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Vol. 80, No. 5, September 2026
FEATURED ARTICLES
Working with Nonequity Split Dollar
April Caudill, JD, CLU, ChFC, AEP (Distinguished)
Daniel Finn, JD, CLU, CFP
Having life insurance owned in an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is a well-known way to soften the burden of an estate tax. As for how to pay for the policy, the insureds could make gifts to the trust, but they might not like the gift tax effects. Or they could lend premiums to the trust, but they might not like the resulting interest rate effects. Fortunately, there is another way to pay premiums: nonequity split dollar. Through these arrangements, the size of the annual gifts to the ILIT can be extremely low, as they are based on just the value of the insurance coverage that is controlled by the ILIT. This article explains this and other benefits of nonequity split dollar plans.
The Use of Checklists to Aid in Retirement Planning
Steve Parrish, JD, RICP, CLU, RHU, ChFC, AEP
Eric T. Ludwig, PhD, CFP, RICP
Among the multiple digital and analog tools available to help financial advisors with the challenges of the retirement planning process, checklists are a particularly useful instrument to utilize. In fact, checklists have long been used by professionals, such as pilots and physicians, to both provide a process and avoid mistakes. Checklists can help set-up, organize, and monitor retirement planning and execution. They are not intended to replace expertise, but rather to support it.
Gender Disparities in Financial Preparedness
Afrouz A. Jahromi, PhD
This study examines gender disparities in financial preparedness using six waves (2020–2025) of the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED). The data reveals a consistent pattern: gender gaps tied to financial access, banking, credit approval, and account ownership have narrowed substantially since 2018, while gaps tied to confidence and engagement have not. Women remain 18 percentage points less likely to feel comfortable making investment decisions, score 1.16 points lower on a 0–10 risk tolerance scale, and are 6.7 points less likely to feel on track for retirement. The retirement confidence gap has widened from 3.8 to 6.7 percentage points since 2018, and the medical debt gap has widened steadily. These patterns have direct implications for how financial planners approach client relationships.
DEPARTMENTS
Editor’s View
Retirement Disconnects: The Danger of Conventional Wisdom
Kenn Beam Tacchino, JD, LLM
Planners need to set the record straight for clients when it comes to the client’s perceptions about retirement planning. Incorrect views are often held around the expected age of retirement, working beyond age 70, garnering part-time income after retirement from full-time employment, exhausting resources in retirement because of increased spending needs as the client ages, overlooking Social Security’s capability, and neglecting or underestimating Social Security’s role in providing retirement income.
Accounting & Taxation
Section 732 Relief for Some Partnership Distributions
Bill Harden, CPA, ChFC, PhD
This column will detail a relief provision that is available to assist partners in limited circumstances in which the partnership has not made a Sec. 754 election. In other circumstances, the related regulations require that a partner implement the rule.
Executive Compensation
The New Trump Accounts — IRAs for Babies
Paul J. Schneider, JD, LLM
Trump Accounts introduce a unique structure that enables savings to begin at birth through contributions from families, employers, governments, and charities. However, in many cases, Trump Accounts are less tax-advantaged than existing alternatives. Nevertheless, a Trump Account, following conversion to a Roth IRA, has value as a wealth-accumulation or retirement vehicle. No other tax-favored general savings vehicle allows contributions from birth until age 18 without any earned income. However, the interplay among a family’s specific tax situation, its existing savings and retirement plans, its current financial situation, and its overall estate and financial goals can be complex and requires a financial service professional to mitigate this complexity.
Entrepreneurship
When Clients Ask, “How Do I Start a Business?”
Kevin Tacchino, MSTFP
When clients ask financial planners how to start a business, answering can be complex. Rather than giving direct operational or legal advice, planners add value by guiding clients through a risk-reducing, step-by-step process: building a business plan, identifying regulations, evaluating tax and insurance needs, selecting an entity structure, and launching. By directing entrepreneurs to specialized professionals—such as attorneys, CPAs, and no-cost SBA resources—planners protect client interests, mitigate risks, and build lasting trust.
Financial Gerontology
2032-2034 OASDI – Social (In)Security?
John N. Migliaccio, PhD, RFG, FGSA
The 2026 Social Security Fund Trustees Report set off shockwaves of urgency and concern about the solvency of the system and even the short-term sustainability of benefits for millions of workers, beneficiaries, and future generations. Identified solutions already exist and have clear and widespread preferences among large majorities of Americans across all sectors and every generation, all of whom view Social Security benefits as critical to their basic foundation of financial security. Financial advisors, organizations, and associations have both challenges and influence in identifying and quickly implementing workable solutions at all levels from their individual clients to national government.
Long-Term Care Insurance
Timeliness and Transparency
Ronald R. Hagelman, Jr., CLTC, CSA, LTCP
We look at where long-term care insurance has been and where it is going. The column provides context for current consumer thinking about the product.
Practice Management
A Fresh Look at Small-Business Retirement Plans—Part 2
Douglas B. Richards, JD, MBA, CLU, CFP
The information presented in this column will aid the financial service professional seeking to become more familiar with the small business retirement plan market. The financial service professional should feel more confident in encouraging small business owners who employ no one other than perhaps their spouse, to consider adopting a one-participant 401(k)/profit-sharing plan as they have many benefits that SIMPLE IRAs and SEP IRAs don’t offer. In addition, the financial service professional should feel more confident helping small business owners who have the right mix of employees and self-employed earnings to consider adopting a cash balance plan along with a safe-harbor 401(k)/profit-sharing plan. This combination of qualified plans offers the highest potential for small business owners to maximize their retirement contributions.
