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Browse our latest or list by category:
Browse our latest or list by category:
By Aviva Sapers Are you aware of the financial impact a disability can have for you and your family? You have around a 25% chance of becoming disabled for three months or more before the age of 65.* The average duration of a disability ranges from 2.1 years to 3.2 years, depending on age.** A 2019… Read More Read More
By Aviva Sapers For high net worth individuals, finding efficient techniques for limiting the amount that goes to the IRS when you die is always a challenge. Typically, your estate has three beneficiaries: your family, charity, and the IRS. No one has ever said they want to leave money to the IRS. Therefore, the questions… Read More Read More
By Aviva Sapers September is National Life Insurance Awareness Month—every year companies that work in the insurance and financial services fields put out a message about the value and importance of life insurance to protect our loved ones and legacies. Too often, such messaging may get lost in our inbox or glazed over in the… Read More Read More
Paul Clark, Managing partner, National Health Care Captive Practice Leader of Clark & Lavey, A Hilb Group Company and Evan Macedo Treasurer & Vice President of Finance & Operations at Sapers & Wallack answer questions about their blog “Reduced Health Care Costs & Shared Profits with the InCap® Group Captive” You can read the… Read More Read More
/// By Paul Clark and Evan Macedo Squeezed between the perpetually rising cost of health care and the increasing demand for good benefits to attract and retain talent—American businesses are struggling to find the right balance to stay afloat and remain competitive. More and more companies are looking for ways to cut costs of employee… Read More Read More
Aviva Sapers, CEO and and Kristen Maalouf, Executive Assistant of Sapers & Wallack , answer questions about their blog “Disability – Why is Income Protection Important?” You can read the blog: “Disability – Why is Income Protection Important?‘” here. Read More
/// By Aviva Sapers and Kristen Maalouf Think for a moment about your ability to earn an income and how important it is to protect that income if you became too sick or injured to work. You are currently healthy and working, right? Would you agree that it is your ability to earn an income… Read More Read More
Andrew MacDougall, Director, Wealth Management at Sapers & Wallack, answers questions about his blog “Getting Your Financial House in Order – Part 2 (Middle Age)” You can read the blog “Getting Your Financial House in Order – Part 2 (Middle Age)” here. Read More
In June of 2020, my colleague, Evan Macedo, wrote about taking a practical and proactive approach to taking control of personal finances for individuals at the start of their careers. That piece, linked below, was primarily geared toward people in their 20s and 30s who are starting out with savings, budgeting, and paying down debts.… Read More Read More
Before I became Sales Director for Hilb Group of New England, I spent years working directly for a large insurance carrier. I have looked at a lot of health care data throughout my career and have taken well over a hundred meetings with companies for direct review of their health care plans and outcomes. Believe… Read More Read More
Scott Mathieu answers questions about our September blog. Whether you’re shopping as an individual or working on the HR side of your company benefits plan, doing the research and working with advisors who understand the stakes can not only save money and but also add immensely to the quality of life for you and your… Read More Read More
September is National Life Insurance Awareness Month, so i’s a great time to review your coverage.* If you don’t have any life insurance, you’re not alone. Life insurance is one of those “someday” things for many people – but the cheapest time to buy it is probably today. There are two kinds of life insurance:… Read More Read More
Aviva Sapers, President and CEO of Sapers & Wallack, and Kenneth J. Vacovec, Founding Partner of Vacovec, Mayotte & Singer, answer questions about their blog “Why Foreign Nationals, Green Card Holders, and US Citizens who Own Property Abroad and Property in the United States Should Consider Purchasing Life Insurance” You can read the blog “Why… Read More Read More
/// Posted by Aviva Sapers & Ken Vacovec This blog is co-authored by Aviva Sapers, CEO of Sapers & Wallack, and Kenneth J. Vacovec, Founding Partner of Vacovec, Mayotte & Singer. For many Green Card holders or US citizens who own property or assets abroad, the eventual estate taxes that will be due on those holdings… Read More Read More
Regardless of your financial situation, for most of us, saving the right amount of money for retirement can be difficult. Establishing sources of replacement income that will allow you to consistently maintain your expected lifestyle after your working years often requires careful planning, financial discipline, and if those are not attainable, some creative solutions. Read More
Scott Tuxbury, Vice President and Leader for the Retirement and Wealth Management Practices at Sapers & Wallack answers questions about our January blog, Using Life Insurance to Offer Diversified, Tax-Advantaged Retirement Savings Read More
