Katie Nell

A Blueprint for Aging, Featuring Charlie Munger and My Brother-in-Law David Usdan

Clint Eastwood famously said, “I get up every day, and I don’t let the old man in.”  That’s my philosophy too, giving my all to dodge growing old. In today’s post, I’m spotlighting two role models for this sentiment: Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s sidekick who died just weeks before his 100th birthday) and my brother-in-law Dr. David Usdan. In exploring their similar approach to fighting off aging, I discovered some remarkable parallels.

Both Charlie and David are role models for staying active and engaged in their senior years. In “The Untold Story of Charlie Munger’s Final Years,” Gregory Zuckerman reveals Munger’s prescription for longevity (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2025). Charlie’s example is “a blueprint for how to age with grace, equanimity and purpose. ‘To the day he died, that mind was running,’ says Munger’s stepson, Hal Borthwick. ‘He never stopped learning.’” Munger, as Berkshire-Hathaway Vice Chairman, was Buffett’s sounding board. The two shared weekly calls, and when hearing each other became difficult, “‘they would scream to each other.’” Their ears may have declined, but their regular phone banter challenged their intellect and kept their minds sharp as ever.

Similarly, my brother-in-law David keeps his mind working non-stop. Now 84, David just recently closed his ophthalmology practice, but he still “works” almost every day. David now volunteers at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and at the Memphis Church Health Center. He continues to heal those suffering with eye disease, while training young doctors with his high standards for medical care. David has no interest in a traditional stay-at-home retirement. As he told Aisling Maki of the Daily Memphian, “‘I’ve worked since I was a teenager. I’m very bored being at home. I don’t know what I would do if I had nothing to do.’” (“Tips for Living a Long, Full Life from Two Octogenarian Doctors,” Dec. 3, 2025.)

By staying active using his medical skills to heal and train others, my brother-in-law is achieving an important element of a successful retirement—David continues to feel like he matters. Jennifer Wallace addresses the importance of feeling like you matter in her new book, Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose. Many retirees struggle finding ways to contribute. But “it wasn’t just disappointment in a lack of opportunities. It was an erosion in something far more fundamental—their sense of mattering, the deep human need to feel value and to have a chance to add value to the world.” (“The Retirement Crisis No One Warns You About: Mattering,” Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2026.)

Charlie and David both lost their wives in their later years, but set their intentions on filling the void. When Munger’s wife died, he “feared loneliness and irrelevance. He chose to spend more time with friends, buoying his spirits.”  Charlie met with a weekly breakfast group where they “told stories and shared philosophies.” Likewise, when David lost Linda (sister of my wife Laurie), it left a big gap in his life. She was his full-time companion, working by his side every minute of the day, running his medical practice. Like Charlie, David connects with a group of longtime friends as his breakfast cronies. But both advocate for making new friends. Per Munger, “At my age, you make new friends, or you don’t have any friends.” Similarly, David recently took up croquet. “‘It was a good chance to meet some people. I hadn’t thought about the sport since I was a child, and I didn’t know people still play it.’” 

David enjoys time outdoors and stays fit by taking two-mile walks. He’s also busy with traveling, reading, and lots of hobbies. David is a science nerd who loves fiddling with electronics. He’s even a longtime ham radio operator. He also loves cars. David recently went out one day and came home with a new 5-series BMW electric car (one driver, four cars—two of which are electric). He told my wife Laurie, “Everyone needs two electric cars in case one doesn’t work.”

Charlie and David also share some unconventional eating habits for elderly stomachs. Neither ascribes to a bland diet. “For years, Munger’s family tried keeping him on a healthy diet. He resisted the effort. ‘He sipped water like it was poison…. His last delivery was Korean fried chicken…. He loved Costco hot dogs. In the hospital, one of the last meals he had was an In-N-Out burger and a Diet Coke.’” I witnessed Charlie’s eating habits firsthand. Our family, including David and Linda, took annual pilgrimages to the Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting, where Charlie would sit all day answering questions while drinking sodas and munching on peanut brittle. David was a big fan of Munger’s sharp wit and wisdom, but he likely also related to Charlie’s eating habits. David also eats like a kid. His daughter (my niece Lisa) has him for dinner every night, trying her best to get him on a healthier diet. Per David, “‘I eat healthy over there because she’s an endocrinologist. She doesn’t always agree with my choice of food, but I always eat her food. She’s very big into vegetables,’” though David describes himself as a “‘meat-and-potatoes’” guy. He once asked me if I eat yellow pasta, because (to his dismay), the pasta Lisa serves him is always green.

I am paying close attention to the habits of these two gentlemen. They set examples for staying active, keeping closely connected with friends and loved ones, and “rewiring” rather than “retiring.” With their curious minds and positive attitudes, people are drawn to them and want to be around them. And on top of all that, they even eat whatever they want. It’s hard to argue with their food choice, given their longevity. As I head now for a lunch of salad and grilled salmon, I’m starting to rethink it. To paraphrase from the movie “When Harry Met Sally,” maybe I should “have what they’re having.” How about a hot dog, a burger, or some fried chicken?

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

Marvin Blum (third from right) is joined by family at a Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting, including brother-in-law, David Usdan (far right), standing below a caricature of Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. David and Charlie are role models for aging.

David Usdan (center) and Marvin Blum (far right) with family, attending another Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting to absorb wisdom from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

Receiving an 84th birthday hug from granddaughter Paige is “Papa” David Usdan.

A Blueprint for Aging, Featuring Charlie Munger and My Brother-in-Law David Usdan Read More »

My 43-Minute Crash Course in Estate Planning

If you’d like a 43-minute crash course in estate planning, I recently recorded a podcast on “The Head and the Heart of Estate Planning.” Dr. Kirby Rosplock of Tamarind Learning Podcasts interviewed me, and we covered a wide range of topics. To listen to the podcast, click on this link.

The first half of the interview addresses technical and tax concepts. We then shift focus to the heart, or values-based aspects of estate planning. Here’s an overview of the topics we discussed:

“Head” Topics-

  • Impact of recent tax legislation, leaving the door wide open (for now) for “squeeze and freeze” tools to avoid paying the 40% estate tax
  • Recommendations for those owning complex assets or a family business, including the vital importance of “business succession planning”
  • How to move assets out of your estate, yet retain control and preserve flexibility through powers of appointment and trust protectors
  • Common mistakes, particularly the failure to update when changes occur, the risks from underplanning, and failure to create a Red File
  • How to design an estate plan that will hold up over time, from generation to generation

“Heart” Topics-

  • My journey into the “heart” side, especially as impacted by the unexpected death of my brother at age 65 and other wake-up calls I’ve experienced
  • Overview of best practices from families who have successfully avoided “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations”
  • Tips on selecting trustees and executors
  • The true story of a favorite family I’ve counseled who is a role model for building and passing down a meaningful legacy
  • Single biggest piece of advice to families

 

We conclude the podcast with a “lightning round” where I answer questions including:

  • What’s one book I recommend on estate and legacy planning?
  • Biggest myth about estate planning?
  • Is legacy something you build or something you leave?
  • If you weren’t doing this work, what would your second act be?

I’m honored to report that as a result of my new connection with Dr. Kirby Rosplock, I have now joined the Tamarind Learning Education Council. Tamarind Learning Podcasts are available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube. The goal is to educate families on planning that will produce future generations of successful inheritors and wealth stewards.

After the recording, I thanked Kirby for the opportunity to share wisdom from my 50-year career as an estate attorney and CPA. Kirby kindly expressed surprise at my 70-year-old age and responded with a line that makes my day: “Marvin, you’re a 50-year-old 70.” That’s music to my ears, giving me hope that I have another 20 years of runway to continue doing this meaningful work.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum was interviewed by Dr. Kirby Rosplock of Tamarind Learning Podcasts about “The Head and the Heart of Estate Planning.”

My 43-Minute Crash Course in Estate Planning Read More »

How’s Your Relationship with Money? I’m Working on Mine.

My kids enjoy teasing me. In a good-natured and loving way, they like to poke fun at my eccentricities, which I admit are considerable. I own those eccentricities and laugh along. One of the subjects they rib me about is my frugality. I’m ok what that. Even Warren Buffett is notoriously frugal and also unapologetic about it. Ben Franklin considered frugality to be a virtue. I suppose I’m virtuous.

What’s the source of this frugality? It clearly stems from my childhood and upbringing. Unlike the life my kids enjoyed with private schools and vacations, I was raised in modest means. The only vacation I recall was once driving to Galveston for a bowling tournament and staying at the Jack Tar Motel. Scott Gornto writes about the impact of our early days in The Stories We Tell Ourselves. Messages get in our heads early on, and it’s hard to erase them.

The idea for this post came from a photo my daughter Lizzy posted of a bowl of apples in an American Airlines Admiral Club, with this caption: “My father would never leave an Admiral Club without at least 6 cellophane-wrapped apples. I almost feel obligated to take one.” She posted it under the category of “things that always make me think of my father.” My son-in-law continued the ribbing by commenting: “How many free bananas, bottled waters, and iced teas does it take to break even with a monthly membership at Colonial Country Club?” It’s true. I never leave Colonial empty-handed. 

To Scott Gornto’s point about the impact of our upbringing, when I grew up, I never entered an airline club or a country club. I joked back with my kids that my only club membership was more like Sam’s Club. So give me some slack. I now pay for club memberships, but I do take advantage of the freebies.

I’m not alone. People who grew up like I did think about money differently than those who grow up with abundance. In The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel affirms: “The person who grew up in poverty thinks about risk and reward in ways the child of a wealthy banker cannot fathom if he tried…. Their view of money was formed in different worlds. And when that’s the case, a view about money that one group of people thinks is outrageous can make perfect sense to another…. But no one is crazy—we all make decisions based on our own unique experiences.”  It’s no surprise that my views of spending and saving will differ from my kids’ views.  

With my wife’s urging, I’m working on improving my tenuous relationship with money. My association with TIGER 21 also helps. Early on in TIGER, my chair, Bill Case, observed my tendency to postpone joy. I was putting off enjoying my wish list items for the future. Bill’s words still ring loudly in my head: “Marvin, the future is now!” Those words helped me pull the trigger and buy my dream home (having talked myself out of buying another dream home a few years earlier). Bill was right. I’m enjoying every day on Middlewood Drive.

In a Perspectives newsletter from the family consulting firm Case Bogart entitled “What Owns Who? Who Owns What?,” I learned that others share my struggles with money. They raise the question, “Do you own the money, or does the money own you?” When the money owns you, it can lead to “excessive saving, or an obsession with amassing added wealth,” what they describe as “compulsive behaviors…[that] can signal an unhealthy dependency” on money.

To conquer “a problematic relationship with money,” Case Bogart recommends an honest self-reflection about money. But as Gornto acknowledges, it’s hard to reprogram those old cassette tapes that are playing irrational messages in our heads. I’m working on it. It’s on my list of 2026 New Year’s resolutions to keep at it. I’m happy to report I’m making progress. In addition to living the dream on Middlewood Drive, I’m even ordering iced tea now instead of water when we eat out. Maybe one day I’ll fly first class, but probably will still board the plane with Ziplocks I filled up in the Admiral Club.

 

Marvin E. Blum 

 

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savestky loves to tease about his frugality, here taking the form of stocking up on free apples in the Admiral club.

Marvin Blum is happy to play along and poke fun at himself, shown here with Admiral Club free apples and Ziplocks ready to be filled.

Making headway on improving his relationship with money, Marvin Blum enjoys each day living in his dream house. TIGER 21 taught him to stop postponing joy, as “the future is now.”

How’s Your Relationship with Money? I’m Working on Mine. Read More »

Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Try Planking!

My focus today is on a personal ritual that has the makings for a great New Year’s resolution, adopting a daily exercise routine. I can already hear some of you groaning, but hear me out. The benefits of daily exercise are not just physical; they are also mental and spiritual. In her How to Feel Better blog post of December 4, 2025, Catherine Sanderson touts the benefits of moving your body every day. “Exercise is one of the most effective strategies for combating a bad mood and boosting mental health.” Researchers studied data from more than 96,000 people and found that those who walk even 1,000 steps a day are less likely to experience symptoms of depression.

I admit to being somewhat obsessive about fitness. It’s just my nature to take everything I do to the limit. So when a fitness coach at Lake Austin Spa told me 20 years ago that I should start each day with a two-minute plank, I obliged. I’ve likely missed only a handful of morning planks since then. I roll out of bed and hit the floor. Laurie says it’s longer than two minutes, as I count to 120 very slowly. I follow it up with squats, push-ups, and stretches.

My friends and family tease me about my plank routine. I’ve even won some plank contests. So has my granddaughter Juliet. Our Dallas office used to do a 5:00 afternoon plank together, and when I joined in on the fun, they cajoled me about my non-stop chatter during it. Ed Copley joked that he did the plank lying on his back. To each, his own. 

It occurred to me that there’s something actually spiritual about this morning habit. The plank is more than just core strengthening for me. There’s a meditative element to it that centers me. I face the coming day more at peace. I’m not suggesting it is a substitute for morning prayers, but there is some overlap. In Jewish tradition, my son-in-law Ira Savetsky starts each day with Shacharit prayers, donning his tallit and tefillin. I’ve joked with him that my morning plank is my Shacharit service. Like Ira, I don’t allow myself to have breakfast until I’ve completed it.

Another routine I follow religiously is to read Dr. Meeta Singh’s weekly Performance Sleep Bulletin. (I strongly recommend clicking on this link to subscribe for valuable sleep and health tips.) Reading the November 10, 2025 post was especially affirming when I read the section entitled “Core Strength Plays a Bigger Role in Longevity Than You Think.” Under a photo of a person perfectly planking was this message: “The body’s deeper core muscles do more than aid movement—they protect the spine, support posture, and help prevent age-related decline in balance and mobility. Often overlooked, those muscles may be a hidden key to maintaining independence as we age.” 

Dr. Singh’s post describes the core as “the body’s control center for posture, movement, and injury prevention.” I’ll add that for me, the core is also a control center for the mind and spirit.

I hope I’ve convinced someone to join me in my morning plank ritual. Perhaps others in your family will follow your example and it’ll become part of the personal legacy you pass down to your heirs. Maybe many years from now, after I’m long gone, one of my descendants will do a morning plank and think of old Zaidy Marvin. It’s part of my story.

 

Here’s to a healthier 2026 — Happy planking!

 

Marvin E. Blum 

Marvin Blum’s morning plank ritual is a physical and spiritual experience that’s part of his personal legacy.

Marvin’s son-in-law, Dr. Ira Savetsky, starts his day with a truly religious ritual of Shacharit prayers.
Never to miss a morning exercise routine, here’s Marvin Blum doing squats at DFW Airport, about to board an early flight.

Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Try Planking! Read More »

The Sound of Silence

All too often, we don’t appreciate something till it’s gone. In my case, following my vocal cord surgery, I’m gradually regaining my voice, but it’s a journey. I wrote about my vocal cord saga in my post of Nov. 11, 2025, “You Don’t Have Cancer.” I’m on the mend and abundantly grateful, but speaking is still a struggle. Thanks to the expert care of my medical team at UT Southwestern, I’m winning this challenge.  My speech therapist assures me I’ll regain my voice over time, with the help of some odd humming exercises while blowing bubbles through a straw into a cup of water. Till it’s back in full, I am far more silent than customary. But surprisingly, that silence has also been a gift.

First and foremost, I no longer take the ability to speak for granted. The science of making sound is complicated. There’s a lot involved in having healthy vocal cords that vibrate properly. As my voice strengthens, I greet those sounds with newfound gratitude.

While I’m in my quiet phase, I’ve discovered wonderful ways to fill the silence. I’ve turned it into an opportunity. I now am finding my voice in other ways. It’s fascinating what I’ve discovered by doing more of these non-speaking activities:

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Listening
  • Thinking (lots of thinking).

I once heard an outspoken Trinity Valley School principal described as a man with “never an unspoken thought.” We all adored him, but the truth is that whatever went into his mind instantly came out of his mouth. Now that each word is an effort, I’ve thought a lot about that beloved principal. I’ve become very selective in my spoken words. Less can be more. I’ve had an abundance of unspoken thoughts. I now weigh my comments and only make the ones that I feel are worth it. Silence can be peaceful, so I disturb that peace less these days.

I’m also mastering the art of non-verbal communication. For example, I still make my morning rounds to greet everyone in my office, but the greeting is now expressed more through my smile than my words. My team all seems to get the message, still knowing that I care and appreciate them even if I don’t say so out loud. 

My silence also provided me an unexpected gift recently. I was attending Sabbath services with my daughter Lizzy’s family. They worship at The Altneu Synagogue in Manhattan. It’s a very vibrant congregation, mostly of young superstars who are fervent in their Jewish faith. When prayers are sung in unison, they all participate with gusto. I discovered that when I sing along with them, I’m hearing more of myself and I’m failing to fully hear the congregation.  But mouthing the words to myself, my ears suddenly heard the symphony of their voices. I heard two prayers like I’d never heard them before: the Prayer for the State of Israel and the “Etz Chaim” (Tree of Life) prayer when returning the Torah to the Ark. The words went straight to my heart (and to the tears in my eyes). In selecting a Bach concerto as the theme music for his “Firing Line” show years ago, William F. Buckley, Jr. considered music a “pipeline to G-d… that should ultimately point to higher things.” I agree.

So like Simon and Garfunkel sang, there can be sounds in silence. I now get what Paul Simon meant in those haunting lyrics to “The Sound of Silence.” Too many are “talking without speaking” and “hearing without listening.” But “the vision that was planted in my brain still remains, within the sound of silence.” And those sounds that actually make it into your brain speak more loudly than the ones that go in one ear and out the other. I have a new appreciation for the adage “Silence is golden.” When we quiet the noise, we can really begin to hear. So, in an unexpected way, I say thanks for the blessing of this quiet time. Indeed, silence can be golden.

[I want to acknowledge Karen Reisman of Speak for Yourself who gave me the inspiration for this post in a quiet conversation as the two of strolled along the square in Bentonville, Arkansas, sharing a deep unspoken connection from our friendship of 50 years.]

 

Marvin E. Blum 

Marvin Blum’s vocal cord episode brings more silence into his life, offering a new understanding of one of his favorite songs, “The Sound of Silence.”

Marvin Blum is gradually regaining his voice, aided by the outstanding medical team at UT Southwestern.
Voice therapist Caroline Hurt expertly guides Marvin Blum through vocal exercises.

The Sound of Silence Read More »

There’s More to Sports than Just a Game

One of the tenets of the Blum Family’s mission is to go through life collecting memorable moments. As we look back, our life is a series of moments. Certain ones stand out. Be intentional and create some meaningful moments that will be part of your family’s story. For the Blum Family, some of those moments happen at University of Texas football games.

Sporting events have great potential for building family memories and rituals. I particularly noticed this on Thanksgiving, when we hopped around at three different houses and found everyone huddled together, glued to the Dallas Cowboys football game. It turns out that more than 57 million tuned into that game, the most watched regular season game ever. This family bonding around sports continued the next day, as I watched old and young cling together at the sold-out UT/ A&M rivalry game in Austin.

Reflecting on Blum family memories now that we’re in the season of football bowl games, a stand-out moment occurred 20 years ago at the Rose Bowl. My son Adam and I have a long-standing father-son tradition of traveling to UT football games. Without question, the premier experience was winning the National Championship at the 2006 Rose Bowl. It was a legendary game with a miraculous ending thanks to our super-hero quarterback, Vince Young. It’s often described as the best college football game of all time.

It was Adam’s last year at UT. He was in a panic trying to land two tickets to the Rose Bowl. Fortunately, Adam had a close friendship with Frank Denius, one of UT’s biggest boosters. Adam (in his 20’s) and Frank (in his 80’s) were best pals, sharing their passion for UT football. Adam’s call went something like this, “Frank, I’m having a hard time studying for finals, worrying so much about getting two Rose Bowl tickets.” Frank Denius to the rescue—two 50-yard line Rose Bowl seats instantly appeared.

The whole event was epic. It was UT vs. the University of Southern California. USC was heavily favored. With a couple of minutes left, USC was winning, had the ball, and was driving. It looked hopeless to me and almost everyone else but Adam. My efforts to console Adam were met with total rejection: “We’re going to win!!” he yelled at me. All we had to do was stop USC (who had been scoring on every drive), get the ball back before they scored, and go score a touchdown. My faith wasn’t deep enough for that scenario. 

Days before, Vince Young had been passed over by USC’s Reggie Bush for the Heisman Trophy. Vince felt disrespected. It was time for revenge. Lo and behold, with the clock ticking away, UT and Vince Young pulled off a miracle practically everyone (but Adam) thought was impossible. The stadium was in shock. Adam was euphoric!

We stayed in our seats after the win and got friendly with the ladies seated on the row in front of us—Vince Young’s mother Felicia, his grandmothers, and his sisters. 

An hour later, officials came to retrieve the Young family to take them to Vince. They invited Adam and me to join them! Vince, who not long before was taking victory laps around the stadium, was now wheeled up in a golf cart. Muscle atrophy had set in; he was barely able to move. We all got hugs with Vince. What an unforgettable moment!

I got the idea for this post reading Professor Catherine Sanderson’s How to Feel Better blog post of November 6, 2025, “My Husband Bleeds Dodgers Blue.” Sanderson described the magic of being a sports fan: “Sports fandom is good for well-being. People who root for a particular team show increases in self-esteem after the team wins.”

Sanderson continues: “rooting for a particular team also leads to broader benefits…. They also felt their life had more meaning and purpose…. Perhaps most importantly, sports fandom provides a sense of connection with others who share your allegiance.” Sports is a great equalizer. It brings together deeply passionate people who never would have connected with one another and allows them to build genuine relationships that last forever.

We lost Frank a few years ago, but Adam still travels to all the games with Longhorn football legend Ted Koy. The connection between Ted and Adam is another example of sports bringing people together and creating close friendships. And when I say close, I mean Ted was even an usher in Adam’s wedding.

Reflecting on our Rose Bowl memories and Sanderson’s post, I have a profound appreciation for Adam’s sports passion. It has provided us with so many father-son bonding experiences, relationships with friends like Frank Denius and Longhorn great Ted Koy and other fellow Longhorn enthusiasts, and rich memorable moments we will remember forever as we look back at the highlights of our lives.

 

Marvin E. Blum 

Marvin with son Adam displaying Longhorn spirit at a UT football game, making lifetime memories.

Close friends Adam Blum and Frank Denius share their passion for UT football at the 2006 Rose Bowl.
Superfan Adam Blum expresses his enthusiasm as UT’s quarterback Vince Young pulls off a miraculous win against USC.
Following the win, Adam strikes up a friendship with Vince Young’s mother Felicia, leading to a post-game visit with Vince we’ll never forget.
Adam Blum at a UT game in Kentucky, flanked by Longhorn football legend Ted Koy (right) and Marvin Blum's best friend Talmage Boston, both of whom were ushers in Adam's wedding.
Sports fandom creates meaningful social connection. The Blum Family enjoys pre-game festivities with fellow Longhorns who have become close friends.

