Message from the Chairperson

M. Eileen Dougherty, CTFA, CFP®, AEP®, ChFC®
Semper Trust Company
King of Prussia, PA

Welcome to the first issue of the AEP® Alert for 2012. My sincere thanks to Greg Sellers, CPA®, AEP® for all his hard work in leading our committee for the last two years, and many thanks for continuing your work with our group as you move ahead into an executive position on the NAEPC Board.

As the Chairman of the AEP® Committee I am delighted to advise you that my Co-Chair is William D. Kirchick, JD, AEP®, of Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston, MA. Heading up our Marketing initiative for the Committee is Thomas Borchert, CLU®, ChFC®, LUTCF, AEP®, of Professional Insurance & Financial Alternatives of Sioux City, IA. Our Technology Liaison is Chris Jakyma, JD, CTFA, AEP®, of FirstMerit Wealth Management Services in Cleveland, OH. As a new feature this month, look for profiles of individual committee members so you can get to know us a little better. In spite of tax season, we are all working hard to bring you up to date information about the financial services market and to find new and creative ways to bring additional value to you as AEP® designees.

If you are busy organizing your calendar for this new year, please note that April is National Financial Literacy Month and October 15-21, 2012 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Learn more about these awareness campaigns.

Please plan to join us in sunny Orlando, FL for the 49th Annual NAEPC Conference November 7-9, 2012. If you have never attended the conference before you will be amazed at the modest cost for top level speakers. And this year we will again feature a special session just for AEP® members. Last year's session will soon be available on the website. Our excellent Conference Committee, led by John O'Meara, JD, CLU®, ChFC®, CFP®, AEP® have really hit it out of the park this year. So don't fret over the designated hitter rule, just use this link for more information about this year's conference.

Sincerely,
Eileen
 

We congratulate those new AEP® designees and celebrate with them their accomplishment:

We live in highly insecure planning times, where wealth transfer planning must increasingly be adaptable if it is to survive with clients and their descendents. Clients today often feel insecure about transitioning wealth they may need for themselves in the future to family members in flux, while advisors clearly lack the tax law visibility necessary to confidently advise clients as to how best to plan.

Consider the growing list of client-centric planning challenges: clients are living longer; health care costs are skyrocketing; family circumstances are continually changing; a deficit-riddled America will soon face austerity; and market volatility abounds with "black swan" events occurring every few years instead of every one hundred years. And from an advisor's vantage point, planning clarity regarding the transfer tax laws terminates altogether on 12/31/2012.

Read complete article.

In the Spotlight:
William D. Kirchick

William D. Kirchick, Attorney, AEP®, is a partner in the Boston office of the law firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP. For over 35 years Bill has practiced in the areas of estate, business planning, trust administration and probate law. He is a frequent lecturer and author on topics pertaining to estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax planning, having given presentations for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Federal Tax Institute of New England, several estate planning councils in the greater Boston areas. A member of the Norfolk & Plymouth Estate Planning Council and the Planned Giving Group of New England, Bill is also a past President of the Boston Estate Planning Council and recipient of the Council's 2004 Estate Planner of the Year award. Mr. Kirchick is a fellow the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and is noted as a Super Lawyer in New England by Boston Magazine.

Bill is a member of the NAEPC board of directors and serves as vice chairperson of the AEP® Committee which oversees the administration and growth of the designation program.

"The AEP® designation as awarded by NAEPC is a special recognition that the recipient is respected by his or her peers and subscribes to the Team Concept in the Estate Planning profession. It is an honor for me to hold this designation."

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