Wealth Actually

With the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Loper Bright Case, courts no longer have to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous laws. This is a massive change in the way administrative law is practiced at the federal level. The Loper Bright Case touches almost every area regulated by the Untied States government.

Professor WILLIAM BUZBEE will help us understand the implications of the Loper Bright Case and what the world might look like going forward.

William W. Buzbee holds the inaugural Edward and Carole Walter Professor chair and is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He also serves as the Faculty Director of Georgetown Law’s Environmental Law & Policy Program. In his teaching and scholarship, he specializes in environmental law, legislation and regulation, and administrative law. Recent publications focus on climate regulation, deregulation and law governing agency policy change, and federalism. He also offers seminars on advanced environmental, regulatory, and constitutional law subjects, with his most recent seminar focused on “The Art of Regulatory War.”

Martin Shenkman on the applicability of the Loper Case on tax and wealth matters.

Artificial intelligence is a charged term- one that has been around, but has taken on new meaning in the last couple of years. As the first crossovers of AI and HUMAN RESOURCES emerge, many issues are coming out. People are both excited and afraid of its implications.

However, the news isn’t all scary and the world is not becoming Skynet yet!

SUSAN YOUNGBLOOD is an expert on the intersection of AI and Human Resources.

Equipped with broad executive experience and board expertise, she is the ideal person to help us get our arms around the AI/HR intersection at the employee, manager, executive and board level. I spoke with her on the conundrum that decision-makers face as technology and people collide.

SUSAN is a technology CHRO who has launched, acquired, and transformed companies at Fortune 50 and FTSE 100 companies such as IBM, BNY Mellon (BK), and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L) as well as a tech startup,

As a leader in the HR field, Susan enabled high growth and faster time to market by navigating teams through the human capital agenda at critical inflection points:

Having dealt with company strategic issues, Susan has also managed global crises and assisted companies in mitigating extensive risks.

SUSAN YOUNGBLOOD LINKEDIN

Susan serves on the Board of Directors for Cornell University’s ILR school, is on
the Advisory Council for SUNY College of Optometry, and she is an angel investor. She
holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Vassar College and a Master of
Industrial and Labor Relations (MILR) degree from Cornell University, where she
was also the assistant coach of the women’s tennis team.

“Empowered Entitlement” isn’t a buzzword yet in the lexicon of next-generation wealth education tools. But it well could be.

In an environment where productivity and drive is difficult to identify and develop, CHRISTIAN BROYHILL is using her psychology background and unique viewpoint to advise wealthy multi-generational families.

Christian’s willingness to lean into the inheritor’s financial reality (and trauma) distinguishes her from many in the “next-gen” field.

THE 4TH GENERATION STORY

NEXT GEN JOURNEYS

CHRISTIAN BROYHILL ON LINKEDIN

More on Childhood Wealth Discussions

“Family Office” recruiting is one of the most difficult subsets of wealth management.

Loaded with mystery and allure, many wealthy families want to “have” a family office. It’s a different story when the family has to determine the ROI of the project, lay out the costs and, ultimately, staff one. This is actual work.

Family offices are expensive and require deep strategic thought and long term purpose and budgeting by the family.

As we will learn here, family offices call for the identification, acquisition, and support of talent that is not readily available. This new talent can also be risky.

A new structure with new people subjects large amounts of personal wealth to the domain of outsiders and public risk. Failure is often embarrassing (and expensive).

I went to a source with a unique viewpoint.

BRIAN C. ADAMS is a Principal at Mack International, a leading executive
search, and human capital consulting firm that serves the family
office/wealth management markets.

Along with his background in family office, Brian has co-founded two real estate private equity firms, Excelsior Capital and Priam Properties, and has assembled a portfolio of over $600 million in real estate assets.

PROPUBLICA has taken on the role abdicated by most mainstream news organizations. Its long form journalism, while controversial, takes on many special interests that escape public scrutiny.

While I often don’t agree with the slant that they take, ProPublica represents a new frontier for the fourth column.

Traditional news outlets make less and less business sense. I wanted to find out more about how long form journalism is going to work going forward and how it will apply to financial regulation.

So I spoke to JUSTIN ELLIOTT, an Investigative Reporter at ProPublica.

Justin has won the Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, the Selden Ring Award for a series on the American Red Cross and, with the “Trump, Inc.” podcast team, a duPont-Columbia Award.

He co-wrote the story revealing tech mogul Peter Thiel’s multibillion-dollar Roth IRA which we talk about here.