There’s More to Sports than Just a Game Read More »

Spotlight on John Hunter: Celebrating 25 Years at The Blum Firm 

A momentous event in the life of The Blum Firm occurred 25 years ago when John Hunter joined our law firm family. It was a complete win-win. We provided the client base and planning environment where John could thrive, and John brought us his extraordinary intellect and talents to expand our toolbox and grow our law practice. I often describe John as the smartest lawyer I’ve ever met. On top of that, he possesses the highest integrity and a caring heart. I can’t overstate what John means to The Blum Firm.

Soon after John joined us, I quickly learned about his remarkable gift as a creative problem solver. If the Jeopardy answer were “outside-the-box” thinker, the question would be: Who is John Hunter?” Time after time John comes up with solutions that only his genius brain could produce. Once, he solved a tax dilemma for a client who had searched all over the country and only John solved it. I asked him how he did it. His answer: “Most people start with the current facts and try to figure out a path to the ideal solution. I started with the ideal solution and worked backwards till I got to the current facts.” Only John.

John is the architect of many of our unique tax strategies. He has a built-in barometer for what will work and what won’t. He refined that skill set during his years working at the IRS, trying cases against taxpayers before the U.S. Tax Court. Here’s John’s frequent explanation for giving a proposal the green light or the red light: “If it’s something I would have enjoyed litigating when I was at the IRS, we don’t do it.” John’s track record with the IRS is stellar and under his guidance our clients have prevailed in every single case. 

Fortunately for The Blum Firm, soon after John arrived here, he knew he had found his permanent career home. John relates that within months, he refused to take calls from recruiters. Our lawyers are constantly barraged by headhunters trying to lure them away. I’m grateful that John has no interest in even talking to them.

John and his wife Carmen have three terrific kids. He grew up in Arkansas, but made his way to Texas to study economics and accounting at Rice. He remained in Houston for his law degree at U of H, later also becoming a CPA and Board Certified in Tax Law. In 2009, he was honored as Professional of the Year by the Community Foundation of North Texas. We’re grateful his path led him to Fort Worth where we could claim him as our own and never let him go.

Join me in congratulating John Hunter on his 25 year anniversary at The Blum Firm. Here’s to many more years of working together!

 

Marvin E. Blum 

Marvin Blum (right) congratulates John Hunter on his 25th anniversary at The Blum Firm.

John Hunter as a high school valedictorian in Arkansas, being congratulated by then Governor Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.

Spotlight on John Hunter: Celebrating 25 Years at The Blum Firm  Read More »

Who Is Rich?

Several years ago, a dear friend of ours, Jean Johnson, died and Laurie and I went to her home to pay our respects to her husband Ray. The conversation with Ray was warm and sweet. Condolence calls offer an opportunity to reminisce. It was just Ray, Laurie, and me sitting in the living room sharing memories of our 50-year friendship. I expected to leave with a love-filled heart, but I got a big bonus. Ray, in his very simple and humble way, imparted some wisdom to me that I will forever cherish. 

Before I reveal that wisdom, let me share some background about my unique relationship with Ray and Jean. When I was in high school, I volunteered backstage at the Miss Texas Pageant which was held every summer in my hometown. It was a blast. What guy wouldn’t enjoy that opportunity! Unexpectedly, my early Miss Texas volunteerism led to a lifelong connection to the Miss America program. For many years, I served on the board of Miss America, the largest scholarship program for women in the world. There are many misconceptions about pageants. But in my experience, Miss America fosters and celebrates women achievement. Beyond providing young women with college educations, it equips them with life skills for meaningful career journeys. (My daughter Lizzy is one example.) Miss America’s mission is to “empower women to lead with purpose,” advancing civic responsibility, academic excellence, personal integrity, and making a meaningful, lasting impact in her community. And for those like me in the vast volunteer family, it provides a network of wonderful friendships with people I’d have otherwise never known—people like Ray and Jean Johnson.  

The Johnsons produced the Miss Haltom-Richland Area Pageant, legendary for producing the most Miss Texas winners. Jean and Ray opened their home to their contestant, where they nurtured her to become her best self. The young lady who emerged from that experience faced the Miss Texas competition (and the world) with a confident and powerful presence. The Johnsons’ biggest success story was Shirley Cothran. Shirley was a self-described quiet “bookworm” with a passion for learning, but with limited financial means to pay for it. Jean and Ray saw her potential, moving Shirley into their home where they gave their all to helping her reach that full potential. Shirley not only became Miss Texas, but two months later she walked the long Atlantic City runway while Bert Parks serenaded her with the iconic “There She Is, Miss America.” Moreover, as Miss America 1975, Shirley used her scholarships to earn a PhD in Early Childhood Education and Family Counseling, completely debt-free.

Jean and Ray were working people of modest means.  The Johnsons devoted all their resources to raising their own three kids as well as all their pageant “daughters.” Their home was small in size but lavish in love. Every time I was in that beautiful home, I left walking on air.  The Johnsons had a way of lifting you up. So, when Laurie and I made that condolence call to Ray, we had a lot of stories to share. Ray proudly showed us Jean’s closet, with a small collection of sequined evening gowns that she wore when judging pageants. She hadn’t worn them in years, but they were prized possessions woven with glorious memories. 

As an aside, a loved one’s articles of clothing can actually evoke strong sentimental attachment and soothing memories. Catherine Sanderson shares this view about her departed mother’s clothes in her How to Feel Better blog post of October 2, 2025: “I kept all of her special clothes in the back of my closet. I had no idea what I would ever do with them, but I knew I couldn’t bear to part with any of them.” Sanderson recently wore one of her mother’s dresses to a wedding and reports how much she loved feeling that connection to her mother. “My experience about how good objects that trigger positive memories feel is well supported by research in psychology.”   Jean’s pageant gowns were providing Ray that same kind of powerful connection to happy times with his beloved wife. It was clear that Ray was never going to part with those clothes and the memories they evoked.

Now back to the condolence conversation we had with Ray. Two things Ray said that impacted me forever:

  • “Every year on the Fourth of July, our family gathers here to celebrate. We have all our kids, grandkids, great grandkids. It’s up to about 50 people now. Everyone comes and we have the best time together. I hear some families don’t get along with each other and don’t get together. I can’t imagine that.” 
  • “Marvin, you won’t believe it, but I have an IRA, and the balance is now up to $15,000. Whoever would have believed I’d have that kind of money?”

You see why I am so moved by the wisdom from this humble fellow? Ray was about 5’5” (he and I saw eye-to-eye), but he was a giant of a man. One of my mother Elsie’s favorite sayings comes from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) where Ben Zoma taught: “Who is rich? He who is content with his lot.” True wealth has nothing to do with your balance sheet. Ray’s net worth was defined by his wonderful marriage to Jean, their loving family, all the people (like Shirley Cothran) they helped, and all the memories in that beautiful home and those sequined fabrics. Ray Johnson was a rich man.

A final note to all my wonderful high-net-worth clients and friends: The next time the stock market takes a big dip (and we know it will), we all need to think of Ray Johnson. We need to fight the temptation to feel “poor” when that happens, and measure our wealth not by dollars and cents, but with our true riches.

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

Jean Johnson, beloved wife of Ray Johnson, at the Miss America Pageant to cheer on one of the many Miss Texas winners she prepared for competition (and for life).

Dr. Shirley Cothran’s journey to become Miss America began in the home of Ray and Jean Johnson. Pictured in a gown the Johnsons bought her, Shirley was the beneficiary of their loving tutelage.
Laurie and Marvin Blum with Dr. Shirley Cothran Barret who recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of her Miss America crowning.

Who Is Rich? Read More »

Spotlight on Lynn Kelly: Her Path from Judge Kelly to Partner at The Blum Firm 

Last week, I emphasized the importance of gratitude in this holiday season and shared a key moment with my family that made me feel immensely grateful.

This week, I want to continue that sentiment by expressing gratitude for one of our valued team members, Lynn Waller Kelly. For a period of six years, we all called her Judge Kelly. Lynn served as Associate Judge of Tarrant County Probate Court 2 from 2017 – 2023, where she presided over more than 6,000 probate hearings. We’re extremely grateful that when Judge Kelly decided to hang up her judicial robe and go into private practice of law, she joined The Blum Firm. Lynn Kelly has been an incredible addition to both the firm and our litigation team. She is a brilliant attorney who works tirelessly for her clients and brings her signature poise and style to everything she does.

Last week, Lynn authored an article that was featured in The Dallas Bar Association’s December 2025 Headnotes, titled “Representing an Applicant in a Temporary Guardianship.” The article covers what temporary guardianship is, why it is issued, and five key tips to consider when representing applicants in temporary guardianship matters. To learn more, Lynn’s article is linked here.

Discovering this article made me so proud and filled me with immense gratitude for Lynn and the value she brings to our firm. So, let’s take a moment to dive into the backstory of Lynn Waller Kelly.

Lynn received her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was awarded a full academic scholarship. She graduated magna cum laude from Abilene Christian University with a B.A. in Government. Lynn has practiced law in North Texas since 1989 and has advocated for clients in front of hundreds of Texas juries. 

Lynn’s current practice focuses on representing clients in probate matters, estate litigation, and guardianship proceedings throughout North Texas. She also serves as mediator in contested probate litigation matters, bringing her judicial and advocacy experiences to the table to resolve conflicts.

Lynn has been a featured speaker for Texas Guardianship Association, Baylor Law School, Texas A&M Law School, Tarrant County Bar Association, North Texas Probate Bar Association, and support groups for parents of children with special needs.

And Lynn’s talents don’t stop at the law. She is also a gifted vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, clarinet, and baritone saxophone. Over the years, Lynn has performed with the Dallas Symphony Chorus (including a concert for Queen Elizabeth and one at Carnegie Hall), as well as several Fort Worth choruses and with Andrea Bocelli’s tour.

Outside of work and music, Lynn’s greatest joy is her family. She and her husband, Jason Kelly, have been married for 29 years. Jason is a Technical Fellow at Lockheed Martin. Their son, Mitchell, graduated from Baylor University and now works as an emergency room scribe while studying medical science in the post-baccalaureate program at UNT-Health.

Lynn consistently finds new ways to impress me, and I am deeply thankful to have her as part of The Blum Firm. Please join me in celebrating Lynn Waller Kelly.

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

 

Marvin Blum congratulates Lynn Kelly on her article featured in The Dallas Bar Association’s December 2025 Headnotes.

This announcement also ran in The Dallas Bar Association’s December 2025 Headnotes, informing readers of Lynn Kelly's mediation and guardianship services.
Lynn Kelly with her husband Jason Kelly celebrating the Lunar Rendezvous in Galveston, Texas.
Lynn Kelly with her son, Mitchell Kelly, visiting the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, California.

Spotlight on Lynn Kelly: Her Path from Judge Kelly to Partner at The Blum Firm  Read More »

Topics to Discuss (and Avoid) at Your Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s not just because of the food (though it is my favorite meal of the year). It’s also because we pause and express gratitude for the abundant blessings in our lives. But the experience can be ruined if the table talk turns hot. Polarization in our country has bled its way into families. Arthur Brooks reports that more than half of families have family members not speaking to each other. How can we try to keep the Thanksgiving table temperature from boiling over? I have a few tips.

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 adults to identify topics that should be off limits during holiday dinner. Here are the results:

  • 42% said politics
  • 28% said finances
  • 26% said appearance and weight.

CBS Sunday Morning show reports that 70% will try to avoid talking politics at the table. Of all the hot topics, politics is the hottest and the one to be most avoided. As Arthur Brooks confirms in his newsletter this week “Surviving the Table Drama,” “When ‘winning’ an argument seems supremely important to you, much more so than harmony at your Thanksgiving dinner, you will find yourself emotionally disconnected from your relative, and vice versa, each of you saying things that ruin the dinner and perhaps the relationship.”

How do you keep from veering into those bombastic subjects? I suggest that the host of the dinner speak up warmly and take control by raising questions for everyone to go around the table and answer. This not only helps keep volcanoes from erupting, but it also gives everyone at the table (especially the youngest ones) a chance to talk.

What are some suggested topics? By popular demand, I am repeating below “20 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table Talk” which I provided a couple of times in the past. Before that reveal, I also suggest another topic for table discussion: Gratitude. Per Brooks, feeling gratitude actually makes us more patient and tolerant when we gather with family. What gives you gratitude? Think back over the last year. Is there a highlight experience that caused you to feel grateful? I’ll go first.

Last week in New York, Laurie and I had an experience that filled us with gratitude on so many levels. We gathered with our family at The Plaza Hotel for the Hope, Healing & Heroism Gala. The event benefitted Israel’s Soroka Medical Center, the primary provider of medical care to thousands of wounded civilians, soldiers, and hostages following the October 7 terror attack. The Gala honored our son-in-law, Dr. Ira Savetsky, with the Healthcare Champion Medal of Honor. Ira is a plastic surgeon who made it his mission to provide free reconstructive surgery to victims of antisemitic violence and survivors of the Hamas massacre. The evening also honored our daughter Lizzy as a “Hero of Truth” for using her social media and public speaking platforms to combat antisemitism and elevate Jewish causes. Being there was a mountaintop moment for us, as if we had reached the top of Mt. Sinai.

Beyond that gratitude, it also gave us joy that our granddaughters were there to witness it. I’m a big proponent of hands-on philanthropy. The best way to instill that value in our next generations is for us to model it. Stella and Juliet not only see their parents roll up their sleeves. They jump right in and join in the work. As Lizzy says, “helping Israel is our family business.”  

On one more level of gratitude, I also felt grateful that our son Adam and his wife Brooke came from Austin to join in the celebration. We lead busy lives and live in different cities. It takes effort, but it’s so important for families to gather and create lifetime memories together. Furthermore, I’m grateful to report that everyone got along and there were no moments of family friction, which I don’t take for granted. That’s my hope for your Thanksgiving experience.  

To help keep the peace at your table, I’ll now repeat the 20 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table Talk. Researchers at Emory University developed these questions as a “Do You Know?” list to educate children about their family’s history. After years of research and interviews, Bruce Feiler revealed this startling discovery: “The ‘Do You Know?’ scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.”

  • Do you know how your parents met?
  • Do you know where your mother grew up?
  • Do you know where your father grew up?
  • Do you know where some of your grandparents grew up?
  • Do you know where some of your grandparents met?
  • Do you know where your parents were married?
  • Do you know what went on when you were being born?
  • Do you know the source of your name?
  • Do you know some things about what happened when your brothers or sisters were being born?
  • Do you know which person in the family you look most like?
  • Do you know which person in the family you act most like?
  • Do you know some of the illnesses and injuries that your parents experienced when they were younger?
  • Do you know some of the lessons that your parents learned from good or bad experiences?
  • Do you know some things that happened to your mom or dad when they were in school?
  • Do you know the national background of your family (such as English, German, Russian, Chinese, and so on)?
  • Do you know some of the jobs that your parents had when they were young?
  • Do you know some awards that your parents received when they were young?
  • Do you know the names of the schools that your mom went to?
  • Do you know the names of the schools that your dad went to?
  • Do you know about a relative whose face “froze” in a grumpy position because he or she did not smile enough?

The Blum Firm wishes you a meaningful Thanksgiving celebration with your loved ones.

 

Marvin E. Blum

In this season of Thanksgiving, the Blum family was grateful to celebrate daughter Lizzy Savetsky as a Hero of Truth and son-in-law Ira Savetsky as recipient of the Healthcare Champion Medal of Honor. Presenting the awards was Tovah Feldshuh, Broadway/film/TV actress.

Marvin Blum’s granddaughters Stella (right) and Juliet follow their parents’ example of service to the Jewish community, broadcasting live from the Hope, Healing & Heroism Gala honoring their parents. As their mother Lizzy Savetsky says, "helping Israel is our family business."
Marvin and Laurie Blum were especially grateful to experience this lifetime memory with son Adam and his wife Brooke (left), and the honorees Lizzy & Ira Savetsky (right).
From their home to yours, Marvin and Laurie Blum wish you a meaningful and peaceful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Topics to Discuss (and Avoid) at Your Thanksgiving Table Read More »

In One Sentence, How Did I Make My Mark?

As I think about legacy, my mind goes to the question: How will you be remembered? You’ll be gone and unable to give that answer. The answer will come from others who look back on your life. Answers to that question are usually short—a sentence, not a paragraph. People tend to boil it down to the main highlight or two that best sums you up. That brief statement is how history will remember you.

I began pondering this question after listening to a podcast from my best friend, Talmage Boston. His podcast series is called “Cross-Examining History.”  I encourage you to click on this LINK to subscribe. Talmage interviews a lot of famous authors who use the lens of history to teach us valuable life lessons. Episode 88 is an interview with Mark Updegrove about his latest book, Make Your Mark: Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents. The book opens by quoting the long-time Congresswoman and playwright Claire Booth Luce who said great people are usually remembered in history by one sentence. Luce would notoriously go up to people and ask, “So what is your sentence?” Updegrove reports that John F. Kennedy got so tired of her question that he would avoid her at parties.

But Luce got me thinking. What’s my sentence going to be? I’ll warn you; this is hard. It’s easier to write an essay than one single sentence. Luce offered examples: Lincoln freed the slaves; FDR got us through the Depression and won a World War. But if you haven’t abolished slavery, ended the Great Depression, or won World War II, what is your stand-out legacy? 

For more examples, I’ll turn to Updegrove’s one-sentence verdicts for the seven presidents featured in his book, each of whom he personally interviewed:

  • Gerald Ford always intended to do the right thing for the country, which he believed he was doing when he pardoned Nixon.
  • Jimmy Carter was a born-again Christian who wanted to use politics to do good in the world.
  • Ronald Reagan was known for his optimism, encouraging down-hearted Americans to once again believe in themselves and in our country.
  • George HW Bush was a man of humility whose goal was to make America a kinder, gentler nation.
  • Bill Clinton is a man of resilience whom people continued to love even in the face of scandal.
  • George W. Bush is known for his expert handling of the 9-11 attack and keeping America safe for the balance of his presidency.
  • Barack Obama is known for the grace he portrayed in the face of racism and bigotry.

Do those examples help you narrow down your one sentence? I struggled with mine. Rather than flying solo, I debated the topic with my wife Laurie. We did her sentence first. It was instant and obvious to both of us: Laurie Blum is a nurturer, known for nurturing everyone who comes into her life.

For Marvin, the word that came to both Laurie and me was “family.” Caring for my family is at the forefront of everything I do. Laurie expanded my legacy to reflect my life’s work of helping families on a larger scale, not just my immediate family. Marvin Blum’s life’s work, both in and out of his law practice, is to help families build a legacy and thrive. 

I then started to work on Talmage, who uses his thirst for knowledge to stimulate himself and others, always milking the most out of life. When I ran this by Talmage, he recalled how our friend Bill Parrish described him: “Talmage Boston brings people together.” Indeed, in one word, Talmage is a “connector.”

Then Talmage took up the task of a one-sentence recap of how he believes I made my mark: “Marvin Blum brings warmth and wisdom to the world every day of his life.” What a gift it is to hear Talmage use those words to describe me. I hope to be worthy of them.

In reviewing these one-sentence legacy statements, I see a common thread. The focus of each sentence is not on our achievements (or what David Brooks describes as “resume virtues” in his book The Road to Character).  Instead, the mark we made is measured by the impact we had on others. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson summed it up: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” It all boils down to how we made a difference in the lives of other people. That’s the essence of legacy.

 

I suggest you give this exercise a try. Ask others for input. The process can be very therapeutic and enlightening. What one sentence sums you up? 

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum is inspired by Updegrove’s book to ponder the question: “In one sentence, how did I make my mark?”

In One Sentence, How Did I Make My Mark? Read More »

“You Don’t Have Cancer”

When I started writing this weekly blog five years ago, I never imagined it would evolve into so much personal stuff about Marvin. My plan was to impart estate planning tips to help create a lasting family legacy. My mission is still the same, but the feedback overwhelmingly encourages me to do so by sharing personal stories and experiences. In the parlance of author/educator Brené Brown, I’ve learned to be transparent and “vulnerable.” As Brown puts it: “Vulnerability is not weakness; it is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” So here I go with another personal revelation that I never would have imagined sharing, but there are some important lessons in it.

As you might guess from the title of this post, this involves a medical situation.  I’ll skip to the finish line of the story, so as not to cause any distress. I’ve been through a health saga, but all ended well and I’m completely fine. But along the way, there was a lot of worry (thank goodness, unnecessary worry, which is so often the case). Several months ago, my voice started getting hoarse. I would start out the day fine, but after a workday of talking, my voice was spent. I visited a local ENT doctor who looked at my vocal cords through a scope. He knew something wasn’t right but couldn’t identify it. He prescribed a couple of medications and told me to return in six weeks. I did, and I was worse. He scheduled me for a CT scan and a biopsy. The CT scan looked fine.

Before the biopsy procedure, Laurie went into action. She decided it was time to call in the experts. Through her relentless efforts, within days I was examined by a vocal cord specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, which has two floors devoted just to vocal cord issues. (Laurie is a sweet kitten on the outside, but trust me, she’s got a tiger in her. She gets her way, but she does it with sugar, not vinegar.) Within minutes, Dr. Kevin Liang (in my eyes, Saint Kevin) identified a spot on the left vocal cord that he suspected was causing the problem. A few days later, Dr. Liang operated on me and removed the spot. In surgery, he could also see a spot on the right vocal cord that wasn’t visible on the scope, which he also removed. 

Following surgery, Dr. Liang was very candid. It didn’t look good (in his words, it was very “suspicious” looking). I could read between the lines. He sent the tissue to pathology, and we began the waiting game. For five days, I worked at staying optimistic. It wasn’t easy.  I did draw great comfort from my oncologist nephew Dr. Dave Portnoy and his laryngologist brother Dr. Joel Portnoy (Saint Dave and Saint Joel) that even if it was cancer, it was treatable and my voice would return. There were also a lot of prayers going up from me and my loved ones.

