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Don’t Be Caught Unprepared for a Potential Market Correction

No one can deny that markets fluctuate routinely. Throughout my 36-year career, the markets have been good at times and poor-performing at times.

I have always taught the concept of proper asset allocation, buy-and-hold for long-term monies, and secure guaranteed income for a portion of your retirement income. Recently, we have been on a significant rise in equity markets.

High-net-worth individuals often seek strategies to transfer wealth efficiently while minimizing gift and estate taxes. Two powerful tools available to you are Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) and Grantor Retained Unitrusts (GRUTs). Both are irrevocable trusts designed to allow a grantor to retain an income stream for a set term while transferring future appreciation to beneficiaries at a reduced tax cost. While similar in concept, they differ in mechanics and ideal use cases.

Shortly after sitting back down at the resolute desk, President Donald Trump began a program of imposing tariffs to encourage negotiation and to correct trade imbalances. Some were small. Some were huge. Many were later reversed or challenged in court. Economics 101 suggests that tariffs are a tax and should produce both inflation and reduced consumer spending. This time has been different, and financial professionals need to wrestle with why.

In today’s competitive job market, hiring the best employees is only half the battle. Retaining them is just as crucial. The most valuable assets of your business are your top-performing employees and providing them with additional benefits can help secure their loyalty. One approach is to offer supplemental retirement savings plans, tailored to reward and retain key talent.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a side story or something “up and coming.” It is shaping market leadership, corporate strategy, and workflows within financial firms. That opens a real opportunity, but it also concentrates risk. The job for planners and portfolio managers is to harness the wave without letting a few names quietly drive all client outcomes.

Estate planning is essential for everyone, regardless of the size of the estate. Life insurance plays a crucial role in various aspects of estate planning, helping provide financial security to your loved ones. Here are 10 ways to use life insurance in estate planning for modest estates.

Social Security is a big topic. It’s fluid, misunderstood and has a huge impact on your clients’ retirement. Even with beneficial changes in Social Security that took place in December 2024 (specifically, a repeal expected to increase benefits for more than 3,000,000 retirees), the program remains a complex benefit full of irrevocable choices for clients. And the problem is that there is not a good source of answers.

When you pose a question to the Social Security Administration, they are trained to respond to that specific question and nothing else. Unfortunately, even when we seek out advice, clients don’t get the whole story or the answers that are important to their situation.

HR1 creates a solid window of opportunity for life-insurance strategies, NAIFA Trustee Andrew Rinn writes in an article published in Advisor Magazine. “After years of watching tax policy evolve and wondering what comes next, we now have a roadmap and a fresh window of opportunity – and life insurance is a big part of that,” Rinn writes.

NAIFA’s Investment, Retirement, Estate, and Advanced Planning Center (IREAP) hosted its first Impact Day webinar on Thursday, November 6, 2025, "Extraordinary Estate Planning for Ordinary People", which aimed to demystify the estate planning process and highlight its critical importance for everyone, regardless of age or asset level. Moderated by Mat Powers, the discussion featured experts Troy Branch and Andrew Rinn, who emphasized that planning is fundamentally about family and legacy, not just dollars and cents.