New Year’s Resolution

Not so much a resolution but a wish list:

1. I wish trust people would learn to say: “I don’t know”. Not “don’t know” when they should know…..like a trustee should know what’s in the trust fund….they should always know that, but rather people should start saying “don’t know” when they reasonably need not or should not know. There are plenty of things in law and tax where there are no good answers. There’s a very dangerous trait of try to impress clients by spewing out all sorts of horsesh*t that might be mistaken for knowledge. There is an insane fear of appearing not to know everything. Nothing good can come from pretending to know something. We have salemen who think they are advisors because they have LawInContext. Ahem…you have LawInContext because you “don’t know”. And not to knock LawInContext but you certainly won’t reach enlightenment even if you memorized everything they have in the database. We have banking lawyers drafting dispositive powers when it’s clear after 10 words, they don’t have (or have never bother to read) a drafting/precedents book in their library. They “don’t know”. We have some Channel Islands refugee in Singapore talking about Mexican tax and the wonders of New Zealand trusts who shouldn’t have attempted to answer questions as all it did was establish clearly to the audience that he really “didn’t know” much about New Zealand or Mexico or Singapore. There is absolutely no shame in not knowing everything. And for you clients, don’t expect one or even a few people to have all the expert answers. Just consider how many doctors do you have? A Dentist, an Optometrist, A GP, A ObGy, etc. How many places do you get investment/market advice from? A few bankers? Some Analysts and Brokers? Bernie Lo? The fish monger at the wet market? Show some respect to those that say they “don’t know”. At the end of the day, they may be the better advisor. But what do I know…..

2. Am I the only one not getting kickbacks from the BVI? I fail to see why some many damn bankers in Asia thinks a VISTA trust is the optimal solution especially when it is used just to cover a bank account (sales targets and bonuses aside of course). Bank accounts have a life span of a fruit fly. Remember all those Liechtenstein/Panama foundations some of the banks pushed onto their (namely Indian and NRI) clients years ago and are now scrambling to get them off their books now? I see the same blind-leading-the-blind exercises except now it’s a little more ruthless and pointless. Let’s see, there wouldn’t even be a BVI BC in the picture if you hadn’t “sold” the client to protect his bank portfolio by transferring it into a BC in the first place? So now we have a different set of succession issues. What did you tell him? Avoid probate? Well (potentially) avoiding probate or succession issues on 1 bank account isn’t going to do much when the client still has other assets outside the trust. Let’s see, does the client want control? That’s like asking if kids want candy. Things like tooth decay, chronic obesity and diabetes are conveniently forgotten by most. Unfettered control, especially among the second or third generations is something many conveniently or ignorantly forget to advise upon. Look forward to helping you unwind that VISTA of yours in a few years.

3. Start training. Think of everything issue that has popped up in the past year. How many were preventable? What if the Trust Sales had taken the time to really work through the settlor’s requirements instead of trying to meet his 10 trust per week target? What if your Investment Committee actually discussed investments with the settlor instead of getting a risk/investor profile form? What if you knew something about the duty to monitor? What if you insisted on this or that? What if you knew that big transaction was coming weeks before hand? Who knew that 50% of your intellectual capital was tied up in that one Manager that CitiTrust just poached from you. Probably 80% or more of the problems you’ve faced were self-inflicted. Only by training people to know what can and can’t be done, training people on what to expect, only by sharing knowledge will you stop being “blindsided”.