Despite what your compliance department may tell you about being forbidden from giving your clients legal advice, the service you provide to them requires you to advise your clients on critical estate planning decisions all the time. Because your financial advice will significantly impact the eventual administration and distribution of your clients? estates, it is crucial that you understand how that advice works together and fits in with their wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. This book will help you separate yourself from your competitors by giving you a sophisticated understanding of this important part of helping your clients grow and protect their wealth.

Reframe "wealth management" to achieve sustainable success in financial services You've Been Framed™ is a step-by-step guide for achieving ultimate profitability and sustainability for your financial advisory firm. Whether you're a savvy entrepreneur ready to dominate your competitors, or a more experienced advisor moving toward selling your practice, this guide will help you proactively reframe your business. You'll learn how to grow your pipeline of prospects, win the next generation of clients, and deepen your business so it can thrive without you—leaving you free to pursue what matters to you. Build your business on a holistic foundation of wealth management and assemble the team that will take you to the top as you develop a whole new perspective from which to offer your services. Transform your role from "directive advisor" to "trusted advocate." Completely shift the paradigm, and make yourself the de facto solution to your clients' wealth management issues. Whether it's the firm with which you're affiliated or the types of products and services you offer, you've been "framed." As a wealth management advisor, your clients have little understanding of what you do or why you do it. Even your team may have the wrong idea. This book helps you clarify and demonstrate the value of your knowledge and skills, so you can frame your work on your own terms. Build and showcase your enterprise value Renew client relationships and attract new demographics Become a leader with proven team-building tools Shift your role from advisor to advocate If you haven't effectively led discussions to co-create what your business stands for—and what differentiates it from competitors—you're losing talent, prospects, and business. You've Been Framed™ gives you the perspective you need to thrive in the new financial environment, and achieve sustainable success.

Estate planning has more procrastination, indecision, and inertia associated with it than any other area of planning. Affluent baby boomers, in particular, as the beneficiaries of the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history, have a daunting set of financial concerns with which to contend. Here at last is a step-by-step approach to estate planning that equips planners and financial advisors to help clients tackle this important process once and for all. Most clients understandably find planning concepts and strategies confusing, but most also have a fairly sound understanding of who and what is most important to them. These are the priorities from which to build the foundation of a successful estate plan. The seven principles explored in this book use personal values as a basis to form The Legacy Planning System. With this approach, advisors can: * Help clients discover and solidify their deepest values, convictions, and objectives relative to their money * Help clients express those values and objectives in a clearly written Family Financial Philosophy mission statement * Serve as the team leader in advising clients and clients other advisors on how to use the mission statement to direct the planning process Clarifying your clients priorities and personal goals will enable you, as a trusted advisor, to simplify the planning process for clients, ensure their lifetime financial independence, and help them control their ultimate family and social capital legacies. Confronting issues of family dynamics, taxes, and financial situations not to mention accepting one s own mortality is difficult for many people. In addition, since estate planning often requires a shift in ownership of assets, clients feel an unsettling loss of privacy and control over their financial resources. Help your clients to overcome these obstacles and achieve their highest financial and philanthropic aspirations. They ll thank you for generations to come. Praise for Values-Based Estate Planning "Scott Fithian s book provides planning professionals with new insights into the estate planning process. Most importantly, he stresses the individual and family benefits of philanthropy through the concept of social capital which should be a key element to the planner s inventory of client questions."--Charles W. Collier, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Harvard University "This exceptional book empowers planners with a well- organized roadmap to lead wealthy clients to implementation of an estate plan expressing the clients own values. Scott Fithian s Legacy Planning System focuses the advisor on the critical importance to the estate planning process of helping clients identify and articulate their values and objectives. This useful volume makes those ideas available to a much broader audience, while broadening the subject with illustrations of effective employment of the methodology he has developed."--David Wheeler Newman, JD, LLM, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP "Fithian s view of the complete person helps the advanced advisor avoid the typical limitations (hazards) of planning for wealthy families. The easy-to-understand and easy-to-follow methods help determine in-depth values of the client s total financial goals. His methods result in cementing valuable relationships with the most prized clients. Critical reading for CPAs, attorneys, insurance agents, or other advisors." & mdash;Jessica M. Bibliowicz, President and CEO, National Financial Partners "Scott s wealth optimization system is truly revolutionary. For the first time, affluent clients and their advisors can rely on a fully integrated system that spans all phases of wealth accumulation, management, and transfer over time. An outstanding reference!"--Robert Keys, The Private Client Group

