Mark Nussbaum ’70 on the Principles of Estate Planning 

In March of 2021, Mark Nussbaum ’70, a certified financial planner with more than 25 years of experience as a financial advisor, in conjunction with the Loomis Chaffee Alumni/Development Office, hosted a virtual two-part overview on the principles of estate planning. 

In the first session, titled The Importance of Estate Planning, Mark gave an overview on how to set up an estate plan and provided some questions to ask yourself and discuss with your partner, if applicable, such as who to consult to help you. His topics included: the importance of planning to ensure that you protect the things you care about, health care directives and HIPAA, how assets transfer, the concept of preparing a “Doomsday Book,” and thinking about what you want your legacy to be. 

In the second session, titled The Best Ways to Accomplish Your Goals Once You Set Them, Mark spoke to the question, “I have a will. What else do I need to do?” Mark reviewed some of the topics from the first session while also exploring certain vehicles such as wills, trusts, custodial accounts, and 529 plans, as well as the impact of taxes on one’s estate. He presented a brief overview on some tools to consider: the charitable gift annuity (CGA), charitable remainder trusts (CRT), qualified charitable distributions, and donor advised funds. He also spoke to the notion of “What do you want your legacy to be?” Mark was joined by Heidi McCann ’93, Loomis Chaffee’s Associate Director of Development for Gift Planning, who provided a brief overview of Loomis Chaffee’s John Metcalf Taylor Society. 

We thank those of you who were able to join Mark for these sessions. If you missed them and would like to view the recorded sessions, please visit the school’s website: loomischaffee.giftplans.org.