> Newsletters

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Last Month's Program

Mark Shepherd and George Delucchi gave a great tax-planning program. They departed from the usual lecture format and instead distributed a different pattern of facts to each table. Each table met as a team to analyze the facts and present recommendations to the client on tax-planning and entity issues.  Each table then presented its analysis and recommendations to the entire group.

Instead of hearing a presentation on the factors affecting choice of entity issues, as some of us anticipated, all of us were able to participate in active discussions with those seated at our table.  In addition to some interesting insights, it was a great networking opportunity at each table.

Programs for the rest of the year

On February 28, 2006, Tracy Herrick, the Economist for The Private Bank of the Peninsula and will be speaking on "The Housing Bubble."

On March 28, John Prokey and others will present a program on valuation issues in the estate planning context, the probate or trust administration and distribution process, and in succession planning.  This will not be the frequent program on valuation discounts in the gift planning process, but instead will deal with the practical, legal, and tax consequences in these various contexts.

On April 25, Brad Elman will bring us up to date on insurance issues.

Finally, on May 23, Palo Alto attorney Peter Stern will talk about the issues facing us as we advise our client who are parents, facing our clients as they try to "parent" their parents, and facing us as we deal with these same issues in our own lives. Peter will address practical and legal issues facing professionals as they try to advise their clients. Peter is an expert in representing seniors in all sorts of estate planning situations, including Medi-Cal issues.

More About February's Speaker

Tracy Herrick is a directors and the Chief Economist for The Private Bank of the Peninsula. Mr. Herrick is a nationally known economic consultant who has worked with institutional money managers, including Jefferies & Co., Inc., where he was a director. In 1978 when at Bank of America, he wrote the Bank Analyst's Handbook, an important text, and later an investment guide titled Timing: How to Profitably Manage Money at Different Stages of Your Life.

He writes the Bank's quarterly newsletter, The Money Analyst, which offers insight into the world's economy. His topic was originally entitled  "The Housing Bubble," and he should have interesting comments on whether the "bubble" has burst, and the future of investment in real estate.