As with all industries, the insurance market has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly around the practice of underwriting. For the uninitiated, Life Insurance Underwriting is the method through which insurers evaluate the risk of potential buyers in order to decide whether or not to approve, deny, or rate up a life insurance policy. … Read More Read More
Historically, there are many who do not purchase Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance despite the increasing likelihood that prolonged financially debilitating needs for care may arise at some point in our future. Older Americans and nursing facilities being hit so hard by the COVID-19 pandemic might encourage people to want access to home care should they… Read More Read More
One of the biggest challenges facing nonprofits with large individual donations, is losing an annual stream of income when the donor dies. While most nonprofits rely heavily on their annual fundraising campaigns, it is important, and sometimes vital, for nonprofit organizations to encourage such donors to endow their gifts – distinct from annual contributions –… Read More Read More
As we enter Life Insurance Awareness Month, it seems a good moment to reevaluate why we have the insurance we do and whether it is the right amount to fulfill the needs we have. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and with an election only months away that has the potential to greatly change… Read More Read More
There is a pervasive myth that insurance products produce mediocre returns. In truth, though life insurance has been purchased for many years to provide security and guarantees, there are some newer product lines that can be very attractive for investment purposes—particularly in volatile markets. In order to remain competitive and relevant, the insurance industry has… Read More Read More
Coronavirus has rocked the markets and global economy. The first quarter 2020 saw unprecedented stock market volatility and a Federal Funds rate cut to near zero. Market volatility and interest rates can significantly impact the performance of life insurance policies. Lion Street has authored a new white paper on this topic which covers the… Read More Read More
The purchase of life insurance products and their implementation into a client’s broader legacy planning strategy requires clients to navigate through a complex web of financial and cashflow management strategies, transfer tax considerations, and tax reporting obligations that must be approached differently on a client by client basis. Failure on the part of advisors to work… Read More Read More
/// Posted byAviva Sapers & Peter Stoner Whether your 65th birthday is fast approaching or decades away, it pays to understand the basics of how Medicare works and what it does and does not cover—and then plan accordingly for any additional coverage that you may need in retirement. Enrolling in Medicare can be more complicated… Read More Read More
Aviva Sapers, President and CEO of Sapers & Wallack, and Peter Stoner, President and CEO of Stoner & Company, answer questions about our October blog ‘Medicare Coverage: What to expect, how to enroll, and will you need supplemental plans for retirement’. Read More
A trustee’s job in administering a trust can be unexpectedly treacherous, especially in the context of an ILIT and the management of its life insurance portfolio. Clients frequently turn to family and friends to fill this important role, since many financial institutions will not serve as trustees of an ILIT only funded with life insurance. … Read More Read More
After extensive polling, the number one concern for most retirees is outliving their income. Much of today’s workforce do not have enough to guarantee success in retirement, and a recent study found that the average median savings of millennials is only $8,000—promising that adequate saving for retirement will be a problem for a long time… Read More Read More
With recent changes in federal gift and estate tax exemptions, many clients may want to take a new look at their old irrevocable life insurance trusts (“ILITs”). In trust planning, irrevocable no longer means inflexible. Keeping this in mind, clients and advisors should review existing ILITs and weigh the trust’s potential practical benefits against… Read More Read More
SLATs have become increasing popular in legacy planning for married couples but may have unanticipated consequences if the marriage ends. Per Notice 2018-37, the IRS plans to issue future guidance that could impact the income taxation of SLATs post-divorce. Regardless, clients and advisors should be proactive in addressing these issues when planning with SLATs. New SLATs… Read More Read More
Presenters at the 2019 Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning highlighted the continuing ripple effect of the TCJA on planning, including the release of several regulations designed to implement TCJA provisions (including pass-through entity taxation and estate tax “claw back”), the allocation of the higher generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to pre-TCJA transfers, and the… Read More Read More
‘Universal Life Insurance, a 1980s Sensation, Has Backfired’ “A long decline in interest rates caused premiums to soar when they were supposed to stay level.” – Wall Street Journal As soon as I read this headline in the Wall Street Journal I was surprised by how misleading it was, and decided to write a response. … Read More Read More
