fiduciaries want to hire a Trusts & Estates law firm that features multiple 5-Star Google Reviews and that publishes compelling content on their websites, as well as social media, as compared to returning to the law firm that prepared the original estate plan per the following mindset:   “Just because Mom or Dad trusted them, doesn't mean that we need to.”   What can Senior Attorney T&E attorneys do now to preserve a significant, valuable aspect of their T&E practices, namely, the future probate and trust administrations on behalf of their Trusts & Estates clients?   Poock offers the following suggestions:   1. Consider Your Wills Cabinet as Estate Plans under Management: Please consider the estate plans that you have prepared as “Estate Plans under Management.”   Similar to financial planners who maintain Assets under Management, maintaining Estate Plans under Management involves: (a) Regularly updating client contact information; and (b) Periodically contacting T&E clients to offer to update their plans.   2. Establish Relationships with Named Beneficiaries & Fiduciaries: As a proverbial antidote to named fiduciaries and beneficiaries searching online for T&E attorney when a need to probate a will or trust arises, Poock suggests that T&E lawyers proactively establish relationships with both beneficiaries and named fiduciaries.   As Poock states, “Let them know who you are . . . You care about the people for whom you wrote the estate plans, and you can let [beneficiaries and fiduciaries] know: ‘We're here for you.'”   3. Update Your Website & LinkedIn Profile: Considering the likelihood that named fiduciaries and beneficiaries will search online for a T&E attorney to administer their loved one's estate plan, Poock suggests the following:   That Senior Attorney T&E lawyers update their websites and LinkedIn profiles to establish a digital assurance that the firm that prepared the estate plan for their loved one has the experience and capability to administer the plan, as well.   Regarding the significance of this warning in the context of selling a T&E law firm, Poock explains the following:   In Law Firm Sales 1.0, purchasing firms pay a selling law firm upon an earnout basis, namely, fee sharing upon revenues derived from a selling law firm's defined Book of Business.   Importantly, if estate planning clients do not return to a purchasing law firm when the need arises to administer a will or trust prepared by a selling law firm, the following negative consequences will occur:   1. The potential value of a selling law firm's Estate Plans under Management will become unrealized; and   2. The expected earnout will not match a selling law firm's expectations, despite having prepared hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of estate plans.   As Poock advises, “If you want to get as high of an Earnout as possible when you sell your firm, [i]t is just so important to keep in touch with your clients.”   And, as Poock suggests, “[R]each out to your clients; get that updated contact information; learn more about who the beneficiaries are, who the fiduciary is; keep in touch with them and let them know your firm is here for them and their families for years and decades to come.”

We've reached a huge milestone here at Absolute Trust Counsel—drum roll, please—the launch of our 200th Absolute Trust Talk episode! What started as an idea while driving down the road after a guest appearance on a financial advisor's radio show has become a trusted resource for thousands of listeners over the years. Kirsten's dream was always to have a platform where she could share the expertise of smart professionals she knows—financial planners, accountants, insurance experts, and fellow attorneys—with anyone who could benefit from their knowledge, and to explore the myths, misconceptions, and commonly overlooked estate planning details. From all of us at Absolute Trust Counsel, we want to say THANK YOU! We are deeply grateful to everyone who watches, listens, comments, subscribes, and shares our slice of the airwaves. And speaking of commonly overlooked details, in this celebratory episode, Kirsten continues her "Estate Planning Misses" series by tackling Health Savings Accounts. While HSAs offer valuable tax benefits, there's a simple estate planning step most HSA owners completely overlook—and skipping it could create unnecessary tax bills and legal headaches for the people you leave behind. Kirsten explains why naming a beneficiary on your HSA is essential, what happens if you don't, and the critical difference between how spouses and non-spouses are treated. Unlike IRAs, non-spouse beneficiaries face an immediate tax hit that wipes out the account's value. Time-stamped Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 2:06 Kirsten's vision for educating listeners through expert knowledge 3:28 The pandemic pivot to video and thank you to the audience 5:27 Introduction to the Estate Planning Misses series 5:45 What Health Savings Accounts are and who qualifies for them--you need a high-deductible health insurance plan to participate 6:42 The tax advantages that make HSAs attractive: pre-tax contributions and tax-free spending on medical expenses 7:12 Why HSAs typically don't hold large amounts--the 2026 contribution limit is $4,400 for individuals, and balances roll over year to year 7:42 How HSAs are similar to IRAs: pre-tax money, annual contribution limits, and special treatment for surviving spouses 8:12 The critical difference: when non-spouse beneficiaries inherit an HSA, they immediately owe income tax on the entire balance--unlike IRAs 8:47 Why you must designate a death beneficiary on your HSA, even though it's not a large account 9:17 The spouse advantage: married HSA owners should always name their spouse as beneficiary to avoid tax consequences and legal complications 9:52 Making it easier for your executor or trustee: why proper beneficiary designation simplifies estate administration 10:17 The action step: if you have an HSA, check whether you've named a beneficiary--and if you haven't, you can do it today Take the Next Step in Your Estate Planning Journey If this episode resonated with you, we'd love to help you with your own estate planning needs in California. Schedule a complimentary discovery call with our team at Absolute Trust Counsel. During this no-obligation conversation, we'll: Learn about your unique situation and goals Answer questions about our services Determine if we're the right fit to work together Visit https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/scheduling/ or call 925-943-2740 to schedule your free discovery call today. Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a couple second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Episode Credits: The Absolute Trust Talk podcast is brought to you with the help of Q2Mark, led by Chief Marketing Officer Susie Hays. Since 2016, Q2Mark has partnered with Absolute Trust Counsel on all marketing communications—from brand development and website design to this podcast series with over 192 episodes, social media management, video production, and more. If you're business owner looking for comprehensive marketing support, visit Q2Mark.com.

