(seated, left to right)
Julie Runtz Welch, Meara Welch Browne
Gary Boomer, Boomer Consulting

David Weaver, Edward Jones (Sponsor)
Seamus Smith, Creative Planning

Bob Hodgdon, Hodgdon Powder Supply

(standing, left to right)

Steve Harrison, Edward Jones (Co-chair and Sponsor)
Jerry Clark, Woodbury FInancial

Jim Betterman, Lathrop & Gage

Mike Esser, Edward Jones (Co-chair and Sponsor)

Myron Sildon, Sildon Law Firm

Matt Melton, Northwestern Mutual

Michelle Sweeney, Ingram's Magazine

Estate Planners Get Two More Years of Good Times

On a late December day at Ingram’s Freight House district office, a group of the region’s leading tax and estate professional advisers gathered to discuss, among other topics, the ramifications of recent congressional legislation.

In a remarkable bit of political jiu jitsu, the much-maligned Bush era “tax cuts for the rich” had transformed themselves seemingly overnight into the much-praised “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010,” a measure that the president and the media now warmly embrace.

The tax and estate planners at the Ingram’s assembly, sponsored by EdwardJones, did not dwell on the politics that led to this happy metamorphosis. Instead, they focused on the consequences of the legislation for their clients. Chairing the assembly were Steve Harrison and Mike Esser, both of Edward Jones.