Your Life Simplified: A Financial & Wealth Management Podcast

As we near the end of the year, what is it that you should be doing to minimize taxes and make sure that you've got your financial world organized? Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share 6 tax and wealth planning strategies you should consider before the year wraps up.

As an executive, you probably have some time of restricted stock or security in your compensation. But what is right for you and your portfolio? Steve Moyer, vice president of executive compensation & corporate offerings, joins our host, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, to sort through the noise of executive compensation and explain RSUs, restricted stock and restricted securities.

In today's digital age, cybersecurity has become more important than ever. With cybercrime on the rise, it's crucial to know how to protect yourself and your data from online threats. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, sits down with Chris Cook, senior vice president of information security, to provide you with valuable insights into the world of cybercrime and how you can safeguard your personal information.

On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, is joined by special guest, Brett Kunshek, head of options and structured notes. They break down what structured notes and options are and dive into their complexities, different types of structured notes and which investors these may be right for. They'll also cover why these are growing in popularity in the United States and the fees that come along with them.

With flexibility and connectivity in today's world, many are excited by the idea of moving abroad and traveling; however, with that comes complications that you may not have considered. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, is joined by Raoul Rodriguez, senior wealth advisor. Here are 3 things you need to consider before moving to another country—taxes, qualified accounts and estate planning.

We may not be at the end of the year yet, but now is the time to start end-of-year tax planning. Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share ways to minimize the amount of taxes you'll pay for 2023. They'll cover tax planning strategies like capital gains, tax loss harvesting and Roth conversions to help limit your taxes.

On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Jake Kern, managing director and senior wealth advisor, discuss the powerful strategy of Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) and how they can benefit you. An IDGT is a trust that is intentionally drafted to be "defective" for income tax purposes. This allows the grantor of the trust to transfer assets to the trust without triggering gift or estate taxes. The grantor also pays the income tax on the trust's income, thus reducing the value of the grantor's estate. One of the key benefits of an IDGT is that it can help you transfer assets to future generations with minimal tax liability. Since the grantor pays the income tax on the trust's income, the assets in the trust can grow tax-free, increasing the value of the trust's assets over time.

For many, they've become wealthy because of their focus on saving. They've spent their entire lives being disciplined and saving money. Then, there comes a time when they need to spend it, and that can be a difficult transition. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, is joined by Abby Foster, associate wealth advisor. They share ways you can eliminate guilt from spending and still reach your goals.

While we can't look into the future, each year, we feature a webinar that peers into a crystal ball and shares what we expect to see from the markets during the second half of the year. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, is joined by Jeff Krumpelman, chief investment strategies and head of equities. Jeff gives an overview of how the first half of the year went and where he thinks the markets will go for the rest of 2023.

With larger estates, often come more complicated estate plans. Ben Voelker, director of wealth strategy, is back on this episode of Your Life Simplified to discuss more advanced estate planning techniques and strategies to avoid high estate taxes.