Hosts Kevin Headland and Macan Nia recently sat down with John Natale, Head of Tax, Retirement & Estate Planning Services at Manulife, to unpack: • The real world trade offs between registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and tax-free savings account (TFSAs); • Why successor holder designations can spare families tax and paperwork; • A time sensitive spousal RRSP contribution opportunity after a death; • Cross border (U.S.) TFSA considerations; • Using segregated funds as a liquidity “cash wedge” after death; and • Why the value of financial advice extends far beyond portfolio returns. Take a listen for practical, plain language insights you can bring to client conversations today.

In this episode of Retire with Style, hosts Alex Murguia and Wade Pfau discuss the launch of the third edition of the Retirement Planning Guidebook and respond to audience questions on tax planning and retirement strategy. They explain what's new in the latest edition, explore tax-efficient planning concepts including Roth conversions, and unpack key issues such as drawdown strategies and preferential income stacking. The conversation also touches on potential future tax changes, offering practical insights to help listeners make more informed retirement planning decisions.   Takeaways The third edition of the Retirement Planning Guidebook is shorter and more affordable. Tax maps are included in the new edition of the book. Roth conversions can be beneficial even if taxes are paid from an IRA. Preferential income stacking can significantly impact tax rates. Future tax legislation is uncertain, and planning should follow current laws. Blending distributions from different accounts can optimize tax efficiency. Roth conversions should be considered based on individual tax situations. Beneficiary considerations can influence the decision to convert to Roth IRAs. It's important to understand effective marginal tax rates for better planning. Avoid pulling money from IRAs to invest in taxable accounts. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Overview 01:44 Book Launch Insights 09:09 Tax Planning Questions Begin 11:26 Drawdown Order and Legacy Planning 12:41 Roth Conversions and Tax Implications 15:32 Preferential Stacking Explained 18:14 Future Tax Legislation Predictions 20:57 Roth Conversions and Tax Payments 23:29 Beneficiary Considerations for Roth IRAs 26:38 Strategic Drawdown Planning 30:12 Navigating Tax Strategies for Retirement Spending   Links

Hans and Robby are back again this week with a brand new episode! This week, they discuss "see-through" trust for your IRA Beneficiary. Don't forget to get your copy of "The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement" on Amazon or on CardinalGuide.com for free! You can contact Hans and Cardinal by emailing hans@cardinalguide.com or calling 919-535-8261. Learn more at CardinalGuide.com. Find us on YouTube: Cardinal Advisors.

It is better to have a trust as a beneficiary rather than an individual since you can have protection on how your property passes in contrast to the grantee/beneficiary's heirs or estate of if the grantee/beneficiary predeceases you.

