Publications

10 Ways to Prepare to Help Your Parents Manage Their Finances
power of attorney, healthcare proxy Matthew Erskine power of attorney, healthcare proxy Matthew Erskine

10 Ways to Prepare to Help Your Parents Manage Their Finances

10 actions you can take that help open the lines of communication and determine where you can play a role in managing your elderly parents’ finances. Asking questions about their long-term financial plans and what they've done to prepare for them will give you a better sense of how you can assist them with real estate, investments, and collections.

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Executive Order Makes Policy On Crypto Less Cryptic
Cryptocurrency, NFT, Digital Assets Matthew Erskine Cryptocurrency, NFT, Digital Assets Matthew Erskine

Executive Order Makes Policy On Crypto Less Cryptic

An executive order outlining six key priorities focused on American competitiveness, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and proactive legislation. The more proactive approach to the growth and regulation of the digital asset sector in the U.S. is an acknowledgment of the hundreds of thousands of investors looking to embrace crypto and web 3.0 in U.S. markets.

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Estate Planning For Foxes And Hedgehogs
ADHD, Estate Planning Matthew Erskine ADHD, Estate Planning Matthew Erskine

Estate Planning For Foxes And Hedgehogs

Most estate planners think like hedgehogs. They know everything about estate planning. That works well for most clients, but others need the more difficult help of a fox, especially entrepreneurs (and people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).

In other words, clients who make impulsive, sub-optimal decisions, whose choices are guided by smaller, immediate rewards instead of larger, long-term ones, and who make such errors in their planning, organization, self-regulation, and prioritizing when choosing courses of action.

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Estate Planning For Foxes, Entrepreneurs And People With ADHD
ADHD, Entrepreneur, Small Business, Neurodiverse Matthew Erskine ADHD, Entrepreneur, Small Business, Neurodiverse Matthew Erskine

Estate Planning For Foxes, Entrepreneurs And People With ADHD

So, here are some helpful tips for you, if you are an entrepreneur or a person with ADHD and need to do some estate planning (or any type of decision making for that matter):

• Write it down: Writing your goal and your scenario down requires you to think through the process. Remember, if it is not in writing, it does not exist (at least as far as the probate court is concerned).

• Make snap decisions: In times of crisis, it is better to do something, even if it not the optimal thing, than to do nothing.

• Have a dictator: Find someone to whom you declare your goals and objectives. Give them the right to impose firm standards from the outside.

• Record what you have learned: When you do get something done, record it and learn from it, good or bad.

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Lifting The Veil: Art Deals,    The Bank Secrecy Act And The Need For Art Fiduciaries
Financial Planning, Art Deals Matthew Erskine Financial Planning, Art Deals Matthew Erskine

Lifting The Veil: Art Deals, The Bank Secrecy Act And The Need For Art Fiduciaries

The use of the art market to launder drug money; and, how the government is dealing with the issue by extending the reporting requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act to the art and antiquities market. The reporting requirement is a sharp departure from the otherwise confidential art market and will require artists and collectors to change their mindset when buying and selling art. Indeed, this change, the proposed changes in the U.S. tax laws and the emergence of non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) is prompting a sea change in how fiduciaries manage these assets during lifetimes and after death.

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