WANTED: Your Voice & Support in Taking the Journal to the Next Level

Charlie Douglas, JD, CFP®, AEP®, Editor
Email: editor@naepcjournal.org
Phone: 404.279.7890

At this time, estate planning practitioners have a great need to retool themselves regarding the significant wealth transfer planning and counseling opportunities available to help clients leave their intended legacy. The NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning has been making significant strides in stepping-up its game while arming practitioners with the best-in-class content available in the estate planning industry today.

From the planning possibilities and the potential pitfalls surrounding The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, to the non-tax reasons for trusts and helping clients prepare their heirs to receive and manage assets, this publication intends to be an indispensible go-to resource for practitioners.

Instead of releasing an entirely new Journal with each quarter and archiving the previous quarter’s content, our focus will now be on building out and expanding upon the existing online content with each successive quarterly release. Our current mission is simple: To offer a non-static resource, where practitioners can easily access the best-in-class planning content across the bevy of disciplines within the estate planning industry.

Traffic on to the NAEPC Journal continues to gain impressive traction. In the first quarter of 2011, we had in excess of 47,000 hits, 13,600 page views and nearly 5,300 unique visitors! While these are significant gains in website traffic, please note that the best days are still ahead.

We are most grateful and pleased to be making available to estate practitioners and affiliated local estate planning council’s alike, exceptional advice from the top practitioners and content providers in our industry. Going forward, the Journal will be sharing the most relevant and cutting-edge content from such leading providers as Leimberg Information Services Inc., Trusts & Estates magazine, Commerce Clearing House, WealthCounsel® and American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”)to name just a few of our growing list of content supporters.

In addition, leadership at the Journal will continue to reach out directly to, and make articles available from, individual thought leaders and national notables in our multi-disciplinary industry. Moreover, ongoing efforts are being made with select individuals within the publication industry to ensure that the publication is positioning itself for maximum impact within the estate planning community.

In keeping the bar raised and in pushing it even higher, the Journal needs your support and feedback. In this respect, please ensure that your local members are made aware of this valuable resource. If the Journal is to reach its potential in serving councils and planning practitioners, it must be shared, used often and continually refined.

Please also let us hear from you with your views as to what subject areas we may be under serving? Would you like to see more in the way of webinars and/or podcasts? Are there any particular practice aids that would be helpful to you in carrying out your discipline within estate planning? How about writing an article and/or forwarding an article of interest in your area of expertise for republication?

Continuing to build upon the considerable efforts of the Journal’s founding editor, Jeff Scroggin, this resource remains complimentary and crafted by practitioners for practitioners. It is intended to help each of us improve our skill set and better serve our clients. Your voice and support in taking the Journal to the next level will be an invaluable way of helping others in our planning community and in helping to increase the depth of the “well” of knowledge we all draw from and depend upon.

I look forward to hearing from you directly. Thank you, in advance, for supporting the Journal.

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Charlie Douglas, JD, CFP®, AEP® has practiced in the business, tax, estate and financial planning areas for over 25 years. He holds a J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law and possesses the Certified Financial Planner® and an Accredited Estate Planner® designation. As a senior vice president for a leading global wealth management institution, Charlie specializes in comprehensive planning solutions and trust fiduciary services for business owners, high net-worth individuals and their families. Charlie is a board member of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (“NAEPC”) and is the current editor of the NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning.

This information is provided for discussion purposes only and is not to be construed as providing legal, tax, investment or financial planning advice. Please consult all appropriate advisors prior to undertaking any of the strategies outlined in this article, many of which may involve complex legal, tax, investment and financial issues. This communication is not a Covered Opinion as defined by Circular 230 and is limited to the Federal tax issues addressed herein. Additional issues may exist that affect the Federal tax treatment of the transaction. The communication was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, or relied on, by the taxpayer, to avoid Federal tax penalties.