Wealth and Law

This week, Brent and Rachel bring back Shiraz Ahmed to talk about cross border investing and retirement planning. They discuss the similarities and differences between common U.S. and Canadian retirement vehicles and back-door Roth IRAs. They also get into the Robinhood era of investing and when someone should sit down with a financial advisor. Shiraz is a Financial Advisor and Founder of the Sartorial Wealth team of Raymond James Ltd. He specializes in coordinating the financial care for clients. Shiraz works with specialists inside the firm as well as the clients’ attorneys and accountants to consolidate their finances into one coherent financial plan. He also specializes in family services. Shiraz holds a Chartered Investment Management (CIM) designation and is among an elite group of advisors fully licensed in Canada and the US and registered with both IIROC and FINRA. Shiraz’s bio and contact information are available at https://www.sartorialwealth.com/our-team/bio?_=shiraz.ahmed.

This week on the Wealth & Law Podcast, Brent and Rachel are joined by Emily B. Kile to discuss Medicaid and long term care planning. They get into the basic requirements for Medicaid, and in particular, Arizona’s ALTCS program, other social security programs, and how individuals and families can start planning for long-term care today. Emily B. Kile is a graduate of the Northeastern School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado, Boulder and holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from Boston College. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NEALA), past President of the Arizona Chapter (2008), and a member of the Academy of Special Needs Planners and the Special Needs Alliance. She is licensed to practice law in Arizona and has been since 1993. Emily serves on the Arizona Fiduciary Board. The Fiduciary Board oversees the discipline of fiduciaries licensed in the State of Arizona and approves requests for licensure. She practices in the areas of: estate planning, guardianship & conservatorship, ALTCS planning, probate & trust administration and special needs planning. You can learn more about Emily at: https://kilelawfirm.com/. She can be reached at (480) 348-1590 or at emily@kilelawfirm.com.

This week, Rachel and Brent talk with Andrea Carr about tax planning in Hawaii. They cover the basics of Hawaii income tax and talk about the many traps for the unwary. In particular, they get into detail about the Hawaii tax credits for photovoltaic systems, the Hawaii excise tax, and the technical steps to successfully comply with those rules. Andrea Carr is a CPA located in Honolulu, Hawaii. She operates Carr CPA LLC and can most often be found on her active Twitter feed @andreacpa0.

This week Brent is joined by special co-host Gary Fletcher to discuss the Biden Administration’s “Green Book” (or budget proposal). They focus in on proposals to increase the capital gains rates, taxing transfers of capital assets, what the spousal and charitable exceptions might mean, and why the Green Book does not mention changing the gift and estate taxes. Gary Fletcher is an attorney and CPA at the firm Nystedt & Fletcher, PLLC in Tucson, Arizona. Gary practices tax accounting and estate planning, and is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Gary can be reached at (520) 881-3900, gfletcher@nflegal.com.

This week on the Wealth & Law Podcast, the ladies take over the show! Rachel sits down again with Deborah Plum to talk about our must have estate planning documents. Whether someone is worth $100,000 or $100 million, they go over the foundational documents to any estate plan. You can learn more about Deborah here: https://rimonlaw.com/team/deborah-plum.  If you are enjoying the podcast, please SUBSCRIBE and leave a REVIEW, and if you want to learn more about Brent and Rachel go to https://wealthandlaw.com/team/.

This week on the Wealth & Law Podcast, Brent and Rachel sit down with Jamie Mendelsohn to discuss life insurance policies and the life settlement market. Many people may be surprised to learn that a life insurance policyholder can sell their existing policy to a third-party for a one-time cash payment. The payment is generally more than the surrender value, but less than the actual death benefit of the policy. This transaction, known as a life settlement, can help create liquidity for the policyholder and free them up from an unnecessary policy. Brent, Rachel, and Jamie dive into the process of a life settlement, the taxation of life insurance sales, how a life settlement may help trustees of trusts owning life insurance policies, and how COVID-19 has changed the life settlement market. Jamie Mendelsohn serves as Executive Vice President for Ashar Group, LLC. She partners with the nation’s leading wealth management firms, attorneys, CPAs, trust, and financial planning advisors in the Secondary Market. Jamie’s national network and advanced sales experiences has led Ashar to many key accounts. With a proven ability to successfully analyze an organization’s business needs, she helps Ashar’s business partners grow their Secondary Market solutions in an efficient manner. For upwards of a decade, she has worked closely with independent and professional advisors, regional broker dealers and brokerage general agencies, as well as Financial Institutions with a national footprint. She has spoken at numerous financial services conferences and provides continuing education for both financial advisors and professionals nationwide. Her capacity to handle the most complex cases, and her relentless pursuit of excellence representing the interests of advisors and their clients, places her in the top echelon of market professionals. You can contact Jamie at jamie@ashargroup.com or at 407-772-1818 ex. 222.

Sometimes, it just feels good to get something off of your chest. So this week on the Wealth and Law Podcast, Brent and Rachel are going over the things that grind our gears. From billionaire profiling, to “simplified” tax laws, to everyone’s favorite–the IRS, we highlight our top annoying things to deal with this week. We’re sure that we missed a few and we’d love to hear what yours are. Leave a comment below to tell us what’s grinding your gears this week. If you are enjoying the podcast, please SUBSCRIBE and leave a REVIEW, and if you want to learn more about Brent and Rachel go to https://wealthandlaw.com/team/.

We hardly ever focus on a particular Internal Revenue Code Section on the Wealth & Law Podcast, but we think that Section 2104(b) deserves to be special. In our opinion, this is one of the most nerve-racking sections in the Code for non-residents and non-citizens. Brent and Rachel dive into the perils of Section 2104(b) and how it could result in disastrous federal estate tax consequences. If you are enjoying the podcast, please SUBSCRIBE and leave a REVIEW, and if you want to learn more about Brent and Rachel go to https://wealthandlaw.com/team/.

The Biden tax plan has gotten a lot of attention lately as there are quite a few ambitious proposed changes to the tax laws that could have far reaching impacts for individuals and businesses. While the current plans are in the early stages and it is difficult to predict which proposals may become law, it is nevertheless important to explain the proposed changes, how each may affect individuals and families, and what people can do today before any laws are passed. Brent and Rachel focus in on the proposals to the federal estate and gift tax exemption amounts, capital gains and income tax rates, and the step-up in basis.

We love talking about charitable giving on the Wealth & Law Podcast. In previous episodes, we’ve discussed how individuals and families can incorporate charitable giving into their estate and investment plans. On this week’s episode, Brent and Rachel bring back Deborah Plum to talk about how to form your own non-profit. They get into the formation documents, how to get tax exempt status, and common issues that come up along the way. Deborah is an experienced trusts and estates associate with a background in corporate tax.  Deborah has extensive knowledge of charitable foundations and not-for-profit organizations.  Prior to joining Rimon, Deborah worked as a tax associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she worked on matters involving private equity funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts, and other investment vehicles, in the context of mergers and acquisitions and tax-free reorganizations.   After gaining additional experience in tax controversy while working at Kostelanetz & Fink LLP, Deborah joined the trusts and estates group at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.  In shifting her focus to individual and family business tax planning, Deborah has advised clients on a variety of estate and gift tax questions, charitable endeavors, and succession planning. You can learn more about Deborah here: https://rimonlaw.com/team/deborah-plum. You can also learn more about Deborah’s non-profit, Basecamp for Veterans, Inc., here: https://www.bcampinc.com/.