Last Monday morning, I got the call from Dr. Liang. Our prayers were answered—“You don’t have cancer!” I was in the late stages of pre-cancer (dysplasia), but we caught it just in time. The hoarse voice was a gift that got me to the doctor.  We’ll continue to monitor the area regularly to catch it early if it ever returns. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Here are a few takeaways as I process this ordeal:

  • When it comes to your health, don’t mess around. Get the best medical care possible, and don’t settle for anything less. 
  • Thank G-d, I have a very persistent wife who advocated for me and a wonderful support group praying and encouraging me. Mobilize the troops to go into action on your behalf. Don’t fly solo.
  • While recovering, my speaking voice will be weak for a while. But thanks to honing my writing skills in this weekly blog, I still have my “voice” through the power of the written word.
  • Per advice from psychiatrist friend Dr. Meeta Singh (Saint Meeta), while awaiting news that could be bad, stay on your regular routine and keep busy. And in her golden words: “If you want to talk through any of it or just need someone to listen while you think out loud, I’m right here.”
  • Most of what we worry about never ends up happening. Try not to waste precious moments worrying about what might happen. As the very wise Anne Cortell (mother of dear friend Karen Reisman) used to say, “Don’t borrow trouble.” Wait and deal with it if it happens.
  • In my efforts to stay courageous, I drew strength from my departed dad Julius Blum. He was fearless. Even when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his first words were, “I’ve had 76 wonderful years. How can I complain?” He remained upbeat while fighting valiantly for a whole year, making the most of each precious day. What a role model!
  • Arthur Brooks’ blog post last week “How to Think About Your Death” sums it up: “I am alive this day, and I will not waste it.” Admonishing us not to “postpone love and happiness,” he clarifies that he’s talking about “love and relationships. For the sake of some future reward, are you neglecting your family life today? Your friendships? Your spiritual development? Envision yourself having just months to live and giving your current self some life advice.”

This medical episode has certainly turned into a teachable moment for me, and I hope it will do that for you too. Building a legacy is a journey, full of ups and downs. And all those “downs” teach us even more than all those “ups.”

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum undergoes surgery and emerges with wonderful news—no cancer, all is well!

“You Don’t Have Cancer” Read More »

The Red File: A Plan for the End, a Gift for the Living 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about choosing your burial place, a somewhat morbid yet necessary question to ask yourself. In doing so, you not only choose your final resting place, but you also take a step toward continuing your story and preserving your legacy.

This week, I want to share an important checklist I created that serves as a roadmap for your loved ones after you are gone: “The Red File.” I recently went on The Tamarind Learning Podcast with host Kirby Rosplock and discussed this more in depth. I will link it below so you can listen.

After almost 50 years of drafting elaborate estate plans, I realized something was missing. I would see clients pass away or become incapacitated and watch their loved ones have to navigate so many unknowns. While their legal documents provided important information, there was still so much unsaid.

So, I decided to come up with a roadmap, otherwise known as The Red File, and I sectioned it out into four segments:

  1. Personal Information- This includes details about you and your family members, such as legal documents, insurance information, medical history, and funeral and burial preferences.
  2. Business Continuity Plan- For business owners, this section outlines what should happen with the business the day you are no longer there to run it. Who will take over? What immediate steps need to be taken?
  3. Planning for your Incapacity- What happens if your cognitive ability is lost? This section outlines how you would like your care to look if that happens—from who you’d like to care for you to the foods you enjoy (or hate). These preferences help ensure you receive the care you want and relieve your family from guessing your wishes.
  4. Legacy Plan- This section is about your family history, stories, and culture. Where is your family from? What are your family traditions and rituals? What makes your family unique? I urge you to handwrite a legacy letter, a love letter to future generations that communicates your values, memories, and the wisdom you have gathered along the way. It’s a way to ensure your voice continues long after you’re gone.

Thorough estate plans satisfying all the legal requirements are crucial, but so is having a roadmap for your final wishes. Life is precious, and leaving this world is just as significant as entering it. By putting your wishes in writing, you’ll leave this life with peace of mind knowing your story has been shared, your heritage preserved, and your loved ones are fully informed about your wishes for your final days. You’ll also give your family the gift of grieving without the burden of making difficult decisions and wondering if they got them right.

I encourage you to click this link to access The Red File and use it as your roadmap, so your loved ones will have the guidance they need and your story and legacy can live on for generations to come. 

 

Marvin E. Blum 

Podcast link: The Red File: A Simple, Powerful Gift for Your Family’s Future with Marvin Blum | Tamarind Learning

After nearly 50 years of creating estate plans, Marvin Blum realized something was missing: a guide for all the unsaid details of life and legacy.

Marvin Blum joins The Tamarind Learning Podcast to share the story behind The Red File—a simple yet powerful tool that helps families prepare for life’s “what ifs” and preserve their legacies with clarity and care.

The Red File: A Plan for the End, a Gift for the Living  Read More »

When Writing Your Will, Don’t Forget About Your Pets

Laurie and I don’t have a pet, but most of our friends do. We’re in the minority, as 66% of Americans have a pet. We understand that the pet becomes another member of the family. Per the 2025 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, more than half of the country owns a dog. That includes our son’s family, who has given us a granddog named Basil. 

What happens to your pets after you die? Some have famously included their pets in their estate plans. The most notorious is Leona Helmsley who bequeathed a $12 million trust to her dog Trouble (which a family settlement later reduced to $2 million). Leona is in good company.

  • Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld left a big inheritance to his cat Choupette, along with two maids, a driver, an iPad, and a Dyson hairdryer.
  • Michael Jackson left $2 million to care for his chimpanzee Bubbles.
  • Miles Blackwell left $10 million to his hen Gigoo.
  • Ben Rea left his cat Blackie $12.5 million.
  • Oprah Winfrey reportedly is leaving $30 million to a trust for her dogs.

Unfortunately, what happens most is the opposite extreme. According to 2nd Chance 4 Pets, “Each year, more than 500,000 pets are surrendered to U.S. shelters because their owners passed away and had not made plans for the continued care of their pets.” You might wonder—how this can happen to a beloved member of your family? The truth is, no one will care for your pet like you do, especially if you haven’t prepared anyone to do so. It’s unwise to leave pets to friends or family members who aren’t prepared to take care of them.

That’s why it’s so important to plan for your pet’s future—not just by telling someone your wishes, but by outlining them in a legal document. That way, you have peace of mind knowing that your final wishes for your pets will be honored.

There are a couple of ways to go about this:

  • Including your pet in a Will.
    Pets are legally considered property, so you can leave them to someone in your Will. This applies to both domestic and exotic animals, as long as the person receiving the pet is in a state where they are legally allowed to own it. Keep in mind that a Will has to go through probate, which can delay care, so you would need to have a plan for this gap period. Also, any money leave to someone for pet care isn’t legally enforceable without a trust. For example, you might leave $4,000 to a family member to care for your pet, but they could choose to use the money differently—or provide less care than you intended—with no legal consequences.
  • Creating a pet trust.
    As I mentioned in a previous blog, “Do You Love Your Pets?” every state now has laws authorizing a Pet Trust. Consider adding a Pet Trust to your estate plan, naming a trustee to be in charge of carrying out your wishes. The trust should be funded with sufficient assets to provide for the annual cost of pet care multiplied by your pet’s life expectancy, plus an extra sum for unexpected needs, transportation, and the final disposition of your pet. This is a great option for pet owners who either don’t have a trusted person to care for their pet when they are gone, or whose pet has specific care needs.

    Pet trusts “provide greater protection than wills and other verbal or written agreements” (The New York Times, “After Your Death, Who Takes Care of the Dog?”, September 28, 2024). “‘While a Will doesn’t go into effect until you pass…. A trust goes into effect the moment it’s signed and continues after your death.’” Therefore, if the owner becomes incapacitated, the trust can be activated. Trusts are legally enforceable and allow for detailed instructions. Trusts can even outline preferences like, “organic pet food, mandate acupuncture or note that a dog likes the radio playing when it’s home alone. They can require pet insurance policies to help cover vet bills.” Others address complex decisions like “Who decides when an older animal should be euthanized? The caretaker? A vet? Two vets? What will become of its remains?” By creating a pet trust, you can ensure the money is used as intended—and your pets receive the care you envision.

So, what’s the best next step? It depends on your situation. If your pet doesn’t require detailed care and you have a trusted friend or family member ready to take them in, then outlining your wishes in a Will may be enough. But if your pet has specific needs, or if you don’t have someone in mind to take them, a pet trust is the better choice, even if it’s not in the league with Leona or Oprah.

We understand that for many, “the pet is the center of their universe.” Therefore, it’s important to understand your options and put your wishes in a legal document. That way, you can have peace of mind knowing that when you pass, your furry friends will be in good hands.

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

Resource: Burchette, Jordan. “The 10 Biggest Inheritances Ever Left to Pets.” Everplans, https://www.everplans.com/articles/the-10-biggest-inheritances-ever-left-to-pets. 

Marvin Blum with granddaughter Lucy and her beloved dog Basil, another member of the Blum family.

When Writing Your Will, Don’t Forget About Your Pets Read More »

Where Do You Want to Be Buried?

Where do you want to be buried? Sounds morbid, but it’s an important question to address.  As Ecclesiastes teaches, “To everything there is a season…. A time to be born, and a time to die.” Estate planning requires us to face that reality. Selecting a burial plot has many implications. It’s not only a final resting place. It also has significance for those who come after us. A recent Sunday morning at the Ahavath Sholom Cemetery of Fort Worth reminded me of that significance. 

Early fall is the holiest time in the Jewish calendar. During this season of spirituality, we have a memorial ceremony at the cemetery called Kever Avot (Graves of our Fathers). It takes place on the Sunday between Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. Laurie and I arrived early, meandering through the rows of graves, truly a walk down memory lane. It was a peaceful exploration, bringing to mind lots of stories and reflections. We stopped at gravesites of loved ones and allowed the emotions to flow. It was a chance to pause.

We pondered a while at the Blum tombstone, burial place of my grandparents Isadore and Nettie. There’s a lot of family history engraved in those monuments. Isadore’s Hebrew name was Yisroel (Israel), the same Hebrew name as my brother Irwin who was born soon after Isadore died. Irwin was named for him.  You can find out all that just by walking around and reading the markers. My grandson Ollie’s Hebrew name is also Yisroel, named after my brother Irwin. I felt a powerful sense of connection between the past and the present. We are all links in a chain.

Reading the Hebrew on the back of the Blum tombstone, I discovered that Nettie’s father was Zalman (Solomon) and Isadore’s father was Yaakov (Jacob). I’d only heard Yaakov called Yankel. I never knew Yankel was a nickname. I found an old photo of my great-grandfather Yankel, standing at the grave in Russia of his wife. Reading her tombstone, I learned that her name was Gital. My father Julius’ middle name (Geroge, or Getzel) was likely named for her. Now my granddaughter Juliet Georgie (Yehudit Gital), named after my father, carries that name. When Lizzy chose the Hebrew name Gital, we had no idea it was the same name as my great grandmother. By coincidence (or maybe not?) we stumbled upon another line of generational continuity.

The cemetery also tells a story that is a heavy part of our life journey, the grave designated “Infant Daughter of Marvin and Laurie Blum.” Our first pregnancy was a full nine-month perfect one, until the moment in the delivery room when they informed us, “There’s no heartbeat.”  Those words will sting forever. The tombstone reveals the date: February 11, 1982. That date is exactly one year to the day before our son Adam was born, February 11, 1983. That morning, Laurie suddenly went into labor, two weeks before her due date. Adam arrived early, making February 11 a date of both tears and joy. That’s how life works—rejoicing and sorrow all mixed together.

I’ll add one more recent cemetery experience that was meaningful. We lost Laurie’s dear sister Linda a year ago. There is a Jewish tradition of “unveiling” the tombstone a year after death, marking the end of the mourning period. At Linda’s unveiling, Rabbi Micah Greenstein shared some very comforting words: “An unveiling marks the shift from the sadness of grief to the blessing of memory. It’s the keeping of a promise to keep the light and spirit of Linda alive.” I learned that we were moving from grieving Linda to remembering her and keeping her memory alive. 

The decision of where you’ll be buried is significant. Give your family the gift of making that decision now, so they won’t have to face it at a time of grief and stress. I recall a TIGER 21 meeting when a colleague described the horror that week of unexpectedly losing his father-in-law (who had made no advance preparations), and within hours having to juggle grief with a mountain of decisions about the funeral and burial. At that point, I added a section to The Blum Firm’s Red File checklist on “Funeral and Burial” to ease your family’s burden during that difficult time.  Planning for end-of-life is an important part of the estate planning process.

Gravesites serve many purposes. They mark our final resting place. They tell stories. They reveal family history. And importantly, as I learned from Rabbi Greenstein, they help us keep memories of loved ones alive. Laurie and I just selected our final resting places, and it brings us peace. We wish you the same peace.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum at the tombstone of his grandparents, observing the Jewish memorial tradition of Kever Avot (Graves of the Fathers).

The back of the Blum monument, revealing names of ancestors previously unknown to Marvin.

Marvin Blum’s great grandfather Yaakov (“Yankel”) Blum at the grave in Russia of his wife, revealing that her name was Gital.

The gravesite of the first-born child of Marvin and Laurie Blum who went to heaven on February 11, 1982, exactly one year before the birth of son Adam on February 11, 1983, a heartfelt date now filled with hope and love.

Unveiling of the tombstone of Linda Usdan (Laurie Blum's sister) by Linda's daughter Lisa and husband David, marking the transition from grief to the promise of keeping Linda's memory alive.

Where Do You Want to Be Buried? Read More »

An End to Israel’s Two-Year Nightmare 

We are living in historic times. It’s been two years since the horrific events of October 7, when Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust. My family was there when Hamas attacked, hiding in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. And here we are today, seeing the first signs of hope in over two years with the release of the 20 living hostages. My family is once again witnessing the events firsthand, back at the King David Hotel. The Hamas attack took place on one of our holiest days, Simchat Torah. Fittingly, sundown today is once again Simchat Torah.  It’s the end of a two-year nightmare. Today we begin a new era.

Today is a day of reverence and celebration. Simchat Torah marks an ending and a new beginning: the ending of the one-year cycle of reading the Torah and starting all over again in Genesis with the creation of the world. Significantly, the first word of the Torah is “Bereshit,” “in the beginning.” It’s a time of prayer, but also a time of rejoicing. Picture the hundreds of peace-loving idealists celebrating the holiday with singing and dancing two years ago at the Nova Music Festival. Their innocence was stolen as Hamas raped, brutalized, killed 1,200, and took 254 hostages into Gaza. At long last, there’s hope. As we celebrate Simchat Torah this year, we are praying for an ending and a beginning: an ending to this inhumane chapter and the beginning of a brighter and more peaceful tomorrow. 

We’ve been here before. When the Holocaust ended, we had hope for a brighter future as we returned to our biblical homeland of Israel. We said, “Never Again.” We’re still saying it, but now with more strength and fervor: “Never Again!” Given the parallels of the Hamas attack and the Holocaust, I am reprinting below my post from two years ago: “What I Learned at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial.” Yad Vashem refers to the Hand of G-d, the Almighty who reaches out and protects us. Come back in time with me to relive our day at Yad Vashem, a tour that happened just hours before the October 7 attack. The tour guide assured our granddaughter Stella that times were different now. We would never again experience atrocities as bad as a Holocaust. She was wrong. But I have faith that Yad Vashem, the Hand of G-d, will protect Israel.

My Post of October 17, 2023:

What I Learned at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial

As promised last week, I will continue sharing highlights and lessons learned from our week in Israel, a glorious week that came to a horrifying end as Hamas began a terror campaign aimed at eliminating Israel. Realizing that the goal of Hamas is to wipe Israel off the map, I reflect on why Israel must win this war, indeed why the world NEEDS Israel. We spent a day at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial. I’ll unpack some of the heart-wrenching revelations I learned there, but I’ll start with the overarching lesson from Yad Vashem: the six million Jews who were murdered had no place to go; other countries didn’t want them, and there was no Israel to take them in. Most say Israel exists now because the Holocaust happened. The reality is that the Holocaust happened because Israel didn’t exist.

The day began with my 10-year-old granddaughter Stella interviewing Rena Quint, a Holocaust survivor. Stella is embarking on a mission to teach the world, and young people in particular, about the Holocaust. She was alarmed to learn of the multitudes that either (1) believe the Holocaust is a hoax that never really happened or (2) have never heard of it and have no idea what it is. Unless we learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Stella discovered that when Rena was Stella’s age, she had spent most of her childhood in a ghetto, a work camp, concentration camps, and a death march. Born in 1935 in Poland, Rena’s early years were spent in a loving home with her mother, father, and two brothers. Her entire family was murdered in the Holocaust; only she survived. She remembers the day her mother let go of her hand and told her to run. That day, the rest of her family went to their deaths. Rena was ultimately imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945. She managed to stay alive until the camp was liberated by the British. But there she was, a little girl Stella’s age, all alone in the world. Hearing Rena’s story of survival, strength, and faith propels Stella in her quest to educate us on where unchecked evil can lead. Indeed, after Stella ended her stay in Israel in a bomb shelter, her mission has become more critical than ever.

At Yad Vashem, we learned of another little girl Stella’s age. The story was told to us as we looked in a display case at a beautiful long braid of blonde hair that had once belonged to that little girl. As Nazis were coming for the family, the little girl’s mother convinced her daughter that where they were going, her long golden hair would become infected with lice. Her mother cut off the long braid, gave it to their neighbor (along with all their precious possessions) to hold until someday they’d return to retrieve them. The only family member to survive was the little girl’s brother. Years later, he returned to the neighbor to ask for his sister’s hair. They wouldn’t let him in, as they didn’t want to turn over the family’s silver, china, jewelry, and other precious items. The boy stood at the door and begged; he only wanted his sister’s hair. They could keep the rest. They slipped the braid through the door and then shut him out. He left with a priceless memory of his sister that he later donated to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial.

The tour then became very personal to Stella as she learned the fate of her father Ira’s family from Czechoslovakia. Ira’s ancestors were part of a desperation campaign by Hitler to kill as many Jews, as quickly as possible, when it became evident that they were going to lose the war. Hitler appointed Adolph Eichmann to mastermind the murder of 500,000 Hungarian and Czechoslovakian Jews in only 56 days. A number of Ira’s relatives were sent in cattle cars to Auschwitz, including his grandmother Miriam. Her job at Auschwitz was to sort the clothing of those who were sent into gas chambers. Miriam survived to tell the horror that, in sorting the clothes, she discovered her mother’s monogrammed head scarf. That’s how she learned that her mother (Ira’s great grandmother) had been gassed to death.

Our tour ended with a search through the Book of Names of Holocaust Victims, Yad Vashem’s chronicle of every known victim of the Holocaust. In that book, my son-in-law Ira discovered the name of his great uncle Yaakov Yitzchok Feuerstein, the man for whom Ira (Yitzchok in Hebrew) was named. Ira’s uncle was murdered at Majdanek concentration camp, along with his wife and baby.

Why do we need Israel today? When Ira’s family was part of the 500,000 Jews killed late in the war, the world by then was well-aware of the concentration camp killings. Nothing was done to save them. As Hitler’s Jew-hatred was spreading and Jews wanted out, no country would take them, except in small numbers. Hitler killed 6 million of Europe’s 9 million Jews, and 1.5 million of those killed were children. England reluctantly agreed to take in 10,000 kids, who had to come without their parents (imagine the fears of those kids and agony of their parents having to tell them goodbye, never to see them again). Had there been an Israel, there would have been a place to go. Today, Jews have a place to go. Israel, our ancestral homeland dating back to early Biblical days, will take us in. Today, more than half of the world’s Jews live in Israel.

The most effective way to wipe out a race is to kill all the kids. Hitler tried to do that. It’s taking decades to rebuild the Jewish population. Even today, the number of Jews is still not yet restored to the pre-Holocaust level. For most of their lives, survivors like Rena Quint missed out on the experience of sitting at a Shabbat table with three generations of a family. We are just now getting back to that.

So here we are again with enemies whose stated goal is to push us into the sea. Our tour guide at Yad Vashem told Stella, three days before the attack, that she was living in the best of times, that she would never see something as horrible as a Holocaust. The guide was wrong. Stella’s week in Israel was followed by the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. But, this time, we have an Israel that has the might and fight to prevail. Israel must win this war. We owe it to Stella to give her a better future than her ancestors had. I call this weekly email series a “Family Legacy Planning” series. Stella is doing her part to preserve the legacy of her ancestors. Now that’s what I call Family Legacy Planning!

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky with husband Ira and children Stella, Juliet, and Ollie return to Jerusalem’s King David Hotel for this historic hostage release, two years after taking refuge in the hotel’s bomb shelter during the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

Two years ago, praying in the bomb shelter, Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky and daughters (left) and husband Ira (far right).
Marvin and Laurie Blum with daughter Lizzy, granddaughter Stella, and son-in-law Ira Savetsky at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial.
Stella Savetsky interviewing Rena Quint, a Holocaust survivor.
Ira Savetsky discovering the name of his great uncle, a Holocaust victim for whom Ira was named.
Ira and Lizzy Savetsky entering “The Book of Names of Holocaust Victims” at Yad Vashem. The Savetsky family preserves the legacy of departed ancestors by leading an effort to fight anti-semitism.

An End to Israel’s Two-Year Nightmare  Read More »

Welcome Attorneys Stuart Bumpas and Rachelle Stapley to The Blum Firm!

Join Us in Welcoming Our New Attorneys!

We’re excited to announce that Stuart Bumpas and Rachelle Stapley have joined The Blum Firm! We’re thrilled to welcome them to the team and look forward to the expertise, passion, and dedication they bring.

Stuart joins as Senior Counsel in our Dallas office, and Rachelle joins as Associate Attorney in our Fort Worth office.

Read their bios below to learn more about them:

Stuart Bumpas, J.D., LL.M.

Senior Counsel – Dallas Office

Stuart brings decades of experience serving nonprofit organizations, art collectors, museums, schools, and charitable foundations. His distinguished career includes serving as Assistant to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, as well as General Counsel for the Dallas Museum of Art, The Hockaday School, and The Dallas Foundation.

He has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® for more than 35 years and continues to be a leader in the fields of tax, employee benefits, and nonprofit law. Stuart also serves on boards and committees across the arts, education, and healthcare communities, reflecting his deep commitment to philanthropy and public service.

Outside of his professional life, Stuart enjoys art, travel, and is fluent in French.

Rachelle Stapley, J.D.

Associate Attorney – Fort Worth Office

Rachelle earned her B.A. in economics, cum laude, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University. She previously practiced as a tax associate at Kirkland & Ellis in New York and Los Angeles, where she advised private equity clients on the tax aspects of fund formation, including structuring, partnership allocations, and co-investment arrangements. Additionally, Rachelle provided pro bono legal services to various 501(c)(3) organizations, assisting with formation, mergers, wind-ups, and ongoing legal compliance.

Outside of work, Rachelle enjoys spending time with her husband and young son, exploring national parks, and reading.

Welcome Attorneys Stuart Bumpas and Rachelle Stapley to The Blum Firm! Read More »

My 250th Post: “Write to Make Music”

When I was in high school, my senior English teacher considered me a terrible writer, and I believed her. It’s not that I didn’t try. I labored over my essays more than anyone. They were dripping with sweat and tears. That was the problem. I was trying too hard. I was trying to write the way my teacher Paula Eyrich wrote, full of semi-colons and “generative sentences,” and it wasn’t me.

