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Money Matters: Trusts & Estates, Karen Goersch, Financial Advisor, Jan 19,2021

Host: Doug Campbell

An update on Trust and Estates  – John Schachtenhaufen

Karen Goersch, Financial Advisor  will present. Introduced by John Schlachtenhaufen

  • The Secure Act, passed in December 2019, has largely eliminated the ability for our beneficiaries to “stretch” our IRA over their lifetimes.
  • Strategies and ideas to reduce your or your beneficiaries’ tax burden including:
    • Qualified charitable distributions
    • CHET 529 contributions
    • Donor advised fund
    • Roth conversion
  • Will also discuss why these strategies can be helpful, including things like,
    • Do you know your incremental tax bracket and what the next lower or higher bracket is?
    • How reducing your Adjusted Gross Income can save you money on your Medicare Premiums and the “cliffs”
    • Are you charitably inclined and might there be ways to “do good” and save on taxes?  If giving to charity, do I give now or later?
    • If I have more than I need, where does it go and how to ensure it goes where I want and most tax-efficiently

Video recording of Karen’s presentation:  https://youtu.be/UVxZPh4mJGw

Tax Reference Guide 2021

9circles

Qualified Charitable Distributions – FAQs and Checklist

USCGT Key Differences between DAF vs Private Foundations 07 2020

 

Tom Glover

Tom Glover, 90, who for years did a caricature of each DMA president for this newsletter, died peacefully on December 17 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Tom was a caricaturist with a unique ability to capture the essence of those he drew, and he touched thousands of people with his cheerful perception.
He was born in New York and raised in Great Neck, Long Island. The course of Tom’s life took a decisive turn when he headed north to St. Lawrence University, where he honed his drawing skills at a local watering hole called the Tick Tock, where his caricatures hung. He graduated in 1952, and after serving in the Army, Tom returned each year to draw new SLU students. A blind date was arranged with one of the new coeds, and Tom’s fate was sealed.

Tom and his wife Diane went on to make a wonderful life based in Rowayton and were married for 62 years. From an ever-busy home studio Tom built a thriving business. A private service will be conducted at Christ Church in Exeter on December 27, with a Committal service to follow during warmer weather in Rowayton.

Book Club: Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre, February 10, 2021, 2:00

The New York Times bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor tells the thrilling true story of the most important female spy in history: an agent code-named “Sonya,” who set the stage for the Cold War. In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her. They didn’t know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn’t know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the facade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated Communist, a Soviet colonel, and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb. This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named “Sonya.” Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI-and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the twentieth century-between Communism, Fascism, and Western democracy-and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times. With unparalleled access to Sonya’s diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben Macintyre has conjured a page-turning history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers

David Hurwitt

David Frank Hurwitt
David Frank Hurwitt of New Canaan, CT passed away November 19, 2020. David was born on April 8, 1938 in Kansas City, MO, the son of Irwin and Nancy Hurwitt. He is survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Susan, their four children – Douglas, Laura Towle, David, and Sarah Clark, their spouses, 11 grandchildren, his sister, Joann Kinney, and many beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews.
David graduated from Harvard University in 1960 and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1964, following a stint in the Air Force. He spent twenty-six years with General Foods Corp, including six years in Europe running the company’s English and French subsidiaries before returning to the US as General Manager of the Breakfast Foods Division, and then Corporate VP of Marketing. David subsequently worked as VP of Marketing for Flagstar, owner of Denny’s, and Hardee’s largest franchisee.
David then began nearly 20 years as a dedicated mentor and coach to a variety of small businesses, first through Renaissance Executive Forums and then through his own practice, Hurwitt Coaching. A wonderful communicator with the ability to ask deeply insightful questions which he sprinkled with his own wisdom, David loved working 1-on-1 with others, helping them to achieve their dreams. His years of working in, and then leading large organizations and teams, combined with his own management style – supportive, and conveying the importance of responsibility and accountability – provided a template that many of his small business clients continue to use with great success and gratitude.
Alongside his work, David volunteered regularly for many organizations, including The Rotary Club of New Canaan, served on the boards of The Institute for Global Ethics, Shakespeare on the Sound – Rowayton and ABC (A Better Chance) – Darien, and spent 10 years as Board Chair for Creative Connections of Norwalk. He was a lifelong learner, athlete, and artist who loved to connect with people. When you spoke to him, he was endlessly curious and thoroughly engaged. An avid photographer and traveler, his favorite subjects were always people. Wherever he went, he would seek out crowded markets or bustling fishing villages where he would meet people through his camera. Often separated by language and culture, his subjects were invariably suspicious until he peeked up from behind his viewfinder with his infectious grin and that special twinkle in his eye that brought out their smiles and created so many poignant images of connection and trust.
An avid golfer and tennis player, David more recently turned his enthusiasm for sport to the pickleball court where he was well-known for his wicked slice shot, something he often claimed came from “a misspent youth playing ping-pong.” David made many new friends playing pickleball, enjoying time with them the very morning of his passing, winning his last four games.
Ever the student, David was particularly interested in history and government and was always reading biographies – everything from Genghis Khan to Abraham Lincoln – although Winston Churchill and fellow Missourian Harry Truman were particular favorites. It was no surprise that a man from the “Show Me State” would look to examples from the past as he too always sought to lead by example. Gracious and polite, curious and compassionate, he was an inspiring role model for his children and grandchildren and a steady and trusted friend to people of all ages and backgrounds.
Perhaps his favorite role, however, was as husband to his beloved wife Susie. Always solicitous, he was known to often show up with flowers “just because”. Together, they raised their children, traveled the world, created beautiful homes, made treasured friends, supported their church, and became the world’s best grandparents together as Susu and Poppy. Always highly engaged with family, officiating at the wedding of their oldest granddaughter, Hannah, to Luke Barthelmess was something David considered to be one of the greatest honors of his life.
David, Dad, Poppy will be greatly missed because he was greatly loved, but the pure and consistent example of his life will remain an unwavering beacon for all who knew him. Be kind, be interested, connect with people, listen to understand others and always bring home flowers… just because.
A celebration of David’s life will be held when his family and friends can all safely gather, presumably this summer. To enjoy a sampling of David’s favorite photographs, please visit https://dhurwitt.smugmug.com.
If you would like to give a memorial contribution in David’s name, the following suggestions were among those endeavors very meaningful to him:
The Rotary Club of New Canaan Charitable Foundation
PO Box 62, New Canaan, CT 06840
Creative Connections’ David Hurwitt Scholarship Fund
Enabling underserved youth in the US and around the world to engage in arts-based exchanges that foster global understanding and empathy. https://creativeconnections.org/hurwitt_fund/
The Principia School’s Morgan Fund
Established by the Hurwitt/Towle family to support and encourage new families to attend the Principia School. Please specify The Morgan Fund when donating.
The Advancement Office
Principia
13201 Clayton Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63131
or online: https://www.principiagiving.org/donate

