• Can Baby Bonds Put Disadvantaged Kids on the Path to Prosperity?
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • June 18, 2021
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    Thanks to legislation approved on Wednesday, every year over 15,000 Connecticut infants born into low-income families will receive $3,200 government-funded savings accounts. The accounts are designed to provide qualifying children with an estimated $10,600 when they turn 18. The returns are based on a projected average rate of return on investment over 18 years of 6.9

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  • Memorial Day Estate Planning Thoughts
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • May 24, 2021
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    Hard to believe it’s almost Memorial Day weekend. But it is. For the first time in over a year, extended families may finally get together (in person) to kick off the official start of summer. Whether masked or unmasked, the focus will be on grilling, boating, beaching, golfing and maybe a parade. But the term

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  • John Legend: Winning Doesn’t Have to Be a Zero-Sum Game
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • May 9, 2021
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    Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, John Legend, delivered a stirring commencement address at my son’s college graduation last weekend. With his signature tenor-baritone voice wafting over Wallace-Wade stadium, he shook the sleepy students out of their slumber with expletive-filled acronyms DDMF and GTHC familiar to anyone who’s watched a Duke-Carolina basketball game. Clearly, it wasn’t going to

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  • HB Publishing Cited in Wealth Management Magazine
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • April 26, 2021
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    Last week, Wealth Management/Informa media group was kind enough to highlight findings from our 2021 CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™. As contributor Randy A. Fox explained in his article, Business Booming for Estate Planners, Giving Officers, seven out of 10 (71%) surveyed estate planners and planned giving officers expected their entities to grow in 2021. In fact,

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  • Stop Clearing Your Throat When You Write
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • April 15, 2021
    1 Comment

    Don’t worry if your first draft sucks You’d think after all the texting, tweeting and TikTok-ing we do in our limited attention-span society, we’d be better at getting straight to the point. But we don’t. We waffle, we hedge, we tiptoe around the edges in our conversations and Zoom calls. It’s even worse in our

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  • Want Media Attention? Make the Media’s Job Easier, Not Harder
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • March 27, 2021
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    I was a financial journalist for many years before starting HB Publishing. You know how you feel when telemarketers call you just after you’ve sat down for dinner? Well that’s how I used to feel when a rookie PR person or fledgling entrepreneur would pitch me a completely off base story—typically when I was crashing

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  • Data Shows Leading Advisors Work the Press (Smart)
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • March 18, 2021
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    Quality over quantity to build longstanding relationships As our 5th annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™  draws to a close, several data points stand out. More than four out of five surveyed advisors (81%) told us they expect their practices to grow over the next 12 months. Even more encouraging, nearly two in five respondents (38%)

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  • Survey: Top Advisors to Speak, Educate and Publish More in 2021
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • March 8, 2021
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    Most remain optimistic despite interest rates, tax changes, market volatility and bumpy VAX rollout Our 5th annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™  is coming to a close. Despite recent market turbulence, preliminary data indicates that only two in five advisors (44%) believe a market correction of more than 10 percent is “very likely” in 2021 and

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  • 7 Steps to a Better Website
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • February 19, 2021
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    By Patricia Creedon, Guest Columnist Whether you are meeting prospective clients online or in person; whether they find you through a referral or a talk you gave–one thing is sure. They looked you up on the web first. That’s why you need a website that holds their attention, explains why your firm is just what

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  • Advisor Survey: Even the Affluent Lack Financial Awareness
    • by: Hank Berkowitz
    • February 11, 2021
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    Most advisors we talked to are optimistic about their growth prospects in 2021. But they don’t seem as confident about their clients’ financial acumen. Early results of our 5th annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™  showed more than half of advisors (55%) believe America’s financial literacy has NOT improved over the past year. More than half

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