Wealth Actually Frazer Rice

PROPUBLICA has taken on the role abdicated by most mainstream news organizations. Its long form journalism, while controversial, takes on many special interests that escape public scrutiny.







While I often don't agree with the slant that they take, ProPublica represents a new frontier for the fourth column.







Traditional news outlets make less and less business sense. I wanted to find out more about how long form journalism is going to work going forward and how it will apply to financial regulation.







So I spoke to JUSTIN ELLIOTT, an Investigative Reporter at ProPublica.







Justin has won the Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, the Selden Ring Award for a series on the American Red Cross and, with the “Trump, Inc.” podcast team, a duPont-Columbia Award.







He co-wrote the story revealing tech mogul Peter Thiel’s multibillion-dollar Roth IRA which we talk about here.







Justin's Path to Reporting







The Role of PROPUBLICA in Long Form Journalism









What are its origins?







What is its mandate?







How is it funded?









What is the Role of Journalism in (Re) Establishing Accountability in Society?







What is Congress' (and the other branches of government) role in fixing the issues that journalism uncovers?







Peter Thiel's $5 Billion Roth











What happened? (How did Thiel get assets into a Roth IRA with a $2K cap?)







How did this work? (Funding a Roth IRA with low value Founders' shares)







The "Law", the Intent of the "Law" and the Variability around the "Law"?







Is this a valuation issue as much as a legal issue?







Is it wrong?







How should we correct a distortion like this?











What's next for Justin and ProPublica and how do we find him?







2024 Election Coverage







Justin at ProPublica







Justin at Twitter









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1YOe9GV0MY











https://youtu.be/Ao33oyZJuC8











https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT

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The intersection of Technology and Estate Planning is now a dominant talking point in the wealth management space. The pressure for advisors to deliver more client value is intense.







As the wealth management industry wrestles with establishing relevance, value, and control with the next generation, the emergence of Technology and Estate Planning to assist the advisor is a central theme in the RIA space and "Fintech."







Combining centuries old "analog" concepts with new "digital" tools is the new silver bullet for reaching and keeping clients. Therein lies one of the biggest challenges in delivering this value. The formulation and communication of estate plans and wealth structures for clients and the next generation is tricky business.







It requires experienced practitioners and tools that streamline a labor intensive (and often unprofitable) process. Once the picture of one's plan develops, it now requires ongoing maintenance and detailed administration as life marches on and risks and opportunities emerge.







I spoke with DAVID BARNARD to understand the state of the art in creating, presenting and managing personalized trust & estate strategies for complex clients with Luminary’s digital collaboration platform.







Technology and Estate Planning Issues









The challenges in visualizing complicated concepts,







Storytelling and the importance of communication in a world of numbers and graphs







Helping the advisor have equal footing with other professionals







The importance of collaboration (and not competition) with the legal and accounting world in providing coordinated advice







Staying on the safe side of unauthorized legal or accounting advice and broader staffing issues







The future of administrating wealth.









DAVID BARNARD is the CEO and Founder of Luminary- the winner of two awards at the 2024 Family Wealth Awards . He previously led private wealth management for AllianceBernstein, overseeing more than $100 billion in client assets, and has served multiple philanthropic organizations as a director or trustee.







Luminary's website is here: https://www.withluminary.com









https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT

Artificial intelligence and healthcare have been intertwined for a long time.







The public has finally noticed.







With the emergence of OpenAI and other Large Language Model platforms, we are on the forefront of more huge changes in the business of health care.







Healthcare and elder issues are the major concerns for most families planning for their futures. Artificial intelligence has permanently changed the method and pace of research, the role of privacy, the choice and delivery of treatment, and the way people interact with the healthcare community.







To better understand these issues, I spoke with Chris Heye. who is working in the space.







Background







Dr CHRIS HEYE is the CEO and Founder of both Whealthcare Solutions, Inc. and Whealthcare Planning LLC. He is a proven entrepreneur with extensive experience starting and growing technology companies. After confronting dementia in his own family and witnessing elder financial abuse in friends, Chris decided that older adults needed more protection.







Chris and I take a look at this intersection. The advances are exciting. Having surveying the landscape, we marvel at the leaps forward to come and worry about the issues that they create.









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGlUlYQG84&t=7s









Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare







Against that backdrop, we take on these questions:









How is the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare changing medical research?







Is artificial intelligence shifting the methodology and processes of healthcare and is it for the better?







After sharing our experiences with dementia and loved ones, Chris and I wonder about the future of dementia management. Will the intersection assist patients with their day-to-day lives?







Is artificial intelligence widening the gap between retirement, late stage health and death?







Knowing the pernicious effect of ageism, can the financial planning industry properly account for the length and expense of elder living?







