While watching the aftermath of Game 3 of the Knicks-Spurs Finals, we couldn't help but think how advisors and estate planning attorneys are very much the NYPD shielding scared Spurs fans from getting beat up by angry New Yawkers and Knicks fans:
Clients, like brave Spurs fans in NYC, are trying to go about their day and likely haven't thought much about estate planning. But sometimes, life, uh, finds a way to derail their day, especially if they're walking home from MSG ๐ต
Good thing clients have advisors + estate planning attorneys in their corner to help ensure they and their families get their estate planning needs met ๐
And with EncorEstate Plans as advisors' back office estate planning team, you can ensure your clients have completed, notarized, and funded estate plans from start to finish in one platform while Encore's industry-leading Support Team of paralegals and estate planners reviews every single estate plan to make sure clients' wishes are 100% what they want.
If this is your NBA jam, and you want to make sure your clients are protected like Spurs fans, schedule a conversation with Encore: encorestateplans[.]com/demo
P.S. In case you're wondering, this post was scheduled to go live after David Haughton, JD, CPWAยฎs most excellent post on third-party funded fully discretionary trusts being a great tool to protect assets: https://t.co/BLpnDuzlZJ
Wanna hear a little known, dangerous secret about San Francisco?
It's crawling with cars that have permanent "STUDENT DRIVER" stickers ๐ฑ
In San Fran and throughout the SF Bay Area, those stickers decorate cars (especially Teslers) like a klepto leopard. And if you live in the SF Bay Area, you know to give wide berth to those "Student Drivers" (the mainstream media doesn't call Cali "the Wild West" for nothing ๐คฃ).
Now, imagine that same car sticker, but for clients with no estate plans in place โ you'd give 'em plenty of space, too! Driving can be dangerous at times, so why let clients roll the dice on their lives even more by not having an estate plan in place?
Good thing advisors + estate attorneys can help safeguard their clients and protect what matters most in their lives by guiding them through estate planning ๐
It's not enough to ensure your clients have completed and notarized estate documents in place โ ya gotta get out there and help educate all of their loved ones (especially if they're named as trustees, beneficiaries, POAs, and healthcare agents!) on what those roles entail and what their responsibilities are when they're called on for help!
For advisors and estate attorneys, especially those on advanced planning teams, EncorEstate Plans has your back like chiroprac when it comes to helping you ensure your clients have completed, notarized, and funded estate plans (EncorEstate Plans industry-leading Support Team takes care of all the deed filing legwork in-house for you so you don't have to waste time chasing an outsourced rando law firm pretending to be part of a vendor's in-house team ๐)
So if you wanna help ensure your clients have their estate planning AND financial planning house in order, find time for a deep-dive conversation with Encore: https://t.co/o643Lilg2k
Did you know life is like estate planning?
Like life, estate planning, uh, finds a way!
If your clients don't have an estate plan, the state will have one for them ๐ฑ
Good thing your clients have YOU (and or an estate planning attorney) to guide them in ensuring their wishes and legacies are in place when they die ๐
But, if you have your clients' back, who's got YOUR back when it comes to ensuring their estate plans are completed, notarized, and funded?
EncorEstate Plans ๐
Yes, THAT EncorEstate Plans (with a company name so nice, gotta write it twice ๐)
Our industry-leading Support Team (see: receipts from Kitces AdvisorTech and T3/Inside Information Surveys) of paralegals and estate planners are your back office estate planning team! Not only will they answer any and all questions you and your clients may have, but every estate plan undergoes EncorEstate Plans' 60-point quality control checklist ๐ช
See the Encore experience for yourself by booking a deep-dive conversation with us: encorestateplans[.]com/demo
Would you rather work with:
๐ An estate planning software partner who misses the mark (twice!) like Muntadhar al-Zaidi?
Or
๐ An estate planning back office team of paralegals and estate planners who confidently tells you, "Now watch this drive!" after helping you ensure your clients' estate plans are completed, accurate, notarized, and funded?
There's no wrong answer, but if you couldn't tell, EncorEstate Plans is all about the second answer ๐
Speaking of golfing, the industry-leading EncorEstate Plans Support Team of paralegals and estate planners is always sincere as a back office estate planning team in helping advisors take care of the estate planning minutiae so that advisors can focus on the activities they enjoy (even if it's golfing more โณ).