Leverage the financial services evolution to maximize your firm's value The Essential Advisor presents an insightful handbook for advisors looking to navigate the changing face of financial services. The industry is evolving, consumers are evolving, and many advisors are being left behind as old methods become less and less relevant. This book shows you how to turn this shift into a positive, by positioning your firm to maximize these new opportunities, and deliver the results and experience increasingly expected of financial advisors. You'll learn how to provide the transparency, hands-on interaction, and around-the-clock access today's clients demand, and how to consistently deliver service that robo-advisors cannot duplicate. Emerging technologies do not have to be a threat to your practice—they are tools that represent opportunities to provide greater service to your clients, and smart technology integration will be a hallmark of firms that survive the shift. This guide provides a clear vision of the future of financial services, and an indispensable management framework for maximizing your firm's future value. Advisors are increasingly confused about what clients are seeking, and clients are equally confused about what advisory firms offer that alternatives cannot. This book helps clear the air on both sides by examining the client's perspective of financial services, and helping advisors better communicate their strengths. Articulate the value of your services Leverage new technology to complement your practice Capitalize on opportunities and maximize your firm's value Position your firm to benefit from the changing consumer population Financial advisors can only grow their businesses if clients know what they do, know how to hire them, and can access them affordably. The Essential Advisor shows you to bring your firm into the future successfully.

This book was first published in April 2013, not 2011. Life transitions put money in motion. Seventy percent of new investments and referrals result from transitions like birth, death, divorce, dementia or serious diagnosis, and retirement. Thousands of financial professionals compete for this business, touting their skill in investing money, minimizing taxes, utilizing insurance, and coordinating estate planning. Those who succeed in getting the business have one additional skill: they understand the grief triggered by every life transition, and they know what to say and do to effectively support clients through the process. People look for professionals who understand their lives to give them their business. This kind of training is difficult for professionals to find. Most rely on what they've picked up from others, inadvertently perpetuating mistakes that hurt their clients and their business. This guidebook is the definitive resource for professionals who work with clients in transition. It is packed with insightful research-based knowledge and practical applications that have a profound impact on clients and professionals alike. Learn: why there are better things to say than "I'm so sorry" facts about dementia, signs to look for, and the office protocol to follow whether grief is different in men and women six common "comfort phrases" to avoid and what to say instead emotional differences between divorce and widowhood what to do when a client is diagnosed with serious or terminal illness what to write in condolence cards, whether to send flowers, and what to say at services how to deliver a life insurance benefits check and much more. The knowledge in this book equips professionals to truly serve clients, providing effective support in ways that others don't. The added benefit: serving clients well through the toughest times of life builds long-term loyalty and enthusiastic referrals. It is good for the client, good for professionals, and good for business. What Others Say: Amy Florian's book No Longer Awkward does one simple thing very well: it helps you to respond sensitively and supportively in situations where a client is grieving. Along the way, she helps us understand why so many of our normal androutine responses can be so insensitive and unhelpful. You will do a better job with your clients by following the suggestions in this book. Bob Veres, Editor of Inside Information; Columnist for Financial Planning magazine. Amy Florian eloquently describes the life transitions and sources of grief every client experiences. Most financial professionals don't adequately understand these transitions and are ill-equipped to guide clients through them. Amy's prescriptions in this eminently practical reference guide teach us all what to say (or not say), how to respectfully honor a client's grief, and how to communicate support in a professional yet personal way. Learning the skills in this guide is sure to improve the quality of client relationships and the value clients assign to a firm's services. David J. Drucker, President, Sunset Financial Management, Inc; principal at Virtual Office News All financial advisors must deal with grieving clients. Unfortunately there's never been a guide that really explains what to say, what not to say, and how to handle these challenging and professionally awkward situations. Until now. "No Longer Awkward" is an incredible and incredibly practical resource for working with grieving clients, and should be required reading for every financial advisor! Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, and publisher of the financial planning industry blog Nerd's Eye View

A comprehensive guide to living trusts, with expert financial and legal guidance The Living Trust Advisor is an expert guide for both advisors and their clients on the complex process of establishing, living with, and maintaining a living trust. Written by renowned family inheritance attorney Jeffrey L. Condon, this book discusses the various aspects of this important document, and shows you how to manage a seamless transfer of assets to various beneficiaries. This new second edition has been fully updated and revised to reflect the extensive changes to the Estate Tax Law that have taken place since the initial publication, giving you the most up-to-date information and guidance on preserving your wealth and helping your heirs avoid estate tax liability. You'll develop a vision for your trust before you ever meet with an attorney or other key players, and learn how to establish and maintain a trust that remains rock-solid for your lifetime and beyond. As the living trust has replaced the will as the primary means of settling after-death estates, clear guidance and current legal information is of utmost importance for advisors and clients alike. This book is a valuable resource for every stage of planning and execution, helping you ensure that you provide for your beneficiaries the way you intend. Know what to think about before your first meeting with a lawyer Establish and manage your living trust to carry out your wishes Identify potential inheritance problems and build solutions into the trust Distribute assets to future generations, and protect them after the transfer Dealing with complex financial and legal issues while facing our own mortality is a difficult task, but making these decisions is critical to the future outcome of your estate. The Living Trust Advisor expertly guides you through the process so you can be confident that your wishes will be carried out.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.