 

To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope you will save the date and join us for a virtual celebration of David’s life on Sunday, April 18 at 4:00 pm EDT.

Please register for the event by clicking on the link below today. Once registered, Zoom will send you all the details needed to attend.

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJArce6gqz0tHdQDcC5Rrs-am5eM-6YIveWM

 You are welcome to forward this information to others you know who would appreciate being included.

We are so looking forward to gathering together to celebrate our precious dad and husband with you.

With love,

Susie, Doug, Laura, Dave and Sarah

Money Matters: Chip Schroeder on Hydrogen in the Economy, Dec 1, 2020

Chip’s introductory notes: Hydrogen – the _Green Fuel__ (v2)

Article from Geoffrey Rezek: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201127-how-hydrogen-fuel-could-decarbonise-shipping

https://theconversation.com/hydrogen-where-is-low-carbon-fuel-most-useful-for-decarbonisation-147696

https://theconversation.com/hydrogen-isnt-the-key-to-britains-green-recovery-heres-why-143059

https://theconversation.com/hydrogen-cars-wont-overtake-electric-vehicles-because-theyre-hampered-by-the-laws-of-science-139899

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_electrolyte_membrane_electrolysis

 

Battery vs Fuel Cell fields of use

Book Club: Daniel Yergen, “The New Map”, Jan 13, 2021 @ 2:00

THE NEW MAP

ENERGY, CLIMATE, AND THE CLASH OF NATIONS

The latest on global energy geopolitics from the pen of an expert.

Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of multiple magisterial volumes on world affairs as they relate to energy. In The Quest (2011), he described the stormy rivalry between an America struggling to maintain its hegemony in the face of upcoming rivals Russia and China. The following decade has not improved matters, and the current global pandemic is proving to be a disaster. However, bad news often makes for entertaining reading, and Yergin delivers a fascinating and meticulously researched page-turner. He maintains that an energy revolution has transformed the world to America’s benefit. However, it’s not wind and solar but fracking. American oil production had been dropping since 1970, but after 2000, fracking changed the game. In 2018, the U.S. overtook Russia and Saudi Arabia to again become the world’s largest oil producer. Production tripled between 2008 and 2020. Yergin astutely examines how other nations responded. Russia, with an economy “only slightly larger than Spain’s,” depends on oil income as much as the old Soviet Union. Responding to American oil sanctions, Putin has vastly improved relations with China, by many measures the world’s leading economy. “China,” writes the author, “has become what Britain had been during the industrial revolution—the manufacturing ‘workshop of the world.’ ” It’s already the largest producer of steel, aluminum, and computers as well as the largest energy consumer. Turning to the Middle East, Yergin describes an unhappy collection of failed states, civil wars, oppressive theocracies, bloody insurgencies, and wealthy ministates, all dealing with plummeting oil prices. The author views Trump with the same mild disapproval he applies to Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, and he chastises environmentalists for getting certain facts wrong. Yergin accepts that humans have dramatically affected the climate, but he doubts the practicality of proposed solutions.

Required reading. Another winner from a master.

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