Check out how Encore's combo of estate planning back office + estate planning software for advisors = unbeatable combo (like Dubya and dodging shoes ๐ช): encorestateplans[.]com/demo
If Johnnie Cochran was an estate attorney, his famous phrase would likely be, "If a revocable trust doesn't fit, consider an ILIT!" ๐คฃ
At risk of stating the obvious, making sure clients' estate plans actually fit their needs and reflects their wishes is key to ensuring their overall financial plans are complete!
Otherwise, their estate plans could very well end up fitting their needs as well as the ๐ below ๐
Continuing the right fit analogy, advisors need to make sure their estate planning software partner fits their needs, too.
Advisors looking to send links and charge clients beaucoup bucks โ regardless of them actually getting their estate plans done โ have plenty of robust estate planning software options out there!
But if you're an advisor who's serious about ensuring each and every one of your clients has a complete, notarized, and funded estate plan, and wants a back office estate planning team to have their back like chiroprac, then check out EncorEstate Plans ๐ ๐ encorestateplans[.]com/demo
Encore's industry-leading Support Team of paralegals and estate planners is the right fit for you whether you're a dynamite solo advisor or an advisor working at a powerhouse RIA with $50+ billion in AUM. To paraphrase The Jackson 5, ๐ถ just call the EncorEstate Plans support line (or live chat or email) and the Encore Support Team'll be theeeeerrrrre ๐ถ
Book a deep-dive conversation with Encore ๐ encorestateplans[.]com/demo
For decades, special needs planning has followed the same narrow formula: create a special needs trust and build a plan for โwhat happens when the parents are gone.โ
But families donโt live in the future โ they live in the HERE and NOW.
Too often, this outdated approach leaves families with plans that technically exist but donโt actually support their childโs life today. Even worse, estate and financial plans are frequently built in isolation โ resulting in special needs trusts that are properly drafted but never funded or integrated into the familyโs broader financial strategy.
The result? Families who believe they have a plan, but critical pieces are disconnected...
So what does truly comprehensive planning for families with special needs actually look like?
In this session, youโll get a behind-the-scenes look at how Phillip C. Clark, Founder of ENABLE Special Needs Planning, built a model that coordinates estate planning, financial planning, and life planning into a single integrated strategy designed to help families create happy, fulfilling, and abundant lives for their children โ both today and in the future.
RSVP to this masterclass ๐ https://t.co/FJDl3wWIor
Youโll learn:
๐บ๏ธ What truly comprehensive special needs planning requires, and why coordination between legal, financial, and life planning is essential.
๐ซ Why focusing only on a โpost-parents care planโ leaves families exposed, and how effective planning addresses the entire life of the individual with special needs.
๐ค How Phillip collaborates with attorneys and other advisors to ensure the financial and legal components of a special needs plan are actually aligned and implemented.
RSVP to the session! We'll send you the replay if you can't make it: https://t.co/FJDl3wWIor
What if there was a better way to help clients get over estate planning procrastination?
No, we're not talking about EncorEstate Plans or any other estate planning software for advisors as a silver bullet (although EncorEstate Plans is pretty darned good if we say so ourselves according to Kitces and T3/Inside Information surveys ๐).
We're talking about a way that is rooted in both confidence AND compassion to actually help clients get their estate plans done and funded?
In fact, Amy N. Mullen, CFPยฎ of Money Quotient (MQ) and Matt Morris of Encore can show you that way: both have teamed up to illustrate that very path for advisors in bridging the gap between the human and technical sides of estate planning.
In an upcoming webinar, you'll learn:
๐บ๏ธ How Money Quotient's new sequence of client tools helps uncover the emotional and relational aspects of estate planning
โก Practical ways to help clients move past procrastination and engage meaningfully with their planning decisions
๐ค How EncorEstate Plans technology enables advisors to offer estate plan drafting directly within their client relationships
๐ How the MQ + Encore partnership supports holistic, values-based, and efficient estate planning experiences
Sign up for tomorrow's webinar ๐ https://t.co/zUXCwh1xaj
"How do I scale estate planning at my firm?"
๐ That is THE question we hear from advisors time and time again.
EncorEstate Plans has tons of support materials in its Knowledge Base to help advisors do just that!