In this episode of "Next Steps 4 Seniors," host Wendy Jones and guest Wendy Zimmer Cox, an estate planning expert, discuss the essentials of financial security and estate planning for seniors. They highlight the importance of having key legal documents, choosing the right decision-makers, and organizing vital information in a “death binder.” The conversation covers common pitfalls, such as joint bank accounts and family disputes, and stresses clear communication and proactive planning to prevent conflict and ease transitions for loved ones. Listeners are encouraged to seek professional guidance and start these important conversations early. Be sure to like and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so that you never miss an episode. Every week brings two ways to grow: Tuesdays dive into the physical next steps with real-life guidance for seniors and families, and Fridays uplift the heart with spiritual and emotional next steps—encouragement, faith, and hope for the journey ahead. To learn more about Next Steps 4 Seniors, contact us at 248-651-5010 or visit us online at www.nextsteps4seniors.com Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@nextsteps4seniorsLearn more : https://nextsteps4seniors.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Partner at McGowan Robertson Lawyers, Phillip McGowan joins Philip Clark and listeners to Nightlife to help untangle the web of superannuation, wills and estate planning. 

Beneficiary Distributions with Estate Planning

Southwest Michigan's Afternoon News podcast is prepared and delivered by the WSJM Newsroom. For these stories and more, visit https://www.wsjm.com and follow us for updates on Facebook. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Southwest Michigan's Afternoon News podcast is prepared and delivered by the WSJM Newsroom. For these stories and more, visit https://www.wsjm.com and follow us for updates on Facebook. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Ramadan approaches, Sharjah Charity International are ensuring that all communities across Sharjah are remembered and cared for with a 1 million AED initiative that tackles food insecurity for 25,000 people across Sharjah. Make sure to contribute via all channels, and listen in to find the exact details of what Sharjah Charity International have planned for this Ramadan as Saeed Ghanim Al Suwaidi, Board Member of Sharjah Charity International, elaborates on the endless options on how you can make a difference this Holy Month. Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com ************************ Follow us on Social. www.facebook.com/pulse95radio www.twitter.com/pulse95radio

In this heartfelt episode of "Discovering Grayslake," host Dave sits down with longtime residents Ginny and Tim Girmscheid to share their inspiring journey through Jenny's battle with mantle cell lymphoma. The Shygrooms open up about the challenges of cancer treatment, the importance of accepting help, and the overwhelming support from their Grayslake community. Their story is one of resilience, hope, and the power of kindness—reminding us all how coming together can make a real difference in the lives of our neighbors.