I remember Eyrich (that’s what we called her) announcing one day to the class: “Blum (that’s what she called me) spends hours writing a paper, and it’s no where near as good as what Jan Orr scribbles down in ten minutes during homeroom.” I should’ve started writing my papers in homeroom.

Eyrich also announced: “Blum will go to the University of Texas and major in business,” long before I’d decided on a college or a major. She was right. I dodged every class at UT that required any kind of literary skills. I became a numbers man. I was at home and confident in the world of debits and credits. (I still am.)

In law school, I learned the world of technical writing—legal memos and briefs. I continued that skill in my career, but I steered clear of any writing that involved creativity. I wrote 100% from the head, zero from the heart.

That was the case all the way up to 2020. Then the COVID pandemic hit and turned our world upside down. Holed up all day in my bedroom with my computer, I got a wild idea one day to start this blog. The Blum Firm was approaching our 40th anniversary, and my way of celebrating it was to start a weekly Family Legacy Planning series. The plan was to impart some estate planning tips for a number of weeks, until I ran out of juice. At that point I would stop.

Then, the unexpected happened. I began to leak more and more of my heart into my weekly posts. It really took root in my post of March 15, 2022, “I Am Ukrainian.” I started sharing more about my own family heritage and my four grandparents’ miraculous escape from Hitler. The reaction floored me. People wanted more “Marvin” in my planning tips. I still focused on how to build a lasting legacy, but the posts were heavily infused with my personal stories.

I went full-force personal in my five-part series on our family’s trip to Israel at the time of the October 7 attack, starting with my post of October 10, 2023. I really took it to the limit of personal when I revealed my daughter’s struggle with alcoholism in my post of August 1, 2023, “Lizzy’s Sobriety Journey.” The feedback was so encouraging it blew my mind.

I had found my voice. I stopped dwelling over word choice and just let the words flow. I abandoned all efforts to write like Eyrich. Gone were the semi-colons and labored attempts at “generative sentences.” What you get now comes straight from the heart—my stories, my attempts at wisdom, my life lessons on how to build a legacy. In typical Marvin fashion, I’ve never missed a week—250 consecutive musings from Marvin.

Historian David McCullough affirms my discovery: “There’s no one way to write. It’s what works for you.” In History Matters (a posthumous collection of McCullough’s essays), he expands: “And yes, happiness is to be found in writing….Write to make music. Don’t just pound out notes.”

What’s the legacy lesson in my post today? Be you. Don’t let someone else define your style. Open up both your head and your heart. Build a legacy that’s true to yourself.

Mama Cass is singing in my ear right now:

 

“Nobody can tell you

There’s only one song worth singing

They may try and sell you

Cause it hangs them up

To see someone like you.

But you gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song.

Make your own kind of music.”

 

Thanks to all of you for singing along with my writing throughout these 250 Family Legacy Planning posts. I’ll try to keep them coming.

 

Marvin E. Blum 

High-school-aged Marvin Blum, then a terrible writer, would be shocked to discover that today marks his 250th post as a writer.

As David McCullough taught, “write to make music.” Blum now “makes his own kind of music” by writing from the heart, and life really is better that way. Marvin is pictured here at a concert with his wife Laurie, wearing his all-time favorite shirt.

My 250th Post: “Write to Make Music” Read More »

“Don’t Let the Old Man In”

“Never Retire” is a motto I fully embrace. This blog has numerous posts lauding the benefits of staying engaged in meaningful daily activity. I’ve often said, “As long as my mind and my body cooperate, I have no plans to retire.” Now at 71, so far so good. My mother Elsie will soon be 95 and is 100% sharp, giving me hope that genetics are on my side. 

I want to add a new twist to this topic. When I say, “never retire,” that doesn’t mean you have to keep doing the same thing forever. In fact, I advocate for periodically doing a refresh. My best friend Talmage Boston calls it “reinventing” yourself. Find a new activity that stimulates you and dive into it. At a recent TIGER 21 event, Board Chair Michael Sonnenfeldt put a similar spin on it: “Our members are not retiring, we’re rewiring—don’t retire…REWIRE.” I’m continuing to practice law, but I now devote large chunks of time to writing and teaching. I’m giving lectures, workshops, podcasts, and writing this blog, articles, and working on a book. I have discovered a passion for sharing the lessons I’ve learned over my five decades as a lawyer. I wake up energized and recharged. Let’s get to work!

To quote Rangers’ baseball manager Bruce Bochy (referring to outfielder Kevin Pillar who changed his mind about retiring): “I saw him last year, he was swinging the bat, moving around well, and still has game left. The last thing you want to do is retire too early if you think you have game left.” Find the activity that works for you, the one where you still have game left in you. It doesn’t have to be a high-powered, scholarly pursuit, just something that stimulates your brain. Even driving an Uber may be the answer. Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Anupam Jena reports that “taxi and ambulance drivers could have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s because they are constantly using navigational and spatial processing,… dementia risk was lower among people with cognitively stimulating jobs.” (Sumathi Reddy, “Want to Lower Your Alzheimer’s Risk? Taxi Drivers Offer a Clue,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 24, 2024.) Reddy concludes, “even if you don’t want to start driving a cab to try to help your brain later in life, it wouldn’t hurt to take up hobbies that stimulate your brain, such as playing chess or learning a new language.” 

We’ve all witnessed the decline that occurs when someone retires and loses their mojo. Some even retire, and then unretire. As Noah Sheidlower reveals, “work gives them purpose and a social life…. Anne Sallee, 68, thought she would enjoy her retirement. But after two years, she decided to go back to work…. ‘I quickly found myself bored.’” (“Meet the Millionaires with No Plans to Retire, Even into Their 80s,” Business Insider, Feb. 16, 2025.) Statistics showing post-retirement health decline and accelerated death are daunting. 

At The Blum Firm, we are providing a solution for senior attorneys exiting the grind of Big Law, but who still have lots of fuel in the tank and want to keep working. It started a number of years ago when Kent McMahan (head of the Trusts & Estates department at Fulbright Jaworski) called to inform me he wanted to join our firm as senior counsel. A few years later, Ed Copley (former managing partner at Akin Gump) did the same. Now we’re doing it again with Stuart Bumpas (former assistant to the IRS commissioner with a distinguished career at Locke Lord), who joins us at The Blum Firm, starting tomorrow! All of these men were brilliant attorneys with no desire to retire. They still had so much left to give, and in doing so, so much left to receive.

Our boutique law setting at The Blum Firm offers the flexibility to achieve a “work-life balance” in the later years of a legal career. It’s a true win-win. Not only do the senior guys get to stay engaged in a law practice they love, our younger attorneys benefit greatly from the mentoring. These elder statesmen are redefining themselves into mentors, bringing to the office the gift of their wisdom and experience. As Arthur Brooks teaches, they are sharing with us their “crystallized intelligence” acquired over a lifetime of learning. 

Forget about your age—it’s just a number. Don’t give into old age. Refuse to let that old man creep into your body. Country legend Toby Keith sang it best in “Don’t Let the Old Man In:”              

“Many moons I have lived

My body’s weathered and worn

Ask yourself how would you be

If you didn’t know the day you were born?”

The calendar may say I’m 71, but my mind tells me I’m much younger. Following Toby Keith’s advice, I’ll pretend I don’t know the day I was born. I have no intention of letting the old man in. As my psychologist friend Dr. Monica Blum says, “That old man can hang out on the other side of the steel dead-bolted door.” Join me in locking out the old man from entering your life!

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum, speaking here in Lubbock, energizes his law career by maintaining an active schedule of speaking and writing.

Marvin Blum welcomes Stuart Bumpas, the latest addition to the important role of Senior Counsel at The Blum Firm.

“Don’t Let the Old Man In” Read More »

Talmage Boston: Epitome of “Tikkun Olam,” “Take It to the Limit,” and “Forever Young”

Relationships: It’s the number one tenet of the Blum family’s mission statement. First and foremost, we value relationships—with family, with friends, with the Almighty. We’re on the same wavelength with renowned author Arthur Brooks. In his weekly newsletter of Sept. 15, 2025 (“Seven Habits that Lead to Happiness Later in Life”), Brooks affirms that “the best way to maximize your chances of happiness in your 70s…is to pour your heart” into this habit:

“Do the work to cultivate stable, long-term relationships now. For most people, this includes a steady marriage, but other relationships with family, friends, and partners can fit in this category as well…. The single most important trait of happy-well elders is healthy relationships.”

I have been abundantly blessed with relationships in my seven decades on this planet—my wife Laurie, friends, colleagues at work. In today’s post, I want to spotlight one particular relationship—my best friend Talmage Boston. Talmage and I have enjoyed the gift of this extraordinary friendship for 50 years.

I’m proud to announce that a few days ago, Talmage was honored as UT Law School’s 2025 Outstanding Alumnus at the school’s annual gala. I had the privilege of introducing him. It was a challenge to sum up Talmage in three minutes. I narrowed it down to a few themes:

  • Talmage is the great connector. He’s the glue that connects the members of the Class of 1978, especially the 22 Canoe Brothers who travel regularly and text daily. By bringing people together, Talmage gives us all the gift of meaningful relationships in our lives.
  • Talmage is a role model for an ethical and fulfilling career, following the example of his heroes Abe Lincoln and Atticus Finch (the eminently ethical lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird). His exemplary volunteer service to the legal profession has earned Talmage numerous well-deserved accolades.
  • Talmage is a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and leader in his church and multiple civic causes, always giving from his heart that’s as big as Texas. He lives by the Hebrew imperative “Tikkun Olam”— repair and improve the world, which the Canoe Brothers adopted as our motto. Talmage’s generosity even fueled us to create a UT Law Scholarship, the Marvin Blum—Talmage Boston Endowment for Excellence, in honor of our friendship that started when we were roommates during all three years of law school.
  • I concluded by highlighting Talmage’s love of music and singing. One favorite song we share is the Eagles’ “Take It to the Limit.” That song title describes Talmage to a T. In everything he does, he gives his all. In repeatedly “taking it to the limit one more time,” Talmage lives life to the fullest and pulls the best out of all of us.

It’s a challenge to sum up all the life lessons we gain from Talmage in a short speech. I could more easily fill in a book about him. (By the way, Talmage is a prolific writer and author of five books on topics ranging from baseball history to Presidential leadership—including his latest work, How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents.) I’ve featured Talmage in numerous blog posts, but for some more about him, see my post of June 7, 2022, “It’s All About Relationships: My Best Friend, Talmage Boston.”

I’ll sum up by highlighting Talmage’s influence on a value we share: never retire. Moreover, continue reinventing yourself to stay energized and young. I’ll conclude with words from one of the Canoe Brothers’ theme songs, “Forever Young,” that captures the essence of Talmage:

“May your hands always be busy,

May your feet always be swift

May your heart always be joyful,

And may your song always be sung.

May you stay forever young.”

 

Here’s to my best buddy, Talmage Boston!

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum (right) celebrates his best friend Talmage Boston, UT Law School’s 2025 Outstanding Alumnus, at the school’s annual gala.

Marvin Blum (front row, center) joins members of his Texas Law class to honor Talmage Boston (standing by Marvin).

In introducing Talmage Boston as 2025 Outstanding Alumnus, Marvin Blum extols Talmage’s virtues as an example for all to follow.

Celebrating Talmage Boston with burnt orange UT pride—“Oh, What a Night!”

Talmage Boston: Epitome of “Tikkun Olam,” “Take It to the Limit,” and “Forever Young” Read More »

Want a Better Quality of Life? Start with Better Sleep—Here’s How!

Sleep—just the word itself can conjure up all kinds of angst for those of us who struggle with getting a good night’s sleep. On this topic, I attended synagogue services last Shabbat in New York, and Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt raised a fascinating question: “Why didn’t G-d create us without the need for sleep?” Imagine how much more productive we’d be if we didn’t have to devote a third of our lives to sleep. His answer: “The purpose of sleep is so we can wake up each morning to a fresh start—the gift of a new day with all it promises. While we are awake, the angels in heaven are silent. But while we sleep, the angels sing.”

While those angels sing, the gift of sleep restores us and cleanses our brain. How do I know? I learned from the ultimate authority on sleep, Meeta Singh, MD. As we go through life, we make connections with people. Sometimes you have a feeling that you’ve met someone who is going to be a special part of your life. Such was the case when Laurie and I met Dr. Singh.

We were at a TIGER 21 Annual Conference, attending lectures and workshops. A session we eagerly anticipated was on Sleep—how to improve our sleep experience. Out walks the speaker, Meeta Singh, and the spotlight hits her. Dr. Singh begins her talk, and she had us at “hello.” Meeta commands every room from the moment she enters it. Meeta is a Michigan psychiatrist who specializes in sleep. Even more than the famous mattress store, Meeta is the real “Sleep Expert.”

Following her presentation on the science of sleep, Meeta fielded questions. She was hammered with some 50 questions, as this topic really resonated with the thousand or so TIGER 21 members. The Q & A dug into every imaginable question about how to improve our sleep, and Meeta popped out one succinct tip after another. 

The next day, a TIGER 21 chair from Michigan was trying to entice me to come to Detroit to conduct an estate planning workshop. Sensing my reluctance, he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. If Laurie and I would come to Detroit, he’d arrange a private dinner for the two of us with Meeta. Done! 

Our time in Michigan with Meeta was magical. We began talking and texting regularly. Meeta even came to Texas and conducted a sleep workshop in our own living room for some lucky friends of ours. A few weeks ago, Meeta gave another sleep presentation to my TIGER 21 group in Dallas. As always, she had us all spellbound and loaded with questions. Her talk was entitled “Bespoke Sleep Optimization: Your Blueprint for Optimal Healthspan and Longevity.” We learned that sleep is one of the premier keys for longevity (along with nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, relationships, and not doing “stupid things” like drinking and driving). The main end-of-life diseases that lead to death are heart disease/stroke, dementia, and cancer. Poor sleep contributes to all of them. Following her scientific presentation, we explored a series of practical tips. I’ll leave the science to Meeta, and will share a dozen of those tips here:

  • Develop a winding down routine. “When a plane lands, it doesn’t just drop to the ground.” Consider a hot bath, reading, and a spiritual practice (“meditation is a superpower”).
  • Aim for going to bed every night at approximately the same time (within an hour of variance). Your brain loves consistency.
  • Protect your sleep environment. “The bedroom is for sleep and sex only.”
  • Your bedroom should be dark and cold (65-66 degrees; “as cold and dark as a cave”). Your brain likes light, so don’t activate it.
  • White noise masks sudden sounds and helps you stay asleep—just keep the volume low.
  • Caffeine, alcohol, and cannabis all interfere with sleep.
  • Avoid sleep aids, as they prevent the brain from “power washing” out the toxins that accumulate during the day. Dementia results from the accumulation of toxins in the brain.
  • Before you jump to a sleep supplement to help you sleep, address WHY you’re having problems sleeping. (Meeta can help!)
  • If you wake up in the middle of the night (Marvin) and your brain starts to activate, don’t look at the clock. Start rhythmic breathing, reading with a book light, or listen to a podcast. Allow sleep to happen, and don’t focus on the fact you’re not falling back asleep. Nothing good comes from trying to solve problems in the middle of the night.
  • Naps are a good tool when you hit the time of day when there’s a dip in your alertness. The ideal nap duration is 24.7 minutes, which will restore you for the next four hours.
  • Getting less than six hours of sleep is unhealthy and leaves you as impaired “as if you drank several beers before going into an important meeting.” On the other hand, more than 9.5-10 hours of sleep is also unhealthy.
  • Dr. Meeta Singh has developed a comprehensive two-week program that provides a complete profile of your sleep (the bespoke Sleep Profiling program). It includes 10 nights of at-home sleep studies to evaluate sleep quality and rule out any underlying sleep disorders. Think of it as a baseline test—similar to checking the health of your heart or lungs—designed to assess whether your sleep is truly healthy. With Proactive Sleep Monitoring, the study is repeated quarterly to track changes over time and to proactively detect any emerging sleep disorders.

If you, like me, struggle with sleep, then Meeta Singh is a godsend. She’s the go-to consultant for professional sports, Olympic, and college sports teams, as well as many large organizations. In fact, irregular sleep is the number one predictor of an athlete getting injured. Meeta can help all of us. Reach out to her at meeta@meetasinghmd.com. She can also add you to the distribution list of her weekly newsletter “The Performance Sleep Bulletin.” I read every word of it, every Monday morning. Meeta is a gift in our lives that Laurie and I are happy to share. As she says, “If you concentrate on the Singh Method, ultimately your relationship with sleep will change.” Wishing you all the benefits from optimizing your sleep and improving your quality of life.

Marvin E. Blum

Sleep doctor Meeta Singh, MD (left) and Laurie Blum at a workshop in Michigan. The Blum family treasures our relationship with Meeta.

Meeta Singh, MD conducting a sleep workshop at the home of Marvin and Laurie Blum.
(screenshot) – The concluding slide from Meeta Singh’s “Bespoke Sleep Optimization” presentation to TIGER 21.

Want a Better Quality of Life? Start with Better Sleep—Here’s How! Read More »

What I Learned this Summer from Anne Frank

In my recent post about the Blum family’s “roots” trips to the Holy Land, ancestral home of the Jews, I stressed the importance of knowing your family heritage. Kids who know about their ancestors and their stories grow up more resilient and with a higher self-esteem. On top of that, I just learned from Kasia Flanagan with Everyday Legacies that there is even a correlation between knowing your heritage and career success. Suffice to say, there are powerful benefits to knowing your past. What’s the best way to ensure that your descendants will know where and who they come from? Document it. Elder generations (like me) need to record our history. And we need do so before it’s too late, before we die and “a library burns down” (in the words of Scott Farnsworth and Peggy Hoyt, authors of Like a Library Burning).

The best way to learn history is from stories. Stories capture our imagination and hold our attention. Best of all are stories of ancestors’ resilience. As author David McCullough wrote, “There’s no one who hasn’t an ancestor who went through some form of hell.” There’s no better example of going through hell than the story of Anne Frank. Knowing history like hers “imparts a ‘sense of navigation,’ a new realization of what we’ve been through and what we’re made of.’” (Peggy Noonan, “A New Collection of Works by David McCullough Helps Put Our Tumultuous Times in Perspective,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 4, 2025.)

Over the summer, Laurie and I had a reminder of the power of Anne Frank’s story, as told through the most impactful personal memoir ever written: The Diary of Anne Frank. We spent a morning touring Anne Frank: The Exhibition, hosted by the Center for Jewish History in New York. The exhibit recreates the experience of the Frank family, hiding for over two years in a secret “annex” in Amsterdam until Nazis discovered them and sent them to their deaths. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived. After his liberation from Auschwitz concentration camp, Anne’s father returned to Amsterdam hoping to find surviving loved ones. It was not to be. But he did find there something else that proved to be meaningful. Miep Gies, the righteous gentile who hid the Frank family, handed over to him a stack of Anne’s writings that she had found and saved. Those writings were the key to preserving one of the most important stories in the history of mankind. To this day, Anne’s Diary serves as a reminder that we must never again allow hate to win. Anne’s words empower us. Even if the words we pass down to our next generations don’t rise to the level of Anne’s, they can still deliver valuable and inspiring messages.

At the end of the exhibit, we learn that Otto Frank submitted Anne’s writings to a publisher. The response letter blew my mind. The publisher declined to publish Anne’s Diary because it “wasn’t of literary value.”  Fortunately, Mr. Frank knew better and persisted. Fast forward to today. Anne’s Diary has been translated into more than 70 languages, selling over 30 million copies, and is widely regarded as one of the best nonfiction books of all time. 

I highly recommend taking a tour of Anne Frank: The Exhibition. It’s located near Union Square in New York, and the exhibit has been extended until October 31, 2025. The entire annex has been recreated exactly as it was, and you don’t have to fly all the way to Amsterdam to see it.

For those of us who underestimate the value of our story, I submit that we never know what meaning our words will have for someone else. It’s not necessary that our memoir reach a large audience. Even if we only touch a very few, or even only one, we may make a life-changing difference for that one. Katie Heck, Marketing Specialist at The Blum Firm, likened it to this fable her grandma often shared: “A man was walking along a beach after a storm and sees thousands of starfish washed up on the shore. In the distance, he notices a boy picking up a starfish one by one and tossing them back into the ocean. The man approaches and says, ‘There are miles of beach and countless starfish—you’ll never make a difference.’  The boy picks up another starfish, gently throws it into the water, and replies: ‘I made a difference for that one.’”

Katie joins me in urging everyone to record your history. Flanagan sums it up so well: “Heritage creates belonging, identity, and context to one’s life.” And telling of your journey “isn’t only to share the highlights and proud moments of your life, but to share the troubles and challenges too, along with the tools that have helped you be successful—your principles and values. People don’t relate to perfection, they relate to realness.“

So let’s learn from a little girl in Amsterdam who documented her story and changed the world. Someday, some descendants of yours whom you never had the chance to meet, may very well find meaning in your words and experience a sense of belonging to something bigger than the now—the power of knowing they’re a link in a long-lasting heritage chain.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin & Laurie Blum at Anne Frank: The Exhibition, hosted by New York’s Center for Jewish History.

Though the Nazis murdered this precious child when she was 15, they couldn’t silence her. Anne Frank’s words live on forever through her Diary.

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Will AI Put Me Out of Business?

My best friend Talmage Boston regularly sends me thought-provoking articles that stretch my mind. A recent one speaks to a question that many have been asking me: “With the advances in artificial intelligence, do you worry that a machine will take over the estate planning profession and put you out of business?” The answer is a resounding “no,” and the article from Talmage helps prove my point. 

It’s true that AI will be able to replace many jobs (some predict as many as 300 million jobs). But per the CBS News Sunday Morning show on August 31, 2025, “AI will have a much harder time taking jobs involving empathy and creativity.” As I explain below, The Blum Firm’s version of estate planning isn’t formulaic. Our approach indeed involves empathy and creativity. It requires a person and not a robot to infuse an estate plan with values and meaning.

The article Talmage sent me dives into author Leo Tolstoy’s search for the meaning of life. In the late 1800s, Tolstoy published his two most famous novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. At the time, Tolstoy was struggling with feelings of despair. In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy echoed that despair in his co-protagonist, Konstantin Levin. Like many of the day, Levin abandoned religious faith in favor of scientific theory. As with technology today, the belief held by some in Tolstoy’s time was that science could provide all the answers. “Having accepted the scientific worldview in place of religious faith, he turned to it for answers, only to realize it couldn’t address questions of meaning.” (Professor Morson, “The Author and His Protagonists Find that They’d Sought a Theory in the Wrong Place,” Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2025.) 

