I receive an absolute avalanche of material from our carriers every day. Most of it, sadly, is not that relevant (although necessary). One of the more useful pieces, the "Central Intelligence" from John Hancock hit my in box this week, and a couple of the articles caught my attention:

IRS Guidance on Electing Out of Estate Tax for 2010 Decedents

That's right, some people are still having to clean up the mess that the feds created in 2010. Because of the way the legislation enacted at the end of 2010 dealt with those passing away in 2010, the heirs now have a choice to make: Remain under tax regime established by the new legislation, or opt out and use the complicated and unclear rules that were actually in place during 2010.

Why bring this up? It's September 2011, meaning that there are about 16 months before the current legislation sunsets and we all face the same levels of uncertainty that made 2009 and 2010 so challenging. Time to start paying attention to this, as I think we will have a significant challenge moving any legislation through in an election year, particularly when there are so many issues facing our nation as a whole.

Injunction Sought Against 419A(f)(6) Plans Funded with Life Insurance

Think you have heard this story before? You probably have. Prior to the explosion of STOLI, this was probably one of the most controversial planning strategies used in our business. While there may not be a significant problem with the fundamental concept of these plans, there are always those who push the envelope. That certainly seems to be the case here. But rather than focus on the technical merits of this case, how about looking at the bigger picture. Could this be a simple case of pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered?

Maybe. The issue in this arena has always been the aggressive plan designs rather than the concept itself. Again. It is part of a pattern that our business falls in to whenever there are too many zeros to the left of the decimal point in the commission check derived from a particular concept. Under the guise of trying to maximize benefits for the client, we end up with a mess like the one mentioned above ($300 mil of deductible contributions made after the IRS had already found the plans out of compliance with federal tax law? Really?). While the plan administrator is clearly in hot water, what about all of the plan participants who are going to have the deductions disallowed? That is a pretty hard hit to recover from.

So here's to the agents, planners and registered reps who are out there keeping their clients on the fairway. Sure, a spectacular shot can get you out of the rough and on the green, but the wild, Maalox swilling ride that comes with some of the exotic, aggressive plans can also land you out of bounds, adding extra strokes to your score.

Enjoy the last weekend of summer, and all the best to everyone dealing with the aftermath of Irene.