Many people feel that the most cost effective way to fund college for their kids is by contributing to a 529 plan. The benefits are: All earnings grow tax free and are distributed tax free if used for qualified education expenses 30 states offer full or partial deduction – Not MA Owner can change beneficiaries and… Read More Read More
Have you ever come home from a trip with a renewed perspective? Sometimes the very activities designed to help us relax can also work to free the mind so we can more easily prioritize what needs to get done. Here are five goals that can be great to achieve during the rest of the summer. Click… Read More Read More
Termination Death Benefit for Large Corporations: How Not to Lose Benefits to Taxes, While Insuring Recovery of Accrued Liabilities It is a hard, somewhat morbid, topic to face, but the death of business executives at large companies is a financially fraught time for both the company and family of the executive alike. The financial payout… Read More Read More
One of the bread-and-butter staples of a well-conceived employee benefit program is the classic group term life insurance. You join a company, fill out a beneficiary form, and voila, you are provided with group term life insurance equivalent to a multiple of salary, such as two times annual earnings. You don’t think much of this… Read More Read More
When individuals purchase permanent insurance (whole life, universal life, variable life), as opposed to term insurance, the expectation is that the policy will remain in force as life insurance until death of the insured. However, due to a marked increase in longevity, many are likely to survive to the end of the mortality tables on… Read More Read More
Trust decanting allows a trustee to transfer assets from an existing irrevocable trust to a different irrevocable trust and may be used to address a wide array of issues, including correcting drafting errors, changing distributions standards or beneficiary powers of appointment, amending administrative provisions, and updating fiduciaries and their powers. In years past, irrevocable trust… Read More Read More
In Office of Chief Counsel Memorandum FAA 20172807F, the IRS Chief Counsel stated that the three-year limitations period for gift tax assessment remained open indefinitely for a donor’s gifts where the donor (i) failed to file federal gift tax returns disclosing gifts made in each of six different tax years and (ii) filed a gift… Read More Read More
Careful navigation is required while changing a trust’s situs As states vie for trust business by offering more exclusive benefits, new life can be given to old trusts by moving to a jurisdiction with more robust trust laws (a so-called “situs change”). Long-term irrevocable (dynasty) trusts can become inefficient over time. Moving the trust to… Read More Read More
Avoiding 5 Common Mistakes in Life Insurance Planning As estate planning involving personal life insurance becomes commoditized, so does the chance that a minor oversight will have a major tax impact. According to experts, some of the most common mistakes in life insurance planning include: (1) failure to qualify gifts to irrevocable life insurance trust… Read More Read More
The Risk of Proprietary Life Insurance Products – For Clients, Distributor and Insurer While some producer groups tout the benefits of “proprietary products” in their marketing and sales process, these products are certainly not a case of tails I win, heads you lose. With the focus in today’s world on customization and bespoke products, proprietary… Read More Read More
It’s Déjà Vu: Planning (Again) in the Face of Uncertainty – Estate Freeze Series: Installment Sales to Grantor Trusts. With low interest rates and uncertainty persisting, estate freeze techniques, like installment sales to grantor trusts (ISGTs), continue to play a key role in legacy planning. The ISGT transfers appreciating assets to the next generation without… Read More Read More
It’s Déjà Vu: Planning (Again) in the Face of Uncertainty – Estate Freeze Series: Zeroed-Out GRATs Zero-gift planning techniques, like zeroed-out grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), have taken on renewed importance in legacy planning as a way to remove assets from the estate and preserve the federal unified credit for later income tax (basis) planning,… Read More Read More
Forget Something? Make Sure to Change Life Insurance Beneficiaries Post-Divorce. It is very commonplace for life insurance beneficiary designations to be overlooked or even forgotten. Proper legacy management requires updating life insurance beneficiary designations following divorce. Typically, after divorce, individuals no longer want their former spouses to receive life insurance death benefits. In many cases,… Read More Read More
COI Charges have historically been an uncommon, or even untouched, element that life insurance carriers have adjusted in response to financial pressures. While there have been limited instances of increases in the past 30 years, in 2015 and 2016 several carriers applied increases to COI Charges of certain blocks of in-force policies, mostly consisting of… Read More Read More
