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. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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.) Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Thwap-OUCH-thud… Thwap-OUCH-thud…Thwap-OUCH-thud…”
Fred, the flea, was trapped. Not in the fur of a dog or a cat. No. Fred was trapped in a jar with a tightly sealed lid. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a sample presentation you can watch. The first part is an example of a presentation I made to a non-profit board. http://cps3.growcharity.org/wp-content/uploads/gatheringpart11.flv
This is an example of dialogue you can use in any small group presentation.http://cps3.growcharity.org/wp-content/uploads/gatheringpart2.flv
We just began our Donor Estate Planning Series. We have been sharing with our partner charities ways that could begin looking for gifts that everyone could make. This includes bequests, testamentary gifts etc. Read the rest of this entry »