Lenders Have No Rights

David Rosenberg says in his newsletter today (February 26, 2010) we’ve reached a stage in this crisis where lenders have no rights

CAPITALISM GOES ON RETIREMENT

In March 2008, I published a report titled “Capitalism Takes a Sabbatical.” If only that were the case. I really can’t believe what I just read on Bloomberg News (Obama May Prohibit Home Loan Foreclosures Without HAMP Review). In a nutshell, the White House is considering a tactic that would prevent banks from foreclosing on defaulted homeowners unless they have been screened and rejected by the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). George Orwell must be rolling over in his grave.

To think that the government is at the same time pressuring banks to start extending credit again, but the question is why bother when you have absolutely no recourse. We’ve reached a stage in this crisis where lenders have no rights. The long-run distortions from such a heavy handed interventionist approach are too long to list right now, but suffice it to say, this will do more to exacerbate and prolong the deleveraging cycle than solve it.

RESPECT - DO YOU GET IT?

A Leader’s Greatest Recognition: RESPECT

The highest level of leadership results in respect.

And respect is not a personal right. There is a quote I love on respect that says, “Everyone has the right to speak, but you have to earn the right to be heard.” It simply means go ahead and speak, but it doesn’t mean I am going to listen to you. There is a big difference between having the right to speak and the right to be heard.

Respect is usually gained on difficult ground. In other words, people usually gain respect through their most difficult times. Leaders gain respect when they take companies through very troubling financial times. Presidents gain respect when they bring the country through difficult times. The reason Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president of the United States is because he successfully took America through its darkest hour.

John Maxwell – Leadership expert, speaker, author and founder of EQUIP.

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION FOR YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?

Your LIFE PURPOSE is very important in determining what you will accomplish during your life journey. I think it is worth 3:40 minutes to watch John Maxwell, an author, speaker and expert in Leadership - take a moment and click on this link to understand how you can make your journey more successful.

http://video.success.com/experts/john-maxwell-passion/

WHAT IS HOLISTIC PLANNING & IS IT FOR YOU?

Holistic Planning: Is it For You?

What is “Holistic Planning”? The trend seems to be evolving as “comprehensive planning” and “life planning” converge to meet the needs of today’s families. Holistic planning describes the ultimate meshing of the two planning practices. More and more people want to make sure that their money will do what they want it to do during their lifetimes and are seeking advice (and putting together advisor teams – like Concierge Family Office) to reach those goals and leave a legacy as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Holistic planning involves every aspect of your financial life, and more. It is based on the premise that one can’t get the most value out of their money without first knowing what purpose(s) their money serves. Delving into your deepest desires, and even dreams, enables laser focus on reaching goals and your LIFE PURPOSE. Getting your family to agree on a purpose for family wealth now helps define the strategies necessary to create your legacy now and in the future. Redirecting expenditures is a lot easier when you have a clear picture of what your goals are and what can be accomplished with equal amounts of planning and discipline.

Holistic planning takes a multi-disciplinary approach to financial planning and involves developing a team of professionals who can deliver investment, retirement, and estate planning. All advisor teams should include a financial planner, preferably a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CA, and an Estate Planning Lawyer with an Investment Broker, and Insurance Agent. However, coordinating such a team can be daunting and intimidating for the client, so the Holistic Planner, Concierge Family Office (CFO) acts as the liaison between the client and the advisor team.

A Holistic Planner excavates client passions, intentions, and objectives — it’s their business to know their client better than any other financial professional. What are the cash flow needs of the family now and in the future? What is their risk tolerance and investment perspective? When does the client want to retire? What is their exit plan for themselves and succession plan for their business? What do they envision as life after career or business? What legacy do they want to leave and to whom do they want to leave it? What is their LIFE PURPOSE?

The Holistic Planner, armed with clarity of the client’s purpose, intentions, values, and goals coordinates the advisor team’s efforts to develop a single, comprehensive strategic plan. That plan correlates the unique passions and purpose of the client’s life and financial resources with retirement, investment, and estate planning strategies entwined with tax and asset protection solutions. Aligning privately-held business goals with personal goals helps to create higher potential to design a successful succession plan, develop an optimum transition team, and realize retirement goals sooner.

For many years, brokers, advisors, and investment professionals merely constructed a portfolio based upon a few questions listed on the “Risk Tolerance Assessment Form” and a few minutes of chatting, and then proceeded to make investments based on the broker’s ability to produce a return. The focus and goal of the portfolio was primarily to obtain the highest investment returns, but didn’t always have the client’s best interest in mind, let alone their goals. Meeting a required rate of return to achieve client goals and objectives over a lifetime of changing factors became more of an issue than simply generating high returns or fulfilling a quota. Holistic planning will become the standard of planning professionals.

Excerpts taken from Cabourne & Associates La Verne, California U.S.A.