Who’s Who – Are Trust Advisors Fiduciaries? Does It Matter? Clients are hearing much more about terms like trust protectors, investment advisors, and business directors. As the sophistication of irrevocable trusts increases, so too does the use of these so-called “Trust Advisors,” who have the authority to direct the trustee’s actions. As more clients decide… Read More Read More
OXFAM AMERICA is a global nonprofit organization that works throughout 90 countries in an effort “to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social justice.” In March 2012, Oxfam implemented the Executive Benefit Restoration Allowance plan to make the executive retirement benefits competitive. The prior plan design provided 2 annuity options geared towards retirement but… Read More Read More
Malpractice Suit Against Trustees Who Failed to Inform Beneficiaries of Potential Policy Lapse The successor trustees and beneficiaries of a family trust sued a Michigan lawyer for malpractice in her handling of a policy owned by the trust when she was the trustee. The lawyer sought coverage from her malpractice insurer, but it denied her… Read More Read More
The year comes to an end and we enjoy the time with family and friends during the holiday season. But many also ask themselves important questions: what happens if this idyllic gathering won’t be possible in the future? What if a family member becomes disabled or ill? Read More
The end of the 2016 tax year is an appropriate time to review the procedures to determine imputed income on group term life insurance. Many employers provide group term life insurance plans at no premium cost to employees. The value of the first $50,000 of employer-provided benefit is excluded from the gross income of… Read More Read More
Do you have enough disability insurance coverage? Learn more about your options when it comes to long term disability insurance in this video and on our dedicated long term disability page. Purchased to mitigate the risk of unfortunate surprises in your working years and fill the gaps left in work-based policies, these policies safeguard your… Read More Read More
In this video, we are going back to the basics and explain what Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance is, what it covers and why people need it. Learn more about the topic on our Long Term Care Insurance page with a LTC shopper’s guide, tools and calculators and a webinar that walks you through all… Read More Read More
The world of life insurance has changed. A secondary market has come of age in which investment pools are willing to purchase policies from others who are old or sick, and either don’t want the policies or can’t afford to pay the premiums anymore. Usually the policies are salable if the insured has an estimated… Read More Read More
Although many institutions that have offered CGAs to donors are concerned about the natural extension of life expectancy, or that a large number of female CGA donors could offset the life expectancy experience–increased longevity has not been the major factor of CGA failures. Read More
A Few Simplified Charitable Giving Approaches Using Life Insurance As clients search for ways to make their year-end charitable contributions, a gift of life insurance may be an easy solution. A life insurance policy is easily transferable and, among other benefits, can provide a fixed-value gift with minimal administrative requirements, financial flexibility for the donor,… Read More Read More
Do you want to save up to 15% on your life insurance cost? There is a new paradigm in the world of life insurance that will change the way people think about this product. Leading life insurance companies have developed a unique solution that rewards clients for living a healthy life. In fact, the healthier… Read More Read More
Crummey Powers – Crummy or Essential? It’s More Than Just Moving Paper Crummey powers are instrumental in funding irrevocable life insurance trusts (“ILITs”) with annual exclusion gifts. Annual exclusion gifts can help clients substantially fund ILITs while preserving their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption amounts. Qualifying a gift in trust as an annual exclusion… Read More Read More
The month of May has been designated as Disability Insurance Awareness Month making it a perfect time to ask you the question: Are you covered? In a survey conducted last year by the Council for Disability Awareness, two-thirds of Americans said their salary was their second most valuable asset, yet only three in ten had… Read More Read More
A Primer on the Transfer for Value Rule Estate and business succession planning often involves life insurance, including transfers of existing policies to irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) or other parties. Understanding the transfer for value rule and its potential tax impact is critical when considering such policy transfers. Death benefits paid under a life insurance… Read More Read More
Death Benefit Only Plans – Not Dead Yet As income tax rates rise, death benefit only plans can be an appealing way to attract or retain selected key employees. As the name implies, death benefit only plans generally provide death benefits to a current employee’s surviving beneficiaries. These plans typically are: subject to less complex… Read More Read More
Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLATs) The increased gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions provide greater opportunities to benefit future generations during life. A spousal lifetime access trust (a so-called “SLAT”) may provide a helpful solution for clients, who are looking to giving lifetime gifts with the need to retain adequate funds to support their needs.… Read More Read More
1035 Exchanges of Life Insurance Policies — How Easy Are They Really? Complex tax laws and the emergence of new, more sophisticated life insurance products emphasize the need for life insurance solutions that offer flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) § 1035(a) allows the exchange of a life insurance contract for… Read More Read More
Department of Labor (DOL) Issues Updated Guidance for Dealing with Accounts of Missing Participants Under Terminated Defined Contribution Plans The effective termination of a defined contribution plan requires the plan fiduciary to timely distribute ALL plan assets, which can be complicated if certain participants cannot be located. Due to changes in available search vehicles and… Read More Read More
Knowing What You’re Doing: Troubleshooting Common Oversights in Split-Dollar Plans Easily over-looked trouble spots in split-dollar life insurance arrangements and suggestions for how to avoid them include: (1) confirming the availability of term insurance rates used to measure annual economic benefits; (2) filing non-recourse representations for split-dollar loans; (3) using properly drafted collateral assignments for… Read More Read More
Deferred Compensation for Tax-Exempt Organizations (Part I) – Tax Qualified Arrangements To provide deferred compensation using a tax-qualified arrangement, tax-exempt employers can offer the typical 401(k) plan as well as the 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plan. Although the rules governing 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans have become increasingly similar over time (e.g., similar annual contribution limits… Read More Read More
Deferred Compensation for Tax-Exempt Organizations (Part II) – Non-Qualified Arrangements Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) §457 imposes special rules for non-qualified arrangements maintained by tax-exempt employers. As a result, the employee of a tax-exempt employer may be able to defer less compensation than an employee of a taxable employer for the same period or may be… Read More Read More
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released drafts of the forms that employers will use to report on the health coverage that they offer to their employees in 2015. This reporting is required as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Employers with 100 or more employees (including full time equivalents) are required to provide… Read More Read More
Every minute, 50 individuals suffer a disabling Injury.* Nearly one in five Americans will become disabled for 1 year or more before the age of 65.** 54.5% of personal bankruptcies are the Result of Medical Problems.*** What do these statistics mean for you and your loved ones? Did you know you can you protect yourself… Read More Read More
Letters of Wishes & Other Precatory Guidance in Dynasty Trust Planning Settlors of discretionary trusts can provide vital guidance to trustees in the exercise of their discretionary powers through the use of non-binding (i.e., precatory) language in the trust agreement or the provision of a separate “letter of wishes.” Discretionary dynasty trusts may retain substantial assets… Read More Read More
Avoiding Inadvertent Taxable Gifts: Crummey Powers and Annual Exclusion Gifts to Trusts Many individuals follow an annual gifting strategy that involves making gifts to trusts, including irrevocable life insurance trusts (“ILITs”), and rely on beneficiary withdrawal powers to avoid taxable gifts by qualifying the transfers as annual exclusion gifts. For gifts to trusts to qualify for the… Read More Read More
What is the proper valuation of Life Insurance policies distributed from non-qualified trusts? Life Insurance valuations continue to be an elusive concept. The conservative approach to the valuation of a life insurance contract is to follow the safe harbors of Rev. Proc. 2005-25. However, The Ninth Circuit’s affirmation of a Tax Court decision indicates that there is current… Read More Read More
Why Fiduciary Representation is important for Retirement Plan Sponsors As part of our value proposition when consulting to Retirement Plans, Sapers & Wallack acknowledges in the Retirement Plan Services Agreement that we are a Fiduciary with respect to assets of the Plan as defined in ERISA under Section 3(21). As Plan Fiduciaries, we undertake a… Read More Read More
Target Date Retirement Funds – a popular investment option Target Date Retirement Funds (TDF’s) have become an increasingly popular investment option in 401(k) plans. It is important to identify the differences between various funds, especially in their fee structure, investment strategy and glide path. As TDF offerings continue to expand, and as their popularity with… Read More Read More
Leave large sums for children and grandchildren We want to share a technique that can help maximize returns for the benefit of your children and grandchildren: We recently met with clients who wanted to maximize the return they could receive from their investments, for the benefit of their heirs. At the end of 2012 this… Read More Read More