Our Commentary

My associates and I were recently working through a complex multimillion dollar estate planning case where the client owned real estate in multiple states. One of the central topics of discussion was how the probate process would work under the current will which we were in the process of revising. Probate is the court supervised process of […]

This time last year, my ninety-something-year-old father and I were cutting a tree down at the lake. He normally likes to run the chainsaw while I pull on a rope tied high in the tree so that it will fall ‘where he intended it to fall’. Well, as the tree fell it hung in another tree so […]

This retirement gig can be pretty challenging. Many retirees are facing financial woes that are both new to them and unsettling. The economy will get better and life will get easier but it may take a few years. Until then, here are 12 steps you can take now to take charge of your financial life:   Determine where […]

Last week I discussed ways to reduce the financial strain in the event of a divorce. It occurred to me that a better strategy is to head off a future divorce by starting out a marriage on a sound financial footing. So if you or someone you know will be getting married in the near future, help […]

I’m happy to report that my wife and I will soon celebrate our 30th anniversary of marriage. Unfortunately, about one-half of marriages do not stand the test of time. Now you’d think that divorcees would have learned the lessons from a failed marriage and ‘get it right’ the second time around…but this is not the case. According to […]

Both the Republicans and moderate Democrats are currently re-thinking whether the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire at the end of this year or vote to extend them at least until the recession is over. If Congress does nothing, here’s an overview of some of the more onerous changes: All income tax rates […]

You may have heard of the ‘Butterfly Effect’…a butterfly flaps his wings here in America and sets off a tornado in Japan…or so the saying goes. It’s a metaphor used to explain how small changes can create large unintended results. The greed and mismanagement that dominated the executive offices of America’s largest banks over the […]

As I conclude this series on the ‘9 Secrets to Achieving Financial Freedom’, let’s begin with a review of what we’ve covered so far. The Secret of Decision states that before you can accomplish any goal, you must ‘decide’ what you truly want. With the Secret of Total Commitment and the Secret of Clarity you commit to […]

The eighth secret of the 9 Secrets of Achieving Financial Freedom is the Secret of Leverage. Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world.” The right use of leverage can accelerate your success for just about any goal you have. Thinking of the investment […]

Secret number seven of the ‘9 Secrets to Achieving Financial Freedom’ is the Secret of Passive Income. Now, over the past few weeks, I’ve been taking the secrets and applying them to achieving a health and fitness transformation for myself as well as those of you who dared to join me. How will I apply the Secret […]