To add to that: Why not listen to advisor's advisor Kristen Hull (Director of Financial Planning at Duncan Financial Group, a Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. OSJ) who shares EXACTLY how she built and grew Duncan's comprehensive estate planning services over the last two years into the core business offering it is today?
Save your spot at the workshop ๐ https://t.co/yRyztMMTuf
In Kristen's session, she'll share her lessons from building and fine-tuning Duncan's estate planning system over the last two years, and how she is thinking about scaling all of it for their next wave of clients coming in this year.
Youโll learn:
๐งฑ How Kristen built and refined her firm's estate planning model over the last two years, and how you can incorporate whatโs working well for them at your firm.
๐ค Why going beyond creating estate documents by giving clients the ability to get deeper financial planning coaching and education from the Duncan team delivers even more value and deepens relationships with them.
๐ช How Kristen is scaling Duncan's estate planning system this year to better serve their influx of clients.
RSVP to the workshop โก๏ธ https://t.co/yRyztMMTuf
We'll send you the replay if you can't make it. And come prepared with your questions!
Quick, what's the one thing clients ALWAYS procrastinate on?!
Yes, taxes!
But what else?
We'll give you a hint: it rhymes with "EncorEstate Plans" ๐คญ
Correctomundo if you guessed "estate plans"!!
You're probably thinking, "Well, yeah...you can lead a horse to water..."
But what if there was a better way to help clients get over the procrastination hump, one rooted in both confidence and compassion to actually help clients get their estate plans done and funded?
In fact, Amy N. Mullen, CFPยฎ of Money Quotient (MQ) and Matt Morris of EncorEstate Plans can show you that way: both MQ and Encore have teamed up to illustrate that very path for advisors in bridging the gap between the human and technical sides of estate planning.
In an upcoming webinar, you'll learn:
๐บ๏ธ How Money Quotient's new sequence of client tools helps uncover the emotional and relational aspects of estate planning
โก Practical ways to help clients move past procrastination and engage meaningfully with their planning decisions
๐ค How EncorEstate Plans technology enables advisors to offer estate plan drafting directly within their client relationships
๐ How the MQ + Encore partnership supports holistic, values-based, and efficient estate planning experiences
RSVP here ๐ https://t.co/zUXCwh1xaj
You know what's worse than being caught cheating at curling (and then whining, "We would've won gold if it weren't for you medalling Swedes!")?
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ!
In this day and age, your clients absolutely NEED an estate plan in place, even if it's just a simple will (assuming they live in a state where they can get by with a simple will).
Follow these steps for helping your clients cross the hog line aka getting their estate plans complete, notarized, and funded:
1) Go out and sweep the ice for your clients! That estate plan aka the curling stone won't get itself across the finish line ๐ฅ
2) Figure out all the touching of the curling stone that you need to, but don't double-touch it (unless you think you're as smooth as Bill Belichick and the Swedes in videotaping the opposition ๐).
3) Don't pull a Marc Kennedy in delivering an expletive-filled outburst while whining about medalling Swedes pulling premeditated attacks that try to catch your clients not getting their estate plans done ๐คฃ You WANT the notary and witnesses there to make sure they're signing their estate plans so that everything is official!
4) Help your clients cross the hog line aka the finish line by funding their estate plans ๐ You can do so by helping them re-title their financial accounts and leveraging Encore's in-house deed filing service so that your clients' biggest assets (i.e., their primary residence) is placed into their trusts.
And no, this message was not brought to you by Big Estate Planning ๐คฃ If such a cottage industry existed, sign us up for that sweet, sweet kickbacks moolah ๐
Help your clients not be like the Canadian curling team in getting caught cฬถhฬถeฬถaฬถtฬถiฬถnฬถgฬถ without an estate plan โ ensure your clients' estate plans are complete, notarized, and funded with EncorEstate Plans: https://t.co/o643Lilg2k
P.S. Remember to cheer "USA ๐บ๐ธ!!! USA ๐บ๐ธ!!! USA ๐บ๐ธ!!!" at the rest of the Winter Olympics. And keep an eye out for the Encore logo when you're tuning in ๐
Nitrogen's Fearless Investing Summit is always a must-attend in our book (unless you're Luke Cook ๐ ๐คฃ)
This year's #FIS2026 is esp. notable given that both Matt Morris and Daniel Michaelsen, JD are presenting their session on "How to Get Beneficiaryย Designations Right andย Estate Plans Completed" ๐
It'll touch on everything from the broken client estate planning experience (it's really sucked for the last few decades ๐ญ) to the 5 beneficiary designation areas to consider for estate plan funding and bulletproofing (these areas are oft-missed, sadly!).
