Author: Jeff Diamond, AIF®

Legacy Planning: Five Ways to Help Your Heirs Preserve and Grow their Inheritance

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on July 12, 2021.

Don’t Skip this Often-Overlooked Step as You Plan the Disposition of Your Estate

Legacy planning, also called estate planning, is a long-term process. In fact, you’ve probably been engaged in it for much of your adult life, even if you didn’t realize it in the moment. Things like taking out a life insurance policy and naming beneficiaries on your retirement accounts are important steps in planning the eventual disposition of your estate and ensuring those you care about will be financially secure.

On the formal side of things, it’s important that you meet with an estate planning attorney, write a legal will, draft a durable power of attorney, and execute an advanced health care directive. In this article, however, we will examine an important legacy planning step that is too often overlooked: preparing your heirs to receive their inheritance – and helping them to preserve and grow it, as well.

Fitting Equity Compensation into Your Financial Plan

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on May 31, 2021.

The smartest move when granted equity benefits is to plan now, not 10 years down the road.

A growing trend in employee benefits is the inclusion of equity compensation to attract the best talent and to recognize top employees. Equity compensation is a form of non-cash compensation that represents ownership in the company, such as stock options or restricted stock. Depending on the company and the type of compensation they provide, employees will either receive company stock upon joining the team or the option to purchase it at a future date into their employment.

Equity compensation can seem complicated, and it may be tempting to let your benefits sit on autopilot, especially if you plan on staying at the company for a while and don’t have immediate plans to sell the stock. This might not be the best move, however, because equity compensation can come with unique tax rules, tax implications, and liquidity challenges. In order to ensure that you’re making the most of these benefits, it’s important to take a strategic approach to manage them and work to incorporate them into your broader wealth management plan. As you do so, keep the following questions and opportunities in mind.

Zach Morris Provides Perspective on How to Talk to Your Parents about Estate Planning in a Recent Article for The Balance

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on March 26, 2021.

In an article published by thebalance.com, Co-Founder Zach Morris offered his insight and expertise on how you can best talk to your parents about estate planning, and why it’s so important to start the discussion now. Here’s a snip of the article:

Discussing estate planning with your parents is a conversation that can be difficult to have. You might not want to think about the day that they are no longer here, or even consider that they might experience a decline in health that severely limits their ability to think clearly or communicate with you.

Reasons You Need to Have the Talk Now

The unpredictability of 2020 hammered home the frailty of life and how quickly someone can succumb to an ailment. But besides the possibility of your parents getting sick, there are other reasons to have this conversation now. In short, it’s not always about an inheritance or power of attorney, according to Zachary Morris, co-founder of Atlanta-based Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors.

Navigating Inter-Generational Wealth Transitions When You Run a Family Business

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on February 24, 2021.

Guidance for Overcoming Common Challenges

Having something to pass down to future generations of your family is a dream shared by many people, especially those with family businesses. If you’re lucky enough to achieve it, however, you may face some of the common challenges of an inter-generational wealth transition. So challenging is such a transfer, in fact, that 90% of affluent families have greatly diminished wealth by the third generation. Below, we will discuss three common wealth transfer issues and provide guidance to help you navigate these potential challenges and ensure your assets move smoothly to the next generation.

401(k) Plan Sponsors: 5 Reasons to Outsource Your Plan Sponsorship & Fiduciary Obligations

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on December 8, 2020.

Our Fiduciary File Checklist and Expertise in Plan Sponsorship Can Save You Time and Money

As an employer, offering a 401(k) plan to your employees can be incredibly rewarding. However, it is also a challenging undertaking – one that requires much of you, including meeting your fiduciary obligations to plan participants each year. The basic rules outlined by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) offer a standard of conduct that must be followed in administering a plan and managing its assets. Since the required actions and responsibilities are manifold, many small and medium-sized business owners outsource their plan sponsorship through a third-party service provider.

At Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors, we understand your regulatory responsibilities as a 401(k)-plan sponsor and the need for proper documentation – and we know it can be a bit overwhelming. We believe that having a solid knowledge- base of plan governance, plan design, investments, participant investment behaviors, and recordkeeper services is unique, and we are proud to offer our knowledge and experience to our clients wishing to outsource their plan sponsorship. With the growing number of court cases and settlements related to the mismanagement of retirement programs, the stakes are increasing for sponsors to fully appreciate their plans’ risks and take necessary steps to meet their fiduciary obligations.

Social Security Taxes Will Rise Higher than Benefits in 2021: Are You Prepared?

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on December 2, 2020.

Learn How These Changes Will Impact Your Financial Security

Each year, the Social Security Administration announces important numbers that impact both workers and retirees. In October, new wage base and benefit information for 2021 was released and it means a significantly larger tax bill for nearly 12 million high-earning workers. Why? Let’s dig into the numbers for both taxes and benefits below.

FSA vs HSA: How to Make the Most out of Your Employee Benefits

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on September 30, 2020.

A comparison of the two biggest tax-advantaged savings accounts offered by employers

If there was a pop quiz and you were asked to explain the difference between a flexible spending account (FSA) and a health savings account (HSA), would you pass the quiz?

Chances are, you’d probably struggle with the answer. Though they share similar names and some other key similarities, such as both being tax-advantaged options available through work benefits, there are some major differences between the two accounts.

Like any decision, it’s best to make your choice from an informed position. To do so, here are the main takeaways you should know when it comes to the differences between an HSA and an FSA account.

Small Business Checklist: How to Assess Your Financial Wellness

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on June 29, 2020.

A Five-Step Plan for Busy Business Owners

Running your business day to day takes all of your energy and focus. Your waking hours are consumed with managing and sustaining it, and you likely spend many a sleepless night on the details no one else thinks about. This is the life of a committed small business owner.

When you’re grinding day after day to keep your business well-positioned, however, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Specifically, it becomes difficult for many small business owners to find the time to monitor the overall health of their business in a meaningful way. The five-step guide below is designed to help you focus on five key elements of your business’ financial health.

Writing a Will, Estate Planning and Financial Documents: DIY or Pro

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on May 2, 2020.

The internet offers lots of DIY estate planning and financial tools, such as an online will maker and guides for advanced directives. Should you learn how to make a will for free and create your own package of estate documents or should you hire professional help? These considerations can help.

A husband and wife came to Zach Morris, co-founder of the Atlanta-based Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors, after completing an online will maker. Upon reviewing the documents, Morris, whose firm is a registered investment advisor with the SEC, realized that they had each decided to leave $10,000 and their dog to their best friend. But the will didn’t state what to do with the animal (or the money) if the friend died before them — meaning the couple could have accidentally left their pet and $20,000 to their best friend’s next-of-kin.

It was a small error, but one that illustrates the risks of taking a DIY route for financial and estate planning. “When you’re talking about legal terms, it’s really something that you want to get right,” Morris says.

CARES Act Signed into Law –Brings Relief to Millions of Americans

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on March 30, 2020.

This $2 trillion bill is meant to impact both individuals and businesses and contains significant tax-savings measures. It could affect prior tax years while also creating immediate cash-flow.

Impact on Individuals

Stimulus Checks

Perhaps the most impactful provision for American citizens is the CARES Act’s promise of cash payments of up to $1,200 per single individual and $2,400 for a married couple. Parents will also receive an additional $500 per qualifying child. Payments are phased-out for individuals with incomes greater than $75,000 and for married couples filing jointly with income greater than $150,000.

Provisions are such that payments will be based on 2018 tax returns, though, like the Affordable Care Act’s tax premium credit, there is a true-up related to the amount for which you are eligible on the 2020 tax return. Nonresident aliens, dependents and estates and trusts are not eligible for a stimulus check.