2024 Election Coverage

Justin at ProPublica

Justin at Twitter

The intersection of Technology and Estate Planning is now a dominant talking point in the wealth management space. The pressure for advisors to deliver more client value is intense.

As the wealth management industry wrestles with establishing relevance, value, and control with the next generation, the emergence of Technology and Estate Planning to assist the advisor is a central theme in the RIA space and “Fintech.”

Combining centuries old “analog” concepts with new “digital” tools is the new silver bullet for reaching and keeping clients. Therein lies one of the biggest challenges in delivering this value. The formulation and communication of estate plans and wealth structures for clients and the next generation is tricky business.

It requires experienced practitioners and tools that streamline a labor intensive (and often unprofitable) process. Once the picture of one’s plan develops, it now requires ongoing maintenance and detailed administration as life marches on and risks and opportunities emerge.

I spoke with DAVID BARNARD to understand the state of the art in creating, presenting and managing personalized trust & estate strategies for complex clients with Luminary’s digital collaboration platform.

DAVID BARNARD is the CEO and Founder of Luminary- the winner of two awards at the 2024 Family Wealth Awards . He previously led private wealth management for AllianceBernstein, overseeing more than $100 billion in client assets, and has served multiple philanthropic organizations as a director or trustee.

Luminary’s website is here: https://www.withluminary.com

Artificial intelligence and healthcare have been intertwined for a long time.

The public has finally noticed.

With the emergence of OpenAI and other Large Language Model platforms, we are on the forefront of more huge changes in the business of health care.

Healthcare and elder issues are the major concerns for most families planning for their futures. Artificial intelligence has permanently changed the method and pace of research, the role of privacy, the choice and delivery of treatment, and the way people interact with the healthcare community.

To better understand these issues, I spoke with Chris Heye. who is working in the space.

Dr CHRIS HEYE is the CEO and Founder of both Whealthcare Solutions, Inc. and Whealthcare Planning LLC. He is a proven entrepreneur with extensive experience starting and growing technology companies. After confronting dementia in his own family and witnessing elder financial abuse in friends, Chris decided that older adults needed more protection.

Chris and I take a look at this intersection. The advances are exciting. Having surveying the landscape, we marvel at the leaps forward to come and worry about the issues that they create.

Against that backdrop, we take on these questions:

Further Wealth Actually updates HERE

The transition of wealth between generations has put the spotlight squarely on fiduciary roles. With the rapid changes in the financial services space, directed trustees and independent administrative trust companies have exploded in popularity.

Most advisors, wealth management firms, and clients under-appreciate the responsibility and risks of proper trusteeship.

They remember a culture and business model that existed decades ago.

These days, individuals trustees usually can’t handle the rigors of the job and law firms are leaving the space for liability reasons.

Finally, in an environment where clients want more flexibility and control, the large bank-owned trust departments provide a cumbersome experience and high turnover,

With this in mind, modern estate planning has unbundled traditional investment, administrative and distribution trustee roles. There is a huge appetite for jurisdictional planning and best-in-class providers.

With all of this change, it is confusing for the advisor to know who is responsible for what and how much it should cost.

RIA’s do not have the resources to advise or service clients with this complexity. The administration and oversight of these structures is a distraction.

Building a trust company to solve this problem does not make business sense in a private equity-backed RIA aggregation environment.

Moreover, using conflicted trust providers is out of the question for fear of putting client relationships at risk.

An increasingly popular option for RIAs and wealthy families is the use of directed trustees and the independent administrative trust company.

CHRISTOPHER HOLTBY is a co-founder of an independent trust company that works specifically with wealth advisors and directed trustees.

Not only do we highlight the best practices for identifying and partnering with an administrative trustee, but we also discuss the typical workflow between an RIAs and directed trustees.

1/ What are the basic requirements of independent trust company?

2/ Accordingly, which “value adds” should RIA firms should look for?

3/ Are there key attributes to spot when deciding to work/partner with an independent trust company?

4/ Lastly, should you be aware of any “Gotchas” in the space?

WEALTH ADVISORS TRUST COMPANY

Dr. RICHARD HAASS takes us on a tour of The World’s Hot Spots. We also discuss the U.S. in 2024 and the concept of citizenship.

Richard is a veteran diplomat and respected scholar of international relations.

He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations after having served as the CFR’s president for twenty years.

Richard is also senior counselor with Centerview Partners, an international investment banking advisory firm. He appears frequently in the media and has authored several books on American Foreign Policy, Management and Democracy.

Israel/Gaza/Middle East/Hamas/Hezbollah – What do the other oil-rich nations to the north think of these troubles? Even with outside pressure, is there a long term answer for this conflict?

