Wealth management

The American College, a financial services educator based here, has launched an expedited learning program designed to prepare financial advisors for the Certified Financial Planner certification examination in roughly seven months.Developed in conjunction with the JR Financial Group, a financial services trainer, the program, titled Financial Planning Express, combines self-study with a series of live, four-day classroom sessions held every six weeks. The six modules that comprise the Express program conclude three weeks prior to the CFP certification examination with a live, five-day comprehensive review of all 89 CFP topics covered on the test.

I got hooked onto Lee Eisenberg’s new book, “The Number” (Simon & Schuster, 2006), via Elaine Morgillo, a certified financial planner and president of New England-based Morgillo Financial Management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that 1st Global Capital Corp., a Dallas-based broker-dealer, will pay a $100,000 penalty and consent to findings that it made unsuitable recommendations and sales of Section 529 College Savings Plans.According to the order, between 2001 and 2004 1st Global recommended and sold investments in 529 plan units without understanding and evaluating the comparative costs for its customers.

Beard Miller Co. LLP will sell its Financial Outsourcing Solutions practice to McKonly & Asbury LLP in a deal effective Jan. 1.

Michael Haubrich, is a certified financial planner with more than 20 years experience. He is the owner of Financial Service Group a fee-only firm in Racine, Wisconsin, with some 100 million dollars in assets under management.He tells a tale that recently he met with a new client who experienced “free financial planning.” According to Michael, the client’s free planning started with a free dinner meeting, followed by a free financial consultation, and then a free financial plan that ultimately ended with an annuity sale resulting in $9,000 in commission to that financial “consultant.”

With the close of 2006 approaching, we asked industry leaders to share their ideas of what the accounting profession will look like in five years: What will be its major concerns? Challenges? Hot new service areas? What will shape will the firm landscape have taken?

NASD FINES METLIFE UNITS $5M: The National Association of Securities Dealers imposed a $5 million fine against three MetLife Inc. units - MetLife Securities Inc. of New York, New England Securities Inc. of Boston, and Walnut Street Securities Inc. of St. Louis.In response to an inquiry that it sent in September 2003 centering on the late trading of mutual funds, the NASD said that the MetLife trio provided inaccurate and misleading responses. The MetLife firms neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of the NASD's findings.

Earlier this year, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006.Included in that legislation are some features that encourage preparation and spending for long-term care. In particular, the act allows the transfer of excess pension benefits to fund estimated retiree medical costs, and it permits annuity and life insurance contracts to expand their coverage to include long-term-care costs, including skilled care from medical professionals and custodial care (such as assistance with bathing, eating, dressing, walking, etc.).

Planning to pass a business to the next generation, or to non-family members, involves a combination of complex issues requiring legal, tax, financial and management planning.Too often, a business owner devotes her entire career to building the enterprise, but fails to plan for the future of the business. When a thorough succession plan is in place, however, the business owner can anticipate and effectively manage change. The process must involve family members, professional advisors, shareholders, partners and key employees. A successful plan will address many issues, the more common of which are: the decision to pass the business to family, or sell the business to outsiders; the death, disability or retirement of the owner or co-owner; tax and estate planning; and the retention of key employees.

For contributions, bequests, and gifts made after Aug. 17, 2006, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 limits deductions for charitable contributions of fractional interests in tangible personal property. It also provides rules for valuing the donor's additional fractional interest contributions, and provides for recapture of the charitable deduction.In calculating deductions, the PPA requires consistent valuation of all the fractional interests in the same item (or collection of items) of property that has appreciated in value since the initial contribution.

I went to Central High School of Philadelphia. I hear it now. Big whoop! Actually, it is. It is the oldest public high school in the country (founded 1836), the second oldest high school in the U.S. (Boston Latin is first), and was originally called Centre College, as part of the University of Pennsylvania. It had only boys and you needed to pass an entrance exam to get in. If you graduated at a certain level, you would be granted a Bachelor of Arts degree as set by the state. And, my other claim to fame is that Bill Cosby and I were classmates.

H&R Block Inc. said that it will provide better and more transparent notification to customers detailing all the costs tied to its refund anticipation loans.

My first visit to Las Vegas 30 years ago, consisted of a two-night stay at a long-since razed flophouse called “The Lone Palm Motel,” and the $1.99 dinner buffet at Circus Circus -- which I’m told still exists in some form.

According to the American Society of Appraisers, many chief executives and company presidents simply don’t know what their own company is worth and, as a result, they are making corporate decisions from an unenviable position.So, the society is now offering specific tips to understand why every company needs to have a current business valuation.

As a study from the American Institute of CPAs put it, Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 “are caught between a Baby Boomer rock and a fiscal hard place.”The institute recently commissioned the study to examine the spending and saving habits of the so-called Generation Y. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 40 million Americans in the demographic.

I always believed that New York had a deserved reputation of aggressively going after individuals regarding whether they have New York residency with regard to collection of its income and estate taxes.

I’ve heard it repeated time and time again that the Baby Boomers are heading for the proverbial fiscal train wreck because they are simply under funded, notwithstanding repeated warnings all over the landscape about the need to save money.

The Internal Revenue Service announced adjustments to the dollar limitations set for pension plans in the 2007 tax year.

AMERITAS DIRECT ROLLS OUT NO-LOAD ANNUITY: Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. has unveiled its Genesis No-Load Variable Annuity, distributed via its Ameritas Direct unit, which markets the No-Load series of insurance and annuity products to self-directed consumers.Ameritas Direct designed the Genesis Variable Annuity, which features no commission, no sales charge, no withdrawal charge and no policy fee. (Gains are taxed as ordinary income and additional penalties may apply to withdrawals made prior to age 59-1/2.)

Do you have clients who complain that their life insurance was supposed to be paid up by now, but it isn't? Notices from their insurance companies may even indicate that their suggested premium payment has increased, or that their policies are about to lapse.Do you have clients whose investment-type life insurance policy is not performing as projected? Ever have clients cancel their life insurance and get a taxable statement of gain? This can even happen if their policy lapses and they get nothing back (they had a paper gain).