Important Tax Considerations for Newlyweds Episode 365 – Have you gotten married recently? The next steps are considerably less exciting. There are some important financial steps you need to take. More SML Planning Minute Podcast Episodes Transcript of Podcast Episode 365 Hello, this is Bill Rainaldi, with another edition of Security Mutual's SML Planning Minute. In today's episode, some important tax considerations for newlyweds. So, congrats on your recent marriage. If you're like most people, your wedding probably involved a significant amount of planning and detail: where, when, who to invite, who not to invite, where to seat everybody, etc. You may be glad you to get through such an important life-changing event, and you're ready to move on with the rest of your life. But you're not done quite yet. There are a number of financial details you may need to address. Here are just a few of them: Name change. If there is a name change involved, you'll need to report it to the Social Security Administration (SSA). When you file your next tax return, the name on that return needs to match what the SSA has on file. The Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, recommends that you file a new Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card, which is available at SSA.gov.[1] Update your address. Make sure you let the IRS, the Postal Service, and your employer know about any address change. Coordinate your benefits. You might now have access to a better—or cheaper—health insurance plan.[2] You'll need to look things over with your new spouse. Decide on your new filing status. Once you're married, you can choose to file jointly or separately each year. While the IRS says that filing jointly is usually less expensive, they recommend that you calculate it both ways before you decide. Also, it doesn't really matter what day you got married. Even if it's on New Year's Eve, the rules state that for tax purposes, you're considered married for the entire year.[3] Married filing separately. Once they're married, few people elect to file their income taxes separately. This is because it usually results in the highest combined taxes. But some people do this anyway because the individual filing the return is the only one liable for any tax bills and errors on that return. It also happens when the two spouses decide, for whatever reason, that they would prefer to only be responsible for their own taxes.[4] Marriage penalty. The so-called “marriage penalty” occurs when a married couple ends up paying more income taxes than they would have had they remained single. This becomes more likely when both of you have high earnings and close to the same income. On the other hand, if you and your spouse are at different income levels, odds are that there will actually be a marriage bonus, that is, the tax on your joint income will be less than it would be had you filed separately.[5] Standard deduction. Nowadays, only about 10 percent of taxpayers itemize their deductions.[6] The rest use the standard deduction. For 2026, the standard deduction is $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $16,100 for single taxpayers. These figures were adjusted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill passed in July of 2025. On some occasions, getting married can have an impact on whether you itemize or not. Previous debts. If your new spouse owes money for previous taxes or child support, any future joint tax refund could be reduced as a result.[7] Separate homes. If you own two separate houses, it's likely that you'll be selling one of them when you get married. And if you're selling at a gain, you may get extra benefits from being married. Once you're married, you get an addition to the amount of tax-free gain you can take. The amount is $250,000 for single taxpayers, but $500,000 for married taxpayers. The rules are a bit tricky, though, and you need to make sure you meet all the qualifications.[8] Beneficiary and Will Review. This one may or may not result in tax consequences, but it is important to note. When getting married, it's critical for each spouse to review any existing wills, plans or benefits (such as life insurance) that assigned a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Unless restricted by a court order, it's usually preferable for the new spouse to be assigned as beneficiary in each of those examples. So be sure not to overlook this step in the process and make any required changes when getting married. Getting married represents a big change for just about anybody, and not just in your personal life. Your financial life is also likely to be affected in a number of different ways. But as long as you know what to expect, the additional stress involved should be manageable. Let the fun begin! [1] Internal Revenue Service. “Newlyweds tax checklist.” IRS.gov. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/newlyweds-tax-checklist (accessed December 4, 2025). [2] TurboTax Expert. “Getting Married: What Newlyweds Need to Know.” Intuit.com. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/getting-married/L0DvEUlEC (accessed December 4, 2025). [3] Internal Revenue Service. “Essential tax tips for marriage status changes.” IRS.gov. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/essential-tax-tips-for-marriage-status-changes#:~:text (accessed December 22, 2025) [4] Willetts, Jo. “Tax tips for newly married couples.” Jacksonhewitt.com. https://www.jacksonhewitt.com/tax-help/tax-tips-topics/family/tax-tips-for-newly-married-couples/ (accessed December 5, 2025). [5] Id. [6] Tax Policy Center. “What are itemized deductions and who claims them?” Taxpolicycenter.org.https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-itemized-deductions-and-who-claims-them (accessed December 4, 2025). [7] Manganaro, John. “9 Key Tax Considerations for Newlyweds.” ThinkAdvisor.com. https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2025/06/27/9-key-tax-considerations-for-newlyweds/ (accessed December 4, 2025). [8] TurboTax Expert. “Getting Married: What Newlyweds Need to Know.” Intuit.com. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/getting-married/L0DvEUlEC (accessed December 4, 2025). More SML Planning Minute Podcast Episodes This podcast is brought to you by Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, The Company That Cares®. The content provided is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Information is provided in good faith. However, the Company makes no representation or warranty of any kind regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information. The information presented is designed to provide general information regarding the subject matter covered. It is not to serve as legal, tax or other financial advice related to individual situations, because each individual's legal, tax and financial situation is different. Specific advice needs to be tailored to your situation. Therefore, please consult with your own attorney, tax professional and/or other advisors regarding your specific situation. To help reach your goals, you need a skilled professional by your side. Contact your local Security Mutual life insurance advisor today. As part of the planning process, he or she will coordinate with your other advisors as needed to help you achieve your financial goals and objectives. For more information, visit us at SMLNY.com/SMLPodcast. If you've enjoyed this podcast, tell your friends about it. And be sure to give us a five-star review. And check us out on LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Tax laws are complex and subject to change. The information presented is based on current interpretation of the laws. Neither Security Mutual nor its agents are permitted to provide tax or legal advice. The applicability of any strategy discussed is dependent upon the particular facts and circumstances. Results may vary, and products and services discussed may not be appropriate for all situations. Each person's needs, objectives and financial circumstances are different, and must be reviewed and analyzed independently. We encourage individuals to seek personalized advice from a qualified Security Mutual life insurance advisor regarding their personal needs, objectives, and financial circumstances. Insurance products are issued by Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Binghamton, New York. Product availability and features may vary by state.​ SubscribeApple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPandoraBlubrryby EmailTuneInDeezerRSSMore Subscribe Options