If you're at #FIS2026, drop in TODAY for this 0.5 CE credit 30-min session on Level 3, Granite C @ 3:50pm MST ๐
Facts we learned today on the 19th day of December in the year 2025 of our Lord:
๐คฃ Mark Seither, @LessTaxMoreBeer looks like Luke Cook according to AI.
๐ฅฉ Huge CONGRATULATIONS to Luke for winning 2nd (out of 2) in the inaugural Smoked Meats Award at EncorEstate Plans's annual holiday party.
๐๏ธ Encore's 2026 company retreat will be at โ drumroll, please! โ Stockton!
(Mark, you might have to file a complaint with one of those AI chatbot companies that made this avatar of you based on Luke's pic ๐)
Matt Morris, CEO & Co-Founder of EncorEstate Plans, discusses the firm's study of how well the major AI chatbots responded to 46 basic estate planning questions. @MattJoMorris@encorestateplan
Brings a whole new meaning to "Fake News!!!" ๐คฃ
If Big Journalism and Big Law aren't safe from ChatGPT, then who is?!?!
Advisors, duh! Especially if they can educate their clients on the dangers of relying on ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for financial planning and estate planning ๐
How to show your clients what happens when they don't get their estate plans signed, notarized, and funded:
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Follow EncorEstate Plans for estate planning memes, and all things estate planning for advisors ๐
Do you have an estate planning conversation framework in place?
All good if not! And if you do, it's always good to compare notes with other advisors, esp. those who are super passionate about estate planning ๐
Eric J. Negron, CEPAยฎ ๐, Matt Morris, and Blake Brewer๐ reunite at #AdvisorScaleCon2025 to show you how you can become the "Forever Advisor" to your clients by integrating estate planning into every facet of your clients' financial plans.
In their workshop, you'll learn:
๐ก How estate planning elevates your perceived value to clients.
๐ค Deepens your relationships with clients.
โพ๏ธ Sets future you up as the "Forever Advisor" to your clients.
Save your spot at #AdvisorScaleCon
ScaleCon: https://t.co/SZaaWWcvzR
๐ Austin, TX | Nov 12โ13 | Limited to 100 Advisors
Echoing R. Cole Craven's sentiments, Herbert Kyles, CFPยฎ and Matt Morris really are great people dedicated to serving others exceptionally well ๐
That's why EncorEstate Plans is PUMPED to bring you a fireside chat with Herbert and Move Health (they're bringing marshmallows btw!): https://t.co/09cCOLqAy8
You'll learn from Herbert:
๐ค How being a COI has improved his client experience, especially in the areas where he knows the least.
๐ฅ Spark conversations that deep dive into the areas clients always perk their ears up at (e.g., taxes, healthcare) and lead to more information AND assets uncovered.
๐ช Turn โI donโt knowโ into a โI know who can helpโ growth strategy.
RSVP here ๐ Wed 11/5 @ 10am PT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET: https://t.co/09cCOLqAy8
Youโll walk away with:
- Proven scripts and frameworks that will grow your planning fees through collaboration.
- A repeatable system for expanding your value without overextending your team.
- New revenue streams from deeper client relationships.
Save your spot now: https://t.co/09cCOLqAy8
Trying to make your getaway on a commercial airline at one of the world's busiest airports after stealing the French crown jewels is like getting your estate plan signed, but not funded ๐ซ
Similar to how OJ wrote about it in a book, this is how we'd make our getaway with the French crown jewels IF we stole them:
๐ Drive across the border into Belgium (much like how EncorEstate Plans dispatches notaries to drive to your clients' house to get their estate plans notarized).
๐ฅท Hide in the French countryside if we're lazy and don't want to make our escape until the news cycle blows over (much like how EncorEstate Plans will handle deed filing for your clients without anyone needing to go to the county assessor's office).
๐ Hide all the goods in a safe and make sure to mention in the Tangible Personal Property (TPP) list that everything in the safe belongs to our descendants and is to only be sold at a Sotheby's auction in 50 years (yes, EncorEstate Plans has TPP templates for you to give your clients).
P.S. Notice the new hardware that's a part of our brand refresh? ๐