Bailout?
A comic strip 5 years ago! (Click to enlarge)
The Emergence of the Digital Elite
In a way, the pressure of real-time information is polarizing - the hard-working people are becoming harder to replace, while slackers and perhaps less knowledgeable people are just not needed. Continue Reading »
Wealthy donors say they don’t make a difference?
By Jeff Brooks
Something’s wrong with fundraising. At least, that’s one conclusion you could draw from a study reported in the Wall Street Journal Wealth Report blog at Why the Rich Give to Charity.
The survey, by the Center on Philanthropy and Bank of America, asked people with incomes of $200,000 or more or a net worth of $1 million-plus, about their motivations for giving to charity. Here’s the key finding: Continue Reading »
High Net Worth Giving
By Hannah Shaw Grow, Russ Alan Prince
Despite the wide appeal of philanthropy, most of the wealthy don’t capture the benefits of planned charitable gifts.
… In an effort to understand how actively the wealthy are involved in the stages of the giving process, we surveyed 446 individuals with a net worth of $5 million or more and a history of giving at least $50,000 a year to non-profit organizations. Continue Reading »
The Future is in Charitable Planning
Here is a “must” read article about how working with charities and creating lasting situations of wealth is a “huge” opportunity. Here is the article “Donors Turning to Wealth Advisors”
Here is the closing comment: …My message to them will be that wealth advisors do not represent the enemy, but most of them need a lot of help to climb the philanthropy learning curve. It may not be the obligation of the nonprofit community to educate wealth advisors, but I think there is a huge opportunity available to those nonprofits that see the shift that is occurring and get out in front of the curve by working hard to educate the financial crowd.
The IRS vs. Edwin Lichtig III
November 24, 2008
San Francisco Federal Court Halts Sales of Tax Schemes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 24, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
Walnut Creek, Calif., Firm Allegedly Helped Customers Avoid Tax on More Than $25 Million Through Insurance and IRA Scheme Download the IRS lawsuit
WASHINGTON - A San Francisco federal judge has ordered Edwin Lichtig III and his Walnut Creek, Calif.-based firm, GSL Advisory Solutions, to stop promoting unlawful tax schemes, the Justice Department announced today. The defendants agreed to the permanent injunction order without admitting the government’s allegations against them. The United States sued Lichtig and GSL alleging that they promoted tax fraud schemes involving Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) that helped customers improperly avoid federal income tax on more than $25 million. Continue Reading »
Tax Free IRA Rollovers Update
Jeanie Wyatt
The government’s massive economic package (the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act) passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in October, contained many provisions designed to help or to stimulate the economy in one way or another. The jury will be out for quite a while on how effective a number of those “fixes” will be in the long run.There was one good provision worth mentioning, which hopefully no one will complain about. (Right now there are so many acronyms being bantered around that you don’t want this one to be lost in the shuffle.) Continue Reading »
‘Tis the season to give assets to loved ones … and dodge estate taxes
November 16, 2008
The economy is in a temporary mess with home prices diminishing and the stock and bond market falling. Yet, for anyone with a federal estate tax issue potentially at his or her death, this is a good time to give as many assets as one can. This is one of the best opportunities to transfer wealth to younger generations, without incurring the federal estate tax in the process. Continue Reading »
IRS Targets Sale of Charitable Trust Interest Transaction
Taxpayers often use charitable remainder trusts to avoid current tax on appreciated property. This is usually accomplished by the contribution of appreciated property to a charitable remainder trust, and then the trust sells the asset. Since the trust is tax-exempt, no current income tax is due on the sale. However, under the tiered income rules, as distributions are made to the grantor, those gains will be taxable to the grantor. Therefore, such planning is usually a deferral mechanism, not a tax elimination mechanism. Continue Reading »
Most Americans can benefit from an estate plan
While Americans can realize significant benefits from estate plans, surprisingly, more than half do not have one in place. And, regardless of the size of one’s estate, proper planning can prevent family disputes over the disposition of assets.