Send us fan responses! What if the labels you accept decide your legal power before you ever speak? We take a hard look at how public identifiers—birth certificates, marriage licenses, car titles, and the Social Security number—lock you into beneficiary status while the government or other trustees hold true control. From that starting point, we unpack the core split that governs wealth and risk: equitable title versus legal title. If you only receive benefits, you also receive the taxes and exposure. If you hold legal title, you direct outcomes.We walk through a practical blueprint for moving into private law: establishing a non-grantor, irrevocable, complex discretionary trust; layering a 508(c)(1)(a) ministry entity for mission-driven protection; creating holding companies for control; and using operating companies—yes, including your legal name treated as a business—to route activity with intention. This isn't theory; it's a system for bypassing probate, appointing successor trustees, and aligning distributions so your family name becomes a durable institution rather than a taxable person on paper.Identity becomes strategy. We talk about treating your name, signature, and even your thumbprint as assets, autographing rather than signing, and signaling status through how you handle documents. We dig into Social Security as social insurance, why trust fund mechanics protect the system first, and how to step out of individual capacity by directing benefits to private entities. It all ladders back to a simple principle: you can only control what you create. Build the instruments. Write the rules. Train the next trustee.If this sparked a shift in how you see your status and your name, share this with someone who needs it, hit follow, and leave a review telling us the one move you'll make this week to protect your legacy.https://donkilam.com FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD - DON KILAMGO GET HIS BOOK ON AMAZON NOW! https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Touch-This-Diplomatic-Immunity/dp/B09X1FXMNQ https://open.spotify.com/track/5QOUWyNahqcWvQ4WQAvwjj?autoplay=trueSupport the showhttps://donkilam.com

Paul Nolte, Senior Wealth Advisor & Market Strategist for Murphy & Sylvest, joins Wendy Snyder (in for Bob Sirott) to talk about what people should review in their financial accounts for the new year and if more jobs will be created in 2026. He also explains how people can save for retirement while supporting their […]

Are primaries unconstitutional? This is the point Adam Holley intends to make with his case filed against the Oklahoma Secretary of State and the Oklahoma State Election Board. This case is now heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the meantime, he has filed a second case challenging State Question 836 which seeks to establish an open primary in Oklahoma.  Find out how and why Adam is going to such great lengths to make this very consequential point concerning primary elections.      And check out my amazing sponsors!    Motus Health - (405) 494-0165  https://motushealth.com   This is where my wife and go for a reason!  They offer the best in chiropractic care and true functional medicine.   They are currently helping people who may be suffering with: Neuropathy Frozen shoulder Degenerated & Herniated Discs TMJ & jaw pain Weight Loss Autoimmune Disorders Gut Health Fibromyalgia Headaches & Migraines Trigeminal Neuralgia Knee Pain And more!! https://motushealth.com     Michael Mcguire with McGuire Capitol "Your confident financial future starts here!" Michael prides himself on providing retirement income strategies to Bethany, OK and the surrounding communities. He will take a look at your assets — including everything from your bank accounts, pension, and Social Security benefits, to your estate plans, wills, taxes, insurance policies and more. His end goal is to help create financial clarity and to promote multi-generational wealth. He offers: Insurance planning Beneficiary review Retirement planning Financial needs analysis Analysis of present and future expenses Income planning  https://mcguirecap.com   Stevens Trucking Stevens Trucking maintains over 350 power units in our fleet so we ensure our customers and drivers always have top of the line equipment With over 1,600 trailers, we are able to offer a drop-and-hook solution to keep your freight moving quickly and secure. While also helping our drivers get extra miles so they can keep on pullin' more loads. https://stevenstrucking.com

Brent chats about how trusts may actually be the best IRA beneficiaries now. This material is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the speaker as of the date noted and not necessarily of the speaker's firm or its affiliates. If you are enjoying the podcast please SUBSCRIBE and leave a REVIEW, and if you want to learn more about Brent go to https://wealthandlaw.com/team/. Legal Disclaimer: https://wealthandlaw.com/legal-disclaimer/

Brent chats about the ways that beneficiary designations can quietly, and unintentionally, override carefully drafted documents. This material is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the speaker as of the date noted and not necessarily of the speaker's firm or its affiliates. If you are enjoying the podcast please SUBSCRIBE and leave a REVIEW, and if you want to learn more about Brent go to https://wealthandlaw.com/team/. Legal Disclaimer: https://wealthandlaw.com/legal-disclaimer/

