Special Needs Financial Planning

Dropping a 100-page financial plan in favor of a simplified one-page plan delivers massive value to clients and wins over prospects.

AI is a tool to elevate and redefine job duties. Here are strategies for how AI can augment the work of fiduciary advisors while helping them stay relevant and competitive.

Recently, I came across an example of something worse than having no will…

So-called “finfluencers” are preying on naïve investors, promising unrealistic returns while generating excessive commissions for themselves. Their bait is an indexed-universal life (IUL) policy. Read this to avoid making a costly mistake.

Let’s look at the keys to creating a successful podcast.

How do you cultivate a successful referral program?

I’m having a hard time helping the senior advisor see that I have insights and ideas.

Advisors are increasingly turning to OCIOs to differentiate their firms, increase profitability and scale their businesses through gained efficiencies.

Many advisors are using longevity assumptions that are less conservative than they think.

Should you be concerned? How can you compete with “free”?

Tragically, the 75th anniversary of the UK’s National Health Service this week is less a cause for celebration and pride and more a grim reminder of the everyday reality of premature death.

Done right, stories are a powerful marketing tool. Here’s how to tell a great one.

Too many advisors jump into surge poorly prepared to deliver massive value to their clients. Here are five common mistakes and how to avoid them.

While tuition is the main qualified expense you think of when you get a 529, there are other tangential education expenses that will also qualify.

529 plan benefits abound no matter which type of plan you choose. Read on to get a full understanding of what 529 plans can do for you.

Without understanding people – how they think and act, and what they believe – you can’t effectively help them, no matter how good you are at planning or asset allocation.

A digital-marketing audit typically includes an analysis of the following elements.

Republican and White House negotiators are moving closer to an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years, according to people familiar with the matter, as time grows short to avert a catastrophic US default.

AI’s arrival will have an increasingly large impact on our lives. That includes investing and, especially, other aspects of financial planning.

As financial advisors and wealth managers, we want our ultra-high net worth clients to emulate the Rockefellers, not the Vanderbilts.

No one is bragging about the index fund they own to their friends.

Here’s what you can do to make your website compliant with the ADA and accessible to all.

Here’s why I started the Externship and why it matters.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s plan to link spending cuts to an increase in the US debt limit would result in fewer teachers and more expensive college educations, the Biden administration warned...

Charitable planning is an important topic to discuss with your clients, especially if they’re facing extraordinary taxable events this year. You can add value to your clients by sharing these tax-smart giving strategies for 2023.

The goal of marketing is to garner loyalty among existing clients while also attracting new ones to drive growth and profitability for your firm. To implement engaging messaging, follow these tips…

The 2023 T3/Inside Information Software Survey is now available. It’s the best guide to the 300+ fintech solutions in the marketplace, and a good buyer’s guide for advisory firms that are looking for additions or enhancements to their tech stack.

If your clients still have jobs, this article will discuss what you can do to help them prepare for a possible layoff.

What can we, as advisors, do to promote healthy finances?

Let’s explore whether the CFP Board, the most powerful and prominent organization supporting the advisory profession, can do more to support the adoption of a full fiduciary standard. We’ll also ask whether the CFP Board actually owns the trademark for “certified financial planner,” as it claims.

There are several ways to include philanthropic giving in your estate plan. Here are five common options.

Like all trusts, a charitable trust is a legal entity that you create for the purpose of holding and managing assets. The trust is wholly separate from you. It owns any assets it holds, pays taxes and requires management just like any other legally recognized entity.

Behind the five-decade low US unemployment rate of 3.5% lies a 2.6 million-person mystery.

Advisors must redesign their entire approach, starting from the client's point of view.

Build your ladder with multiple target-maturity ETFs representing different segments of the bond market, with different target years.

Even after a year in which the vast majority of the wealthiest Americans lost a chunk of their fortunes — and in some cases, lost big — in at least one way, they’re still coming out ahead.

Here are nine tips that will help your family members stay healthy and financially secure as they age.

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of trading in your traditional bank for a virtual banking experience.

One thing to consider when opening a 529 plan is whether it should be a custodial or individual account. While both allow you to save for college costs and enjoy some tax breaks, they differ in terms of who has control of the account and the assets in it.

Let’s look at the powerful feature set an advisory firm could put together from a collection of the higher-rated, low-market-share programs and solutions that I’ve collected from past surveys, many of which you may not even be aware of.

Here are three ways you can add value in the context of insurance issues.

If you aren’t willing to niche, at least decide whether you are trying to help your clients thrive or survive. Then build a message around one of those themes. Are you selling them life rafts (survive) or sailboats (thrive)?

The succession plans that come off with the fewest disruptions are those that are implemented over an extended period, especially when the successors are not family members.

Here are some suggestions to consider when remarrying.

I’d like to share an example of what happened when one of my clients chose the wrong provider.

There is an adage about three generations of wealth – the first generation makes it; the second generation maintains it and the third generation spends it.

Here are five steps female financial advisors should take when putting a continuity plan in place for their firm.

Let's break down four guaranteed approaches you can implement to improve your client experience and increase your prospect conversions by creating exclusivity, setting client expectations from the beginning, sticking to your process of success, and practicing your interactions.