Tolstoy’s “psychological crisis” over whether science could answer spiritual questions resembles the issue of whether AI can replace human estate planning advisors. Tolstoy (through his character Levin) comes to the conclusion that when it comes to matters of the soul and spirit, science falls short. “Levin’s problem is that he assumes, as intellectuals often do, that truth is a matter of theory that one applies to particular circumstances. That is how mathematics works, but questions of meaning and ethics are different.” 

After my first three decades as an estate planning lawyer and witnessing some bad inheritance outcomes, it hit me that there is so much more to estate planning than legal structures and tax minimization. I began describing a two-pronged approach to estate planning: head and heart. Both are important. The head side is still critical to the process. I’ll always be a technician and a tax nerd. But the head without the heart leads to Tolstoy’s despair. 

The heart side of estate planning has become my passion. We are dealing with real people, not paper. Families are complicated. My goal is to help families succeed. Certainly AI can play a role in the head side, helping craft tax structures and administrative provisions. But, though AI may have a head, it doesn’t have a heart. My mentor James Hughes describes five capitals of wealth. A thoughtful estate plan enhances all five capitals. Interesting to note, only two of the five are matters of the head: financial and intellectual. The other three come from the heart: human, social, and spiritual. 

For years, I’ve searched for the right label to call this kind of “head and heart” estate planning. Some call it “qualitative” (as opposed to quantitative) planning. Others describe it as “holistic” estate planning, the “soft” side of estate planning, or “family legacy planning.” More recently, I like the labels “values-based estate planning” and “purpose-driven estate planning.”

Regardless of what you call it, the ultimate goal of estate planning is to fill your life, and the life of your family with meaning. To do that requires taking intentional steps to prepare your heirs to live productive lives. It requires building trusting relationships with those you love. It requires defining your values and leaving an inheritance of not just your valuables but also those values. 

A good estate planning team can help you create and pass down a meaningful legacy. A machine can’t do that. A heart-oriented estate planner can help design trusts that incentivize and empower your heirs rather than create entitled trust babies. Science, math, AI, and machines can certainly come in handy, but they will never replace the human heart. 

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum (left) with best friend Talmage Boston, ever the source of stimulating thought to help tackle life’s toughest questions (especially when inspired by nature while hiking in Colorado, shown here).

Marvin Blum turns to Tolstoy’s age-old debate of science vs spirituality to question the role of technology in estate planning.

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Take a “Roots” Trip to Your Homeland

I want to talk about the importance of family travel. Taking a trip with family is far more than just a vacation. Traveling with family builds connection, solidifies values, and creates meaningful memories. I first learned this lesson from Mitzi Perdue, author of How to Make Your Family Business Last. Attending Perdue’s lecture about her book, I expected very practical takeaways about corporate governance, legal documents, and tips for bylaws. Shockingly, Perdue revealed the number one tip for making your family business last: “Family Travel.” 

Perdue explained the benefits of families getting away together, away from the day-to-day routine. Her side of the family (founder of Sheraton Hotels) does annual family trips, and her husband’s side (Perdue Farms poultry) does a trip every 18 months. Perdue’s ancestors were forward thinking and even set aside inheritance in a trust to endow the cost of this travel. I also advocate for a trust like that, which I call a FAST Trust (Family Advancement Sustainability Trust). Funds in the FAST Trust are used to pay for family enrichment, and are not available for HEMS (health, education, support, and maintenance) distributions to beneficiaries. I often propose to dedicate a life insurance policy as the source of funds for a FAST, so the rest of the inheritance can stay intact in traditional HEMS trusts.

In today’s post, I want take family travel and kick it up a notch. Plan a “roots” trip to visit your family’s homeland. Not only will you get all the normal benefits of being together, but the family can also learn about its heritage. Research shows that kids who know more about their ancestors and their stories (especially stories of resilience) grow up with a stronger self-esteem. They are also more equipped to handle adversity, knowing they come from strong ancestors who overcame obstacles. There’s no better way to discover your past than to go see it firsthand.

Raising a Jewish kid in the secular world (far from our biblical homeland), parents have to be intentional to connect their next gens with Judaism. To improve the odds, its often said there are three priorities: have a Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah, attend a Jewish summer camp, and make a trip to Israel. My first trip to Israel occurred in the summer after my second year of college. Israel was magical—the feeling of connection to my ancestors happened the instant I set foot on holy ground in the Holy Land. You literally feel it pulsing up through your body. There were many highlights, but number one was praying in Jerusalem at the Kotel, the “Western Wall” that surrounded the Holy Temple and still stands. Israel had only reclaimed possession of this holy site a few years before my trip, the result of winning the Six Day War in 1968. It was so significant that we no longer called it the “Wailing Wall,” as at last, we could celebrate there joyfully. It’s still the holiest site in the world for Jews.  

Our daughter Lizzy Savetsky’s first trip to Israel came in the summer before her first year of college, courtesy of the Birthright program that provides Jewish kids a free first trip to Israel. Lizzy spoke of it recently at the Hadassah National Conference: “For the first time in my life, I felt that I was just… home. Like I was surrounded by family. Ten days in Israel, and I felt more whole than I ever had in 18 years. I knew Israel was important to my Jewish identity, to our Jewish survival, but I did not expect to feel so deeply connected to a place I had never been. Setting foot on the ground there changed me at my core. Suddenly I understood that there was no separating the Jewish people from the land of Israel—that the people, the place, and the mission are all one. And as I stood at the Kotel for the first time and touched the ancient stones, I thought about my ancestors and everything that they had to fight through for being Jewish and how despite it all, they passed down our legacy from generation to generation so that I could have the privilege of standing there, knowing in my heart what my purpose was in this world as a Jewish woman.”

Lizzy’s words just proved my point better than any I could write. A “roots” journey to your ancestral homeland connects you with the past and equips you to build on that legacy for future generations. I heartily recommend it.

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

A young Marvin Blum on his first trip to Israel in 1974, discovering his roots in the homeland of his ancestors.

Marvin Blum (left) at the Western Wall of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest site in the world for Jews ever since biblical times.
Lizzy Blum Savetsky (left, with best friend Sari Hochberger) at Jerusalem’s Western Wall in 2004, experiencing the same spiritual connection to her roots that her dad Marvin felt in that location 30 years earlier.
The Blum family returns to the land of our ancestors just days before the October 7th attack on Israel. Shown here, overlooking the Holy City of Jerusalem, are Marvin & Laurie Blum, Lizzy & Ira Savetsky, and their children Stella, Juliet, and Ollie.
Praying at the Kotel (Western Wall of the Holy Temple), Marvin Blum’s son-in-law Ira Savetsky passes down the heritage to his son Ollie.

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The Creative Side of The Blum Firm

A few months ago, as the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition wrapped up here in Fort Worth, I found myself reflecting on how much creativity surrounds me—not just across the city of Fort Worth, but also within my very own team at The Blum Firm.

Our team members excel in the highly technical world of law—true left-brain work—yet outside the office, they pursue incredible talents and passions that showcase their right-brain creativity. This balance matters. Creativity isn’t just for artists and musicians; it plays a vital role in the legal world, too.

In the realm of trust, estate, and tax planning, the most effective solutions often require both analytical precision and creative problem-solving. It’s that combination of left-brain logic and right-brain innovation that allows us to craft thoughtful, personalized strategies for our clients. As Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

So today, in the spirit of celebrating creativity, I’d like to showcase some of the incredible talent we have on our team.

Lynn Kelly discovered her vocal talent in high school, impressing directors so much they paused auditions to call her father. She went on to sing in musical theater and chorus throughout high school and college, earning a spot in the elite Abilene Christian University A Cappella Chorus as the only non-music major freshman. She even sang the national anthem at her law school graduation.

Over the years, she performed with the Dallas Symphony Chorus (including a concert for Queen Elizabeth and one at Carnegie Hall), as well as several Fort Worth choruses and with Andrea Bocelli’s tour. A multi-instrumentalist, she plays piano, clarinet, and baritone saxophone.

Music runs in the family—her son followed in her footsteps as a band leader and oboist. Today, she enjoys playing pop songs on the piano in her home “music room” and occasionally shares performances with friends on Facebook.

Emily Hammond, a talented composer, co-wrote an original musical titled Beyond Perfection, which was recently selected for the Broadway Bound Festival in New York. The show has four off-Broadway performances this month—an incredible milestone that highlights her dedication to music and the arts. She shares her work under the name Emily Christine Horton on music platforms.

Cat Bardin is a professional stage manager, actor, and singer with a career that began at age 21. Her life has been steeped in theater—both professionally and personally. She met her husband when they were cast opposite each other in a musical, kicking off a 34-year “showmance” that led to marriage less than a year later. Their daughter even took her first steps backstage during intermission of a production they were both in—proof that the stage is truly a second home for Cat and her family.

David Bakutis, an estate and trust litigator at The Blum Firm, has spent nearly 20 years performing with a taiko drumming group. What began as a father-son activity evolved into a lasting passion. The group regularly performs at festivals throughout the Metroplex, and for David, it provides not only creative expression but also a powerful form of physical exercise and stress relief.

David is also a lifelong fan of British sports cars, inspired by his mother’s 1963 Triumph Spitfire. In 2003, he purchased a heavily modified 1967 Triumph GT6 and spent over a year and a half restoring it—sourcing parts from England, rewiring the entire car, and customizing elements by hand. The finished product blends factory authenticity with subtle modern upgrades. His story was featured in 360 West magazine, showcasing how he merges craftsmanship, nostalgia, and engineering in his free time. 

Amanda Jones has been a member of a community choir in the Flower Mound/Lewisville area since 2013, where she currently sings as a 1st Alto. In addition to performing, she served on the choir’s board for five years, holding roles as Membership Coordinator and Vice President. 

Eric Evans taps into his creative side through both music and visual art. He was once a drummer in a band and continues to enjoy expressing himself as an artist.

Other members of our team may not put their creative passions on stage, but they still bring joy, thoughtfulness, and authenticity to their artistic pursuits:

  • Kaitlin Goddard – Loves to sing and play piano, and also finds joy in interior design.
  • Ginger Melton – Finds peace and inspiration through gardening.
  • Katie Heck – Expresses creativity through painting and photography.
  • Amber Posey – Shares her heart through poetry and reflective writing.

Whether shared publicly or expressed quietly, creativity is a powerful force—and we’re proud to have a team full of it. Not only does it make each individual unique, but it also shapes how we approach our work with clients. At The Blum Firm, this fusion of head and heart allows us to deliver solutions that are both thoughtful and strategic.

I’ve seen that firsthand—not just through my colleagues’ talents, but in my own life as well. I myself am an award-winning pastel artist, and I’ve found that my work with color and emotion on the canvas mirrors the care and clarity I strive for in estate planning.

Now it’s your turn: What’s your creative outlet? I invite you to share your talent in response to this e-blast. Let’s celebrate the creative sides that make us whole.

Marvin E. Blum

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Banana Pudding Memories: Smells & Tastes of Yesteryear

How often do you encounter a smell or taste that takes you back to a time long, long ago? In building a lasting family legacy, nostalgic smells and tastes are important triggers for family memories. They conjure up people and places from the recesses of our minds. Aromas become symbols of love, legacy, and tradition, woven into the fabric of our heritage. I’ll share some of the long-ago dishes that are activating my senses, along with memories of the room where it happened. Close your eyes, and you will likely come up with some of your own.

I wrote a recent post about my nursery school afternoons with my father’s mother, “Memories of My Bubbie.”  Our ritual of watching “As the World Turns” was always preceded by chicken and rice soup, the same lunch every day. The salty smell and warm taste of that “chicken soup for the soul” still takes me back to that kitchen table with Bubbie and her sister Becky. I can even hear their Yiddish conversation, spoken in heavy old-country accents. My mind then turns to Bubbie’s Passover tzimmes, carrots baked with kneidlach (a matzo ball mixture), and I’m transported back to our Seder table. (Can you picture the smile on my face as I write this?)

Our daughter Lizzy was home visiting us and asked for stories about my other grandmother, whom we called Mama Pauline. Lizzy (Elizabeth Pauline) is named after her, and they share the same Hebrew name Pesha Ita. Naturally, Lizzy was eager to learn more about her namesake. We spent a month every summer visiting my mother’s parents Pauline and Meyer Oberstein in Montgomery, Alabama. Funny, but my memories all started in Mama Pauline’s kitchen. When we arrived, a banana pudding was always awaiting us in the Frigidaire “ice box.”  I have a lot to say about that banana pudding, as it wasn’t the phony kind you normally get today with instant vanilla pudding and Cool Whip. It started by separating eggs (they were brown, and some had a double yolk). Each egg was broken one-by-one into an empty bowl, in case there was blood in the yolk making it non-kosher. You didn’t want to contaminate the whole mixture. The yolks went into a vanilla custard, slowly stirred in a double boiler. The egg whites were stiffly beaten into a meringue. After we rapidly devoured the pudding that greeted our arrival, I would join Mama Pauline in the early morning to assemble another. She said there were exactly the right number of vanilla wafers in the box to complete her creation. One time, we were short one cookie, and she accused my brother Irwin of “snitching” one. He probably did.

Banana pudding is a dairy dessert, as it contains milk. Therefore, under the laws of kashrut (eating kosher), we’d have to wait six hours after eating meat before we were allowed to eat a dairy dessert. (You could get around that by eating dessert first; never a bad idea.) The Oberstein tradition was to eat a big lunch with meat (“fleish,” called a “fleishig lunch”), and a lighter dairy dinner (called a “milchig dinner”). That way, we could retire after dinner to the front porch “breezeway” for our banana pudding, served in red and clear glass footed dessert bowls). The house wasn’t air conditioned, so we would search anywhere for a breeze. Sometimes we found it in the backyard under the weeping willow tree, where we’d each enjoy a half cantaloupe filled with a scoop of Foremost vanilla ice cream that Daddy Meyer brought home from Meyer Oberstein Grocery. The memories always seem to come back to food.

So here I am, at age 71, suddenly a little boy back in the kitchen at 3200 South Perry, down the street from the Alabama Governor’s Mansion.  The memories keep rushing back. Thursday’s lunch was always “kekletten,” burgers made of ground beef mixed with eggs, matzo meal, onions, and garlic, fried on top of the stove. The smell of frying onions still tops the list as my favorite aroma, and research reveals that I’m not alone. Another favorite was the cinnamon smell when Mama Pauline baked her famous sour cream coffee cake. I also remember that kitchen on Shabbat when no cooking was allowed, though there was a hot plate “blech” on one low burner where you could warm up something without having to turn on the stove. Although most of the cooking involved making traditional Jewish dishes, Mama Pauline did let some of the Deep South rub off on her, introducing me to grits (still a favorite of mine, and I literally think of her with every loving spoonful). 

My list of family food memories goes on and on, drawing me closer to my ancestors. I suspect the same is true for you. We draw so much comfort from that connection to the past. Professor Catherine Sanderson’s blog post of July 17, 2025, “The Often Overlooked Perks of Nostalgia” concurs: “Reflecting on nostalgic memories may be particularly beneficial during trying times. One survey of over 2,000 American adults revealed that nostalgic memories are a source of comfort and inspiration when life is uncertain or difficult. These memories may feel so good precisely because they remind us of what is most important in our lives.”

Whether in good times or bad, nostalgic smells and tastes soothe us. As we work to preserve our family history, let’s be sure to preserve those wonderful food memories. Those recipes feed our family’s soul and help us weave together a rich family tapestry to blanket future generations with love. 

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s brother Irwin with grandmothers Pauline Oberstein (left) and Nettie Blum. Pauline was one wafer short making her banana pudding and suspected Irwin of “snitching” one. Looks to me like he’s guilty.

The authentic banana pudding, made with custard and meringue, rather than vanilla pudding and whipped topping.
Marvin salivating over his grandmother’s “real” version of banana pudding, along with other family dishes that conjure up important memories.

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Lizzy’s Ironic “Gift” of Addiction

Five days ago, our daughter Lizzy Savetsky reached another milestone. Lizzy celebrated her fourth sobriety birthday, commemorating the day four years ago when she hit rock bottom and ceased all alcohol consumption. Lizzy isn’t flying solo in this battle. She is part of a program with a powerful support group. Moreover, Lizzy encourages me to tell her story, in the hope it’ll help someone else embark on a recovery journey.

Two weeks ago, I re-posted my all-time most popular blog post. That post revealed Lizzy’s struggle with addiction and her fight to beat it. In that re-post, I promised an update. The story just keeps getting better.

As I expressed, Lizzy’s sobriety enables her to live a very purpose-driven life. She is dedicated to her family and to causes meaningful to her—battling addiction, pregnancy loss, fighting antisemitism, and supporting Israel. She stays busy on an international speaking tour giving heart-felt presentations on these topics, as well as promoting them on her LizzySavetsky social media platform. Lizzy is quick to say none of her family connection or advocacy would be possible without sobriety.

Here are a few recent highlights of Lizzy’s work:

  • Working side-by-side with the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism in New York City
  • Designated Israel’s “Voice of Iron” by the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament)
  • Serving as keynote speaker at the Hadassah National Conference, the largest and most influential Zionist organization in America.
  • Election to the World Zionist Congress, the world’s leading voice for Zionism, convening in Jerusalem
  • Recipient of Israel’s Annual Award of Bravery (designated the Brave Leadership of Zion Award) for her fearless advocacy, presented at the Menachem Begin Center in Jerusalem.

In an ironic twist, Lizzy actually is grateful for her struggles with addiction. She told me that none of these achievements would have happened without her fight to overcome challenges. I learned this irony when Lizzy came home to Texas recently to sing in the Johnnie High Country Music Reunion Show, on the stage where she grew up singing. (To the surprise of many, her public persona got its start as a yodeling Jewish cowgirl—now that’s an oxymoron!)

In that visit, Lizzy and I had the gift of hours of one-on-one father-daughter time. It was in that conversation that Lizzy explained the irony to me:

“Every single person is born with challenges that they have an obligation to overcome in order to achieve their purpose. Rabbi Shlomo Farhi, of New York’s Safra Synagogue, teaches that G-d creates each person intentionally with the weaknesses, with the character defects that we’re supposed to have, but also with the strength to overcome them. It’s only when we face those challenges and overcome them that we are able to achieve our true potential. So, if you think of it that way, then all of these hardships and challenges are truly a gift, because without facing them and overcoming them, we never become the people we are supposed to be. And if we had been born without these weaknesses and the power to face up to them, then we never would step into that potential that G-d places within us.”

May we be thankful for all our blessings, including the ones that come in disguise. Wishing everyone success in addressing whatever challenges G-d has placed in your life.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky with husband Ira and kids Stella, Juliet, and Ollie. Lizzy’s sobriety is a blessing to both her and her family.

Lizzy stands side-by-side Mayor Eric Adams with his Office to Combat Antisemitism in New York City.
As part of Lizzy’s international speaking tour, she’s the keynote speaker at Hadassah’s National Conference.
The State of Israel designated Lizzy Savetsky as its “Voice of Iron” and also presented her The Brave Leadership of Zion Award, “For boldly standing up and speaking out the truths about Israel and the Jewish people, despite the consequences. We salute you for setting an example of Jewish bravery, strength and pride.”
On top of her other achievements, Lizzy can still yodel! Here she is singing “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” on the Johnnie High County Music Reunion Show. Ambassador Mike Huckabee even brought her on stage to yodel when presenting her the Award of Bravery in Jerusalem last week, a surprise both to Lizzy and to the Israeli audience!

Lizzy’s Ironic “Gift” of Addiction Read More »

Finding Joy in My 70s

Last week, I featured a repeat of my all-time most popular blog post, “Happy ‘Sobriety’ Birthday to My Daughter.” I wrote that post a year ago, expressing gratitude for Lizzy completing her third year of being sober. I shared how in a sobriety program, the celebrant randomly selected a card with a value to embrace for the coming year. The word was “joy.”  Given that Lizzy’s third sobriety birthday closely coincided with my 70th birthday, I decided one year ago that my goal for my 70th year was to experience joy. 

In that post, I revealed that I engaged in a values exercise with my TIGER 21 group. We each created a “values pyramid,” selecting 15 values from a long list and prioritizing them with the top one, then next two, then next three, then next four.  The group then constructed a group pyramid, and I was shocked that one of the group’s top five values was “joy.” The word “joy” was nowhere on my values pyramid. That wake-up call motivated my decision to prioritize seeking “joy” in my life. 

Here I am one year later with an update, as I now celebrate my 71st birthday. The feedback people sent me taught me a lot about joy. I’ll share some of those insights. 

One reader tied together the concept of joy with my daughter’s sobriety journey. He divulged that he is on his own sobriety journey, 16 years sober. Here’s his message: “The word ‘joy’ hit me really deep, as I only learned joy when getting sober. I was looking for happiness for 60 years, sometimes trying to buy it in the form of a bigger car or something material. It did not work; it did not last long. Happiness comes from outside and joy comes from inside. The challenge is to know WHO you are, not what you have done or what you are doing.”

The idea of identifying WHO you are especially resonates with me, now that I’m celebrating my second year in the decade of the 70s. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan helped me process that when she quoted Rabbi Angela Buchdahl: “’When you’re 60 you’re at the peak of your power—running the law firm, the most respected doctor. At 70 you’re having to grapple with transitions, with who I am, and the aging of the body. It is the time of confronting the big questions of life…. This is a fruitful time to ask the questions about what we want to be. We are on a journey, all of us leaving a narrowing, constricted place for a place of freedom.’” (“Easter and Passover Lesson: It’s Never Too Late,” April 17, 2025) 

In my monthly TIGER 21 group meetings, I speak openly about my goals for this decade of life. As Rabbi Buchdahl says, the 70s is a time of transition. My best friend Talmage Boston advocates that we should periodically reinvent ourselves. Doing so allows us to avoid burnout, remain relevant, and stay energized. Turning 70 and entering this time of transition is a perfect opportunity to reinvent myself. Part of that reinvention is my commitment to writing this weekly blog, and hopefully soon collating my writings into a book on building a lasting legacy.

I am actively exploring how to make the most of this decade. The word “joy” is now a part of my vocabulary for this chapter of my life. I have always been notorious for postponing joy. I’m wired to put off joy till the future. Reaching my 70s, I realize (in the words of my former TIGER 21 chair Bill Case), “the future is now.” I’ve come to that realization more than ever since Laurie and I had a close brush with death a few months ago. We miraculously survived a rogue wave in Cabo that viciously tried to swallow us up. (See my post of April 29, 2025: “I’m Now a Cat with Eight Lives”) Indeed, since that trip to Cabo, I notice that I worry far less, sleep better, and embrace joy each day. 

I’ll conclude my 71st birthday recommitment to joy with wisdom from a dear friend and mentor Kasia Flanaghan of Everyday Legacies: “In the Book of Mormon, in a part where a father is teaching a son about the purpose of life, he tells him: ‘men are that they might have joy.’ I think joy is meant to be a more holistic emotion than we sometimes understand. Rather than just being a synonym for happiness, which can be fleeting, I think it is a capstone to feelings of gratitude, humility, peace, and purpose.” 