Money Talks is hosted by Dr Nancy Lottridge Anderson, President of New Perspectives and Ryder Taff, Portfolio Manager at New Perspectives. To email a question to the show, send it to money@mpbonline.org. In this episode, we talk about beneficiaries. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sit down with former Oklahoma state senator and current Oklahoma director of the Freedom Caucus, Nathan Dahm. We discuss the rise of Islam in Oklahoma and the controversy surrounding the Broken Arrow planning commission voting to recommend the construction of a large mosque to the city council - in spite of hundreds of local residents protesting it. As usual, Dahm anchors his argument in the the constitution to present a clear-minded explanation of why Islam is not compatible with Western society.    And check out my amazing sponsors!    Motus Health - https://motushealth.com They are currently helping people who may be suffering with: Neuropathy Frozen shoulder Degenerated & Herniated Discs TMJ & jaw pain Weight Loss Autoimmune Disorders Gut Health Fibromyalgia Headaches & Migraines Trigeminal Neuralgia Knee Pain And more!! https://motushealth.com Michael Mcguire with McGuire Capitol    https://mcguirecap.com We pride ourselves on providing retirement income strategies to Bethany, OK and the surrounding communities. We take a look at your assets — including everything from your bank accounts, pension, and Social Security benefits, to your estate plans, wills, taxes, insurance policies and more Our end goal is to help create financial clarity and to promote multi-generational wealth. We offer: Insurance planning Beneficiary review Retirement planning Financial needs analysis Analysis of present and future expenses Income planning  https://mcguirecap.com   Stevens Trucking  https://stevenstrucking.com  Stevens Trucking maintains over 350 power units in our fleet so we ensure our customers and drivers always have top of the line equipment With over 1,600 trailers, we are able to offer a drop-and-hook solution to keep your freight moving quickly and secure. While also helping our drivers get extra miles so they can keep on pullin' more loads. https://stevenstrucking.com

Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sits down with Cristin Dorgelo, a former senior adviser for management at the Office of Management and Budget, and Rob Storch, who served as the inspector general of the Defense Department until the Trump administration fired him and many of his colleagues in January of this year. They discuss those firings, other Trump administration attacks on the offices of the inspector general, and various attempts by the administration to undermine oversight and evade accountability, all covered in a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities called “Trump Administration's Undercutting of Oversight Hurts Taxpayers and Beneficiaries.”To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when beneficiaries disagree about the family home or other inherited real estate? In this episode, guest, James Ulwelling and host, Ben Schwefel, will discuss partition actions, co-ownership conflicts, lis pendens (notice of pendency of action), and practical strategies for resolving real property disputes that arise in trust and estate administrations.About our guest:James Ulwelling practices in the areas of real estate litigation, real estate transactions, community association (HOA) law, business law and general civil litigation. James has served as lead trial counsel in numerous lawsuits and arbitrations over the years, where he has exhibited skills in courtroom strategy, critical analysis and sophisticated advocacy. James, who has over 25 years of legal experience, is a former partner at Morris Polich and Purdy, LLP (now Clark Hill PLC) and Ulwelling | Siddiqui LLP.James is actively engaged with professional groups serving the real estate, community association and business communities. He is a member of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California and the Community Associations Institute. He is a featured speaker for groups such as the Community Associations Institute, Chapman University School of Law, the Orange County Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Employer Advisory Council of Orange County, and numerous commercial and residential real estate brokerages. He has served on the Publications Committee and Mediation Committee for the Community Associations Institute. James has been published in periodicals and trade journals such as California Law Business, The Law Journal and OC View.Thank you for listening to Trust Me!Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra StudiosEdited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

This segment is informational, not tax advice.For more information: https://www.irs.gov/https://breslowstarling.com/https://www.nobleknights.org/ways-to-give Produced by Noble Academy, a school for students with learning differences in Greensboro, NC. https://www.nobleknights.org/

We're revisiting one of our most-requested conversations — a practical, myth-busting look at estate planning with Melissa Joy, CFP®, and Ashley Waddell-Tingstad, founder of Treetown Law.Trusts often sound complicated or “for someone else,” but Ashley breaks them down into simple, everyday tools that protect families, minimize stress, and provide clarity during life's biggest transitions.What You'll Learn: • The essentials: Why powers of attorney and healthcare directives are the cornerstone of any estate plan. • Trusts vs. probate: What probate really involves — and why many families prefer to avoid it. • Beneficiary designations: How small updates can prevent major complications. • Revocable living trusts: The privacy, flexibility, and ease they provide (no, you don't need to be wealthy). • State-specific guidance: Why your plan should be created with local laws in mind. • Post-death protection: How trusts help shield assets from legal and financial vulnerabilities.Whether you're planning for the future or simply want to understand your options, this replay delivers clarity and confidence.The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING's investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...