What can we expect in the near future and what should we look out for?











https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT









Further Wealth Actually updates HERE

The transition of wealth between generations has put the spotlight squarely on fiduciary roles. With the rapid changes in the financial services space, directed trustees and independent administrative trust companies have exploded in popularity.







The Evolving World of Directed Trustees







Most advisors, wealth management firms, and clients under-appreciate the responsibility and risks of proper trusteeship.







They remember a culture and business model that existed decades ago.







These days, individuals trustees usually can't handle the rigors of the job and law firms are leaving the space for liability reasons.







Finally, in an environment where clients want more flexibility and control, the large bank-owned trust departments provide a cumbersome experience and high turnover,







With this in mind, modern estate planning has unbundled traditional investment, administrative and distribution trustee roles. There is a huge appetite for jurisdictional planning and best-in-class providers.







With all of this change, it is confusing for the advisor to know who is responsible for what and how much it should cost.







The Problem for RIAs







RIA's do not have the resources to advise or service clients with this complexity. The administration and oversight of these structures is a distraction.







Building a trust company to solve this problem does not make business sense in a private equity-backed RIA aggregation environment.







Moreover, using conflicted trust providers is out of the question for fear of putting client relationships at risk.







An increasingly popular option for RIAs and wealthy families is the use of directed trustees and the independent administrative trust company.







CHRISTOPHER HOLTBY is a co-founder of an independent trust company that works specifically with wealth advisors and directed trustees.







Not only do we highlight the best practices for identifying and partnering with an administrative trustee, but we also discuss the typical workflow between an RIAs and directed trustees.







Chris' Background with Directed Trustees







How RIAs work with directed trustees and an independent trust company:







1/ What are the basic requirements of independent trust company?







2/ Accordingly, which "value adds" should RIA firms should look for?







3/ Are there key attributes to spot when deciding to work/partner with an independent trust company?







4/ Lastly, should you be aware of any "Gotchas" in the space?







How Do We Stay in Touch with Chris?







WEALTH ADVISORS TRUST COMPANY







Video of the Podcast:









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YyqlULg1GA

"Wealth Actually" is now on Video!









https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT

Dr. RICHARD HAASS takes us on a tour of The World's Hot Spots. We also discuss the U.S. in 2024 and the concept of citizen ship.

Episode 151 - MARK HOUSE







Cryopreservation and wealth was once the purview of science fiction and Hollywood. Freezing one's self to be revived in the future is not just something out of Issac Asimov book or a Ridley Scott movie. The science, estate planning, and economics of this "call option on immortality" are here right now.







There are legitimate and current issues with cryopreservation and wealth- fascinating ones at that! Science, estate planning, ethics, governance, economics and good old-fashioned drafting are in focus as I speak with Scottsdale-based attorney MARK HOUSE.







We're going to get our arms around the misconceptions of the freezing process and what that means legally and practically. With that background, we'll dive into the structuring and drafting considerations to effectuate this amazing concept. Finally, we have some fun by guessing at what the world may look like with revived citizens hundreds of years from now.







INTRODUCTION







BACKGROUND







-How did Mark get into estate planning and how did he get into cryonics?







CRYONICS







-Let's define freezing "pre-death" vs "post-death."







-Behind the Science: GREG FAHY'S WORK and BIO







-What is the legal and funding process?







ESTATE PLANNING AROUND CRYOPRESERVATION AND WEALTH







-Usually when people die (and the being's existence terminates), the assets transfer to beneficiaries. However, here something different happens.







-Is there a difference between being kept alive but in "suspended animation" and dying?







-Does having various features including DNA maps serve as the basis for a new being?







DIRECTED TRUSTS







-Ownership in a trust should be able to provide the structure that allows the Grantor to be resuscitated when the science catches up.







-Trusts have a Grantor, Trustee, Corpus (literally in this case) and beneficiaries.







-Trustees must administer, invest and distribute. 







-How does a directed trust allow the Grantor's intent to persist?







TRUST REQUIREMENTS







-Perpetuity and a Good Trust Protector Structure are vital.







-With that in place, trustees must have distribution flexibility and discretion around "beneficiary determination"







-Why is it important to have broad Trustee choice?







-If we're making guesses about the future, why is nimble decision-making process around "science determinations" important?







-When talking about investment flexibility, is endowing a future being a "prudent investment'? If so, how does a trustee sign off on that?







CRYOPRESERVATION AND WEALTH ISSUES







-Who pays the freezer? How much does this cost?







-Once we know that, how does the trust pay for it?







-When should a person use life insurance? When employed, does the presumption of death change anything?







-What happens if you run out of funds?







-Does it make sense to (also) endow the future persons' lifestyle? If not, how will they function in the future?







-Should other the trust not include future beneficiaries to reduce a potential future conflict







-How do you staff this? (See here for an interview with Betsy Brown on Corporate Trustees designed to deal with tricky situations: https://frazerrice.com/ep-63-betsy-brown/)