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April 2000 Advisor Today Articles Online

Cover Story: When You Are Sued

By Eileen Courter

These are real agents, with real stories. We agreed not to identify them in order to allow them to share their experiences freely. Agents who have been sued don’t like to talk about it (and frequently don’t even like to admit to it), but it’s no secret that many have been hit with suits, and even more have lived (and may be currently living) under the cloud of a threatened suit.

The Cost of Doing Business: You Can Keep What You Make—Soon

By Ronald E. Hauenstein, CLU, ChFC

Tax Freedom Day means that everything you’ve earned until that day is used to pay your federal, state and local taxes. Last year the combined per capita tax bite was $10,298, which was divided into the median income of $28,878 to arrive at May 11 as the day you began making money you could keep. In 1993, Tax Freedom Day was April 30. No wonder Will Rogers said the income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf. Coincidentally, golf is a lot like taxes: you drive hard to get to the green and then wind up in the hole.

Managing Money: Several Sensible Tenets

By Janet C. Arrowood

What has happened to investing for the long term? Lately there have been news stories about students day-trading with their tuition money, buying on margin, getting a margin call, and losing it all. Here are some basic tenets of investing that you may want to share: Never gamble what you can’t afford to lose. Leverage is a great way to buy more of a (supposedly) good thing. It is also a way to get badly burned. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. With 3% daily swings in the stock indices and 5% (or more) weekly swings, it doesn’t take many days to get into big trouble.

Laws & Estates: Two Realities for a Business Owner

By John J. Scroggin, J.D., LL.M.

In the course of my practice as an estate planning attorney, I have found two consistent certainties in estate planning for businesses which might be added to Mr. Franklin’s quote. Both certainties assume that the owner of a closely held family business has family members who will continue to operate the business after the current owner’s retirement or death. If the owner instead desires to “cash out” by selling or liquidating the business, these realities cease to be an issue.

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