I always enjoy it when readers reply to these emails, and last week was particularly gratifying because several people said something along the lines of, “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and I’m going to call my lawyer this week and get it updated.” That’s great! I also heard from one of my favorite estate lawyers, Tim Yeaglin, the Co-Chair of Lewis Rice’s Estate Planning and Probate… Read More
When the federal estate tax exemption started climbing rapidly in the 2000s (and even went to zero for one year in 2010), an estate lawyer friend told me he was glad because estate planning shouldn’t be so focused on tax avoidance. “What do you mean?!?” I thought. I had always believed that tax savings were the main point of estate planning. And in 2002, when we launched Acropolis, the tax… Read More
A few months ago, the term ‘stagflation’ was mentioned too casually and frequently, in my opinion. Investors were worried about the impact of a trade war, which is natural, but were too quick to go to “The S Word.” Stagflation is a portmanteau of stagnation and inflation, coined in the 1970s when economic growth was very low (and sometimes negative) and inflation was very high. The term stagnation was often… Read More
It’s not surprising that clients are inquiring about gold, as it has risen 25.3 percent so far this year. When we started this business in August 2002, I thought gold was a terrible investment idea. However, in the 273 months since then, it has handily beaten foreign stocks and bonds, and even eked out a small win over the S&P 500. That’s right, during this time frame, gold gained 10.9… Read More
