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• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D, 3000 units or more
• Sodium Ascorbate, 1250 mg. or more
• Zinc, 30 – 50 mg
• Black elderberry, 600 – 1500 mg
• Lion’s Mane (Host Defense by Stamets)
• NAC (1200 – 1800 mg)
• Lipoic acid (1200 – 1800)
• Spirulina (15 g)
• Selenium (50 – 100 mcg)
• Glucosamine (3000 mg or more)
• Yeast Beta-Glucan (250 – 500 mg)

• Colloidal Silver
• Oregano oil
• Immunity boosting essential oils like Thieves or OnGuard Oil
• Sanitizing wipes
• Protective masks

• Wash your hands, more than you usually do, and consider wiping down surfaces on airplanes, public transportation, and at the gym with your own sanitizer wipes.
• Have emergency food, water, and medical supplies prepared (always a good idea).
• Practice breathing through your nose instead of your mouth. Nose hairs offer natural protection from airborne viruses. This is especially important for those living in big cities.
• Consider avoiding crowded places like airplanes, churches, theaters, etc.
• Make sure you are drinking plenty of purified water.
• If you smoke, it’s an especially good time to quit to protect your lungs.

In the event you or a loved one do get sick and need to go to the hospital, it’s important to prepare a list of your needs. Include your preferred hospital, your primary care doctor and any specialists, food allergies and preferences, and supplements and medications you take. Also indicate any procedures you desire or don’t desire. Additionally, you should name the person or people authorized to make healthcare and financial decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself. We can help you prepare these documents in our office, either to take precautions against coronavirus or for any other reason. Please get in touch if you are ready to get this handled and would like our help.

We are here to support you making educated, informed, empowered decisions for yourself and the people you love, in all areas of your wealth, health, and happiness.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

President Trump signed the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill into law on December 22, 2017, and the law includes a number of historic changes to the federal tax code. However, the vast majority of the most dramatic changes are aimed at business taxation, not individual taxpayers. So, how will the new tax law effect your family?

That said, there are several fairly significant changes to personal income tax laws, which we’ve highlighted below. But keep in mind, unlike the new business tax laws, which are permanent, nearly everything listed here for personal taxes sunsets after 2025 and will revert to the 2017 code in 2026 unless Congress extends the changes.

Given this, it’s important that you contact your Personal Family Lawyer® as soon as possible to take advantage of any new tax-saving strategies before these new provisions sunset.

The standard deduction increases to $24,000 for joint filers, $12,000 for single taxpayers, and $18,000 for heads of households, all adjusted for inflation. The law also eliminates nearly all personal exemptions, however, so those with dependents won’t see quite as much savings.

Note that if you’re a 1099 wage earner, regardless of how much you earn, you pay approximately 15% of your earnings toward payroll taxes, which would otherwise be covered by your employer and taken out of your paycheck. So even though the standard deduction has increased, if you’re a 1099/ independent contractor, you may still face a big tax bill if you’re not structured properly. Contact us if you need help with this.

For existing mortgages the limit on deducting interest on up to $1 million of mortgage interest stays the same. Deductible mortgage interest for new mortgages taken on after December 15, 2017, however, is now capped at $750,000. Additionally, homeowners may no longer claim a deduction for existing and new interest on home equity loans.

The child tax credit increases up to $2,000 per child, and the first $1,400 is refundable, meaning the credit could reduce your tax liability to zero, and you would still receive a tax refund. The cut off for the tax credit increases to $400,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The estate tax exemption increases to $11.2 million for individuals and $22.4 million for couples, indexed for inflation. The rate for those estates still subject to taxation remains at 40%. However, don’t let this increase lead you to believe you don’t need to handle your estate planning if your estate is less than $11 million. Estate planning is what keeps your family out of court and out of conflict; it’s not just about taxes. Very few people will be impacted by the estate tax, but everyone’s family is at risk for court and conflict.

State and local income tax deductions are repealed. This means that you will pay your state and local income taxes from after-tax income. However, you’ll be able to deduct up to $10,000 for state and local property taxes paid.

Create an on-site emergency plan to help keep your employees safe. A thorough plan and a well stocked emergency kit will help your business handle the immediate effects of a natural disaster. Take the time to train employees ahead of time so that everyone knows what to do and how to communicate when disaster strikes.

We can mitigate your risks by recommending the right insurance policy for your business. Business interruption insurance will cover your losses—such as loss of revenue—after a covered event. This will help you stay operational even if your clients are unable to pay due to the effects of the disaster.

You’ll also need thorough documentation of all your assets to file a claim. Work with one of our lawyers, in advance of a natural disaster – like now –  to ensure your documentation fulfills insurance claim requirements.

Accessing your data is crucial to staying on track financially after a disaster. Develop a backup system that includes storage in the cloud and off-site hard copies of critical documents, stored in fire and water proof containment. Without the right information, it may be hard to file a claim or get operations up and running again.

Establish a clear method of employee communication and delegate responsibilities. Work with a lawyer who can keep relevant information on hand and help you file insurance claims in the aftermath of a disaster.

Develop a financial recovery plan so you can quickly resume payroll and invoicing. You’ll also need to account for missing income if your customers or clients are affected by the disaster and cannot pay.

We can help your business prepare for the legal, insurance, financial, and operational problems that could be caused by a natural disaster. If you’re ready to be proactive in protecting your business from natural disasters, begin by sitting down with us. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule. Or, schedule online.