Kasia then asked if I would reveal my values pyramid, the one that omitted the word “joy.” In the spirit of openness and vulnerability, I’m attaching my values pyramid here. Although this pyramid was created several years ago, it still describes how I tick. The word joy is missing, but as I review it today, I believe the sum total of these 15 values adds up to a life filled with joy, the kind of holistic joy Kasia so eloquently describes.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s values pyramid, prioritizing the top 15 selected from a long list of values.

Even without mentioning the word "joy," Marvin Blum's values pyramid adds up to a life of abundant joy. With “family” as the top value, the greatest source of joy comes from six grandchildren who call him “Zaidy,” the Yiddish word for grandfather.

Finding Joy in My 70s Read More »

My Most-Read Blog Post of All Time: Lizzy’s Sobriety Journey

I’ve been writing this weekly Family Legacy Planning blog for nearly five years. I just discovered that we have data that tracks the number of hits a post gets. When we graph the data and look back at the level of engagement, I saw one huge upward spike. By a mile, the post that was most read happened a year ago entitled “Happy ‘Sobriety’ Birthday to My Daughter.” This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. In my estate planning work, I’ve discovered that nearly every family struggles with addiction issues at some level. In honor of the anniversary of that post, I am reprinting the entire post below. But before I do, I’ll share one story that bears out my point about the multitude of families dealing with drug and alcohol dependency.

Several years ago, I was a member of an international family office network. Attending the group’s annual conference, I was intrigued by the agenda. It had all the topics you’d expect — investing, tax planning, estate planning, educating heirs, etc. But there was one topic that stuck out and didn’t seem to fit. The “sore thumb” topic that surprised me was a session on addiction. As it turns out, the addiction session received the most attendance and the highest level of engagement. Here I was in a packed ballroom with hundreds of wealthy families, and nearly every family was dealing with some level of substance abuse. That was a wake-up call. So, when I shared the story on this blog of my own daughter’s battle against alcoholism, the reaction from readers was the same as in that ballroom. 

Given the attention that post received, I will repeat it here in its entirety. I’ll follow up in the coming weeks with some important updates, as August 1st marks Lizzy’s 4th “sobriety” birthday. We are abundantly grateful.

 

My Post of August 13, 2024:
Happy “Sobriety” Birthday to My Daughter

Last week’s post was about my 70th birthday, which I celebrated joyfully a few days ago, and I now embark on my eighth decade with renewed energy. In today’s post, I want to share another birthday we celebrated this month in our family. With my daughter Lizzy’s permission (indeed, her encouragement), I am grateful to rejoice in Lizzy’s 3rd “sobriety” birthday. As I’ve revealed in the past, Lizzy is waging a very successful but hard-fought battle against alcoholism. August 1, 2024, marks the completion of 3 years being sober.

Lizzy encourages me to tell her story with the hope it will help others who are battling addiction. I am proud of her willingness to be open and transparent about her struggle with alcohol dependency. So many are suffering in silence. Lizzy is a champion for saying you don’t have to live like that. She acknowledges that it’s a tough road, but there is help out there. Don’t try to fight this disease alone. Find a program that works for you, like Lizzy is doing.

Thanks to her program, Lizzy enjoys a very purpose-driven and meaningful life. In addition, her whole family benefits from her ability to be fully present and engaged with them. In fact, Lizzy, Ira, and their 3 kids just completed a three-week trip to Israel, where they brought comfort to families who are suffering from losses and injuries due to the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.  Their 3 kids are actively involved as well, providing love to these victims and to families of those still held hostage for 312 days now. Lizzy’s full-time mission is to fight antisemitism and support Israel through her social media platform, LizzySavetsky- work that wouldn’t be possible were it not for Lizzy’s sobriety. Laurie and I are very grateful and proud parents.

I learned this week that in some programs, a person with a sobriety birthday randomly selects a card that depicts a value to embrace for the coming year. The value one such person selected was the word “joy.” That person’s goal for the coming year is to experience joy.

That story brings to mind something that I experienced that I’d like to share. In one of my TIGER 21 meetings, we engaged in a “values exercise.” We were each presented with cards containing 56 values and directed to sort them into 3 stacks revealing how they apply to us: (1) always, (2) sometimes, (3) never. We then narrowed the “always” stack down to 10 and prioritized them, building a pyramid with our number one on top, followed by the next two, then the next three, then the next four. We assigned numerical weights and reported each of our results to the group. The group then constructed a group pyramid with the group’s top 10. It was fascinating to compare my individual pyramid to the group pyramid. 

Here was my main takeaway: One of the group’s top 5 values was “joy.” The word “joy” was nowhere on my values pyramid. It never dawned on me that seeking joy was an appropriate goal. As a person who is (obsessively) productive, I never allowed myself to prioritize joy. Seeing how highly it ranked with the rest of my TIGER 21 group was a big wake-up call for me.

A values exercise like this is a very meaningful activity for a family meeting. As I continue to promote family legacy planning, the cornerstone of that process is the family meeting. I commend to you to bring your family together and engage in meaningful conversation and learning, and in doing so, reveal the values that your family holds in common. It’s a great unifying activity—what I often call “family glue.”

So, as I embark on my eighth decade, I am choosing the word “joy” as my new word of the year. It won’t replace my other values, but as I celebrate this 70th birthday, it’s time to smell the roses.

I do have some dissonance advocating the idea of “joy” during these very disturbing times, as my people are targets for unimaginable hate and terrorism. However, rabbis teach that G-d wants us to continue to celebrate life, even in the midst of our suffering. My heart is heavy, but I can still feel abundant gratitude, and yes—even “joy”—for all the blessings in my life.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky (pictured here with her 3 kids) celebrated her third "sobriety" birthday one year ago, a golden gift to her and her loved ones.

Marvin expresses his immeasurable love for his daughter Lizzy.

My Most-Read Blog Post of All Time: Lizzy’s Sobriety Journey Read More »

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”

I readily admit that I’m not a trained expert on the topic of parenting. However, from time to time, I have shared some tips from my own experience as a dad. The feedback is always affirming. People encourage me to keep the tips coming. So today, I’ll share a story about how Laurie and I gave our daughter Lizzy and her future husband Ira Savetsky a little parental “push” (well, maybe not so little) to get married. We knew they were a perfect match.

The story begins on March 22, 2007, in New York City. Lizzy was a singer studying music business at NYU. [Side note: Lizzy competed in an NYU talent contest which her classmate Stefani Germanotta won, and Lizzy placed second. Unable to win a college talent show, Lizzy abandoned the idea of a singing career. Soon thereafter, Stefani changed her name to Lady Gaga.] I came to New York for Lizzy’s performance at the renowned Knitting Factory. That night, I met some dozen or so young men vying for Lizzy’s affection and trying to improve their odds by buttering up her old man. After the show, she asked my opinion of the suitors, and hands down, my choice was Ira Savetsky—solid, steady, genuine. Lizzy’s response: “Ira? But he’s just a friend.” True, but he could become more. Lizzy acquiesced, and they began dating.

A bit later, Lizzy graduated and moved to Israel to study at Neve Yerushalayim. Ira moved to Philadelphia for medical school. As the year went on, Laurie and I were trying to entice Lizzy back to the US, specifically to Philadelphia. Laurie moved into action. She called the Dean of Admissions at The University of Pennsylvania, and the conversation went something like this: “You don’t know my daughter, but trust me, you’ll want to admit her to Penn for a master’s degree. I know it’s past the deadline and she hasn’t taken the GRE grad school admission test, but let me fill you in about Lizzy.” She proceeded to do just that. Lo and behold, Penn said yes. There’s nothing stronger than a persuasive (Jewish) mother.

Laurie then worked her magic on Lizzy, and the next thing you know, Lizzy’s at Penn getting a master’s degree in Reading, Writing, and Literacy with an emphasis on multicultural education. Now it was my turn to work some magic (with some important coaching from my mom Elsie).

We had recently “upgraded” Laurie’s wedding ring. I had sold Laurie’s prior diamond to the jeweler, until my mother admonished me: “Call the jeweler, buy the diamond back, and give Ira a call.”

The conversation went like this: “Ira, I happen to have a diamond that Laurie wore for the last 30 years. If it’s of any interest to you, we’d be delighted to give it to you.” Ira took the “hint,” responding: “If it brings us the kind of happiness you’ve had for the last 30 years, I’d be honored to accept it.” Right answer. Soon thereafter, Ira proposed to Lizzy at the Statue of Liberty.

I’m reminded of advice from Fort Worth educator Hazel Harvey Peace when she accepted the Multicultural Alliance Award: “Sometimes adults have to help young people make good decisions.” That certainly applies in parenting. I believe Lizzy and Ira were destined to marry even without our intervention (as we say in Yiddish, it was “beshert” – destiny). They’re a match made in heaven. But to aid the heavenly process, Laurie and I played the part of “Yente the Matchmaker” and nudged it along. We didn’t want to take any chances.

 

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy and her future husband Ira Savetsky, on the night Marvin first met Ira and knew he was the man for his daughter.

Lizzy’s engagement ring, beautifully repurposing the diamond her mother had worn for the past 30 years.
Lizzy and Ira returning from the Statue of Liberty right after he popped the question!
Marvin and Laurie Blum feeling enormous gratitude at Lizzy’s bedeken (veiling) ceremony, moments before her marriage to Ira Savetsky.

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match” Read More »

Tax Planning in the “Big, Beautiful” Era

By the skin of its teeth, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” made it into law. It’s no surprise that it passed with only Republican votes. When it comes to tax legislation, that seems to now be the norm. When we go back and forth between a “triple R government” and a “triple D government,” we can expect the tax pendulum to swing back and forth. I say this because these new “permanent” tax provisions aren’t likely to be “permanent.” Here are some “Musings from Marvin” on tax planning under the new law:

  • On New Year’s Day 2026, the estate tax exemption will be $15 million per person (plus annual increases for inflation, starting in 2027). I recommend locking in that exemption soon, before the pendulum swings back. The earlier you use it, the more benefit you receive, as you not only escape the 40% estate tax on the $15 million transferred, but also on all future appreciation. 

 

  • By doing “squeeze & freeze” planning with certain types of trusts, you can lock in the exemption but still retain access, control, and flexibility. 

 

  • If your estate is under $15 million now but you expect it to grow, now is the ideal time to transfer assets to those types of trusts. What matters isn’t what you’re worth today, but what you might be worth at the time of your death, which may be considerably more.

 

  • When Congress drafted legislation in 2021 to close estate tax loopholes (which fell only 2 votes short of passing), the proposed legislation grandfathered planning that was done in the past. By planning now under today’s favorable laws, the planning would likely be grandfathered upon a future law change.

 

  • If your estate exceeds the $15 million exemption, you can continue to shift assets out of your estate by selling assets to grantor trusts (as opposed to making additional gifts that would be hit with a 40% gift tax). Such sales are free of income tax. You carry a note that is still in your estate, but that note is “frozen” and can later be burned down.

 

  • With diminished estate tax concerns, the focus shifts to tools you can use to save income tax. For example, we have developed tools to achieve a tax-free basis step-up, such as shifting basis from one asset you plan to keep to another asset you wish to sell, using mixing bowl partnership rules. Other tools involve ways to minimize tax on the sale of a business, restructuring your business to benefit from expanded opportunities as a Section 1202 Qualified Small Business, Roth IRA planning, more basis bump ideas, and other strategies.

At least for now, we continue to be in the “Golden Age of Estate Planning.” In his Washington Post article of June 30, 2025, Professor Ray Madoff concurs: “Indeed, it has been 35 years since Congress has taken any action to close estate tax loopholes. As a result of this quiet quitting, tax advisers have developed a virtual alphabet soup of avoidance techniques, including GRATs and CRATs and SLATs and SLANTs and ILITs, and IDGTs – which have allowed their wealthy clients to effectively eliminate their estate tax liabilities.” True, but to make that happen, you have to take action. Otherwise, the federal government is your 40% partner in all your estate growth above the $15 million exemption. 

We urge you to fight the temptation to be complacent. We are living in a hot political climate, with heavy polarization and resentment. This political climate, combined with our nation’s $36 trillion national debt, make now the ideal time for tax minimization planning. Take action before the political winds shift and the pendulum swings again.

 

Marvin E. Blum

 

Note: Madoff’s article is entitled: “A Signature GOP Issue Is Omitted from Trump’s “Big” Tax Bill.”

Marvin Blum advises that now is the ideal time for planning to minimize tax, before the political winds shift and the pendulum swings again.

Tax Planning in the “Big, Beautiful” Era Read More »

Memories of My Bubbie

Last week, I urged all to visit with senior family members to probe their memories. Do those family interviews before it’s too late, or else a “library burns down” when they’re gone and we lose those stories. Ideally, do a video recording of the interviews, like the ones I mentioned of my Aunt Sophia, a centenarian still sharp until her death at 103. Watching those videos rekindled some of my earliest memories of my Blum family heritage.

I’ve previously covered stories of my mother’s parents coming to America from Ukraine and Poland. Last week I focused on my father’s parents coming here from Latvia, telling the story of my grandfather Isadore Blum. Today, I round out the family history with the story of my grandmother, Nettie Falkin Blum. Like my other three grandparents, Nettie came to America as a young adult, starting life in New York. Her brothers Yossel and Morris remained in New York, settling in Port Chester, but Nettie and her sisters Becky and Sarah eventually came to Texas. They never Americanized. They spoke very broken English, preferring their mother tongue Yiddish. Their only newspaper was the Jewish Daily Forward, written entirely in Yiddish.

My grandmother Nettie was small in stature and in her behavior, very soft-spoken and gentle. On the contrary, her older sister Becky Schiffer, was stern and tough. Becky was a seamstress doing “piecework” in New York’s garment district. She was a labor organizer with Socialist leanings. Her husband, Moshe Aaron (whose name was always slurred together and sounded like “Mashiron” to me) was a violinist who shared his wife’s liberal views. Had they not been tough as nails, they’d have never survived their persecution in Dvinsk, Latvia. Like my grandparents Nettie and Isadore, Becky and Moshe Aaron also opened a small grocery, located at 1327 May Street in an impoverished Fort Worth neighborhood. It was very common for Jewish immigrants to own some kind of small retail business and live in cramped quarters behind it. Given my grandparents’ suffering under the Czar’s rule in Eastern Europe, they wanted to own a business and control their own destiny. My father used to say he’d rather own a lemonade stand than work for someone else. My kids and I have evidently inherited that powerful desire to be self-employed.

I have vivid childhood memories of Nettie (whom we called “Bubbie,” the Yiddish word for grandmother). Both of my parents worked at Blum’s Café, so every day after nursery school, I was dropped off at Bubbie’s for the afternoon. Bubbie and her sister Becky (both widowed) lived together on one side of a duplex on Forest Park Blvd. in Fort Worth. Their life was very routine, and I was expected to fall into that routine. We lunched daily on chicken and rice soup at the yellow Formica kitchen table. I recall eating the broth first and saving the rice till the end, whereupon Becky said to Bubbie (in Yiddish), “He doesn’t like the rice.” In truth, I saved it till the end because it was my favorite. I’ve always been one to postpone joy. (I’m trying to work on that.)

Following lunch, we watched “As the World Turns.” Watching TV was not only entertainment, it was how my grandparents learned English. As a four-year-old, that show gave me a different kind of education. I became a couch-potato kid who was addicted to TV (though I preferred “I Love Lucy” over soap operas).  Following the daily episode, we all took a nap. I remember saying, “But I’m not tired,” whereupon my Bubbie replied, “You rest before you get tired.” In spite of that admonition, I have never been into napping. I suppose I lean more into my mother-in-law’s view on sleep: “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

[I feel compelled to add that my dear friend and sleep expert Meeta Singh, MD concurs with Bubbie. In her weekly blog post yesterday entitled What if the real brain hack is…a nap?, Dr. Singh advocates for naps: “A nap is the real shortcut to solving complex problems…. Even a 20-minute nap boosted insight and creative problem-solving.” I guess Bubbie was right.]

We cannot escape our roots. They have a way of informing not only how we look, but also how we think and feel, even as we grow old. Though she seemed ancient to me, I’m now as old as Bubbie was then. My grandkids call me Zaidy, the Yiddish word for grandfather.  I wonder if my grandkids think I’m ancient. I wonder if 70 years from now, they’ll be telling stories of their childhood times with me. Bubbie called me “Shayna Punim,” Yiddish for pretty face. Will my grandkids remember all my nicknames for them, and the times we spent together? I hope so, but just to be safe, I’d better get it all documented.

 

Marvin E. Blum  

Marvin Blum’s grandmother Nettie (far left) seated by her siblings Morris, Becky, Yossel, and Sarah.

Nettie (“Bubbie”) with grandsons Irwin (left) and Marvin.
Marvin’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky and Nettie’s mother Sanya Ita Falkin (Marvin’s great grandmother). Genetics is a very powerful force.

Memories of My Bubbie Read More »

Don’t Let Your Library Burn Up

I recently attended the 90th birthday party of my first cousin Jay Weinstein, the oldest living relative on my father’s side of the family. I used the opportunity to quiz my cousin Jay about our Blum ancestors, since he was around for 20 years before I was born and knows more about our Blum heritage than anyone else alive today. Fortunately, Jay is as sharp as ever and provided a wealth of information. I am so grateful I can now document those stories for future generations. Moreover, Jay provided me with a family photo drive and video interview they did with his mother Sophia (my father’s sister) who died not long ago at 103, also sharp as a tack until the end. 

In talking with Jay and watching his mother’s video, I learned some remarkable things about my family history. In this blog, I have stressed repeatedly the importance of preserving family stories. Research shows that the more future generations know about their ancestry, the higher their self esteem and the stronger their resilience when adversity strikes. The key is to document the stories before it’s too late. My dear friend Todd Healy made this point so impactfully by sending me the book Like a Library Burning: Sharing and Saving a Lifetime of Stories (by Scott Farnsworth and Peggy Hoyt). The book equates losing an ancestor (and all the stories in their heads) with the burning down of a library:

               “Each of us is a library, a living depository of vast amounts of knowledge, information, wisdom, insight, and life-lessons. Within us we hold countless treasures: stories, memories, eye-witness accounts, compilations of decades of personal experiences. This human wealth is profoundly valuable and intensely fragile. It can be easily lost to death, disease, dementia, or any of a dozen other causes. Unless thoughtful steps are taken beforehand to preserve and pass it on, it will be destroyed and lost forever.”

I have previously shared in this blog some of my own ancestors’ “library,” particularly how my mother’s parents escaped Hitler, immigrating to America from Ukraine and Poland. I discovered that both of my father’s parents also barely escaped, leaving their home in Dvinsk, Latvia to make a new life in America. My grandfather Isadore Blum left behind his parents Yankel and Gital Bluss.  Going through customs, Isadore attempted to write his last name in cursive English. The immigration officer thought the two “s” letters at the end were an “m,” and renamed him Blum. 

In America, Isadore and his wife Nettie lost contact with the relatives they left behind in Latvia. When they later had a son, they followed Jewish tradition to name him after a (presumed) deceased relative. They gave him the same first and middle names as Isadore’s father Yankel Velvel (calling him William Jay in English). Years later, they discovered that Yankel was still miraculously alive. After Yankel actually died, my father’s sister Sophia had a son. They decided to use the name again, also naming her son Yankel Velvel (but reversing the order in English and calling him Jay William). That’s my cousin Jay who just turned 90.

I learned from my Aunt Sophia’s video that my father was named for Yankel’s wife Gital Yenta (my great grandmother). There was some confusion about her name, but the mystery was solved when we found a photo of Yankel at his wife’s tombstone. Fortunately, my Hebrew skills are good enough to decipher her name. What’s especially remarkable is that my granddaughter Juliet Georgie is named after my father Julius George. Lizzy and Ira gave her the Hebrew name Yehudit Gital, unaware that she shares the name Gital with her namesake’s namesake. We only know her name because of a Latvian gravesite photo going back six generations from Juliet. This proves how important it is to take pictures and pass them down with the family archives.  

My grandparents Isadore and Nettie Blum somehow made their way from New York to Texas. Isadore was an iron worker in Dallas until his COPD was so bad they moved to Fort Worth, where he opened a downtown fruit stand. He lost that business during the Great Depression, but with the help of his four children (the youngest being my father), managed to open I. Blum Grocery on East Rosedale. The family lived behind the store. The grocery closed when eminent domain claimed the location. We say a prayer every time we drive down I-35 at Rosedale, as the freeway now passes over where the store once was.

I learned a lot more Blum family lore from my cousin Jay and may share more in future posts. Suffice to say, “we’ve come a long way, baby” from those destitute days at 700 East Rosedale. Knowing your family history is enlightening and empowering. I urge everyone to join me in saving your family library from going up in flames.

 

Marvin E. Blum

First cousins Marvin Blum (right) and Jay Weinstein, reminiscing Blum family stories at Jay’s 90th birthday.

The Blum Family in Dvinsk, Latvia (Marvin’s grandfather Isadore Blum is far right, standing next to his three sisters; seated by Isadore are his parents Yankel and Gital, with Gital’s mother seated at left).
Marvin’s great grandfather Yankel at the grave of his wife Gital.
Marvin’s grandfather Isadore (the shortest man) at his fruit stand in downtown Fort Worth.
Marvin’s father Julius as a boy, working at I. Blum Grocery.

Don’t Let Your Library Burn Up Read More »

The Blum Firm Earns Tier 1 Ranking in 2025 Best Law Firms®

We are proud to share that The Blum Firm has been ranked Tier 1 in Trusts & Estates Law in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®, published by Best Lawyers®.

The Best Law Firms rankings are determined through a rigorous evaluation process and reflect the high level of trust and respect The Blum Firm has earned within the legal community and among those we serve.

Trusts and Estates remains one of the top ten most-searched practice areas on BestLawyers.com, highlighting the increasing demand for trusted guidance on thoughtful planning, purposeful wealth transfer, and legacy-building—the very heart of what we do at The Blum Firm.

Thank you to our team for your dedication and excellence, which made this recognition possible.

Learn more at www.bestlawfirms.com.

The Blum Firm Earns Tier 1 Ranking in 2025 Best Law Firms® Read More »

When Little Moments Become Big Memories: Shabbat Dinner with Juliet and Lucy

A TIGER 21 colleague in Denver waxed poetic when he shared that our best investments are the ones that pay “memory dividends.” As his TIGER chair Elizabeth Ledoux punctuated: “Trips, traditions, little moments—these are what bind our families and keep showing up in stories, connection, and legacy.” I recently had one of those “little moments,” a seemingly insignificant event that turned into a big lifelong memorable moment.

