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Many powerful trends are taking place in 2016 with trust and estate planning for both domestic and international families in the favorable boutique trust jurisdictions such as South Dakota. From modern trust structures such as the directed trust, private family trust companies, special purpose entities and domestic asset protection trusts, to planning with private placement life insurance and promissory note sales, this article examines strategies that can help maximize a family’s estate plan.

Estate-planning advisors should be aware that there are many creative planning opportunities for the use of Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) with trusts. PPLI is essentially a flexible premium variable universal life insurance transactions that occurs within a private placement offering. Previously, PPLI hadn’t been as appealing due to lack of Internal Revenue Service guidelines; limited investment alternatives; and wide-ranging expense charges.

Business impersonation scams are a large and growing risk for high-net-worth individuals, closely held business owners, and institutions. Scams have claimed victims in all 50 states and more than 100 countries and there is every reason to believe the threat is growing. Learn seven steps that can help you protect yourself and your business from impersonation and other types of fraud.

Asset ownership, insurance, irrevocable trust, limited liability entities, and asset protection trusts are key vehicles when it comes to protecting your assets. Having an overview of what is protected under these vehicles—including the costs, administrative considerations, income tax treatment, and the estate and gift treatment—provides an easy, at-a-glance understanding of the options available in preserving family wealth.

Strategic philanthropy is similar to intentional asset allocation in that it requires as much of the giver’s intellect as it does the bank account. A careful and disciplined approach to philanthropic giving combines purpose, practicality, and passion. In planning for charitable giving, families can review their choices with a planning matrix that outlines the types of gifts and their basic features, control features, term, administrative considerations, income tax benefits, deduction limits, estate and gift tax benefits, costs, and other benefits and considerations.

On November 8, 2016, millions of Americans will cast their votes for the next U.S. President. In considering how the new political environment in 2017 will impact the investment landscape, it’s important to keep in mind the words of legendary investor Benjamin Graham: “In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.” Graham was warning investors to avoid focusing on a single-event outcome to the exclusion of other factors.

Chief Investment Officer David Donabedian recaps the first half of 2016 and provides an outlook for economic activity and financial markets in the third quarter of the year. The issues that will have the most impact on the financial markets over the next 12 months are:

For insights on integrated wealth planning, this issue of The Advisor presents a view from the top with Joe Kahn, The New York Times Managing Editor, the impact of globalization 2.0, and the U.S. presidential election 2016 and the candidates’ tax platforms. Also in this issue are the best practices in providing age-appropriate transparency when it comes to discussing a family’s wealth plan. Following it is the takeaway on the advantage of Delaware’s laws on directed trusts.

Asset protection follows the continuum of life’s events, reflecting the changes that individuals, families, careers, businesses and wealth undergo. Within the wealth spectrum, a simple way of thinking about asset protection strategies is from lower risk and simpler tactics to higher risk and more complex and sophisticated tactics. This approach will cover everything from how assets are owned and titled to how they’re insured and protected against risk to how they can be held for efficient asset management.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is in full swing. Non-US financial institutions have completed reporting of US account holders for tax year 2014 and will soon begin compiling for their 2015 FATCA reports. Just as international families and their advisers are getting used to myriad requests for FATCA Form W-8 certification forms, more than 90 other countries have indicated that they wish to address tax evasion through a global exchange of financial information by implementing the Common Reporting (CRS) which, like FATCA, will affect non-US trusts and their trustees.