Although digital technology has made many aspects of our lives much easier and more convenient, it has also created some unique challenges when it comes to estate planning.
If you haven’t planned properly, for example, just locating and accessing all of your digital assets can be a major headache—or even impossible—for your loved ones following your death or incapacity.

And even if your loved ones can access your digital assets, in some cases, doing so may violate privacy laws and/or the terms of service governing your accounts. You may also have some online assets that you don’t want your loved ones to inherit, so you’ll need to take measures to restrict and/or limit access to such assets.

Given the unique nature of your online property, there are a number of special considerations you should be aware of when including online property in your plan. Here are a few of the steps you should take to help ensure your digital assets are properly accounted for, managed, and passed on.

Create a list of all your digital assets, along with their login and password information. Some of the most common digital assets include cryptocurrency, online financial accounts, online payment accounts like PayPal, websites, blogs, digital photos, email, and social media.

Store the list in a secure location, and provide your fiduciary (executor, trustee, or power of attorney agent) with detailed instructions about how to locate and access your accounts. To make them easier to manage, back up any cloud-based assets to a computer, flash drive, or other physical storage device. Review this list regularly to account for any new digital property you acquire.

Just like any other property you want to pass on, detail in your plan who you want to inherit each digital asset, along with your wishes for how the asset should be used or managed. If you have any assets you don’t want passed on, include instructions for how these accounts should be closed and/or deleted.

Do NOT include passwords or security keys in your planning documents, where they can be read by others. This is especially true for your will, which becomes public record upon your death. Instead, keep this information in a separate, secure location, and provide your fiduciary with instructions about how to access it. Consider using digital account-management services, such as Directive Communication Systems, to help streamline this process.

If you have particularly complex or highly encrypted digital assets like cryptocurrency, consider including provisions in your plan allowing your fiduciary to hire an IT consultant to deal with any technical challenges that might come up.

Include terms in your plan detailing the level of access you want your fiduciary to have to your digital accounts. For example, do you want your fiduciary to be allowed to view your emails, photos, and social media posts before passing them on or deleting them? If there are any assets you want to limit access to, we can help you include the necessary provisions in your plan to ensure your privacy is respected.

Don’t forget to include the physical devices—smartphones, computers, tablets—upon which your digital assets are stored in your plan. Having quick access to these devices will make it much easier for your fiduciary to manage your digital assets. And since the data can be transferred or deleted, you can even leave these devices to someone other than the individual who inherits the digital property stored on them.

Some service providers like Google, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to give specific individuals access to your accounts upon your death. Review the terms of service for your accounts, and if these functions are available, use them to document who you want to access your accounts.

Double check that the people you named to inherit your digital assets using these access-authorization tools match those you’ve named in your estate plan. If not, the provider will likely give priority to the person named with its tool, not your plan.

As technology evolves, you’ll need to adapt your estate plan to keep pace with the ever-changing nature of your assets. We know just how valuable your online property can be, and our planning strategies are specifically designed to ensure these assets are preserved and passed on seamlessly in the event of your death or incapacity.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

The web has revolutionized business operations in numerous ways: email, social-media marketing, and online job recruiting are just a few of the biggies. But another innovation is dramatically enhancing your ability to obtain business financing via online crowdfunding.

Whether it’s equity crowdfunding, rewards crowdfunding, donation crowdfunding, or lending crowdfunding, these methods allow you to solicit financing for your projects via the web from people all around the world.

The most common way to finance small-business operations is through rewards-based crowdfunding. Popular rewards crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Indiegogo, and Kickstarter offer a quick and easy way to acquire financing for a fledgling venture, especially if you don’t qualify for traditional business loans.

Simply describe your project on a crowdfunding platform and set a fundraising goal needed to get the venture off the ground. People interested in supporting your idea can then contribute relatively small amounts of money via the platform.

In return, if your fundraising goal is met, you promise to provide contributors with a reward—typically a product, service, or incentive of some type. The value of the reward is usually based on the amount contributed, and most campaigns offer multiple reward tiers that increase in value depending on the amount pledged.

For example, let’s say you’re designing a new solar-powered smartphone charger. For those who pledge $100, you offer a coupon worth 50% off the price of the charger. For those who pledge $500, you offer to send them a free charger. And for those who pledge $1,000, you offer to send them three free chargers, with a lifetime service warranty.

However, the rewards don’t have to be that substantial. Some businesses simply offer a hand-written thank-you note in return for a small pledge. There’s no requirement on how much or how little your reward has to be.

One important caveat: if your fundraising goal is not met by the deadline, you must return all of the funds.

Rewards crowdfunding typically works best for client-facing businesses that produce tangible products. They’re particularly beneficial for startups that want to test the market and incentivize backers without incurring a major expense or giving up control by selling an ownership stake in the company.

Rewards crowdfunding often works well with relatively simple business ideas. If it’s difficult to quickly explain the value of your project in layman’s terms, you might want to pursue another financing option.

Most rewards campaigns seek less than $100,000 and generally last between 1-3 months.

In exchange for using their platform, crowdfunding sites usually keep around 5% of the funds raised. But with some platforms, those fees can be as high as 13%. The platform’s payment processor may also take an additional cut—generally around 3%—for processing the transactions.

As with all financing opportunities, crowdfunding comes with some potential risks. For example, if you promise a product, reach your goal, and fail to deliver, you could face a breach of contract claim.

We’ll devote a future article on the legal and tax issues involved with crowdfunding, but for now, if you’re interested in learning more about the risks and rewards involved, contact us today.

We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule. Or, schedule online.