Our family gathered in Memphis, Tennessee for our great-niece Paige’s Bat Mitzvah. That, in and of itself, was a big moment. Paige was born 13 years ago almost three months premature. Weighing less than a pound and a half, she was the size of a small bird that would fit in the palm of your hand. Miraculously, Paige fought through every obstacle and is now a thriving and totally magnificent teenager. So Paige’s Bat Mitzvah was a very big moment, as she led us through a two-hour service (mostly in Hebrew) like a pro. But what was unexpected was a “little moment” the night before.

The day before, our 10-year-old granddaughter Juliet flew in alone from New York, as the rest of her family couldn’t join us. We are very proud that Juliet’s parents (our daughter Lizzy and son-in-law Ira) are raising their three kids in a home with strong observance of Jewish laws. It was our pleasure to provide strictly kosher food and accommodations within walking distance of the Temple Israel, as Juliet’s family does not ride in a car on the Sabbath. (In fact, we rented a house Elvis Presley built for his infamous physician, Dr. George “Nick” Nichopoulos which Elvis also regularly occupied, full of Elvis memorabilia and decor, down to the shag carpet.)

The Friday evening Shabbat dinner was a 15-minute drive away (too far to walk), so we drove there before sundown to visit, and then I left with Juliet at 7:15 so we would be back at Elvis’ house (and out of the car) for the 7:30 Shabbat candle lighting. Our son’s 6-year-old daughter Lucy from Austin (inseparable from her cousin Juliet) joined us. So, it was just Juliet, Lucy, and me. 

The girls chatted non-stop in the car, and I loved hearing their girl-talk about school, fashion, and entertainment preferences. Then the “little moment” happened: the cousins (ages 10 and 6) took over preparing a Shabbat dinner for the three of us. Laurie had salmon ready for us, and the girls made a raw vegetable platter, a fruit tray, grape juice for the Kiddush blessing, challah for the Motzi blessing, and assorted cookies from Ricki’s, our favorite kosher bakery in Memphis. I’m no rabbi (though for years as I was growing up, I planned to become one), but the girls took over and didn’t even need my rabbinic skills. They led the ritual prayers, we shared our “rose and thorn” stories from the past week, and dined like royalty. (I have no pictures of the Shabbat dinner, as photography is not permitted on the Sabbath, but the vision is vividly preserved in my mind and heart.)

Here’s the takeaway: Stay on the lookout for little moments that will loom large in the family legacy tapestry your family is weaving.

Marvin E. Blum

Marvin Blum’s great niece Paige (left) and granddaughter Juliet celebrating the “big moment” of Paige’s Bat Mitzvah.

Marvin’s granddaughters, Juliet and Lucy, just before a “little moment” that turned into a big lifetime memory.

When Little Moments Become Big Memories: Shabbat Dinner with Juliet and Lucy Read More »

Two Attorneys from The Blum Firm Recognized in 2025 Best Lawyers®

Please join us on congratulating Marvin E. Blum and David C. Bakutis for being recognized in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers® for Trusts and Estates.

This recognition is based entirely on peer review, with attorneys nominated and evaluated by fellow legal professionals for their skill, integrity, and professional excellence. With more than 4 million evaluations submitted this year, earning a place in Best Lawyers is a meaningful honor and a reflection of deep respect from within the legal community.

Congratulations to our honorees—we’re proud to be well represented by your dedication and excellence.

 

Learn more at www.bestlawyers.com.

Two Attorneys from The Blum Firm Recognized in 2025 Best Lawyers® Read More »

Should I Write a Book?

Marvin and Laurie Blum (Laurie on front row in long red dress with Marvin by her side) at a TIGER 21 retreat in Cabo, where stimulating conversations provide fuel for this blog, and maybe even for a book.

When I started writing this weekly blog over four years ago, I never imagined I’d still be at it, some 230 episodes later. I also never imagined the direction it would take. It began with practical tips on estate, tax, and family legacy planning. When I leaked in a bit of personal Blum family lore, the feedback shocked me. People wanted to hear more about me—the personal stuff, the stories, the lessons learned. I never expected this blog to become such an open book about Marvin Blum.

As a result, most of my blog posts have turned very vulnerable and authentic. The stories and life experiences seem to keep surfacing. Who knew all that was locked up inside? I certainly didn’t.

Even as I reveal more and more “musings from Marvin,” I do aim to tie them into estate planning and legacy-building words of wisdom. Remarkably that hasn’t been hard. Estate planning is both a “head” and “heart” endeavor. Most of my posts speak to the “heart” side of the estate planning process, helping families create a meaningful and lasting legacy.

It seems a daily occurrence when someone asks me, “When are you going to write a book?” I generally hesitate, and I ask: “What would be the topic? What would people want to read?” My blog is such a potpourri of subjects.

I had this very conversation with a lady at a recent TIGER 21 retreat. She told me she awaits my blog every Tuesday morning, eager for my weekly message. She then urged me to write a book. When I asked, “About what?,” her response was “parenting.” She looks to my blog for guidance on how to raise responsible kids, kids who have a solid core. The fact I have no training or special expertise in parenting didn’t matter to her. She sees the sum total of my work as guidance on how to create a family with lasting values.

Coincidentally, the next night at dinner, another TIGER 21 couple asked my advice on how to balance building a career and raising young kids, both of which (if done well) are time consuming. I acknowledged the juggle, and then offered some examples from my early years of growing both a law practice and a family:

  • Adam and I were both very early risers, so we had a lot of one-on-one interaction before my workday began. Early on, we built cities with blocks, made intricate Lego creations, and talked about his world. The activities and conversations evolved as Adam grew older.
  • Every night at bedtime was my time for one-on-one reading with Adam and Lizzy. We grew quite a collection of books, which I’m now enjoying all over again with our six grandchildren.
  • For many years, I blocked off every Thursday afternoon on my calendar as if it were a client appointment and alternated one-on-one afternoon outings with Adam and Lizzy. We called it “Special Time.” I remember how it started. A movie made me tearfully melancholy on how fast kids grow up, and I worried I’d look back with regret that I missed out on those years with our kids. Laurie came up with the idea of “Special Time.” The outings varied: stockyards, synagogues, parks, even cemeteries. I recall driving high up on highway overpasses so Adam could see how little the distant cars and trucks became. Lizzy and I sat under a tree in the Botanic Gardens and learned all the lyrics to Judy Collins’ “Both Sides Now” (which we remember to this day). Those outings slowed down the racing timeclock with my kids growing up so fast, plus they helped me build a lifelong connection with them. The memories of those “Special Times” now fill my soul.

After offering my thoughts, my TIGER 21 colleague Ryan Pearson said, “You ought to write a blog on this subject.” What a great idea! Building family connection is a key part of building a family legacy. Now I wonder, could something like this turn into a book?

Should I Write a Book? Read More »

Marvin’s Garden

From the time I was a little boy and even now, I’m a big fan of the game Monopoly. My childhood buddy David Lee and I would play Monopoly games that could last for days. I always hoped to be the first to land on Marvin Gardens, the last of the yellow properties, so I could buy it.

Growing up, I didn’t know a thing about gardening. But that changed when Petrita entered our lives. Petrita was from Cuernavaca, Mexico, “la ciudad de eterna primavera” (the city of eternal spring), and she was the most amazing nanny on earth. Her first day with us was the day we came home from the hospital with baby Adam. We knew Petrita was a gourmet chef, but we didn’t know she was also a master gardener. One day, I came home with a couple of flats of flowers, intending to plant marigolds in some big pots and periwinkles in small pots. I was all set to plant when Petrita rushed to the scene: “Señor Marvin, you have it backwards” (she said in Spanish). She took over, teaching me that periwinkles grow tall and spread out wide, while marigolds remain low and tight. From that day on, I was the student and Petrita was the teacher.

When Adam turned two, we moved to a larger house. I was about to pull up a mess of “weeds” in the backyard, till Petrita informed me those were wood ferns and a very desirable feature in a shady garden, perennials that would come back year after year. Once again, she rescued me. It happened over and over. One day, Petrita returned from a walk and rushed back down the street with a little shovel, returning with an inch tall “weed” that is now a sky-high gorgeous redbud tree. She saw it growing in a crack in the street and told me she had to hurry and get it before someone else spotted it. I assured her no one else would beat her to it, but she wasn’t convinced. Another time she was asleep on the living room floor, and I almost tripped over her in the middle of the night. She said there was a huge tree in our backyard making a “clicking” noise that was soon to fall on the house near her bedroom. It was Adam’s Bar Mitzvah weekend, but I had to have a tree man come take out the tree the very next day. There was no arguing with her. Sure enough, the tree was rotten on the inside and about to fall on our house.

Petrita passed away about 20 years ago, but she left me a very important inheritance: a green thumb. She is with me every day in my garden. I have nowhere near her level of knowledge, but I’m lightyears ahead of where I started. For me, gardening is therapeutic and rewarding, a source of instant gratification. It’s also my time to commune with Petrita, who truly became a member of our family. I continue to enjoy the legacy plants in my yard that she smuggled up from Mexico in her bra. She’s also with me when I wield the heavy garden axe she somehow hid in her possessions on another bus trip up from Mexico.

Gardening is very metaphorical. Voltaire taught us to “cultivate your own garden.” When we seek to broaden our horizons and meet a new network of contacts, we should start first in our own backyard. My daughter Lizzy became a champion for multicultural acceptance, teaching us to open our minds and hearts to those different from us. She learned from Stephen Seleny, Headmaster at Trinity Valley School, to first really get to know those in your own sphere of influence. Then you can branch out. Cultivate your own garden before you try to reach out beyond it.

Lizzy has also taught me the importance of weeding your garden. She knows I’m obsessive about pulling weeds, but she attaches a different meaning. She texted me: “For a beautiful life and legacy, we have to take the time to weed out any life suckers. This means toxic people, toxic energy, and toxic time commitments. If you don’t stop to weed the garden, you will never have the flourishing beauty you are capable of. Weeding the garden is a metaphor for how to create a beautiful life.”  On my 64th birthday, Lizzy posted a photo montage of me with the background music from the Beatles: “Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four?” That song describes me to a T.

My family loves to tease me about the hours I spend weeding the garden. But now Lizzy praises me: “The more success one builds, the more life suckers come, voraciously attempting to feed off that success. As the gardeners of our own lives, each of us alone is responsible for growing and protecting the garden. If we allow one weed in, hundreds will follow. Nobody can weed the garden for us. Ask yourself, what time suckers, energy suckers, and money suckers can we weed out?” 

Lizzy continues: “Just as you cover plants to protect them from the cold, cover your life by acting humbly to protect it from the chill of jealous eyes.” In my post of April 18, 2023, I drew from the act of sprucing up my spring garden to recommend an estate planning clean-up. The garden metaphors go on and on.

When I’m in nature, I feel a heightened sense of civilization and peace. Catherine Sanderson reveals that those feelings put me in good company with other nature lovers. In her May 15, 2025, blog post “Why Lumberjacks, Foresters, and Farmers Are Happier Than Lawyers,” she touts “the underrated benefits of spending time in nature.” Jobs that are outside in nature produce the highest job satisfaction. Research in neuroscience proves “why people who spend time in nature experience better overall physical well-being,” as well as psychological well-being and lower stress. 

Surveys show that the least happy workers are lawyers. Lawyers especially need to get out of the office and spend time in nature. My “Canoe Brother” classmate from law school Cliff Ernst agrees. We have spent hours floating along the Guadalupe River in a canoe, discussing the therapeutic benefits of being out in nature and digging in the dirt. A master gardener, Cliff recently sent me a surprise package of native Texas spiderwort he dug up from his yard so I can plant it in mine. That’s a gift that will keep on giving.

In the realm of building a lasting legacy, gardening is a great way to do something to make the world more beautiful, as I often read to my kids (and now to my grandkids) in the inspiring children’s book “Miss Rumphius.” I suggest that gardening may also be a great family-bonding activity, or at least provide next generations a memory of the old man out in his yard, sweating, but happy as ever. I highly recommend you give it a try, but since you won’t have Petrita to train you, I recommend Neil Sperry’s “Complete Guide to Texas Gardening” as the next best thing.

Marvin Blum in his garden with the treasured axe the family’s nanny Petrita brought him from Mexico (surrounded by wood ferns Petrita taught him weren’t “weeds”), about to transplant spiderwort Canoe Brother Cliff Ernst mailed him from his garden in Austin.

Our nanny Petrita was a master chef and gardener who taught us so much and truly became a cherished member of the Blum family, pictured here with Laurie celebrating Adam’s Bar Mitzvah.

Marvin (right) with law school classmate “Canoe Brother” Cliff Ernst, canoeing for hours on the Guadalupe River discussing life, the law, and the wonders of nature.

Marvin’s Garden Read More »

“Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?”

“Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?” That’s the question posed by country legend George Strait in a song with that quizzical title. Here’s my answer to that query: if Fort Worth hasn’t crossed your mind yet, it will.

I’m a proud unofficial ambassador of Fort Worth, my hometown. Everywhere I go, people are shocked to learn we’re the fastest growing large city in the country. Even describing Fort Worth as a “large city” raises eyebrows. In fact, Fort Worth is now the 11th largest city in the U.S., rapidly closing in on a population of one million. And to all my friends in Big D, fasten your seatbelts for this reveal: The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the population of Fort Worth will surpass Dallas by 2045. “That’s right, in 20 years, Dallas will become Fort Worth’s little brother.” (“2050: A Peek Into Our City’s Future,” Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, March 2025).

I’ve bragged unabashedly about Fort Worth in prior posts. (June 13, 2023 and December 17, 2024). My last hometown post described a three-day “Discover Fort Worth” event I planned for TIGER 21, an international group with over 1,600 peer-to-peer learners. Those attending still express dismay at the enlightening experience touring the F-35 production facility, Modern Art Museum, historic Stockyards, visiting with local rockstars like Mayor Mattie Parker and business legend John Goff, and dining at Joe T. Garcia’s.

I was recently humbled to be among the “500 Most Influential” recognized by Fort Worth Inc. Magazine (Summer 2025). There’s no shortage of champions singing the praises of this great city, and I’m honored to be among them. 

I’m a Fort Worth local boy (as was John Denver, by the way), so I know it wasn’t always like this. It was once such a sleepy place that the legend has it there was a panther asleep on a downtown street (hence, the nickname “Panther City”). Over the years, Fort Worth has earned other nicknames: “Cowtown,” “Where the West Begins,” and now my favorite, “The Unexpected City.” Fort Worth is on a fast upward trajectory.

Here are a few surprise facts that make Fort Worth “unexpected:”

  • Forbes ranks Fort Worth in the top five cities in the U.S. for entrepreneurs.
  • WalletHub designates Fort Worth as the best large city in Texas to start a business.
  • Fort Worth is considered the top city in Texas for higher education (hosting a presence here are TCU, Texas A&M, UTA, Texas Wesleyan, UNT, Tarrant County College, and Tarleton State).
  • Taylor Sheridan and other stars are making Fort Worth the “Hollywood of Texas,” as the film industry has fallen in love with our city. As Fort Worth City Council member Macy Hill said recently, “It’s pretty cool to see Taylor Sheridan and Nicole Kidman walking around downtown Fort Worth.”
  • Fort Worth is a hub for the aerospace, energy, and tech industries.
  • Best of all, with all this well-managed growth, Fort Worth is preserving our rich cowboy culture with attractions like the Stockyards, Billy Bob’s, Stock Show and Rodeo, and the herd of cattle that still walks down twice a day, making the Exchange Avenue area the 15th most visited destination in America.

From my way of thinking, there’s no better place to call home than Fort Worth. We’re one of the few large cities embracing “Blue Zone” values for health and fitness, as well as the benefits of faith, family, and social connection. For years, Fort Worth tried to stay low profile and let our neighbor to the east enjoy the spotlight. Those days are over. The secret is out, and I suppose that’s partly my fault. Come see us!

Marvin Blum and wife Laurie, honored to be among the “Fort Worth 500.”

Marvin with legendary Congresswoman Kay Granger, Fort Worth’s “2025 Person of the Year.”
Fort Worth Inc.’s blurb about Marvin in the Summer 2025 issue.

“Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?” Read More »

Jewish American Heritage Month: How My Grandfather Escaped a Russian Firing Squad to Make a Life in America         

In honor of May as Jewish American Heritage Month, last week’s post was devoted to my Uncle Joe Weinstock who saved his sister, my grandmother Pauline, from death in the Holocaust. Today’s post continues the celebration of my heritage, featuring Pauline’s husband, my grandfather Meyer Oberstein, who also miraculously escaped death from Hitler. Whereas the Weinstock story began in Polona, Ukraine, the Oberstein story began in Tiktin, Poland, originally part of Lithuania, and known as the “City of Scholars.” 

As was the custom, Meyer’s parents had an arranged marriage. Meir Polchovitz was seeking the most scholarly student at the Yeshiva in Grodno to marry his daughter Chaya Sarah, promising to provide him lifelong support for a life of Torah study. The head of the Yeshiva selected Elchonon Oberstein as the groom, and the match was made. In 1905, Chaya Sarah and Elchonon gave birth to their fourth child Meyer. Soon thereafter, Chaya Sarah was cut by a rusty nail. They took her on a droshky, a horse-drawn sled, to Bialystock to amputate her limb. But it was too late, and she died of blood poisoning when Meyer was still a nursing infant. The family lapsed into poverty. 

World War I broke out in 1914 when Meyer was a nine-year-old boy. With no food in the house, Meyer sneaked out after curfew to search for food and was caught by Russian soldiers. A firing squad assembled to kill Meyer when, miraculously, an old Russian commissar with a beard rode up on a donkey and told them to let the boy go, as he was only a kid and not a German spy. (Some mystics speculate that the old man was Elijah the Prophet in the guise of a Russian commissar, sent to save Meyer’s life. Who knows?)

In 1924, 19-year-old Meyer came to New York, the last of the four siblings to emigrate. His oldest sister Celia Bear came first, and gradually brought over the other three, saving them all from Hitler. Celia and her husband resettled in Florida and owned Pensacola Dairy, where Meyer and his brother Kiva delivered milk with a horse and wagon. Meyer went to visit his other sister Elka Katz, living with her husband in Montgomery, Alabama. At synagogue services, Meyer was spotted by Eliezer Weinstock, who brought him home for dinner (and to meet his daughter Pauline). It was love at first sight. They married, and Meyer was embraced by the loving Weinstock family. Meyer and Pauline had four children, including my mother, Elsie.

Meyer’s formal education ended when he was 10, but like his father Elchonon, he was a natural scholar. Largely self-taught, Meyer learned English and was an avid reader, explaining to me as he read the newspaper nightly, “You have to read between the lines.” He was a lifelong intellectual and deeply analytical, always searching for the inner meaning. His dream was to be a surgeon, but circumstances diverted that path and instead he was the owner of Meyer Oberstein Grocery in the impoverished Montgomery housing projects. He became the champion of his African American customers, helping them find jobs, and advocating for them vigorously when the law treated them unfairly. Even during the Montgomery Civil Rights riots and boycotts, Meyer Oberstein Grocery was never picketed or subjected to violence.

The sign above the grocery store just said “Meyer Oberstein” (not Meyer Oberstein Grocery), as it really was his alter ego. He operated it with lean overhead, with just him, wife Pauline as cashier, Jimmy the butcher, Baby Sister the clerk, and Charlie the bicycle delivery boy. My brother and I worked there every summer when we visited Montgomery for a month.

Meyer was also a devoted Jew and proud Zionist supporter of Israel. His mission was to sign up every Jew in Montgomery to join the Zionist Organization of America. His was the only Jewish grocery to hurry out customers on Friday evening in time to get to the synagogue for Sabbath services.

Today, nothing remains of Meyer Oberstein’s Jewish roots in Tiktin, Poland except an empty old wooden synagogue and a memorial by the pit where Jews were shot and buried in a mass grave. However, in another sense, Tiktin still lives. The number of descendants of Meyer and Pauline Oberstein alive today and actively Jewish is rapidly approaching 100. 

As Meyer Oberstein’s proud grandson, I am deeply honored that the first member of Generation Five on the Oberstein Family Tree is my granddaughter, Stella Savetsky. Stella is the first of hundreds of future Oberstein descendants. Her birth signifies our victory over the Nazis. Moreover, the way Stella lives her life today personifies the continuation of our Jewish heritage and our everlasting survival against all who oppress us. As we commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month this May, Meyer Oberstein indeed left us quite a heritage to preserve.

Marvin Blum’s grandfather Meyer Oberstein escaped death by a firing squad as a child in Poland, miraculously later making it to America as a young man.

Meyer Oberstein with daughter Elsie Blum, celebrating the wedding of grandson Marvin Blum, an occasion symbolizing his victory over the oppression of his youth.
Marvin Blum's daughter Elizabeth Savetsky (Meyer Oberstein’s great granddaughter) at Auschwitz concentration camp, defiantly joining a “March of the Living,” to reconnect with her Oberstein roots in Poland.

Jewish American Heritage Month: How My Grandfather Escaped a Russian Firing Squad to Make a Life in America          Read More »

Important Reminder: Update Insurance Coverage After Asset Transfers

As part of your estate or business planning, you may have transferred ownership of certain insured assets—such as real estate, vehicles, or investment property—into a Trust, limited liability company (LLC), or family limited partnership (FLP). When title to an asset changes from your name to the name of a Trust or entity, it is critical that your insurance policies are updated to reflect the new ownership.

Most insurance carriers require that the legal owner of the asset be listed as a named or additional insured. If the policy still names the previous individual owner—and not the Trust or entity that now holds title—coverage may be denied in the event of a loss, even if the policy is still active.

To maintain uninterrupted insurance protection, you should contact your insurance agent(s) to confirm:

  • That the legal owner (e.g., the Trust, LLC, or FLP) is properly added to each policy as a named or additional insured, where appropriate; and
  • That each policy reflects the correct name of the Trust or entity.

This applies to homeowners, auto, umbrella, liability, and other relevant coverages. The process to update policies is usually straightforward but essential.

Please contact us if you would like our assistance with reviewing your asset transfers or communicating with your insurance agent.

The Blum Firm is here to support you as you complete and maintain your planning.

Important Reminder: Update Insurance Coverage After Asset Transfers Read More »

“Galveston, oh Galveston” – How Our Family of Jewish Immigrants Ended Up in the South

“Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin’,” and I still hear Glen Campbell crooning that tune in my ear. In the early 20th century, as Jews (including all four of my grandparents) began immigrating to America to escape persecution in Eastern Europe, most landed in Ellis Island and settled in New York. Many are unaware that a number of ships carrying Jewish immigrants diverted to the South, disembarking in Galveston, Texas. 

The “Galveston Movement” was an effort to disperse Jewish immigrants to the South to alleviate overcrowding (and growing antisemitism) in New York. Also known as the “Galveston Plan,” it was funded out of the personal pocket of Jewish financier Jacob Schiff, who contributed almost $17 million in today’s dollars. Between 1907 and 1914, about 10,000 Jewish immigrants landed in Galveston. The program ceased at the outbreak of World War I, bringing an end to one of the biggest periods of immigration in US history.