WHY NOT USE MULTIPLE WILLS

ESTATE PLANNING THOUGH THE USE OF MULTIPLE WILLS

The theory behind multiple wills is quite simple: the Testator creates a will limited to assets for which probate is required and a separate will is likewise created for assets for which probate is not required. Upon death of the Testator, executors submit only the will dealing with assets (for which probate is required). The Estate Administration Tax (EAT) is then imposed but only upon assets dealt with under the probated will. Despite the simplicity of this concept, however, the usage of multiple wills continues to raise several issues, as illustrated in the case of Philip Granovsky v. Ontario. In the case of Philip Granovsky v. Ontario, the Testator, Philip Granovsky, left two different wills upon his death: a Primary and a Secondary Will. The Primary Will dealt with the authority of handling all of his property, with the exception of: shares specific to the capital of certain private corporations, amounts receivable from the private corporations, and assets held in trust for Mr. Granovsky by the private corporations. The Secondary Will dealt with those assets excluded from the Primary Will: assets amounting to $2.5 million. Subsequently, a limited grant of probate from the Primary Will was issued by the Court, only after the executors of Granovksy’s will provided an application to determine the status of the two wills. Probate fees were therefore only paid on the value of the assets governed by the Primary Will. The Secondary Will was exempt from paying any probate fees, or fees on the value of the assets governed by that will.

Madame Justice Greer rejected the Crown’s argument that that probate fees were necessary to be paid upon the value of all of the deceased’s property at the time of death, and that the executors of the estate weren’t required to submit the Secondary Will to probate. This set the precedent for Testators paying minimum taxes upon their death, a case initially fought by the Crown but abandoned on appeal.

In deciding to use multiple wills as an estate planning tool, assets should be segregated into two different areas: assets for when probate is required, and for when probate is not required. Assets that may be transferred or realized upon death without a probated will include: life insurance, pension plans, RRSPs and RRIFs, when a beneficiary is named or designated; assets held jointly that devolve by right of survivorship; real estate registered in the Registry System and not situated in Ontario; personal effects/household items, and shares/debt of private corporations. Assets, which require probate, include: Land titles, shares/debt from publicly traded corporations; bank accounts, GICs, brokerage accounts and term deposits. In certain circumstances a probated Will is necessary irrespective of the nature of the assets. Three of these circumstances are: 1) When the estate is involved in litigation either as a plaintiff or defendant: 2) If a third party refuses to transfer title to assets, and 3) A foreign executor’s intention to deal with assets situated in Ontario. In any of the above three circumstances, it is necessary to probate the will, notwithstanding the nature of the assets.

In conclusion, if multiple wills are to be considered for estate planning, careful organization, planning, and anticipation of future events are necessary.

Kashif Sher, LLB, MBA is a Lawyer with the Toronto firm of Arya & Sher, Barristers & Solicitors (www.aryasher.com). He may be reached at (416) 218-8373 or ksher@arya

WHOSE SUCCESS ARE YOUR SEARCHING FOR?

Whose Success Are You Searching For?

Redefine your idea of success before it’s too late.

We set out to examine how the bodies and minds of men and women past age 65 might be refreshed so they could remain sufficiently engaged to enjoy their later lives.

A disturbing theme emerged early in our research that has haunted me to this day. In one assignment we asked people to chart the highs and lows of their life on a single sheet of graph paper.

We drew a line through the middle of the page and asked them to put above the line, periods when they enjoyed their lives; below the line were periods when life didn’t measure up to their expectations. To our surprise, by their own judgment, several of them had lived vast parts of their lives below what I’ll now call the success line.

Herb, 81, told us, sure, there were great moments, but overall his life had been a colossal disappointment. He hadn’t loved his job, though he’d stayed with it for decades. His long marriage was OK, but he felt he had let his true love get away when he was a young man.

His life had been wasted in many ways, he realized, and it was too late to do anything about it. Herb said that if he had it to do over, he would have focused far more on the people who mattered to him. He would have switched careers to something that would have challenged and stimulated him more. He would have taken more risks and pursued his passions.

We’ve become so taken by the lifestyles of the rich and famous (and often foolish) that we’ve lost a little bit of what really matters and truly satisfies in life.

Maybe it shouldn’t be primarily about money and advancement; maybe it should also be about personal growth, loving relationships, genuine happiness, purpose in work and a contribution to the greater good.

Ken Dychtwald – psychologist, gerontologist, successful entrepreneur, business consultant and author of 16 books.

IS YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR JUST PUSHING FUNDS

David Mason CLU, CFP, RHU is prepared to create or redo your plan. If you have not had a plan completed, please contact David at 1-888-380-1627 or david@donnellyadvisors.com

Please click on the link and listen to Rob Carrik of the Globe and Mail interview Ted Rechtshaffen about planning.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/features/lets-talk-investing/is-your-financial-adviser-just-pushing-funds/article1466118/

Earl Jones Sentenced to 11 years

Financial fraud

Earl Jones sentenced to 11 years

67-year-old money manager pleaded guilty to running a massive Ponzi scheme and bilking investors out of $50-million

ARE OPEN ENDED MUTUAL FUNDS DEAD?