Ukraine/Russia – Meanwhile, what does a Russia look like after Putin?

China/Taiwan/South China Seas – While Russia struggles, but progresses, with the Ukraine, has the U.S. calculus with China changed?

India – Because India now has the same population as China and growing economic power, is there an appetite for them to step up in world affairs?

Haiti – As a result of this month’s events and it’s long history of chaos, is Haiti a broken country?

With Trump vs Biden now a semi-official Rematch, what are you looking out for?

The Health of Economy – With statistics saying it’s healthy and people saying it doesn’t feel that way, who wins out?

Immigration – How did the U.S. get this so wrong?

As a result immigrations and the headlines around National Security and Foreign Policy, is this the election where the economy is not the decisive issue?

If the electorate looking inward this cycle, will this attitude have an impact on Tax Policy?

With both parties having lame ducks and shallow benches, what does the next administration look like as the head into midterms?

If the cult of personality begins to dissipate, what’s next?

Resultantly, is this a source of optimism that well get back into actual policy debates at the party level?

What prompted you to write about what it takes to be a good and productive citizen?

What are the 10 points of the Bill of Obligations?

-Be Informed
-Get Involved
-Stay Open to Compromise
-Remain Civil
-Reject Violence
-Value Norms
-Promote the Common Good
-Respect Government Service
-Support the Teaching of Civics
-Put Country First

Are there certain writers and publications you enjoy reading? Favorite books?

With some of the big concepts laid out, what big concept out there keeps you up at night?

Lastly, with so much conflict around the globe, is there a big opportunity that you see that isn’t being noticed?

“HOME AND AWAY” ON SUBSTACK

RICHARD on TWITTER

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

CENTERVIEW PARTNERS

Cryopreservation and wealth was once the purview of science fiction and Hollywood. Freezing one’s self to be revived in the future is not just something out of Issac Asimov book or a Ridley Scott movie. The science, estate planning, and economics of this “call option on immortality” are here right now.

There are legitimate and current issues with cryopreservation and wealth- fascinating ones at that! Science, estate planning, ethics, governance, economics and good old-fashioned drafting are in focus as I speak with Scottsdale-based attorney MARK HOUSE.

We’re going to get our arms around the misconceptions of the freezing process and what that means legally and practically. With that background, we’ll dive into the structuring and drafting considerations to effectuate this amazing concept. Finally, we have some fun by guessing at what the world may look like with revived citizens hundreds of years from now.

-How did Mark get into estate planning and how did he get into cryonics?

-Let’s define freezing “pre-death” vs “post-death.”

-Behind the Science: GREG FAHY’S WORK and BIO

-What is the legal and funding process?

-Usually when people die (and the being’s existence terminates), the assets transfer to beneficiaries. However, here something different happens.

-Is there a difference between being kept alive but in “suspended animation” and dying?

-Does having various features including DNA maps serve as the basis for a new being?

-Ownership in a trust should be able to provide the structure that allows the Grantor to be resuscitated when the science catches up.

-Trusts have a Grantor, Trustee, Corpus (literally in this case) and beneficiaries.

-Trustees must administer, invest and distribute. 

-How does a directed trust allow the Grantor’s intent to persist?

-Perpetuity and a Good Trust Protector Structure are vital.

-With that in place, trustees must have distribution flexibility and discretion around “beneficiary determination”

-Why is it important to have broad Trustee choice?

-If we’re making guesses about the future, why is nimble decision-making process around “science determinations” important?

-When talking about investment flexibility, is endowing a future being a “prudent investment’? If so, how does a trustee sign off on that?

-Who pays the freezer? How much does this cost?

-Once we know that, how does the trust pay for it?

-When should a person use life insurance? When employed, does the presumption of death change anything?

-What happens if you run out of funds?

-Does it make sense to (also) endow the future persons’ lifestyle? If not, how will they function in the future?

-Should other the trust not include future beneficiaries to reduce a potential future conflict

-How do you staff this? (See here for an interview with Betsy Brown on Corporate Trustees designed to deal with tricky situations: https://frazerrice.com/ep-63-betsy-brown/)

-What if the individual or corporate trustees cease to exist? (Trust protector)

-Is there liability for the science committee if they unfreeze too soon?  Can other beneficiaries then be added? Should they be?

-Are private trust companies common in these situations?

-What’s the best way to get started?

MARK HOUSE CONTACT INFORMATION

ARTICLE ON CRYONICS

TIM URBAN’S ARTICLE

OUR TRUST AND ESTATES PROFESSOR, JEFFERY PENNELL

ALCOR- https://www.alcor.org/