As we approach another new year, we take a moment to reflect on our financial plans and make adjustments as needed.  In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, hosts Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff walk through all of the things you should be revisiting.  Even if you've made a plan, don't let it get stagnant and out of step with your current life and goals. Parts of a financial plan to revisit include: Goals and priorities: we change over time, so this will likely change as well! Progress toward those goals: you may need to adjust if you are off track! Beneficiary designations on accounts, retirement plans, etc as well as estate planning documents. Insurances: the coverage you need at Age 40 is likely not the same coverage you will need at Age 55. Investment allocations: as your risk tolerance changes, so should your investment strategy! College savings: as your kid(s) get older, you may have a better idea of what they will need.   It's a great idea to do at least an annual review.  You may not need to adjust each of these things every year, but that will give you an opportunity to recognize anything in your plan that is out of step in a timely manner.  I think we'd all rather know if we are off track sooner than later so we can make the necessary changes.   For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes. Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

Send us a textHappy Holiday Season 2025!  This week, Paul and Joe talk Thanksgiving and Good News!  @tugayspodtugayspod@yahoo.com#lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia+ #sandiego #gaysandiego #gaycommedy #goodnews #holidays2025Gay San Diego comedy LGBT LGBTQ LGBTQIA+@tugayspod tugayspod@yahoo.com#lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia+ #sandiego #gaysandiego #gaycommedyGay San Diego comedy LGBT LGBTQ LGBTQIA+Producers: Nick Stone & Andy Smith

RAGBRAI recently announced that Iowa's Community Bicycle Shops will be the Community Fund beneficiary for RAGBRAI LIII. Murph and AP are on to give you some insight into each of the chosen shops. Funds raised will be directed to 6 Community Bicycle Shops in Iowa: -The Iowa City Bike Library -The Street Collective in Des Moines -Chain Reaction Bike Hub in Cedar Rapids -Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective in Waterloo -We-Cycle in Ames -The Dubuque Bike Co-Op Find out more at: https://ragbrai.com/gives/ RAGBRAI: www.ragbrai.com Just Go Bike: ragbrai.com/justgobike/ Watch, or listen on our Just Go Bike YouTube channel. www.youtube.com/@JustGoBikePodcast Have a topic for a future episode? Message us at justgobikepodcast@gmail.com. Registration for RAGBRAI LIII is open! ragbrai.com/registration/

Leaders in Minneapolis and St. Paul say they are standing with the local Somali community amid reports federal officials are planning a targeted immigration crackdown. The operation would target a few hundred people with final deportation orders. Most Somali residents in Minnesota are U.S. citizens and city leaders raised concerns they could be caught up in a federal operation. Gov. Tim Walz says he's open to a federal probe focused on whether Minnesota funding went to terrorist groups in Somalia. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on social media he is launching an investigation to determine whether taxpayer money went to al-Shabaab, after allegations were raised by a conservative think tank.Walz says he's taken action to prevent fraud in state programs after lawmakers gave him broader authority earlier this year. Republicans have criticized Walz over his administration's response to fraud in Medicaid programs.The Trump administration is threatening to cut off federal administrative SNAP funding to Minnesota over the state's refusal to share data about beneficiaries. State leaders have declined to share the names, birth dates, addresses and Social Security numbers of food assistance program participants — and won a court order earlier this year to not share that data. The Trump administration says the information is needed to investigate fraud. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has identified the police officer in Plymouth who shot and wounded a man after responding a domestic disturbance call last week. Officer Jacob Coopet allegedly confronted and shot a man with a handgun. The man remains in stable condition.

PREVIEW — Victoria Coates — Winners and losers of the Ukraine conflict endgame. Coates analyzes the victors of the Ukraine conflict endgame, naming China as a significant beneficiary. Should Russia succeed, its status as a global player will be restored, though suspicion of Russian intentions persists because they extract more than they contribute. The conflict most significantly undermines the U.S. image as a reliable ally committed to securing nations' freedom—a credibility loss reminiscent of earlier historical failures during the World Wars and Kuwait crisis.

