"Top Ten Lists," or in this case, top five. I came across a list of the "Five Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes" written by a CPA out of Florida. He makes some excellent points about the types of issues we face with our clients every day. You can read the article here.

Why bring this up? Simply put, I share his opinion. Left to their own devices, our clients will procrastinate and take short cuts in their planning, even during the best of times. The larger issue, in my mind, is the fact that the problems created by procrastination this year will be magnified many times over if our clients allow the current favorable planning environment to slip through their fingers. The author focuses on some specific issues to illustrate his points, but I think they basically fall into one category – Failing to plan. Three examples of this from the article: 1) Succession Planning – A plan that administers the orderly transfer of business interests at the time of retirement, disability or death, 2) Asset Transfer Planning – A plan for maximizing the amount of wealth transferred to the next generation from Qualified Plans and Annuities held by generation one, and 3) Estate Planning – A plan for the administration of the estate, as well as estate liquidity planning/estate tax mitigation. The good news is that readers of The Rant can offer their clients some perspective as well as some concrete action items their clients can take to avoid these mistakes. Go figure! They all involve getting off their backsides and taking action!

Here’s how we are going to make it happen:

Succession Planning – We should all know the basics of Buy/Sell Agreements and the lie at this point, but the place where we can really add value beyond providing simple term insurance to fund these agreements is to arm ourselves with the knowledge to use some of the more creative and effective permanent product solutions. These create "double duty" dollars that provide maximum value even if the insured business owner has the audacity to live to retirement...that is the plan most of the time, isn’t it? I have yet to encounter a client that plans on passing away early! (Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more on this topic in The Rant as well as some skill building opportunities I will make available to you.)

Asset Transfer – Again, we all know the tax issues that qualified plan and annuity assets face when they pass to the next generation. We have ways of handling this as well, and this spring may be time for a refresher course. More to come on this...

Estate Planning – I have discussed the opportunity that 2012 presents in this arena previously, and now it’s time to take the next step by providing some real "how-to" materials for those of you who are serious about motivating your clients to take action this year. We will do just that later in the first quarter to early second quarter, with white papers, fact finders, calculators, etc. to support this effort. All in all, 2012 is going to be an exciting year, with plenty of opportunity for our clients to improve their planning and for our individual businesses to flourish.