In January, U.S. stocks began to see their first major mutual fund in-flows since July of last year. It took many months, but after a strong 2009 equity rally, investors began to rediscover faith in U.S. stocks.

Well, there goes that trend. All it took was a few bad trading days for the stock market to crush this tiny bud of renewed investor optimism.
Based on fund flow data released today by the Investment Company Institute, over $2.2 billion fled U.S. domestic equity mutual funds during the seven-day period ending February 3rd. The average investor's confidence in stock markets remains paper thin.

"I think retail mutual funds that many Canadians have purchased, and I have recommended to many are dead as we know them.

The reason I believe this is because most fund managers are paid for "relative performance" compared to their benchmark and their peers, as well as their ability to accumulate assets for the investment firm."

Secondly, I believe that the management fees (MERs) that they charge are usually too high. The average equity mutual fund MER is 2.5% per annum. Also, why would you pay a management fee if a large portion of your funds are being held in cash?

Thirdly, I believe that moving forward; the capital markets will not provide the same returns that we have grown a custom to over the past few decades. Our world economy still has tremendous difficulties to overcome, and excesses to reverse.

There is no question that you and I still need to have our money invested (rather than under our mattress), however, we must change the way we approach our investments and demand more from those who are responsible for our life savings.

David Mason, CLU, CFP, RHU of Donnelly Advisors Group Inc. shares this philosophy and has responded by creating a low-cost portfolio solution.

These portfolios offer clients professional management in a tax deductible structure with much lower costs. By lowering your costs, you can ensure that you will have more money in your pocket, regardless of how the markets perform in the future.

Give David a call (1-888-380-1627) to learn more about how lowering your investment expenses can benefit you. He would be happy to provide you with a cost comparison of your current portfolio and lower cost alternatives.

WHO IS YOUR CHIEF FAMILY INFLUENCER?

In November 2009 I attended a conference where a good friend of mine, Enzo Calamo delivered a talk on “Chief Family Influencer” (CFI). This was a talk about a team approach to consolidating Family Wealth.

Have you decided or chosen your Family’s CFI? In his talk, Enzo discussed who is a CFI? A Chief Family Influencer is anyone who is a key decision maker in the family/business or has a direct influence on key family or business decisions. A CFI influences others through empathy, competence, reliability, consistency, and is trustworthy.

The CFI will focus on the mission, vision, values and goals of the family or business. At Concierge Family Office we call this your “ LIFE PURPOSE”.

Most families and businesses don’t know what they don’t know! They are not prepared to go from Capacity to Incapacity and many times end up with substitute decision makers running the family and/or business.

When you have a CFI like Concierge Family Office, they are around when Incapacity or life dictates having a competent Influencer who understands your goals and helps make the decisions you would want made or encourages effective collaboration.

An unmanaged family team can end up having conflict, limited progress, no common direction, no cost controls, and consequently a lose lose result.

Harvey Mackay said, “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline. And that goal will remain a dream unless you create and execute a plan of action to accomplish it”.

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, says, “Every person is going to have a circle of competence. And it’s going to be very hard to enlarge that circle… So you have to figure out what your aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you are going to lose”.

The chances of your family or business needing a CFI or Concierge Family Office is great when you understand:

By 2031

A. “One in four Canadians – an estimated 9.8 million – will be a senior, up from roughly one in 10 today”. Statistics Canada, 2008, quoted in the Globe and Mail, May 26, 2008.
B. Two million Canadians are caring for older relatives. American Association of Retired People, 2008.


The transition from Capacity to Incapacity can be distinct such as a stroke or coma. Or it can be gradual such as natural aging, illness, grief, and many other factors.

Concierge Family Office works with your trusted professional before, during and after such events to make sure that your LIFE PURPOSE goals occur the way you want them to. Concierge Family Office is here to help make all of your plans grow properly.

Have your current advisors helped you create a Post-Incapacity IPS (investment philosophy statement) with details and specifications for your investments etc.

Have you been advised to have:
A. A comprehensive or limited power of attorney?
B. Multiple lawyers with different powers
C. Someone designated to continue your previous pattern of gifting and donations or support for disabled family members.
D. Make it clear and specify the amount of donor wealth to be spent on personal care vs. estate.

Concierge Family Office will promote open communication so that your family understands your situation and your decisions pertaining to resuscitation instructions, funeral arrangements and funding etc.

Remember your Power of Attorney cannot be created after Incapacity occurs.

Call Concierge Family Office for your free initial consultation to have a discussion about how we can help you face life’s difficult situations and put proper planning with the right professionals in place, before a crisis appears.

Concierge Family Office works openly and effectively with your current trusted professionals, or we can happily recommend qualified, talented professionals to fill any voids, which may be present.

“You can’t make great decisions based on poor information”

http://conciergefamilyoffice.com/