State tax treatment of Trump accounts keeps shifting
Slott's September update says states are reversing course, leaving state-by-state confirmation as the real advisory task.
September 9
The Book Desk 11 stories this week · 107 total
Social Security worries outrun client plans—an advisor opening
A Nationwide Retirement Institute survey finds broad agreement that Social Security must change but little household planning for a benefit cut, making scenario planning the current retirement-income work.
Health costs to climb 8.2% — a retirement planning base case
Marsh's fifth consecutive year of above-CPI employer cost growth gives advisors a concrete number for modeling medical spending in retirement.
Career gaps cost more than the time they take
Pew's public-sector modeling gives advisors a concrete number to put in front of clients before they cut hours or step away.
Schwab tests its pricing power on HNW clients
New pricing on $10 million-and-up accounts gives RIAs a concrete answer next time a wealthy client asks why independent advice costs more.
Slott clears the rollover clock and sets a 529-vs-Trump test
The Slott Report Mailbag gives advisors a straightforward rollover answer and a free-money-first framework for adding a Trump Account beside a 529 plan.
Fidelity's record 401(k) balance sets up the savings-rate review
The average account hit $155,800 last quarter, up 10.5%, but the 14.44% savings rate and 18.8% match shortfall are the numbers advisors can actually move.
Parton's giving raises the estate question advisors need to ask
Her charitable record shows clients the difference between writing checks and building the organization that keeps writing them.
The $15 million trap in old estate plans
Permanently higher exemptions have silently changed what old formula funding clauses actually do, and this review season is the last comfortable window to catch the damage.
A fringe-benefit tax option with a large precedent
The first of Tax Foundation's five revenue raisers is modest per client and a turn toward base-broadening over rate-raising.
Trump Accounts Put the Gift Before the Tax Math
Sec. 530A accounts fit only after a family answers what the money is for, and when the child is meant to feel it.
Trump-Account Rules Make Tax the Advisor's Edge
Proposed Treasury rules would constrain the investment menu for Section 530A accounts, turning the Oct. 20 comment deadline into a client-service opportunity.
Borrow against concentrated stock, don't sell it
A Financial Planning playbook argues the cheapest liquidity for a founder is a loan against the position, not a sale.
Art loans tap equity without the capital-gains hit
Banks typically advance 40% to 60% of appraised value, so the tax math favors borrowing over selling — but high specialty-loan costs keep art lending at the bottom of most liquidity playbooks.
Slott's Roth screen makes conversion a standing call
Six client categories, anchored by the outside-cash test, give advisors a repeatable Roth conversion agenda.
The 4% withdrawal drain is eating the inheritance
Two retirement-industry warnings put the 4% withdrawal drain at the center of the Great Wealth Transfer.
NASAA puts trusted contacts at the center of senior fraud prevention
The Serve Our Seniors campaign gives advisers a no-cost step to protect older clients—if they treat the trusted contact as more than paperwork.
Respect the client's mental hierarchy to win retirement plans
Mental accounting explains the annuity paradox, drives over-saving, and argues for designing plans inside the client's buckets.
The pet-trust gap is a doorway back into estate plans
Most planned estates ignore the dog; advisors who ask first win the trust conversation.
OBBBA rewrites the Roth conversion calendar
In the OBBBA's wake, advisors treat Roth conversions as a year-by-year deduction-timing decision.
Let the sale date pick the OZ version
Financial Planning's year-end guide shows why the closing date, more than the tax terms, should drive the opportunity zone conversation.
Trust decides who stays when 13% of widows leave
The old 70% widow-turnover rule has given way to a 13% departure rate, and the advisor who asks personal questions in the calm years is the one who keeps the account.
Roth conversions don't require earned income; RMDs can't be combined
IRA owners can convert without taxable compensation, but IRA and 401(k) RMDs still cannot be combined.
Culture joins the payout grid in recruiting wars
A $1 billion breakaway team weighing three offers shows why the share of women advisors now belongs on the term sheet, next to payout.
Put the whole family on the mass-affluent balance sheet
Advisors who turn the sandwich squeeze into a planning engagement will own the relationship and the next generation.
Trump Accounts add a complication advisors can't ignore
The Tax Foundation says the birth-year savings vehicles deepen an already tangled system — and the planning math isn't ready yet.
Parents want schools to teach money and trust institutions that help
An Everfi survey of 750 parents finds 79% trust institutions that educate, a ready-made next-gen client channel for advisors.
Medicaid planning's sharpest trade-off comes due at the bedside
Asset-preservation strategies that fund inheritances can quietly strip the resources available for a client's own care; the advisor's job is to put that cost in writing before a health crisis.
Cogent Bank launches trust unit as Florida wealth surges
Orlando's $2.45 billion-asset bank hires Amerant's former fiduciary chief and bets a trust unit pays for itself by keeping clients.
A tax-free Social Security play with a 2028 problem
Mahaney's IRA-withdrawal strategy pairs the senior deduction with the modified adjusted gross income test to reach roughly $92,000 in tax-free income—a number tied to a deduction that expires after 2028.
HSA participation rises, retirement investing lags
PSCA's 2026 survey finds 83% of employees contributing to an HSA but only 22% investing it—an opening for advisors to reposition the account in retirement-income plans.
NFP survey finds a succession gap advisors can fill
Among 273 executive-benefits decision-makers, 49% lack a plan for leadership transitions while 62% call succession a key focus—a spread that turns NQDC into an advisor's opening with owner-clients.
Gen Z saves for retirement, with a sportsbook in the plan
Three new surveys show a generation optimistic about retirement while routing investment money through speculative channels — a planning challenge for advisors that doubles as an opening.
Wealth taxes turn residency into a deadline
State wealth-tax votes are coming due, and the planning window closes before the ballot does.
Europe's transfer-tax map gives cross-border planners their triggers
A new Tax Foundation map shows 24 of 35 European countries levy estate, inheritance, or gift taxes—and the bill turns on relationship, region, and residence.
IRA Trust Planning Is Now a Maintenance Obligation
Sarah Brenner's four-point checklist flags the expensive private letter ruling, the lump-sum payout trap, and the beneficiary form that never gets updated.
Medicare Advantage satisfaction slips again, and advisors get an opening
A second straight year of falling satisfaction gives advisors a reason to put Medicare coverage review on the retirement income calendar.
The $64,000 inheritance should drive the plan
Most Boomer inheritances run small, making the retirement income plan the real wealth transfer.
Social Security's 'free' lump sum is a permanent benefit cut
Advisors who run the numbers out to the second death can protect a younger spouse's survivor income floor from a $160-a-month reduction.
Two Social Security tax fixes: $400,000 donut hole and a health-benefit tax
A Tax Foundation guide compares payroll-tax designs that would change the math for high earners and for employees with company coverage.