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In 2012 Congress and the President gave a gift to those attuned to estate planning.  The federal estate tax exemption was increased and earmarked for inflation.  Finally!  Now I could advise my clients beyond the year or two into the future.  We had a federal exemption of $5 million per person.  Until then the threat of the level falling back to the $1 million mark lingered. That made planning a challenge. Under current law any one person can die and leave $5.3 million at death without triggering the federal estate tax.  Married couples can leave an unlimited about, tax free, to US citizen spouses.  With the exemption tied to inflation, planning done now evolves nicely over time. And then I blinked. Over the past two years, as I discussed the federal estate taxes in seminars, I routinely joked " what Washington giveth, Wasthington can taketh -- keep an eye on this issue ."  Perhaps I told that joke one time too many.  News reports last we...

Readers of this blog may have followed that my mother passed away on February 16th of this year.  With her last breathe I was an orphan at age 40, my dad having died back in 2009.  I was also left with the task of emptying and cleaning out their ranch home.  And is often the case, it had quite the supply of medications. Some used, others not, some prescription, others not.  Regardless of the source, I found myself hold two large plastic bags full of pills, creams, inhalers, and more.  What to do with them? Tossing them down the drain or in the trash puts current and future generations at risk -- a water supply contaminated with discarded meds.  Harmful to fish, wildlife, and possibly us.  Thankfully here in Madison there is a program called MedDrop , offering 12 year round drop off sites.  One was not far from my mother's home.  And it was just as the snow began to melt and Spring moved to town that I safely disposed of the medicatio...

One of the top five things that motivate clients to pick up the phone to call and make an appointment to begin the process of creating a will is a stage-four cancer diagnosis.  Working with the client, the family, and often involved in the post-death paper work, we here at GGLO are motivate to do what we can to raise funds for research and treatment.  And that is why on Saturday, April 12th we will be lacing up our walking shoes. Join our team and or make a donation -- our goal is to raise $1,000.  Click here for more details.  Checks payable to the American Cancer Society can be sent to our office, 313 Price Place, Suite 204, Madison, WI 53705, by Friday, April 11th.  Together we can make a difference!

Thank you to guest host Judith Siers-Poisson for having me on Wisconsin Public Radio's Larry Meiller Show yesterday to discuss my book, Middle Class Philanthropist: How anyone can leave a legacy .  For those who were not able to tune-in, the show is now available on-line, click here . Philanthropy is a term normally associated with individuals who have a seven-figure net worth, making a splash in the end of the year news cycle with hefty donations to worthy causes.  Judith and Wisconsin Public Radio helped shine the spotlight on the every day Americans who have made a difference in the life of a nonprofit without leaving it a fortune.  I know the four stories included in my book are not the only ones out there.  If you have a story to share, please email or call me as I work on my second book on this topic.  My goal is to profile ten or twelve individuals or families who have left a legacy without being mega-wealthy.

Author's parents It's an email that lingers in my memory years after I found it in my in-box.  "Carl wants to reach out to you!". The Carl in question had a Yahoo email account, and it was not Carl who had been on the account recently but rather his widow Sharon.  They used the same email but it was registered to him, one she did not change after his death in September of 2009.  Why would an email from so long ago still take up precious memory power today in 2014?  The Carl behind the email was my dad and his widow my mom.  He had only been dead for a few months when one day I find a cryptic email waiting for me.  Thanks Yahoo! A similar yet less emotional social media ping hit my husband last week.  Going about his work week he was running through the hundreds of emails that tend to pile up.  Sitting there was one from LinkedIn encouraging him to congratulate a colleague on a work anniversary.  Sadly, the colleague had died suddenly...

T.P.P. -- in the world of estate planning it means your tangible personal property.  Basically it is your "stuff". From a wedding ring to the family piano, anything you can pick up and carry.  And when you leave your earthly word behind, the question becomes -- where will my TPP go? During a client meeting last week this topic came up, as it often does.  I gave my standard response, "use the inventory template I provide but be very specific, imagine telling a stranger what item you mean, where it is located, and who should receive it -- you cannot be too specific."  The wife asked "would pictures be wise?"  My response, "yes!" .  And then the husband said -- "use Encirle , an app on the phone!"  A few minutes later he'd emailed me the link. Marketed for protecting again loss from theft, it would also be an easy way to go through your home and document what you want to go and to whom.  My cautious legal mind says the app wou...