Mike Odar reflects on the 25 years of Greenleaf Trust

After a challenging 2022, investors should be pleased with the market experience in the first half of 2023. In stark contrast to a period when both stocks and bonds moved lower together, financial markets have largely been in recovery mode over the last six months. Several positive themes have bolstered markets including a strong labor […]

The selection of a trustee is pretty much the choice between either a professional or an amateur

The triple tax benefit of Health Savings Accounts

How to Help Participants Balance Current Needs vs Future Security

Trusts are a major part of most estate plans and attorneys and financial advisors love acronyms to describe the various types of trusts, but what do all these letters mean and what purposes do they serve?

Our Retirement Plan Services Division traces its roots back to the foundation of our company in 1998.

The US Department of the Treasury manages payments for the federal government. Congress, by law, limits the maximum amount of debt that the Department of Treasury can issue to finance budget deficits. This limit is commonly referred to as the “debt ceiling.”

When it comes to investing for retirement you have a multitude of options to choose from. Making the decision about how you are going to manage the taxation of your retirement plan contributions makes the decision even more complex.

Let’s explore some options worthy of consideration for the administration and distribution of real estate assets.

SECURE Act 2.0 offers a creative solution for funding Roth IRAs for the youngest members of our families by leveraging excess 529 plan savings.

One of our founding goals in 1998 was to find really talented teammates and create a culture that would engage and inspire them.

The second quarter of 2023 is off to an interesting start. For the most part, investment markets performed well in April and first quarter earnings season is shaping up better than expected.

Lifetime gifts remove the asset, and any future asset appreciation, from the donor’s taxable estate.

Recent Perspectives articles have called attention to the newly passed SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which initiated several retirement plan changes and enhancements.

While the strategy of aggressively raising rates can affect various aspects of consumers’ lives, it also creates an opportunity to reevaluate and refresh the traditional financial planning guidance that has been in place for the past decade.

During our meetings with grandparents, a common topic is leaving assets to their grandchildren. While direct gifting, paying for tuition or medical bills, or funding 529 educational savings accounts are all effective techniques, this article focuses on another popular technique: establishing trusts for grandchildren. We will explore the different types of trusts, incentivizing them, and […]

There are a lot of headlines out there questioning the safety and liquidity of our banking system after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Executive compensation is the combination of salary, benefits and bonuses offered to executives and other top management in exchange for their efforts on behalf of an employer.

In 2022, there were nearly 7.8 million reports of suspicious activities related to taxpayer returns according to the Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud Information Sharing Mission & Analysis Center, a partnership between the IRS, companies and states. Most of these suspicious activities related to online tax fraud.

Is “rothification” even a word? Probably not, but to me it seems a fitting term to describe several of the changes in store for retirement plans as a result of new legislation signed by Congress at the end of 2022.

Retirement is an ongoing process of emotional adjustments.

With the capital markets closed in observance of Presidents’ Day, we created a day for our teammates to give back to the communities in which we live, work, and play. We call this day our Day of Caring.

Our national debt has garnered a lot of attention this year, both for its absolute size and for the possibility that our elected friends in Washington might fail to raise its ceiling.

Most estate plans skip the idea of using incentive distribution provisions to induce behavioral changes in the estate beneficiaries. A common estate distribution regime uses milestone ages, e.g., 25% at age 25, 50% at age 30, and the balance to be distributed at age 35.

Behavioral biases are beliefs or behaviors that can unconsciously influence our financial decision-making. One example is loss aversion, where the pain of losing (money) is more powerful than the pleasure of gaining.

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. The legislation contains significant retirement provisions in what is called the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“the Act”).

Cross-testing is a calculation method used for allocating employer discretionary profit-sharing contributions. This is often used alongside 401(k) and safe harbor contributions to maximize annual contribution limits (usually targeted to owners or highly compensated employees) at the lowest overall cost to the company.

Please join me in welcoming our newest teammate back home to Birmingham, Michigan. Bill Feldmaier has recently joined Greenleaf Trust as our new Managing Director of our southeast Michigan market and will be located in our Birmingham office.

We’re off to a good start in 2023. If you believe the notion that ‘as goes January, so goes the year,’ the so-called January Barometer suggests we may be in for a positive year in the stock market.

US equities have historically generated outstanding returns for long-term investors. Notwithstanding numerous recessions, market panics, wars, and a global pandemic, the S&P 500 has increased in value from 17 in 1927 to nearly 4,000 in 2022, equating to an annualized total return of nearly 10%.

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) comprised over an estimated $13.9 trillion of assets as of 2021 per the Investment Company Institute. IRA balances have risen significantly over time as companies moved away from pension plans and baby boomers gathered assets for retirement.

The year end has passed and business leaders and office personnel have been working diligently on closing the books for the year end 2022. This process can be time consuming and stressful.

One of the things that makes us unique is our talented team. They are deeply committed to the work they do for our clients and deserve meaningful recognition for their achievements. At the end of the year, we announced the following 29 promotions. These were teammates from throughout the organization that successfully executed customized purposeful growth plans with their coaches. Promotions are always based on merit and impact at Greenleaf Trust, not time in role. Needless to say, I am extremely proud to recognize these teammates and share their new titles with you.

The year 2022 ushered in significant events in the industry in many areas. Some were more impactful than others, but a few are worthy of review.

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In order to serve from generation to generation, it’s important that we continue to grow purposefully in size. There are risks to growing too quickly, and risks to growing too slowly. Purposeful Growth involves growing deeper and broader in our capabilities at a designed pace in order to serve existing and prospective clients better.

Capital gain taxes, as the name implies, are taxes collected on the gains realized from the sale of an investment. In a year of volatile and downward-trending markets, some may assume that no capital gains could have been realized over the course of the year and thus there will be little to no capital gain distributions. This assumption, while understandable, is incorrect.

In their ongoing pursuit of your money and identity, criminals are constantly coming up with new cons. When shopping online during the holiday season – or any other time of the year — there are plenty of opportunities for bad actors to take advantage of busy and distracted online shoppers. Here are a couple of […]

At many times and for many estates, we regret that we were never afforded the opportunity to connect during the person’s lifetime and never learned in their own words what they planned for their legacy.
But what does it mean to plan for your legacy?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced the increase to the maximum retirement plan benefit and contribution limits for 2023. Employee contributions to 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan will rise to $22,500 – a $2,000 increase from the $20,500 cap for 2022. Plan participants age 50 and older in 2023 can contribute an additional $7,500 for a maximum of $30,000, up $1,000 from this year.