This national award-winning series was started by Peter Kote in 1993 when he was employed by Long Beach State University. It was designed to educate staff and faculty about financial and estate planning.

It has gone through a multitude of changes with one major goal in mind – pure education in a safe environment to avoid the predatory sales practices of the financial service industry.

Workshops:
click on a session below for information and videos

Week 1: Intro/Personal Assessment
Week 2: Estate Planning Basics
Week 3: Planning for Incapacity
Week 4: Living Trusts & Beyond

Week 5: Charitable Income and Tax Planning Issues
Week 6: IRA & Retirement Plan Distributions
Week 7: The Role of a Trustee and Executor
Week 8: Case Study and Review


We created rules and they are simple:

  1. No commercial or for profit sponsors (charitable sponsors want you to be as wealthy as possible, give to the charity versus paying it in the form of taxes and consider an income gift such as a charitable gift annuity)
  2. We use only speakers who can agree to be a fiduciary (put the interest of their client first) to their clients and do not sell financial products only their services. We promise no professional advisor will receive any attendee contact information.
  3. We promise no charity will solicit a donation and no financial products will be sold.

Below is a summary from each 8 week session:

  • What is the very first question you should ask your advisor?
  • How should you allocate your investment assets to preserve your wealth?
  • What are the disadvantages of a living trust?
  • What are the practical low cost ways to avoid probate?
  • Why you may not want to avoid probate?
  • How much income tax is your estate or heirs going to pay?
  • For a Charitable Trust – do you really need a charity?
  • Is losing control over an asset worth saving tax dollars?
  • What is the most important legal document you need (less than $5.00)?