"I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm very, I I I I I I..." Tony's out at loanDepot park for Give Miami Day and to deliver his Tony's Top 5, and he avoids being debacled. Then, the ever-humble Pablo Torre is here to share details of his new episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, diving into the story of Riley Gaines and her ascension through the political landscape via anti-Trans rhetoric. He explains where the money behind her comes from and why her former swim coach's story leads to some hypocrisy in her messaging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Thursday, November 20th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Muslims in Congo killed 17 patients in a Christian hospital Sheer evil has struck Africa again. Last Friday, Muslim militants with the Allied Democratic Forces killed 17 people at a Christian hospital in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.  The armed rebels killed patients in their hospital beds, including women who were nursing their babies. Such civilian massacres are becoming more common in the Christian-majority area. Congo is ranked 35th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most dangerous countries to be a Christian. Open Doors' profile for the country notes, “Allied with the Islamic State group, the [Allied Democratic Forces] abduct and kill Christians and attack churches, leading to widespread terror, insecurity and displacement.” European Court of Human Rights denied rights of unborn humans The European Court of Human Rights  ruled in favor of abortion last week, denying the rights of unborn humans. The case began when a woman wanted to get an abortion in Poland after discovering her baby had a genetic disorder. However, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal had struck down abortion on the basis of disability.  So, the woman travelled abroad for an abortion and challenged Poland's decision. The European court ruled against Poland in the case. Dr. Felix Böllmann with Alliance Defending Freedom International warned, “This judgment sends a troubling signal that the Court is again willing to overstep its role. The Court should return to its original mission of protecting genuine human rights, not inventing false ones.” Isaiah 10:1-2 says, “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice ... that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless.” U.S. pregnancy centers are seeing growth In the United States, pregnancy centers are seeing growth in recent years. The Charlotte Lozier Institute released its 2025 National Pregnancy Center Report. The study found 2,775 pregnancy centers provided over $452 million in care, education, and material goods to families in 2024. The centers also saw over one million new clients for the first time last year. That's the equivalent of each location serving a new client every day! The phase out of the unnecessary Department of Education The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday it is handing off major responsibilities to other federal agencies. This is part of the Trump administration's plan to close the department.  The plan transfers major programs to the Departments of Labor, Interior, State as well as Health and Human Services. Listen to comments from U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. MCMAHON: “The announcement really follows the plan that President Trump has had since Day 1, and that is returning education to the states.  He fully believes, as do I, the best education is that that is closest to the child, and not one run from a bureaucracy in Washington D.C.” Only 11% of U.S. churchgoers have Biblical worldview Christian researcher Dr. George Barna released his latest survey on the worldview of Americans, specifically regular churchgoers. The report found only 11% of churchgoers have a Biblical worldview. Only 54% say the Bible is the inspired, error-free Word of God. About 50% or less believe the Bible speaks clearly on moral issues. And 32% of churchgoers now prefer socialism over capitalism. Dr. David Closson, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at the Family Research Council, commented on the study.  He said, “The answer to these trends is not despair, but a return to the faithful proclamation of God's Word. We must help Christians connect their zeal for God with the knowledge of God, as Scripture commands in Romans 10:2.” That verse says, “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” WalMart CEO and Berkshire Hathaway CEO retire And finally, CEOs of U.S. companies are leaving at record rates this year. This comes as many executives are reaching retirement age. For example, 59-year-old Doug McMillion will retire from being CEO of Walmart next year after leading the retailer's growth for over a decade.  In another case, 95-year-old Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway this year. After 60 years in leadership, the renowned investor sent out his final letter to shareholders last week.  In his final thoughts, Buffett wrote, “Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it's hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior.” Buffett's billions funded millions of abortions Too bad Buffet has not used his resources to treat the unborn children in the womb with such Golden Rule kindness. Instead, the Media Research Center reported that Buffett's grants to abortion groups through the Buffett Foundation totaled at least $1.3 billion between 1989 and 2012. (The tax returns from 1997 to 2000 were missing.)  The New York Times reported, “Most of the [Buffet] Foundation's spending goes to abortion and contraception.”  Buffett's biographer describes him as having “a Malthusian dread” of population growth among the poor. And the Buffett Foundation's spending in this area was accelerating rapidly as the 2000s unfolded. Beneficiaries of Buffett's deadly giving include $300 million for abortion giant Planned Parenthood as well as millions more for the National Abortion Rights Action League, the National Abortion Federation, Catholics for a Free Choice, Abortion Access Project, Population Council, Marie Stopes International, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and dozens of other pro-abortion advocates. In addition, the Buffett Foundation gave money that was instrumental in creating the abortion drug RU-486 and pushing it through clinical trials. Tragically, 63% of mothers who abort in America today use this deadly drug to kill their babies. Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, Novem ber 20th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X  or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus