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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,

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Oversight Hearing entitled “Native American Education – Examining Federal Programs at the U.S. Department of Education” Date: April 2, 2025 Time: 2:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room: 628 Witnesses Panel 1 Mr. Jason Dropik Executive Director National Indian Education Association Washington, DC Ms. Sydna Yellowfish Director of Indian Education Edmond Public Schools Edmond, Oklahoma Dr. Rosita Worl President Sealaska Heritage Institute Juneau, Alaska Ms. Nicole Russell Executive Director National Association of Federally Impacted Schools Washington, DC Ms. Ahniwake Rose President and CEO American Indian Higher Education Consortium Alexandria, Virginia More on Indianz.Com: https://indianz.com/News/2025/04/02/written-testimony-for-senate-committee-on-indian-affairs-hearing-on-department-of-education/

Story #1: The Mark Zuckerberg of Russia is arrested in France. Zuckerberg himself admitted to pressure by the Biden-Harris administration to censor content. It's only a matter of time before they go after Elon Musk next. Story #2: The political divide between African American men and African American women is the second biggest divide in American politics. A conversation with former GOP Pennsylvania Senatorial Candidate and advisor to Vivek Ramaswamy, Kathy Barnette. Story #3: Is a recession now a certainty? Is there any way of escaping it? A conversation with economist and visiting fellow at the Heritage Institute, Peter St Onge. Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing WillCainShow@fox.com Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Go work with people in legal fields because they are the ones working on language access” Serena Williams received her PhD from UC Davis. She is a linguistic entrepreneur who leads walking tours, does genealogy research, is writing a textbook, developing K-12 linguistics courses, and is even writing a memoir about her time spent doing van life with her daughter while teaching her lessons tailored to the places they were visiting. She founded both the Language and Heritage Institute and Chronos Heritage Services. Serena Williams on LinkedIn Chronos Heritage Services Language and Heritage Institute From PhD to Life (Jen Polk) Topics include – genealogy – entrepreneurship – work environment – translation – language rights – language access – language justiceThe post Episode #51: Serena Williams first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ended its 2024 term by handing down landmark decisions in a number of key cases, including the all-important Trump v. United States. Left-wing pundits, members of Congress, and even President Biden were quick to make wild claims about the Court's ruling on presidential immunity, with some asserting the president is now free to arrest, deport, or even murder his political enemies. Could any of this be true? Is the president now empowered to use the military to commit heinous crimes? That's what the Left wants you to believe—because they want you to see the Supreme Court as illegitimate following a string of decisions that restore constitutional order and put power back in the hands of the people. So, what did the Court decide—and how will it affect you?Vice President of the Heritage Institute for Constitutional Government John Malcolm sat down with guest host Cody Sargent, director of communications at Heritage Action, to restore some sanity to the conversation and break down the summer's biggest SCOTUS decisions. Heritage Legal Experts: SCOTUS Rightfully Protects Presidents from Politicized Prosecutions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland has further worsened diplomatic relations with Somalia. Its government is furious at the agreement that would give landlocked Ethiopia access to the Red Sea. Why is this dispute worsening? And could there be wider consequences? In this episode: Samuel Getachew, Political commentator specialising in Ethiopia. Sharmake Ali, Activist with UK-Somaliland Alliance. Abdulkareem Jama, Chair of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Host: James Bay Connect with us:@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

On Monday, we revisited Micah and special guest Rod Zeeb, CEO of The Heritage Institute, as they emphasized building genuine connections and trust with clients through estate planning. They discuss the four key things clients genuinely desire and the critical questions advisors must ask to meet those expectations, all while stressing the importance of starting with a vision. On Wednesday, Matt was joined by, Paul Saganey, the founder of Integrated Partners, who introduced the concept of the complexity curve and shared his insights into problem-solving and the significance of asking thought-provoking questions to provide guidance for financial advisors aiming to elevate their practice. Thursday, Jamie shared her journey as an acts of service person and addressed the challenges of asking for assistance, and offered insights into achieving a balance between helping others and personal growth.  Tune in as we recap highlights and action items from estate planning to personal growth. Asking Questions That Matter For Estate Planning [Episode 232] The Complexity Curve with Guest Paul Saganey Acts Of Service Estate Planning Value, Client Complexities, and Balancing Service With Personal Growth

This industry is about so much more than simply offering financial help. It is about building honest connections and trust with your clients and ensuring that they always feel heard, valued, and understood. In this episode, Micah will be joined by Rod Zeeb, founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute, to discuss how to deliver massive value items, specifically several things we need to focus on as advisors to make sure we're always exceeding expectations. Listen in as Rod explains the four things that clients truly want, as well as the questions you need to ask in order to get there. You will learn how to understand your clients' goals with their estate planning, how to approach a conversation around an estate that is not being split equally, and why you should always start with the vision. Throwback: Asking Questions That Matter For Estate Planning

Do you know just how much inflation is costing you and your family?  Jimmy talks with EJ Antoni - Fellow at The Heritage Institute about how Americans are being affected by inflation and unchecked government spending, and Wanda James - one of the people that pushed for low-interest marijuana business loans for Black and Brown residents was awarded one of the first 2 loans... even though her dispensary was flagged for selling weed to minors See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know just how much inflation is costing you and your family?  Jimmy talks with EJ Antoni - Fellow at The Heritage Institute about how Americans are being affected by inflation and unchecked government spending, and Wanda James - one of the people that pushed for low-interest marijuana business loans for Black and Brown residents was awarded one of the first 2 loans... even though her dispensary was flagged for selling weed to minors See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Betsy Duncan is a Florida native and grew up in Fort Myers. Her passion for massage was discovered in High School Theater where she would give shoulder massages to classmates. Wanting to learn more, she attended Heritage Institute for 1,000 hours, becoming a nationally certified massage therapist in 2005. She then worked with chiropractors and physical therapist for several years, focusing on helping people with injuries. From 2007 to the present Betsy has worked for the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs and the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach catering to our welcomed beach guests! From 2010-2012 Betsy taught massage therapy at Cortiva Institute where she enjoyed teaching Swedish, Hot Stones and Hydrotherapy. She has worked on several movie and commercial sets massaging cast and crew. Her detail to service has awarded her the recognition of several celebrity clients, and her nickname “Mighty Mouse” from an NFL player. Her favorite modalities are Swedish, Therapeutic, Hot Stone, Warm Shell and Aromatherapy. In 2014 Betsy's urge to learn more and add to her skills; she went back to school for Skincare and Nails at Sunstate academy. She graduated in top of her class in 2014. In 2020 Betsy started working at Summit Salon Academy as an educator with skin and nail courses. In 2022 the massage program that she designed and built was approved by The Florida Massage Therapy Board. The program is now becoming the place to go to learn Massage therapy in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. You can also visit Betsy for a massage, facial, mani/pedi at The SKINStitue Med Spa today by calling 813-510-3000 and ask for Betsy aka "Mighty Mouse"!   More:

Today Hunter's Ho connection, frantic over China Spy Chief, Patrick Ho convicted and Kanekoa's review, Systematic Chinese Corruption, Reid Hoffman visits Epstein Island, David Turk on Green Tyranny, Heritage Institute on the origins of 'Global Warming", ATL hospital shooter, America in decline, and more...

Геннадий Бакуменко, кандидат культурологии, независимый исследователь, журналист, консультант, ассоциированный научный сотрудник Южного филиала Института Наследия, редактор рубрики "София культуры" Русского литературного журнала "Парус". Область научных интересов: культура научной коммуникации, социокультурные и кросс-культурные процессы, символизация успеха, сакрализация и десакрализация, массовая культура, элитарная культура, русская культура, кино, искусство, медиа. Gennady Bakumenko, PhD in Cultural Studies, independent researcher, journalist, consultant, associate researcher at the Southern Branch of the Heritage Institute, editor of the "Sophia of Culture" section of the Russian literary magazine "Parus". Research interests: culture of scientific communication, socio-cultural and cross-cultural processes, symbolization of success, sacralization and desacralization, mass culture, elite culture, Russian culture, cinema, art, media. ================================SUPPORT & CONNECT:Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/denofrichTwitter: https://twitter.com/denofrichFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.develman/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/denofrichInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/Hashtag: #denofrich© Copyright 2023 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

As the capital and the seat of the Somali government, Mogadishu has undergone a slow process of urban recovery over the course of the past decade. The city is experiencing rapid urbanisation, growing up to as much as 4% per year by some estimates, with a concomitant building boom driving up land prices. However, central tenets of the political settlement remain unresolved, including Mogadishu's constitutional status. Drawing on current political settlements and domain studies, ACRC researchers Surer Mohamed, Afyare Elmi, Abdirizak Muhumed and Abdifatah Tahir discuss urban politics and power dynamics, issues of security and citizenship, and the trends they are seeing  that give them hope for urban reform in Mogadishu. Surer Mohamed is the current Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, focusing on  the politics of urban belonging in Africa and the aftermaths of political violence in cities. She is the ACRC uptake lead and domain lead for land and connectivity in Mogadishu. Afyare Elmi is the executive director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, as well as the ACRC city lead and political settlements co-lead in Mogadishu.Abdirizak Muhumed is a senior researcher at the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies and co-leads ACRC's political settlements research in Mogadishu. Abdifatah Tahir is a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Manchester and former member of Somalia's federal parliament. He is working on the land and connectivity domain within ACRC.  ----Music: Brighter Days | Broke in SummerSounds: ZapsplatThis podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:> Website> E-news> Twitter> LinkedIn> YouTube

In this episode, Kris and Katie dive in with two educators - Judy and Kristen - who have chosen to go BACK to the classroom in recent months. Hear why they chose to dive back in at a time when many educators are more than ready to get out, and what they see as the same, and different with their students and colleagues today. Are kids more 'grown up' now? What impact has Covid had from the standpoint of educators who were looking in from the outside? And what is it like to jump into EdTech when you haven't been in the classroom for 20 years? Explore these questions and more with two 'new-again' teachers.  Many thanks to Judy and Kristen for joining this episode and sharing their experiences.  Check out the PD Course Judt mentioned from the Heritage Institute: https://www.hol.edu/courses/keep-students-from-falling-through-the-cracks?list=Instructor%20Courses#sthash.XBLWdotn.dpbs Get in touch with Katie and Kris: katie@educatalyst.com On IG: @keighten And on Twitter: @Keightyen & @KrisAstle   Big thanks to our awesome editor Kevin Olenick!

Transformational Philanthropy from the Donor's Perspective: Interview with Ron Zeeb, Founder of The Heritage Institute Transformational Philanthropy from the Donor's Perspective: “When the non-profits learn to focus on my need to give rather than their need to get, they will get a lot more from me.” As the recently released Bank of America Study of Philanthropy (previously known as the US Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy) found, the number 1 reason affluent donors choose a cause or organization to support is the donor's values (72%). Only 48% gave due to the perceived need of the organization or issue, and only 13% gave due to a compelling pitch (in person, virtually, or via collateral). Therefore, the key to generating transformational gifts is to focus on the donor's values and desired outcomes and then provide opportunities for them to fulfill those desired outcomes. Consequently, your focus needs to be on the desired outcomes of your donor (their need to give), rather than the organization's needs (your need to get). Rodney C. Zeeb, JD, HDP™, Founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute. Rod has over three decades of experience in estate planning, charitable planning, and heritage design and is recognized internationally for his contributions to the field. Among the major national conferences and events Rod has spoken to are Pershing's INSITE Conference, MDRT, NAIFA, Kingdom Advisors, Securities Industries and Financial Markets Associations (SIFMA ), NAPFA, United Way of America National de Tocqueville Conference, FPA (national and regional groups), International Association of Advisors in Philanthropy, National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, and many others. Rod typically receives the highest speaker evaluations. Rod has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Dow Jones News, Macleans Magazine (including international editions), Wealth Collection Magazine, Financial Advisor Magazine, Wealth Manager Magazine, Inside Information, and many other print and online publications. Rod has written numerous articles and white papers. He is also the author of Beating the Midas Curse (now in its 3rd Edition) and Family Stewardship, and co-author of the novel What Matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For months, the United Nations and aid agencies have warned of extreme hunger and malnutrition on a catastrophic scale in Somalia. So, what's preventing an official declaration of famine? And would it make a difference on the ground? Join host Nastasya Tay. Guests: Guhad Adan - Research Associate, London School of Economics. Afyare Elmi - Author and Executive Director, Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Hodan Ali - Adviser to the mayor of Mogadishu.

What You'll Learn: How our childhood experiences become the undercurrent of our relationship with wealth How to talk to your kids about money in a way that eliminates fear How to find passion and motivation in children in a family business Why Kjartin recommends low-income, high-impact jobs for children of wealth Holding a family conversation about individual and shared purpose How to build support from the family system How to help children who appear to be unmotivated or disinterested The importance of unconditional positive regard How shame compounds stagnation  Keeping generations connected when Next Gen is exploring new possibilities Looking at the family office as an extension of the family system Making sure the family office represents the family and not just specific individuals   Resources:   https://www.graddha.com https://graddha.medium.com/ https://twitter.com/graddha https://www.facebook.com/Graddha https://www.linkedin.com/company/graddha-inc Bios:   KJARTAN JANSEN, MA, CFA Co-founder and CFO, Graddha   Kjartan brings to Graddha a combination of financial acumen, facilitation training and relevant personal experience. With over two decades in finance, he is committed to normalizing it for clients so they can better navigate the complex landscape of wealth. This involves helping clients define their values, and then creating deep alignment with their financial lives and Relationships.   Kjartan's work is informed by multiple roles in several industries. He began his career in technology consulting. He subsequently held roles in investment banking (equity research), venture capital (clean technology), and as a start-up CFO.    He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Bergen in Norway, which included a year studying in Germany as a Ruhrgas scholar. He also holds a Masters degree in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan. Additionally, he is a CFA®️ charterholder. In addition to serving on the board of the family office Springcreek Advisors since 2008, he is an active member of the Purposeful Planning Institute, the Family Firm Institute and The Heritage Institute. He serves on the board of the Ree and Jun Kaneko Foundation, and recently deepened his knowledge of trust administration (Cannon Financials Trust Fundamentals) and family enterprise (Family Firm Institutes Certificate in Family Business Advising). Kjartan speaks five languages. When not working with clients, he can be found pursuing adventure on his skis, bike, or surfboard. He likes to travel with his family to his native Norway and anywhere else he can manage to explore and experience the world with them. Kjartan served in the Norwegian Army and is a serious meditator.   MARLIS JANSEN, MA, LMFT Co-Founder and CEO, Graddha   Marlis is a licensed psychotherapist and certified coach who is trained in wealth psychology. In addition, she is a sixth-generation member of a family of stewardship. This combination of professional training with lived experience gives her a unique perspective on the nuances and complexities of owning financial wealth.   Prior to founding Graddha, Marlis worked in healthcare information technology. As a product developer, she designed call-center based services to assist patients in making health care decisions. Marlis also served as Director of Business Development and Director of Product Development in a couple of healthcare startups. Later, her experience as a mom inspired her to contemplate how we ascribe value to people and work.   Marlis holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Harvard University, a Masters degree in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Psychology and Behavioral Finance from Creighton University Heider College of Business. She received her certification in integral coaching from New Ventures West.   She is an active member of the Purposeful Planning Institute, Family Firm Institute, The Heritage Institute and the Financial Therapy Association. She serves on the board of the Stone Age Institute and, since 2009, has served as Vice President of The Springcreek Foundation, her family's private philanthropic foundation.   Marlis is proficient in French, Spanish and Norwegian. She loves to enjoy home cooked family dinners, hike Mt. Tam with her family and dogs, travel in unfamiliar countries and cultures, and compel family members to join her in a game of extreme Pictionary as often as she possibly can.

Nearly eight million people are at risk of famine in Somalia because of severe drought, high food prices and political instability. Can this crisis be prevented? And what's needed to break Somalia's cycle of aid and dependency? Join host Laura Kyle. Guests: Afyare Elmi - Executive Director, Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Michael Dunford - World Food Programme's regional director for Eastern Africa. Nisar Majid - Research associate at the London School of Economics.

On this edition of Parallax Views, James C. Zimring, M.D., Ph.D., Thomas W. Tillack Professor of Experimental Pathology at the University of Virginia, joins us to discuss his new book Partial Truths: How Fractions Distort Our Thinking. Zimring is also the author of What Science Is and How It Really Works. This conversation was recorded on 6/21/22. In this conversation Zimring explains what his book is about and how it deals with the ways in which fractional thinking shapes the way we think about the world. When we talk about fractions and fractional thinking in this conversation, however, we are not talking about solving math problems in an classroom or academic setting. Instead, as Zimring explains, we discussing our everyday usage of fractional thinking that we often take for granted. This fractional thinking is necessary, as we learn in this conversation, but also can distort our perception about a number of phenomena and issues. Among the topics covered in this conversation are: - Fractional thinking and the moral panic around Dungeons and Dragons in the 1980s - Fractional thinking and the blunder of the Iraq War during the Presidency of George W. Bush - Fractional thinking and the strange story of a McDonald's burger - New Age beliefs, spirituality, religion, and an on-air cold reading experiment - Heuristics, the availability heuristic, and inductive reasoning - A recent study by the Heritage Institute on Israel and China and the fault reasoning used in the study - Big data and racism - Information, p-hacking, selective reporting, and faulty academic studies - The problems of science reporting - And much, much more!

Thomas Spoehr, Director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Institute talks about how the US Army may not be ready for combat because of physical fitness qualifications taking a back seat to gender equity.

Rachel Greszler, Senior Research Fellow, Budget and Entitlements at the Heritage Institute discusses Janey Yelins comments about how overturning Roe vs. Wade would have a devastating effect on the economy.

Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Legal Fellow, Meese Center at the Heritage Institute discusses a Supreme Court case where the court denied damages for "emotional distress" in a Civil Rights case.

Senior Legal fellow from the Heritage Institute, Thomas Jipping, talks about how the Dobbs abortion rights case tests our commitment to the Constitution.

Today we are taking a slight deviation from taxes to discuss legacy planning. Legacy planning is an essential part of any wealth management or financial plan. Done correctly, a legacy plan will ensure that your possessions or wealth will remain with the people to whom you would like to leave them. However, without a legacy plan, you leave your inheritance to chance. To help us discuss this topic in depth is Rod Zeeb, the founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute.

The Vice President of the Heritage Institute for Constitutional Government joins AFS to give the background of Ketanji Brown Jackson, and what kind of shift the supreme court could take from her replacing Stephen Breyer. 

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (117th Congress) Oversight Hearing “The Long Journey Home: Advancing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act's Promise After 30 Years of Practice” Wednesday, February 2, 2022 – 2:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 PANEL 1 Ms. Joy Beasley Associate Director, Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/02/joybeasley020222.pdf Dr. Anna Maria Ortiz Director, Natural Resources and Environment U.S. Government Accountability Office Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/02/annamariaortiz020222.pdf Ms. Carmen Hulu Lindsey Chair Office of Hawaiian Affairs Honolulu, Hawaii https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/02/carmenhululindsey020222.pdf Dr. Valerie Grussing Executive Director National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/02/valeriegrussing020222.pdf Dr. Rosita Worl President Sealaska Heritage Institute Juneau, Alaska https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/02/rositaworl020222.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/oversight-hearing-long-journey-home-advancing-native-american-graves-protection-and

Podcast: The Perfect RIA (LS 50 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: Asking Questions That Matter For Estate Planning [Episode 137]Pub date: 2022-01-17This industry is about so much more than simply offering financial help. It is about building honest connections and trust with your clients and ensuring that they always feel heard, valued, and understood. In this episode, Micah will be joined by Rod Zeeb, founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute, to discuss how to deliver massive value items, specifically several things we need to focus on as advisors to make sure we're always exceeding expectations. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3Jfl6VN The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Matthew Jarvis, CFP® & Micah Shilanski, CFP®, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast: The Perfect RIA (LS 48 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: Asking Questions That Matter For Estate Planning [Episode 137]Pub date: 2022-01-17This industry is about so much more than simply offering financial help. It is about building honest connections and trust with your clients and ensuring that they always feel heard, valued, and understood. In this episode, Micah will be joined by Rod Zeeb, founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute, to discuss how to deliver massive value items, specifically several things we need to focus on as advisors to make sure we're always exceeding expectations. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3Jfl6VN The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Matthew Jarvis & Micah Shilanski, Finance Rockstars, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Jay Greene with the Heritage Institute discusses the Texas synagogue hostage incident from last week and how the FBI and Biden administration are misguided about the motive of the hostage taker.

Hans von Spakovsky from the Heritage Institute talks about what is really in this voting rights reform legislation.

This industry is about so much more than simply offering financial help. It is about building honest connections and trust with your clients and ensuring that they always feel heard, valued, and understood. In this episode, Micah will be joined by Rod Zeeb, founder and CEO of The Heritage Institute, to discuss how to deliver massive value items, specifically several things we need to focus on as advisors to make sure we're always exceeding expectations. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3Jfl6VN 

Hans von Spakovsky from the Heritage Institute discusses the left's disinterest in election safeguards and non-citizens being allowed to vote in New York City.

Joel Griffith from the Heritage Institute discusses how President Biden's Build Back Better plan is actually adding to the national debt

Guest Co-host:  Bill Hughes:  w.hughes@verizon.netPodcast Guest:  Todd Rhine:  todd@toddrhine.comTodd's Website:  https://toddrhine.com/ Transcription:Kris Parsons00:02Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do it too. Join us with your lively host Ray Loewe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.Ray Loewe00:17Good morning, everybody, and welcome to changing the rules, a podcast designed to showcase some of the luckiest people in the world. You know uh one of the things that we try to do in this podcast is to showcase people that we think always seem to be lucky, their lives are always together for some reason. And that doesn't happen by accident uh the luckiest people in the world are those people who actually take the time to design their own lives. And then they make sure that they live them under their own terms. And rules come into play here a lot. You know, all through our lives. We're saddled with rules. So they start with your parents. And then they go to the schools and then they go to your job, and then they go to the church, and then they go to who knows else. But what happens is, overtime rules become obsolete. And there are two things about rules. They are meant to either be obeyed, or they're meant to be run away from and the luckiest people in the world seem to take these rules, and they use them to their benefit, and it helps them live the lives that they want to be. So uh today we have a guest host. His name is Bill Hughes. Bill was here the last couple of weeks with us, and he's here again. Okay. Say Hi, Bill. Hi, Bill. Okay. And Bill's gonna introduce our guest today, who happens to be a good friend, Tom Rhine. And they'll introduce Todd and then we'll show why Todd is one of the luckiest people in the world and talk about some of the reasons why he should be a role model for the rest of us.Bill Hughes02:00Well, he certainly is lucky but I can tell you he's got more credentials than most people have initials so. uh Todd attended Davidson College and Georgia Institute of Technology earning degrees in finance and management. He holds a professional designations as a certified financial planner, a registered financial consultant and a chartered under life underwriter, chartered financial consultant, and registered investment advisor with the Heritage Institute, which is this little something we're going to talk about in a bit. He currently enjoys working with several families and multiple advisors who understand the importance of collaboration in a client-first focus. Ah, even though he maintains a financial planning practice, he understands that true wealth means much more than having strong funding and having a strong financial statement. This is why he's built a practice centered on helping others identify and achieve what truly matters most in their lives. Additionally, Todd is a staff member instructor at the Heritage Institute and the country's foremost authority on developing multi-generational leadership transfer. Todd currently lives in Hilton Head, South Carolina with his wife Amy and sons, Andrew and Matthew he is committed to building a strong community, a strong community supporting the Cub Scouts, Community Board, School Improvement Council, low County Alliance for Healthy Youth in Hilton Head baseball Association, having coached youth sports for more than 30 years to enjoy coaching the children of his former players. I gotta tell you, he is one busy dude.Todd Rhine03:36do you recognize yourself Todd with all of that? Better than I am? Well, you know, lucky people are busy people, and they get things done and they're involved in a whole lot of things. And, and by the way, I've always found since I've been doing this, that the luckiest people in the world are also the most interesting people in the world. So welcome to changing the rules. And I guess um let's start with who you are. And uh, you've had a financial planning practice for how long? I started on the insurance side of things. So the financial planning practice, evolved, developed out of that, I would say as a focus approximately 20-21 years really wasn't until I actually relocated to Hilton Head from Atlanta that I had more time focused on more of the planning aspect versus the advisor. Solution aspect if you will, at the planning. Okay, and part of that is running a family business too, isn't it? Over the last I actually I took over the family flooring store three years ago As a matter of choice in some respects to matter of need, and others, I'm able to read and understand financial statements. And that's an important aspect of running a business. But it was one that, let's put it this way. If I hadn't, I don't think our Thanksgivings would have been as enjoyable as the group getting together. Okay, now there's a poignant statement to uh so so let's get into a couple of things. I know we did a pre-interview with you. And we talked about one of the things that you really have to be any more is a generalist. Because there are so many details, you can't keep up with all the details and all the disciplines that you do. So when you get together, whether you're running the family business, whether you're running your family practice, whether you're running your own family. Okay, what are some of the key things that you think are important that you do that make you successful? I'd say one of the important elements is really just understanding what role you can serve. And that gets back to understanding what's the outcome you want? Yeah, needless to say, there's the old adage, you can't do it all. And the successful individuals, the one that figures out what they can delegate to other people to be done as well, or hopefully, even better than they can do on their own. You know, being independent for so long, being the situation where I haven't had to answer to superiors or others on how to do things, but try to learn from those other experts and try to improve. And heritage is a big part of that learning curve for understanding my own specialty skills, understanding that I'm a spatial analytic, which essentially means that I enjoy, get excitement, I love the fact that I'm able to solve problems, maybe not always say traditional format, but use different tools. And much like a puzzle solver, figure out how to put the puzzle together, not always the exact way. But that goes with the planning aspects of working with different families. But the reality is, knowing that there's only so much time in the week. What'd we have 186 hours per week that we actually have a you know, capable of working with. So it's a matter of finding what you can focus on, and what's the more important thing to focus on. So during a lot of my training, there was very little television watching going on. That's, you know, that was an aspect of your continuing learning and focusing on the reading and the different things that we had to do for our specialty. But for the most part, leaning on people like Bill and other experts to help, you know, see it from a different perspective to guide you to listen to what you're saying and dig down into. Okay, here's what may really be happening that you're not seeing. Ray Loewe06:09You know, Bill, get into this discussion here, because you met Todd through this Heritage Institute thing I think you mayBill Hughes08:09Actually, that's how I met him. And so we've known each other, going back to about 2006, 2004, 2006.Todd Rhine08:192006 Yes.Bill Hughes08:21That's a long time. But I think the thing that that I noticed was that, that you as talented as you are, you don't rely on your own resources. I mean, you leverage quite a bit. I mean, you're probably one of the best-coached individuals I know. But then again, that's kind of what you do. I mean, not only do you financially coach, you also coach individuals too. And you broaden that perspective out quite a bit. Particularly with our studies in the Institute where we were learning how to transfer multigenerational value from one generation to the next. It like most things, this is really a team sport. I mean, it's not something you can do by yourself.Ray Loewe09:06If I related to sports in general, you know, one of the things that happened about the same time, I was asked to coach the all-star team. So if anybody that's coached all-stars, in the sports, you're talking anywhere from the 10-12-13-year-old kids, you know, they're usually the mom and dad's pride example of you know, this, this is in their vision. This is the future Hall of Fame baseball player gonna be playing while being future years. But coaching a team and granted I didn't have such a great team. And I think everybody else bailed but I found it to be an honor to be asked to coach the all-star team and we had high expectations and we've had you know, national championship teams and IRA for a small little island. We've had a lot of, you know, great influence. So it was a very, you know, what I found to be encouraging situation but One of the things I learned from Doug Carter, who Bill knows as well is just setting the stage, if you will, of expectations, which is something that we try to do with families and in different roles, but it also applies to the professionals. And this is how I'm trying to relate that two everybody on that all-star team, you have nine players going out. But you're filled now with the All-Stars from every team, which means you have eight pitchers, seven shortstops, four of them are catchers or first baseman, well, nobody played outfield, no, very few played second base and third base, they were always the studs on the team, if you will, they were always in those key positions. So when you're filling now nine spots, you know, the kid that was one of the best players on his team now on the all-star team is playing right field. That's a hard pill to swallow, not necessary for the kid, but for the parent. So the best thing I learned from the work that I did with heritage and Bill and Doug, essentially is how to go back and reframe that expectation and get the parents to say what they had a right to expect. And that was a game-changer, because that eliminated so many headaches, because if you're familiar with youth sports, having that mom or dad, and it could be either one. So I'm not gonna be you're trying to be sexist on it, but having them sit on that fence, and berate the umpire. And then deal with that, well, you got a game going on, and high stakes, you know, two losses, you're out of the tournament type situation 12 innings pitching for a tournament, you really have to deal with a lot of stress. And these are 12-year-olds, and I had a parent do it the best way and you know, one parent, berating her child, she came back and said, Look, she you know, tapped on the shoulder like, Sarah, he's 10 years old. Yeah, this isn't life. Okay. So, but that applies to professionals. I mean, the reality is, when we're dealing with some families that have done well, and they're professionals, we have the same situation, they're top of their field. And we have repet repetition of services and overlap discussions, we have to remember, it's like, okay, we're dealing with all stars now. And then all-star may have to take a different role than he's used to and they may not be comfortable.Todd Rhine12:12Okay, so, so, so one of the things everybody thinks successful people are successful because they make money. And I guess to some extent, that's part of it. But you're in this business now, where you're coaching people on their finances. But I think what sets you apart from everybody else, is what you just talked about in the baseball, realm. And let's talk a little bit about what makes a family successful. Because what you do, if I understand it correctly, is you spend a lot of time coaching successful families. And some of it has to do with the transfer of wealth. But most of it has to do with the transfer of values. So and Bill get in on this because you do similar kinds of things. And you know, Todd, and let's, let's, let's get some controversy going here.Bill Hughes13:09I guess the thing that makes Todd an expert in this area, is the fact that I the main thing to taking somebody through that, that exercise isn't you're almost reparenting. And you every kid grows up in a different family. So consequentially everybody's got different impression of mom and dad. And very few of them know the story of how they got where they were. And in some cases, they see it completely different from one child to the next. So part of the process is getting everybody on the same team. And like Todd says, helping to not only tell the story and help them recapture that, that value but also how to apply going forward as the parents aren't going to be around forever. And probably the single most worrying thing for a parent is what happens when I'm gone. And that's why we get down the road of putting together incentive trusts and all this other craziness that we do in more material forming or planning part of the legacy process. But the big the important piece is to get everybody on the same page. And how do you do that Todd?Ray Loewe14:29Yeah, well, one is we have to one start with a framing of what is a successful family. And the reality is they do view it their own way. And each of us has professional visors may have our own definition, but the reality is the working families, it's their definition that matters. And then we have to look at it from a standpoint of Yeah, can we do it and is it worth it? It doesn't matter if we can do it. If it's not worth it to the family and if it is worth it to the family, we can figure out how to do it or find the other experts to make it a reality. And as you mentioned earlier, no, it isn't about the money, money makes it easier for families to do things together to help support and do a lot of great things together. But the reality is, I'd rather work with the family that has very little assets that have care and compassion, a desire to work together to see success within the family, then one that's going to be fighting in every turn, to get something for themselves. Nobody really enjoys working with a financially focused individual moreso than an individual that makes the people around them feel good. I have the benefit of working with some families and the type of people that you enjoy talking to. And that's always a good sign for an advisor if you don't like to take the call from a client if you really want to avoid that. Maybe it's not the person you really want to be working with. And conversely, if they don't like taking your call, maybe you're not really bringing the value you should. SoBill Hughes16:03yeah, definitely, it definitely digs in deeper than just, you know, building a big pile of money. It's how to put it to use. And there are many different I should say each family has their own definition of what success means. Some mean, it's just knowing your kids are going to be okay. And some, it's what impact Am I having on the community? How does what we do? How does? How does what we do impact that? Where do we where do we start?Ray Loewe16:30Reality is and we start in different spots. I mean, if it's important to Mom and Dad, if we want to refer to it as generation one, if we will, that oldest generation in the family, if they're looking at it like you know, I really am worried about my grandchildren or great-grandchildren. It can't start with them taking the time to really figure out what the values are, what how they learned it the life lessons, Bill and I and several other people within the heritage community and multiple people I should say, have been trained on learning what we call Guided Discovery, which really is guiding people to self discover what matters to them for life experiences. So it's a discussion. It's a dialogue, it's getting a little bit deeper about the stories, it may be as simple as you know, what was life growing up, like around the family table? What was it like a family dinner? What did you guys do? How did go it may be a situation of thinking back to the people in your life that stand out? Kind of like if we look back over time as a radar scope, with blips that pop out, you know, thinking about who those blips were in your early years, your formation years, your teens or early 20s. And most likely, and obviously, we're not psychologist, but most likely those people that stand out, stand out for a reason. It could be their work ethic, it could be the way they treated people. But the reality is they stand out because that's the value you typically hold true or find important. So if you can relate those two. And, you know, we always want to, I should say we all but many people want to make sure that their future generations learn from their experiences that are having a better life that have you know, things done better than they did now.Bill Hughes18:16So we take them through that. We take him through that exercise, they we memorialize it in a statement, and we get them all together and have them tell their story, and then what? And then how do we get them engaged? Todd Rhine18:32Well, in most situations, and you know, sometimes we start with the story, sometimes we start with a family, family event family meeting, which we do intentional exercises. And I really enjoy some of these exercises. And it's Stratton to pick on Dennis Stratton's test, which I find to be enjoyable because it's an eye-opener for people to discover what type of person they're hardwired. And we each have different software, but a lot of us have a way of dealing with something just based on the way our brain is structured. And we're a little bit different. But there are some commonalities there. I'm an analyzer, I have a tendency to try to understand the problem inside and out before making decisions. And the polar opposite, opposite maybe a persuader, somebody that takes it very personal on their ideas, but comes up very quickly. It might be your engineer versus your salesperson if you look at it from a job role. But within families, we have often differences. And you think of it as a team, if you have a team of different professionals or within a family, you really want to balance different ways of thinking to make good decisions. SoBill Hughes19:40One thing that comes out as a consequence of that is sometimes what's revealed to each family member is the importance of every other family member and the kind of value that they bring to the table. Maybe it's a child's great at art, maybe one is tremendous and fixing cars. All of a sudden these talents come to the forefront. And then we're starting to put together a family team. Basically, we're, we've got a team of specialists within the family. And that really constitutes something that a family can lean on.Todd Rhine20:15Okay, so this is something that anybody could do. You don't have to be rich, you don't have to have a lot of money. And I think everybody today is concerned with this concept of the Dyslexic family or the dysfunctional family, I guess is the better word. And and how do we get our families together? How do we develop this cohesiveness and we're getting near the end of our time already, unfortunately, so. So let's get a list of a couple of things that families can do to create a better family. Whatever that is, so what would they be? Well, you know, one thing families can do, which we see happening more and more frequently, as they may have a family event, and you could do it as a Thanksgiving event, but they have a chance to share individually. What they find a value what's good about the family, what, what do they appreciate about the family? What do they appreciate about each individual within the family, you're sharing the positives, basically, as a family, they also need to decide as a family. If we were to achieve anything specifically, what does our family stand for? If they could take the time and often is the case it does require a professional to help guide so you don't go too far off a tangent as I often do. But to simply look at it and understand as a family. Hey, what what do we stand for? And even before that, it really is a matter of, is it worth it to us? Is it worth it to us as a family to keep getting together on holidays that, you know, what do we want to see? Do we want to see our kids and their kids getting along having family events? Obviously, as families grow, it's not as easy, but you still can have intentional time. And even our own conversation here video conference, that's made it a lot easier for families to get together and don't necessarily have to do it when somebody is dying, as our family often did is we're on video talking about what's going on, but intentionally getting together with the purpose of one activity. And it may be Hey, what does our family stand for? What do we want to see our family represent? And then sharing, you know, intentionally okay, what is right about our family? What is our right about each individual and getting those positives out? There's always going to be negatives, there's always going to be Blips. But it's much like bad grass, one of the best ways of getting rid of the bad grasses growing more good grass. Yeah. So much like in families, one of the best ways of moving forward is focusing on what you can do positively. Yeah, and you're talking about the grass in the backyard, not the other kind of grass. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Unfortunately, we're down to the last couple of minutes. So let's, let's go to Bill Hughes. Do you have any final comments, and then we'll show up with Todd over here?Bill Hughes23:07Well, I guess the thing that I can't impress upon anybody more is the fact that anybody really can do this, you can do this around a backyard barbecue, and a fire pit and just telling stories. And ultimately, those conversations as they're done sequentially, and continually and persistently, over time, interests are going to emerge. And those interests are going to be part of what the family is about. And that's what's going to be revealed, and maybe you take on a little project, that could be something as simple as building a cabin in the woods, or it could be is, it could be as extensive as doing something for a local nonprofit that you that you're all passionate about.Todd Rhine23:48I can't agree more with what Bill is saying regarding just telling stories? Yeah, it's often a lost art nowadays in our world of 32 characters or less. Yeah, stories are what people remember. And if we can share stories, not as a lesson, but as what happened, people can relate to it. And that's one of the key things in sharing the stories is you'll share everything the good and the bad about the story. But not as you know, tell a story. It's like, well, I learned to work hard. That's what you needed to do work hard. No, you just let them get their own value out of that story. Because we do remember stories more so than we do statements or life lessons that were told. Ray Loewe24:31Okay, I would like to reconvene this at another time and start with this concept of stories. Okay, because I really think you're onto something here that's important. And I think that that people try and communicate sometimes by dictating something to a family. And usually starts with parents because somebody has to drive this conversation somewhere along the way. But I think the idea would be to explore a little bit about how to conduct some sort of a family event with the idea of starting a tradition or starting something that is going to bring families together into whatever we decide is the successful definition that we want to have. Alright, so Todd, thank you so much for being with us. Todd Rhine, and again, Todd, do you have a website where people can reach you?Todd Rhine25:30I tried to make it as simple as possible. It's ToddRhine.com. SoRay Loewe25:34okay, and it's Rhine. Right as in the river. Todd Rhine25:38Yeah. As in the English spelling of the river.Ray Loewe25:41Okay, the English spelling and Bill Hughes, Bill's gonna be with us again next week with another guest. And thanks, the two of you very much. And I think we started a way of implanting some ideas on how to make other families feel lucky and luckier and luckier. So, thanks for being with us. And we'll see you again next week.Kris Parsons26:04Thank you for listening to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life, and how you can figure out how to do that too. Join us with your lively host Ray Loewe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.

Senior Research Fellow for Health Policy at the Heritage Institute talks about how President Biden's Build Back Better Plan would make Medicaid bigger with less flexibility and accountability.

Hans Von Spakovsky, Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Fellow at the Heritage Institute, joins us to discuss mail-in voting and how it might cause more cheating.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Bhaj Townsend, a woman who has grace by her side and as her compass. Bhaj has done it all! She nearly became a professional tennis player. She next became a successful restaurant entrepreneur. During a break, she became a longshorewoman. Bhaj then got into commercial real estate and was next offered the opportunity to tour the world as a jazz guitarist. She later moved into financial planning and helping families with money. This might all sound exciting and perfect, but as you'll hear Bhaj faced many challenges — some were quite dark. She attributes grace leading her through all aspects of her journey, the good times and the bad. With families and their businesses, there can be great conflict, conflict that when unresolved, can lead to bitter breakups and permanent loss of trust. This does not have to be although, without proper tools, it is difficult to know what to do. With her 20 years helping families shift from tension to cohesion, Bhaj has brought her wealth of experience and abilities to families across the U.S., resolving conflicts and building new platforms of family systems to keep these families strong across generations. Bhaj studied with the renowned family wealth transition consultant Roy Williams. She received the elite Fellowship Certification from the Heritage Institute. She has authored two books, Build a Lasting Legacy, and Transferring Wisdom with Wealth. She is a presenter on 5 compelling topics from family dynamics to financial behavior insights to family stories and games and more, all focused on successful family cohesion. She is a certified mediator, using a facilitative approach to mediation. She is President of the Northwest Family Business Advisors a non-profit organization dedicated to serving family businesses with the challenges and issues they face. She is President of Focus and Sustain, a company which consults with family businesses throughout the country. These attributes and concentrations, along with her mindfulness and respect for her clients' well-being, provide a rare perspective to families looking for guidance as they transition leadership from one generation to another. She likes to say that she “… helps prepare family members for the receipt of wealth so it unites families rather than divides them.” Bhaj is a member of a family who experienced the effects of a third-generation breakdown to the family business. Due to the tensions and consequences that resulted from the turmoil of the tense differences of opinions, Bhaj dedicated her professional life to understanding and guiding families how to stay connected when money, a family business and family, are at risk of being torn apart. Bhaj lives in Kirkland, Washington and has a passion for playing acoustic guitar and tennis. Learn more about Money Tale$ > Subscribe to the podcast Recent episodes See all episodes > Form CRS Form ADV Terms of Use Privacy Rights and Policies

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Bhaj Townsend, a woman who has grace by her side and as her compass. Bhaj has done it all! She nearly became a professional tennis player. She next became a successful restaurant entrepreneur. During a break, she became a longshorewoman. Bhaj then got into commercial real estate and was next offered the opportunity to tour the world as a jazz guitarist. She later moved into financial planning and helping families with money. This might all sound exciting and perfect, but as you'll hear Bhaj faced many challenges — some were quite dark. She attributes grace leading her through all aspects of her journey, the good times and the bad. With families and their businesses, there can be great conflict, conflict that when unresolved, can lead to bitter breakups and permanent loss of trust. This does not have to be although, without proper tools, it is difficult to know what to do. With her 20 years helping families shift from tension to cohesion, Bhaj has brought her wealth of experience and abilities to families across the U.S., resolving conflicts and building new platforms of family systems to keep these families strong across generations. Bhaj studied with the renowned family wealth transition consultant Roy Williams. She received the elite Fellowship Certification from the Heritage Institute. She has authored two books, Build a Lasting Legacy, and Transferring Wisdom with Wealth. She is a presenter on 5 compelling topics from family dynamics to financial behavior insights to family stories and games and more, all focused on successful family cohesion. She is a certified mediator, using a facilitative approach to mediation. She is President of the Northwest Family Business Advisors a non-profit organization dedicated to serving family businesses with the challenges and issues they face. She is President of Focus and Sustain, a company which consults with family businesses throughout the country. These attributes and concentrations, along with her mindfulness and respect for her clients' well-being, provide a rare perspective to families looking for guidance as they transition leadership from one generation to another. She likes to say that she “… helps prepare family members for the receipt of wealth so it unites families rather than divides them.” Bhaj is a member of a family who experienced the effects of a third-generation breakdown to the family business. Due to the tensions and consequences that resulted from the turmoil of the tense differences of opinions, Bhaj dedicated her professional life to understanding and guiding families how to stay connected when money, a family business and family, are at risk of being torn apart. Bhaj lives in Kirkland, Washington and has a passion for playing acoustic guitar and tennis. See all episodes >

The fourth episode of Warpod's special series ‘Reckoning with 9/11' looks at two countries that became important battlegrounds in the global war on terror: Yemen and Somalia. To discuss Yemen, Larry Attree and Delina Goxho are joined by Iona Craig, an investigative journalist focused on Yemen and a winner of the Orwell prize for journalism, and Awfa Alnami, Saferworld's Yemen Country Manager. Our hosts then discuss the conflict in Somalia with Mary Harper, BBC Africa editor and author of a major book on Al Shabaab titled ‘Everything You Have Told Me Is True', and Dr. Afyare Abdi Elmi, executive director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu and author of ‘Understanding the Somalia Conflagration'. This special Warpod series ‘Reckoning with 9/11' is created by Saferworld with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and produced by the Podcast Company. Please note the views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the contributors featured. They are not necessarily the views or opinions of Saferworld.

In this episode John Merson – one of the founding directors of the Blue Mountains world Heritage Institute and recipient of the United Nations peace prize - talks to RRR reporter Peter Lamminan, about the background of the Blue Mountains's world Heritage Institute and its current activities. The major focus of the theme - ‘think globally act locally' is the urgent challenge of climate change, with the pressure of urban development, infrastructure plans such as the raising of the Warragamba dam and Badgery's Creek airport, and commercial housing developments encroaching on our region. More broadly, John discusses the recent IPCC, the current govt stance on climate change, and the ways in which the local Blue Mountains City Council, also part of the planetary health alliance, can assist in developing sustainable tourism and preserving this unique environment. This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 17/8/2021. Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts..Apply to be a guest on our show. Join BMUC. Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online. Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rightsrortsandrants/message

Hans Von Spakovsky from the Heritage Institute discusses the truth about Georgia's voting law

Jarrett Stepman from the Heritage Institute talk about Florida making sure schools teach evils of Communism and Totalitarianism

Jim Carafano from the Heritage Institute talks about President Biden trying to turn domestic security into a partisan witch hunt.

Zack Smith from the Heritage Institute talks about how President Bidens effort to stem violent crime fall far short of addressing the real problem.

Mike Gonzalez from the Heritage Institute on why the leader of the Black Lives Matter organization recently stepped down

Tom Spoehr from the Heritage Institute talks about President Biden cutting money from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security in his defense budget.

Extreme bushfires, habitat loss and species extinction are serious threats to the Blue Mountains and its surrounds. We can manage these threats if we understand them and commit to practical solutions." We talk today to Dr John Merson, Executive Director, Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute about the work the BMWHI is doing locally and Globally. Let's Do This acknowledge traditional owners of the land we inhabit, the Durag & Gundungurra peoples past & present.

Jonathan Butcher, Education Fellow at the Heritage Institute, talks about the Biden administrations push to teach kids prejudice.

Hans Von Spakpvsky from the Heritage Institute joins us to talk about the new voting laws in Georgia and how the rhetoric from the left about the laws is dishonest and absurd.

Rachel Greszler from the Heritage Institute talks about the Democrats big push for a $15 an hour minimum wage and the damage it could cause.

Zack Smith from the Heritage Institute joins us to talk about the House passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and what effect it will have on police departments across the country.

Emilie Kao, Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Institute, talks about children being exposed to adult themes and being pushed to make decisions on things before they should.

David Ditch, a research associate with the Heritage Institute discusses things everyone needs to know about the COVID Relief Package being voted on in Congress.

Research Fellow in Economics, Budget and Entitlements at the Heritage Institute, Rachel Grezler, talks about the dangers of the $15 minimum wage and how employers can gradually increase wages for employees

Jonathan Butcher, a fellow in Education at the Heritage Institute, talks about what lawmakers can do to fight back against the teachers unions keeping students and teachers out of school.

Brett Schaefer Senior Research Fellow, International Regulatory Affairs at the Heritage Institute joins JT on Alabama's Morning News

Hans von Spakovsky from the Heritage Institute talks about election reforms states can implement to prevent mistakes and voter fraud in the next election.

Mike Howell from the Heritage Institute joins us to talk about Border Security and President Biden's executive order halting construction of the wall at the Southern Border.

Hans Von Spakovsky, Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow, Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Institute joins us to talk about President Bidens immigration policies and how they are going to make states on our southern border less secure.

Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center, Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Institute talks about the US relationship with China.

Nicole Robinson, Research Assistant, Middle East, The Allison Center for Foreign Policy at the Heritage Institute, joins us to talk about Irans ties with Al-Qaeda.

Hans von Spakovsky , Manager of Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Stuides at the Heritage Institute, joins us to talk about President-Elect Bidens nominee for Attorney General, Merric Garland.

Doug Badger from the Heritage Institute joins us to talk about how Rapid-Result, at Home Tests for COVID19 could slash the infection rate.

Doug Badger with the Heritage Institute talks about the need for more rapid Covid 19 testing to be available including an at home Covid 19 test.

Ed Heislmaier, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Institute, joins us to talk about the upcoming vaccines and the optimism among scientists towards the vaccines.

Jonathan Butcher, Senior Policy Analyst Center for Education Policy, Institute for Family, Community and Opportunity at the Heritage Institute discusses the effects of remote learning on students grades.

Rachel Greszler, Research Fellow in Economics, Budget and Entitlements at the Heritage Institute. How Social Security Reform Could Make a Popular Federal Program Better – Each year that policymakers do nothing adds trillions of dollars in additional costs to future taxpayers. Addressing Social Security’s looming shortfalls now—especially in light of massive increases in federal debt due to COVID-19 responses—would reduce uncertainty, improve financial stability, and restore confidence in the U.S. economy and fiscal outlook. Now is the time for Congress and the next administration to tackle Social Security’s shortfalls and shortcomings by transitioning it to a smaller, better-targeted program.

An Expert in National Security and Foreign policy at the Heritage Institute talks about Blunting the next Wave of Radical Violence in America

Doug Badger, Visiting Fellow, Domestic Policy Studies at the Heritage Institute, talks about fighting COVID-19 and public health measures that should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

THE BLACK FATHER HAS A HUGE IMPACT ON HIS FAMILY.....HE NEEDS TO BE IN  THE HOME TO HAVE THAT AFFECT.

In today's podcast Dr. Dickenson interviews Chris Hill a high school teacher and instructor at The Heritage Institute about his experiences in distance learning. Chris shares his reflections of lessons learned in first three weeks of online learning for high school students. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teacherprep/message

A roving chat with Prof Adam Gibson about his career in Physics and Engineering in Medicine. We talk about Adam's history with thermal imaging and x-ray mammography, before discussing his current research subjects of optical tomography (the MONSTIR project) and his work with the Heritage Institute imaging art and mummies. Learn more about the department at and its degree programs at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/medical-physics-biomedical-engineering/

For the fifth time since 2010, Somalia is exploring options for an electoral model that will advance the country’s democratic process. Despite previous attempts to pursue democracy, Somalia has failed to shed its clan-based political system. So far, the Federal Government of Somalia and other key stakeholders have been unable to agree on a workable electoral model for the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 presidential elections. On 25 July 2019, the Rift Valley Forum and the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS) launched a new report by HIPS, Somalia: In Search of a Workable 2020 Electoral Model. The event presented the four possible electoral models discussed in the report and discussed the challenges and way forward for selecting an electoral model and laying the foundation for universal suffrage in Somalia.

For the fifth time since 2010, Somalia is exploring options for an electoral model that will advance the country’s democratic process. Despite previous attempts to pursue democracy, Somalia has failed to shed its clan-based political system. So far, the Federal Government of Somalia and other key stakeholders have been unable to agree on a workable electoral model for the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 presidential elections. On 25 July 2019, the Rift Valley Forum and the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS) launched a new report by HIPS, Somalia: In Search of a Workable 2020 Electoral Model. The event presented the four possible electoral models discussed in the report and discussed the challenges and way forward for selecting an electoral model and laying the foundation for universal suffrage in Somalia.

3/30, Listen as Mike Opelka talks with Guests: Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Institute on the Electoral College;  Billy Hallowell -- author and faith editor at Pure Flix -- on the movie "Unplanned";  Ajit Pai - FCC Chairman talked about dealing with robocalls;  Lauren Fix -- "The Car Coach" -- schooled us on gas taxes and speed limiters. And Mike takes your calls! More!

3/30, Listen as Mike Opelka talks with Guests: Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Institute on the Electoral College;  Billy Hallowell -- author and faith editor at Pure Flix -- on the movie "Unplanned";  Ajit Pai - FCC Chairman talked about dealing with robocalls;  Lauren Fix -- "The Car Coach" -- schooled us on gas taxes and speed limiters. And Mike takes your calls! More!

3/30, Listen as Mike Opelka talks with Guests: Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Institute on the Electoral College;  Billy Hallowell -- author and faith editor at Pure Flix -- on the movie "Unplanned";  Ajit Pai - FCC Chairman talked about dealing with robocalls;  Lauren Fix -- "The Car Coach" -- schooled us on gas taxes and speed limiters. And Mike takes your calls! More!

3/30; Listen as Mike Opelka talks with Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Institute on the Electoral College.

Mike Seymour, M.S., has been associated with K-12 education since 1990, most recently in his role as President of The Heritage Institute. Mike is also the founder and Director of a non-profit sponsored by The Heritage Institute, Youth for a New World, which engages youth in global issues and local solutions.Earlier Mike was a consultant and trainer to schools, school districts and Educational Service Districts on such diverse subjects as leadership, visioning and planning and at-risk students. Mike has been board member, Chairman of the Board and volunteer Executive Director of Community for Youth, a highly innovative and successful mentoring program for disadvantaged students in three of Seattle’s most low-performing high schools. Mike authored a text—Educating for Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education--calling on a new vision for education, showing how important the stakes are today for an integral education realizing the interconnectedness of the world. Mike's Awakening Self blog speaks about the important historic shift humanity is going through in our times, and how awakening into a new consciousness is a global phenomenon.Mike recently published the biography of a courageous Burundian peacemaker, Prosper Ndabishuriye, who helped change the destiny of his nation during the horrific ethnic violence between Hutus and Tutsis in the 1990's. Mike’s recently published book, If You’re Going to Kill them, You Just Kill Us First, tells Prosper’s heroic story and Mike’s role in the peace-making work.As part of Mike's long-standing support of environmental sustainability, he attended in July 2013 a Climate Leaders training by the Climate Reality Project founded by former Senator and Vice-President Al Gore, and has offered workshops on climate change. Mike is author of the course Climate Change for Teachers & Kids, now taught by Charity Staudenraus, and offers climate change presentations in his home region. Mike was also a facilitator and trainer for the Pachamama Alliance’s symposium titled Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream, with a mission to help foster “an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on Earth” as trhe foremost need of our times.Mike has a special interest in open, democratic forms of education that allow students to engage in real-world issues. Mike has a B.S. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University and an M.S. in Marriage & Family Therapy from Seattle Pacific University. Click here for a transcript of the podcast

It is reported that HHP's family intends to challenge the order handed down by the Johannesburg High Court on Friday. Publicist Lerato Sengadi emerged victorious after being lawfully named the customary wife of deceased rapper Jabulani 'HHP' Tsambo. Her application to halt the muso's funeral was however, denied by Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng on the grounds of Ubuntu, and because HHP was a public figure. In his judgement, jugde Mokgoatlheng said that the law recognises three requirements for a customary marriage: age(18) & consent, lobola must be fixed and there must be a celebration. Director of Icamagu Heritage Institute, Dr Nokuzola Mndende explains customary marriage in his views

John Malcolm of the Heritage Institute talks about Judge Brett Kavenaugh's nomination to SCOTUS

C4 spent the first hour of the show talking about President Trump's comments on the Court's Executive Order deliberation. At 10am Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman joined C4 to talk about why he vetoed the City Council's Sanctuary County bill. C4 then spent the remained of the hour talking about Trump's Executive order comments. In the third hour of the show C4 talked to the Heritage Institute's Dakota Wood about why almost 3/4th of the Navy's aircraft fleet is grounded. C4 then spent the rest of the rest of the hour talking about how Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the Senate Floor and if that was fair or not. In the final hour of the show Baltimore City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises joined C4 in studio to talk about education funding, Secretary DeVos and Charter Schools.

On 3 October 2014, PHAP hosted the second in a series of live online events leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit Eastern and Southern Africa regional consultation, which will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, on 27 October. This live online event discussed humanitarian interaction with political and military actors including parties to conflict, states, peacekeeping operations and political missions.The panel of speakers included Ashley Jackson, Researcher at the Overseard Development Institute (ODI); Jules Frost, Senior Advisor for Civil-Military and Police Relations at World Vision International; Ibrahim Mohamed, Project Manager at Zamzam Foundation; and Maimuna Mohamud, Consultant for Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS).Read more on https://phap.org/WHS-3oct2014

On 3 October 2014, PHAP hosted the second in a series of live online events leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit Eastern and Southern Africa regional consultation, which will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, on 27 October. This live online event discussed humanitarian interaction with political and military actors including parties to conflict, states, peacekeeping operations and political missions.The panel of speakers included Ashley Jackson, Researcher at the Overseard Development Institute (ODI); Jules Frost, Senior Advisor for Civil-Military and Police Relations at World Vision International; Ibrahim Mohamed, Project Manager at Zamzam Foundation; and Maimuna Mohamud, Consultant for Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS).Read more on https://phap.org/WHS-3oct2014

June 10, 2014. Somali writer and poet Zainab Hassan discusses her work in an interview presented in partnership with the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa. Speaker Biography: Zainab Hassan is the project director of the National Library Initiative of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu, Somalia. She is a writer and poet. For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6478

Linda Abrams of Bob Jones University on Obama's predicament with the Islamic State (1:15).◾James Carafano of the Heritage Institute on terrorism in Syria (6:25).◾Bill Gertz of the Washington Times weighs in on Libya (9:50).◾Is fracking safe? Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research provides insight (13:00).◾Common Core harms religious rights according to Steve Camp (17:00).◾Robert Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary talks about homosexuality (21:40).◾Pastor Dan Delzell on being born again as a Christian (27:45).◾Rosaria Butterfield responds to a question about being gay (35:40).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the 15th of February 2013, the RVI’s Nairobi Forum hosted the launch of a report by the Mogadishu-based think tank, the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), entitled ‘Hasty Repatriation: Kenya's attempt to send Somali refugees home’. The research was undertaken in late 2012, after the Kenyan government called for Somali refugees to assemble in refugee camps and return to Somalia. With Somali refugees in Kenya forming one of the largest refugee populations in world, HIPS sought to examine implications of this new policy both for Somali refugees and for Somalia itself. The report's author, Anab Ismail Nur, joined H.E. Mohamed Ali, Somalia's Ambassador to Kenya, and Jacqueline Parlevliet of UNHCR – in a discussion chaired by Laetitia Bader of Human Rights Watch.

Prosper Ndabishuriye and Mike Seymour, coordinators of Youth in Reconstruction of the World in Destruction, a project of The Heritage Institute – www.heritage.org. The post Africa Today – May 2, 2005 appeared first on KPFA.