About Lisette Smith, CFP®

Lisette is a senior advisor to our personal wealth clients. She provides analysis and advice to help individuals and families make meaningful decisions in their lives, including investment, tax and estate planning issues. Lisette has been providing comprehensive financial planning and investment management to business owners and executives for most of her career. She also spent several years as a consultant to business partnerships and family-owned businesses, including conflict resolution, merger and succession planning.

Should you hire your kids in your business?

By |2022-04-07T09:49:33-07:00August 10th, 2020|Blog, Business Owners, Personal Wealth|

You may be seeing a lot of your kids these days, and you may continue to as you navigate the hybrid solutions of “back-to-school” this year.  For many business owners during this pandemic, balancing the new family dynamics with unexpected business challenges has been difficult.  While not for every business, one solution to ease [Read More]

Longevity’s Ripple Effect: Why Gen X Cannot Count on Inheritances for their Retirement

By |2024-01-29T12:18:45-08:00February 12th, 2020|General thoughts|

As if Gen X (now age 40 – 55) didn’t have enough to think about in midlife, they also need to be careful about including any expected inheritance in their retirement planning.  While there is much talk about a great transfer of wealth in America in the coming 25 years, with estimates anywhere from [Read More]

Business disaster planning: Is your business prepared for the next disaster?

By |2022-04-07T15:13:38-07:00November 27th, 2019|Blog, Financial planning tips and perspectives, Personal Wealth|

Preparing your business for a natural disaster is as critical as preparing your home, yet many business owners do not have an emergency plan in place. In the Bay Area, earthquakes are a constant threat with no advanced warning, and the “new normal” of California fire season reminds us how devastating nature can be. [Read More]

Talking to your parents about aging and their estate plan

By |2022-04-08T13:14:37-07:00July 30th, 2019|Financial planning tips and perspectives, General thoughts|

The time to discuss issues related to your parents' aging is before you need to. Some senior care professionals promote the idea of the “40-70 rule”, advising that you begin conversations with your parents about their plans and desires once you reach age 40 or they are age 70. While this may seem early [Read More]

Address these issues in your partnership agreement to protect your personal finances

By |2022-04-07T13:03:31-07:00March 8th, 2019|Personal Wealth, Quarterly thoughts|

When you own a business, you appreciate just how much your personal financial life is tied to your business.  What you may not realize is how much your personal financial wellbeing is intertwined with your partners or other owners in your business.  If you own a mature, successful business, and you’re seriously looking at [Read More]

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