May 15, 2019
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May 15, 2019
Capacity Planning: Is Your Agent Up to the Task?
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May 15, 2019
Spring into Retirement Savings
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May 15, 2019
Take a Holiday from Fake Holidays
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May 15, 2019
Recent Michigan Legislation Regarding Directed Trusts
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May 13, 2019
US/China – Perspective on Recent Developments
Less than two weeks ago, investors were operating under the assumption that a U.S./China trade deal was all but certain. Much has changed in a short period. Uncertainty has been reintroduced around when, or if, an agreement will materialize. We continue to believe an eventual compromise is the most likely outcome, but for now, visibility […]
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April 30, 2019
Greenleaf Trust announces promotions and new hires
April 2019, Kalamazoo and Birmingham, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces promotions and new hires Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the promotion of two employees, as well as the addition of a new team member: After a year of service as Participant Services Coordinator, Lisa Hojnacki has been promoted to Participant Services Coordinator – Team […]
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April 25, 2019
The Retirement Plan That Got Overlooked On Tax Day
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/greenleaf-trust-exec–its-never-too-soon-to-reduce-your-income-taxes-44506.html
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April 16, 2019
April 2019 Perspectives
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April 16, 2019
Monetary Policy 2019 World Tour
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April 16, 2019
Know Your Ride Share Driver
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April 16, 2019
Your Most Valuable Asset – Your Personal Story
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April 16, 2019
Introducing Multi-Factor Authentication to Your Retirement Plan Account
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April 16, 2019
Grief and Financial Services
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April 16, 2019
Triple Tax Benefit – Health Savings Account
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April 12, 2019
Notable Women in HR: Karen Baldwin
Congratulations Karen Baldwin! Your recognition as one of Michigan’s most Notable Women in Human Resources is well-deserved. Read more at Crain’s Detroit Business.
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April 11, 2019
Greenleaf Trust named Great Place to Work and Best and Brightest Company to Work For
Greenleaf Trust Named Great Place to Work® and Best and Brightest Company to Work For® Firm earns accolades as premier West Michigan and financial services employer April 11, 2019, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust, an independent Michigan-chartered, trust-only bank and wealth management firm with $12 billion in assets under advisement, announced it’s been named to […]
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April 1, 2019
Forging Your Path
Sarah Johansson joined the Greenleaf Trust team on a blind leap of faith. At her interview for the position of director of marketing almost nineteen years ago, Johansson laid her hesitations on the table: “You know, I couldn’t find anything about this company—anywhere. You don’t even have a website.” William D. Johnston, chairman of Greenleaf, […]
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March 26, 2019
The Yield Curve Inverted…What Now?
On Friday last week, the U.S. treasury yield curve inverted. Weak economic data out of Europe spurred heavy demand for bonds, pressuring the 10-year yield to 2.44%, its lowest level in over a year and about a basis point lower than the 3-month T-bill yield. This is significant because a curve inversion is considered one […]
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March 22, 2019
Basis Planning: Qualified Small Business Stock Exclusion
Considerable time these days is spent identifying ways to include the value of trust assets in the settlor’s gross estate in order to obtain an income tax basis adjustment to those assets. But the settlor or beneficiary’s death is a condition to this planning strategy. What if capital gain exclusion could be obtained while the […]
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March 21, 2019
Use Caution with Gifts of LLC Interests
Family LLCs (FLLCs) and/or Family Limited partnerships’ (FLLPs) have long been popular devices to use when making intra-family gifts (note the terms are used interchangeably below). They are easy to understand and administer, and require very little reporting at the state level, unlike a corporation. Read the full article at Private Wealth.
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March 13, 2019
March 2019 Perspectives
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March 13, 2019
Look Who’s Working Now
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March 13, 2019
Preventing Financial Elder Abuse
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March 13, 2019
Is it Time to Move My 401(k) Balance to a Money Market Fund?
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March 13, 2019
Balancing Debt into Retirement
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March 12, 2019
2018 Annual Report
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March 1, 2019
Disclaiming to Reach a Higher Basis
Disclaiming an interest in property has always been a way to add flexibility to an estate plan. By exercising of a timely qualified disclaimer, the disclaimant effectively moves assets to another individual, or to a trust, without incurring any gift tax. Consequently, disclaimer planning takes center-stage in many estate plans these days by spouses to […]
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February 8, 2019
February 2019 Perspectives
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February 8, 2019
Brexit: Where Are We Now?
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February 8, 2019
Is Your Durable Power of Attorney Aging with You?
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February 8, 2019
Digital Assets – Are You Planning for Them?
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February 8, 2019
Millennials: Building Their Legacy
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February 8, 2019
Hardship Distributions Made Easier in 2019
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January 15, 2019
January 2019 Perspectives
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January 15, 2019
2019 Strategic Initiatives
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January 15, 2019
2018 Review and Outlook
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January 15, 2019
Reflect, Resolve, Relax
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January 15, 2019
Your Children and Their Financial Inheritance
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January 15, 2019
Happily Ever Asher
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January 11, 2019
Greenleaf Trust named national winner of Best and Brightest Companies to Work For
January 10, 2019, Kalamazoo, MI – The National Association for Business Resources has named Greenleaf Trust one of the nation’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. Greenleaf Trust is one of only 512 winning companies out of 2,400 contenders. Other national winners include Sony, Panasonic, Prudential, Ace Hardware, and SpartanNash. This is the eight […]
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December 19, 2018
December 2018 Perspectives Newsletter
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November 14, 2018
November 2018 Perspectives Newsletter
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November 7, 2018
Greenleaf Trust Research: Dems take the House, GOP holds the Senate
In last month’s Perspectives newsletter, we detailed expectations, as well as probable and possible outcomes heading into midterm elections. The article: “Democrats or Republicans…Who Will Ace the Midterms” is available here for your reference. Midterm Outcomes Aligned with Expectations Yesterday, Americans cast ballots to elect members for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives […]
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October 15, 2018
October 2018 Perspectives Newsletter
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September 25, 2018
Remainder Purchase Marital Trust Strategy
A couple of months ago I wrote about the possible use of spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs) as a way for a married couple to exploit the recent $5 million increase in their respective federal gift tax exemption amount, while still retaining access to the cash flow generated by those transferred assets. Yet another technique […]
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September 12, 2018
September 2018 Perspectives Newsletter
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August 15, 2018
August 2018 Perspectives Newsletter
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August 2, 2018
For eighth year in a row, Greenleaf Trust named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in Metro Detroit
July 30, 2018, Warren, Michigan – Companies of every size and purpose across Detroit compete annually to be named one of Metro Detroit’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®. Only those that distinguish themselves as having the most innovative and thoughtful human resources approaches receive the honor. Greenleaf Trust once again is, for the […]
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July 23, 2018
‘Enhanced’ Defined Dollar Value Formula Transfers
The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act provides more incentives for individuals to gift assets either to their family members or to dynasty-type irrevocable trusts. The temporary increase in the applicable transfer tax exemption amount by $5.6 million per individual encourages the wealthy to consider making large gifts when no federal gift tax will be […]
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