Tax guides for financial advisors

[Lucullus]

For years, I've been using the "Quickfinder Handbooks" (www.quickfinder.com), and every time I open one, I'm amazed at how amazingly efficient these tools are. I can find what I want to know, VERY quickly, and, when I find it, I can understand it because the content of these manuals (available in print spiral-bound books or on CD) is clear, concise, and accurate.


I'm continually amazed at how the folks at Quickfinder have managed to organize the Byzantine complexity of U.S. tax law so that ordinary human beings can actually understand it.



I wouldn't care to practice without these tools. I've recommended them to many fellow advisors and the usual response, after someone has tried one, is on the order of "WOW! Thanks, John!"



- John L. Olsen, CLU, ChFC, AEP



Disclosure: I am NOT paid a penny, by Quickfinder or anyone else, for writing this. I'm writing it because I know how frustrating it can be to try tracking down tax stuff and, when I find something that makes my life easier, I want to share the news.

[jdang307]

Which one do you use? The tax planner ones? They're pretty cheap.

I have access to all of BNA's materials (there are so many), but that's as an attorney so it gets pretty damn deep in some of the materials. Was looking for resources for learning how to plan again.

[Lucullus]

JDang,

I use the 1040 Handbook, Small Business Quickfinder, and Tax Planner Handbooks for Business and Individuals. The spiral-bound books are VERY useful when I don't have my laptop handy, but all of them are also on my laptop (as they're all in my CD subscription).

In my experience, when you need the info from one of these books, you REALLY need it, and RIGHT NOW.

Probably the best thing about the Quickfinder stuff is that it's so well organized that you don't have to spend a lot of time digging for what you want.

Of course, for really detailed explanations in depth, there are better sources. For example, Leimberg & Zaritsky's "Tax Planning With Life Insurance" and "Tax Planning for Family Wealth Transfers" and Spero's "Asset Protection" (all from Warren, Gorham & Lamont) are in the bookcase right next to my desk.

There's also the Life Insurance Answer Book, by Gary Lesser and my friend Larry Starr. I've never met Gary, but Larry knows more about life insurance in qualified plans, and just about everything else about qualified plans, than anyone I've ever met (except maybe St. Louis' celebrated Two Larries - Brody and Katzenstein).

And I mustn't leave out Life and Death Planning For Retirement Benefits, by Natalie Choate. For anyone giving ANY advice regarding qualified plan/IRA distribution planning, it's not just useful. It's absolutely essential. When a student asks me "How can I tell if the attorney or CPA really understands required minimum distribution planning rules, I typically respond with "Ask him what version of Natalie's book he owns. If he says 'Natalie who?', get someone else".

I am not an attorney, but I often find myself involved in cases where the attorney and CPA are expecting a lot more from me than what one gets from general works written for the life insurance and financial planning practitioner. That said, a series of survey level books that I find darned near invaluable is the "Tools and Techniques" series from the National Underwriter Co. I have six of 'em and two are downright dog-eared.

And there's Tax Facts, of course. But I tend to assume that anyone practicing in this field has at least Vol. 1. I prefer the bound books, as the format of Tax Facts Online leaves a lot to be desired. It used to be much more manageable, but the folks at NUCO have "dummied down" the user interface to the point where I have to reach for the bound book to find what I want.

For advisors who want to know more about how life insurance works - and doesn't work - I highly recommend Dick Weber's "Revealing Life Insurance Secrets: How The Pros Pick, Design, and Evaluate Their Own Policies and Ben Baldwin's The New Life Insurance Advisor. The latter focuses heavily on Universal Life and Variable Universal Life, but both are balanced, accurate, and highly readable books by World Class experts.

- John Olsen

[jdang307]

Wow, that is a wealth of information, thanks! I'm saving this for future reference.


I'm on a list serv with a bunch of estate planning attorneys, and they reference Jay Adkisson and his book on asset protection, pointing out he is apparently a "guru" for lawyers. Maybe this is more related to legal practice but it's clear you know your stuff on the planning side and was wondering if you heard of him or his book (I plan on purchasing)

[Lucullus]

JDang,

I know Jay Adkisson well, and I heartily agree with any suggestion that he's a "guru" when it comes to asset protection planning. (He also knows a lot about many other things, including index annuities). The book, "Asset Protection", that Jay wrote with his partner Chris Riser, is the best general book on asset protection I've read. It's authoritative and very readable.

If you ever get into an estate planning case where SERIOUS asset protection planning is a requirement, I recommend calling Jay. There are a lot of folks out there hawking "fortress" strategies that sound wonderful but some of them ought to be labelled "Burn Before Reading". This is one area where genuine experience, expertise, and a willingness to acknowledge that one is not God's Gift to the Asset Protection Field is utterly essential.

- John Olsen

[jdang307]

Thanks, I'm adding it to my list of books to read.