One such Jewish immigrant who landed in Galveston in 1914 (just in the nick of time before doors shut) was the patriarch of our family and the first to come to America, Uncle Yosef “Joe” Weinstock. It’s no small miracle that Uncle Joe became an American. Federal law excluded from entry “persons suffering from loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases,” as determined in the eye of Dr. Max Bahrenburg with the US Public Health Service. Bahrenburg deported seven times the number compared to Boston, six times that of Philadelphia, and four times that of New York. In his arbitrary discretion, “‘race’ showed a ‘preponderance … of serious defects which interfere with one’s ability to earn a living.’ More than one-third of the Jews he excluded because of ‘grave defect’ demonstrated nothing more than poor physique.”

Fortunately, Joe (a teenage boy traveling alone) passed inspection. He was met at the pier by Rabbi Henry Cohen of B’nai Israel, who put him up overnight in a hostel. The next day, Joe received a ticket to Troy, Alabama where he soon developed typhus and almost died. A religious Jewish woman named Mrs. Kermish took him into her home, rubbed him down with alcohol to take down the fever, and nursed him back to health. It was a close call that Joe made it past the evil eye of Dr. Bahrenburg.

May marks Jewish American Heritage Month. In honor of that commemoration, I devote this post to the story of Joe Weinstock. I featured Uncle Joe in this blog on May 23, 2023, “Grateful for My Strong Family “Stock” – The Story of My Uncle Joe Weinstock.” Click HERE to review that post, which I’ll expand on now.

Joe was the third of six children of Eliezer and Leah Weinstock. Joe left behind his parents and five siblings in Polona, Ukraine in order to avoid being drafted into the Russian army by the Czar. He was warned that remaining religiously observant in America (particularly in the South) would be impossible. But Uncle Joe defied the odds and remained “Shomer Shabbos” (strictly Sabbath observant) and kosher his entire life, even in faraway Troy, Alabama. He soon relocated to nearby Montgomery in order to belong to a synagogue. Joe bought a horse and wagon, going house to house selling fruit. 

Ten years later (after World War I), Joe had saved enough to buy a visa for his parents and two of his younger siblings, Morris and Pauline (my grandmother). By this time, Jews couldn’t get passports to leave the Soviet Union, so the Weinstocks were smuggled across the border into Poland, where they paid bribes to get Polish passports. Miraculously, they made it to America just before immigration ceased in 1924. Alas, the oldest two Weinstock children, Elke and Enoch, were married and couldn’t be covered on the same visa. They remained behind and were later murdered by Hitler. Sister Rachel and her husband were on a separate visa, but settled in Cuba, as the US quota for Jews immigrating from Poland was full.

Joe ran an ad in the Yiddish newspaper seeking a religious wife, and he and younger brother Morris married sisters Rose and Ruth Pass from Columbus, Ohio. Joe never had children, but he treated my mother Elsie and her siblings as his own. In spite of all his struggles, he was always cheerful and singing. One of Joe’s favorite sayings was, “I never had a bad day in America.” The Montgomery Advertiser did a story on him, saying “Weinstock came over from the Old Country with a smile on his face, and the smile never faded.”

Beginning in the 1950s until his death in the 1980s, Joe and Rose spent the High Holidays every year in Jerusalem. It was said that his body was in Alabama, but his soul was in Israel. 

If not for Uncle Joe’s courageous voyage to Galveston, our entire family would have perished in the Holocaust. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, I am grateful for the heritage I inherited from Joe Weinstock. His selfless devotion to our family and the Jewish people never wavered—from Ukraine, to Galveston, to Alabama, to Israel. To this day, Uncle Joe continues to give me strength.

Marvin E. Blum

 

Source of information in paragraph 3: “Study on Antisemitism in Texas,” Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission, Nov. 1, 2022. 

 

 

Marvin Blum’s Uncle Joe Weinstock (center) prior to immigrating to Galveston from Ukraine. Joe is flanked by four of his five siblings (L to R) Rachel, Enoch, Pauline (Marvin’s grandmother), and Morris. Joe was able to rescue his parents and three of his siblings from death in the Holocaust, but was unable to save brother Enoch and sister Elke.

Joe Weinstock (center) with wife Rose and father Eliezer (whose eye was poked out in a pogrom against Jews in Ukraine). On Rose’s lap is nephew Leonard (now Rabbi Leonard Oberstein, Marvin Blum's uncle).

“Galveston, oh Galveston” – How Our Family of Jewish Immigrants Ended Up in the South Read More »

Buffett Retires, but Remains a Treasure Trove of Tips

Last weekend was the Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting. Although we missed this year (in order to attend a niece’s Bat Mitzvah in Memphis), our family has a long tradition of gathering in Omaha. Family traditions and family travel (such as our annual pilgrimage to Omaha), create powerful family glue.

The bombshell from this year’s meeting was Warren Buffett (age 94) announcing his retirement. Thanks for all the years of imparting so much wisdom to us. We hope those tips will keep coming, even in Buffett’s retirement years.

Three times over the years I’ve had the privilege of being selected to ask Buffett a question. Topics range from his views on estate planning, philanthropy, business succession planning, to how to raise kids in affluence. People hang on every word of his answers.

I’m honored that my first question to him in 2013 is featured in a new book entitled Family Wealth, Inheritance and Well-Being (Claudia Tordini and Richard Franklin). The subject was Buffett’s famous goal to leave his children “enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing.” Buffett’s reply shows how he evolved from his original plan to leave each $500,000: “I think more kids are ruined by the behavior of their parents than by the amount of the inheritance that they [receive].” Buffett’s current Will reflects a more generous bequest to his kids: “I’ve loosened up a little bit as I go along.”

In a Press Release dated November 25, 2024, Buffett divulges more about his updated estate plan. “I change my will every couple of years…. Charlie [Munger] and I saw many families driven apart after the posthumous dictates of the will left beneficiaries confused and sometimes angry. Jealousies, along with actual or imagined slights during childhood, become magnified, particularly when sons were favored over daughters either in monetary ways or by positions of importance.”

Hence, Buffett encourages parents to discuss the estate plan with children and avoid surprises. “Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities they will encounter upon your death…. You don’t want your children asking ‘Why?’ in respect to testamentary decisions when you are on longer able to respond.”

Buffett is hitting on an important point that no doubt will strike a nerve with some. In my early years as a lawyer, the trend was more towards secrecy. The “Greatest Generation” was reluctant to share information with their “Baby Boomer” kids. That trend has shifted in recent years to align with Buffett’s advice. My experience today is that parents’ secrecy has generally given way to openness with their kids. However, be thoughtful in how you do it. I strongly recommend a series of family meetings, facilitated by an objective family consultant. Don’t start with the money. Better to lead with a discussion of family values rather than valuables. The conversation can gradually evolve into appropriate financial disclosures as the meetings progress and the family coalesces.

Buffett’s Press Release also describes how he leaves his Berkshire holdings (which “now account for 99.5% of my wealth”) to a trust to be disbursed to charities selected unanimously by three trustees. The initial trustees are his three children Susie, Howie, and Peter. Given that they are currently ages 71, 69, and 66, he designated three potential successor trustees who are “somewhat younger than my children” –yet more good advice.

Buffett elaborates that, over the years, he’s gained confidence in his kids. “I know the three well and trust them completely.” Accordingly, he’s willing to put them in charge. As to why unanimous, he reasons it’ll be easier for a child to say no when “besieged with earnest requests from very sincere friends and others” if they can blame their siblings. He or she can just respond, “It’s not something that would ever receive my brother’s consent.”

But Buffett acknowledges: “My unanimity clause, of course, is not a panacea—it clearly isn’t workable if you have nine or ten children or stepchildren. And it doesn’t solve the daunting problem of intelligently distributing many billions annually.” That “daunting” task will fall on shoulders of Susie, Peter, and Howie. Buffett knows that’ll be a burden, as “they have different views in many cases from both me and their siblings but have common values that are unwavering.” For example, like their dad, they have all eschewed “look at me” lifestyles.

Truly, Buffett comes through again with his treasure trove of tips. Given my passion to help families create a lasting legacy, Buffett’s focus on identifying and celebrating a family’s “common values” is particularly music to my ears. With all of his practical wisdom, Buffett is every estate planner’s best friend. So, thank you to my friend Warren, and congratulations on your well-earned retirement! You are a gift that keeps on giving.

Marvin and Laurie Blum with their hero Warren Buffett.

Marvin Blum (left) at an annual gathering with family at a Berkshire-Hathaway annual meeting.

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Jeffrey S. Hamilton Named to D Magazine’s 2025 “Best Lawyers in Dallas” List

We are thrilled to announce that one of our very own, Jeffrey S. Hamilton, has been named to D Magazine’s distinguished list of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” for 2025.

This prestigious recognition is a testament to Jeff’s outstanding dedication, legal expertise, and unwavering commitment to his clients. Each year, D Magazine invites local attorneys to nominate their peers, and a careful vetting process ensures only the most qualified are selected.

Being included in this list reflects not only professional excellence but also the deep respect Jeff has earned within the legal community. We couldn’t be prouder to have him on The Blum Firm team as a Partner in our law firm.

Congratulations, Jeff!

Jeffrey S. Hamilton Named to D Magazine’s 2025 “Best Lawyers in Dallas” List Read More »

I’m Now a Cat with Eight Lives

Life is fragile, I knew that intellectually. Now I know it in a real sense. Laurie and I began a glorious trip to Cabo, each with nine lives. We returned home full of gratitude, but now each with eight lives. We each donated one of our lives to the Pacific Ocean. We were almost swept away in a high tide, but thankfully in the battle of man vs. sea, we miraculously won.

The adventure began on a picture-postcard afternoon. The beach was calling out to us to take a walk in the sand. We were walking far from the water’s edge at what we thought was a safe distance inland. Suddenly, one of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen came crashing down on us, knocking us over and swallowing us up. The undertow was fierce and the current was pulling us toward the ocean with a powerful force. As determined as the water was to win, we were even more determined to live.

The tug-of-war happened fast, but I can now look back on it in slow motion. Reflecting on it, I have these observations.

  • When threatened, the human body is an amazing machine. A Samson-like superpower kicks in. We are stronger than we realize. When the wave struck us, our adrenaline rushed in, giving us the muscle to claw into the sand and grab each other so tightly that no force could overcome us.
  • When you think the end may be near, there’s a moment of awareness. Do I have any regrets, any unfinished business? Remarkably, I actually remember feeling that if this is the end, I am at peace. There’s great comfort in that.
  • When the episode is over and the mind calms, it’s time for a serious life inventory. At this time in my life, what are my priorities, and am I devoting my time and energy to them? Have I properly prepared my loved ones to carry on without me? Are my affairs in order?

I already knew this, but after our close call, the message is now even more loud and clear: Live each day as if it could be your last. The Roman philosopher Seneca said it this way: “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day…. The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short on time.”

When I was a little boy, my aunt Gertie Miller used to say, “Tomorrow is not promised to us.” Now I know what she meant.

 

Marvin and Laurie Blum moments before a walk on the beach and almost being swallowed up by the ocean. Remarkably, although Marvin injured his left bicep, his phone died, and Laurie donated her hat to the sea, they emerged alive.

Marvin and Laurie the next evening, with their serenity restored.

I’m Now a Cat with Eight Lives Read More »

Giving Back: Don’t Just Write a Check, Roll Up Your Sleeves

When it comes to creating a family legacy, philanthropy can play a very powerful role. When a family comes together to support meaningful causes, it serves as very strong family “glue.” Even though not everyone has the skills to work in a family’s business or investments, everyone can play a role in family philanthropy. Managing a philanthropic vehicle (like a family foundation) is also a laboratory for learning life skills. In addition to the gratification that comes from helping those in need, family members learn how to make group decisions, build bridges of communication and trust, and may even learn some financial, investing, and tax concepts. Philanthropy definitely provides a “win-win,” benefitting not only the recipient of it, but also enriching the family who does the giving.

When we hear the word “philanthropy,” the first thing that usually comes to mind is writing a check. Giving of our financial resources is an important part, but there are more ways to give than just by giving money. Charities often promote the “Three T’s,” urging us to give not only of our Treasure, but also of our Time and Talent. I’ll add a “Fourth T:” Toil. By digging into a cause and “getting our hands dirty,” we expand the “win” that comes back to the one who is giving. 

The Case Bogart Perspectives essay “Why Give?” (www.casebogart.com) explains that heirs participating in philanthropic activities receive an “essential transformation in their development of empathy, character, leadership skills, and life purpose.” Empathy comes from witnessing firsthand the impact of their charitable work, “fostering a deeper understanding of social issues and true human need.” Organizing charitable events and doing legwork teaches leadership skills, as well as “project management and strategic planning.” The interaction with diverse individuals expands the volunteer’s network and teaches “teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.” All of these benefits build character and instill life purpose, inspiring “a person to get out of bed each morning with something they want to accomplish outside of themselves.”

The Case Bogart essay got me thinking of some examples from my own life experience. The Blum Family is a big proponent of “hands-on” philanthropy. A few come quickly to mind: Laurie’s work with Meals on Wheels, Lizzy’s interaction with hostage families and IDF widows and orphans in Israel, Adam’s work with Gov. Abbott to fight antisemitism in Texas. Allow me to share a couple more examples from me and from my mom Elsie.

For over 30 years, I’ve been active with Fort Worth’s Multicultural Alliance (MCA), participating in programs to promote acceptance and understanding of those different from us. One such experience particularly stands out. I took a week off work to serve (along with my daughter Lizzy) as a counselor at Camp Anytown (now called Camp CommUNITY). We bring together high school students from diverse backgrounds to break down barriers of prejudice, bias, and hate. Remarkably, over the course of that life-changing week, campers leave with newfound open minds and open hearts, understanding and embracing people they’d never have imagined knowing. I facilitated conversations in share groups, we learned of each other’s cultures and backgrounds, and I even taught an art class to an eager group of kids excited about exploring their talents. At the end, I confessed that I had been reluctant to serve as a counselor, for fear that as a very uncool lawyer, I’d never be able to connect with a bunch of high school kids. One of my favorite takeaways from Camp was when the kids responded resoundingly: “Marvin, you cool!” Who knew? Even I emerged from camp with a much more open mind and open heart. I applied those lessons later when I facilitated an MCA Table Talk program for diverse students at Texas A&M Law School, and again at a program I gave for financial executives “Conversations are the Currency for Change.” My hands-on experiences at MCA have been life-changing for me.

I’ll wrap up with a couple of examples from my personal hero, my mother Elsie. For my entire life, I’ve watched my mom roll up her sleeves and work tirelessly at our synagogue. When my dad died 22 years ago, I often said that my mom “remarried,” and the marriage was to our synagogue. She became a full-time volunteer, single-handedly overseeing the synagogue kitchen and catering operation, supervising adherence to the Jewish laws of kashrut (kosher food laws), and working there literally seven days a week. But there’s another volunteer activity she took very seriously that I’ve never mentioned: serving on the Chevra Kadisha to wash and dress deceased Jewish women to prepare them for burial. It’s an ancient ritual that happens in prayerful silence, concluding with closing the coffin and thanking the deceased woman for the opportunity to prepare her for her final journey. In the Jewish religion, it’s considered a sacred honor. As Rabbi Isadore Garsek explained to my mom when she joined the group, this is the most selfless of all volunteer work, because the woman you are doing it for can never thank you for it. It’s hard to imagine a more meaningful type of “hands-on” philanthropy.

In summary, philanthropy goes well beyond just taking out your wallet.   When the volunteerism involves committing your hands to an activity, you truly get back way more than you give.

Marvin Blum and daughter Lizzy as counselors at Camp Anytown (now called Camp CommUNITY), sponsored by the Multicultural Alliance (MCA) of Fort Worth.

Marvin facilitating an MCA Table Talk to help diverse law students achieve acceptance and cross-cultural understanding.
Marvin’s mother Elsie Blum (center) supervising the synagogue catering operation.

Giving Back: Don’t Just Write a Check, Roll Up Your Sleeves Read More »

Family Traditions: The Blum Passover Seder Is Much More Than a Meal

Four generations of Blums gathered this week to preserve Passover family traditions (matriarch Elsie; Marvin & Laurie; Adam & Brooke; Lucy, Grey, & Mia). Lucy holds a vintage Haggadah created 35 years ago by Adam and his sister Lizzy, still used to this day at Blum Seders to tell the Passover story.

“Tradition! Tradition! Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a Fiddler on the Roof!” There’s a lot of truth in Tevye’s lyrics. Looking back over my 70 years, an annual Blum family tradition that helps keep our family steady is coming together to celebrate Passover. We are now in the week of Passover, rushing a lifetime of family memories into my mind.

Research shows that 90% of families fall victim to the adage “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” Shockingly, only 10% beat the odds. What are the best practices of those successful 10% that we can try to copy in our own families? In my own research, I compiled a list of the Top Ten Best Practices, as revealed in the slide below. Note that one of those 10 is Family Traditions, and the graphic next to it is an oak tree. Indeed, traditions keep us from falling off the roof, deeply rooted so we’re as steady as an oak tree when the winds of adversity blow our way.  

My dear friend Kasia Flanagan at everydaylegacies.com teaches this truth in her post “What Are Your Traditions?”: “Traditions—they are not simply what we do, they become who we are, affecting everything from our identity to our sense of belonging, and the purpose we feel in our lives.”

My Passover memories take me back to the earliest days of my youth. The Blum family gathered each year for a Seder at the home of my father’s sister, Aunt Sophie Weinstein. A long row of tables was pushed together running the entire length of the “front room,” with Uncle Max at the head leading the first night’s Seder supper. From very old to very young, everyone participated. We went person-to-person down the table, each reading aloud the next passage from the Haggadah, the Passover story. I remember counting ahead to identify my passage so I could practice in my head before it was my turn. There were some hard words in the text, as Moses shouted “Let my people go!” and Pharaoh obstinately refused until the last of the Ten Plagues.

The Blum’s kid-friendly Seder features eyeglasses depicting the Ten Plagues.

When Laurie and I married, we took over hosting the Blum Passover Seder. Our children, Adam and Lizzy, played major roles in the preparations. Most significantly, they compiled their own version of the Haggadah, a 41-page kid-friendly retelling of the Passover story. To this day, we use that Haggadah, as do a number of other families who have likewise fallen in love with the Blum version.

Another Seder memory was a skit performed every year by Lizzy and her best friend Sari Hochberger. It was unscripted and very clever, complete with numerous costume changes. It started with baby Moses hidden in a basket among the reeds by his sister Miriam, then to Pharaoh torturing a Jewish slave, and on to G-d (speaking through a burning bush) directing Moses to tell Pharaoh to “let my people go!’ They then graphically acted out each of the Ten Plagues, culminating in the death of the first born. The memories go on and on, and now we’re creating a whole generation of new Blum Passover traditions.

During this Passover holiday, Marvin Blum celebrates family traditions from Passovers past. Here (some 30 years ago), daughter Lizzy (right) portrays the burning bush through which G-d instructs Moses (acted by best friend Sari Hochberger) to tell Pharaoh: “Let my people go!”

Click HERE to revisit my post of Sept. 14, 2021, “Tradition, Tradition! Your Family Traditions Matter More Than You May Realize.” In it I quoted from Mitzi Perdue’s book What It Means to Be Us, describing traditions as the “lifeblood of a family’s identity” – “the more traditions, the more glue.” I also referred to Bruce Feiler’s book The Secrets of Happy Families, telling of a Duke family tradition from their weekly Shabbat dinners. Grandfather Duke would fling yarmulkes like a Frisbee onto each grandson’s head. Feiler asked, “Is this in the Torah?” The family replied, “No, it’s in the Duke Family Hall of Fame, and that’s much more important.”

Traditions such as these are more important indeed. They are essential to our survival as a family. I attended a Shabbat sermon by Rabbi Shlomo Farhi where he actually broke into song “I’m Still Standing.” Rabbi Farhi credits Jewish observance and practices as the reason we’re “still standing,” even after centuries of persecution (still occurring today at an alarming rate). Even on the way to the gas chamber, Holocaust victims sang in Yiddish, “We will outlive them.” Deeply rooted in our traditions and identity, no adversity will destroy us.

As I write the last paragraph of this post on the morning of tonight’s first Seder, two of my grandkids (Lucy and Grey) just happily interrupted my flow to ask how they’ll be able to find tonight’s Afikomen, the piece of matza we hide during the Seder so kids can find it and get a prize. I can see in their twinkling eyes the makings of lifetime memories and a new generation of Blum family traditions.

Wishing all of you a happy and meaningful Passover and Easter.

As the Blum Seder concluded, a very excited Grey & Lucy find the Afikomen (the hidden matza) and claim their prize, making more lifetime memories and family connection.

Family Traditions: The Blum Passover Seder Is Much More Than a Meal Read More »

Alright, Alright, Alright: Kay McConaughey, Anna Stucker, and Other Longevity Role Models

Today’s post wraps up a 3-part series on How to Add 7 ½ Years to Your Life. Let’s celebrate and learn from some role models.

  • Anna Stucker: I’ll start with this remarkable centenarian who turns 100 in two days on April 10. Anna is a vibrant role model of staying engaged and fit. She is also 100% mentally sharp and as smart as ever. Anna’s daily work-out regimen not only keeps her fit, it also provides interaction with a community of other fitness enthusiasts. Moreover, Anna can still fit into her Jayhawks cheerleader uniform from her days as a University of Kansas cheerleader!
  • Elsie Blum: I’ll turn next to the role model I know best, my mother Elsie. I’ve written often about her successful transition into her senior years. Now a vibrant 94 who is also still 100% mentally sharp, I credit her community involvement as the primary reason for her success. When my dad died 21 years ago, my mom took over the catering operation at our synagogue as a full-time volunteer. At 90, she moved into the Stayton, a fabulous senior community where she thrives in all their programs and social activities. With her ever-present smile and positive mental attitude, she declares (in her “Lady Bird Johnson” southern accent): “I’m living in the lap of luxury!” It’s not just that her apartment is beautiful, but what she really means is that her life is luxurious. 
  • Opal Lee: Fort Worth’s 98-year-old “Grandmother of Juneteenth” is another example of longevity propelled by purposeful living. Lee’s courage led to her being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. She single-handedly led the charge to get June 19 (“Juneteenth”) declared the 11th federal holiday. Lee overcame the adversity of seeing 500 white rioters burn down her home on Juneteenth in 1939. That spurred her to a life of activism. Upon receiving the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from Fort Worth’s Multicultural Alliance, Lee challenged us to “make yourself a committee of one” to fight for a cause meaningful to you, and others will join you. That passion not only sustains Opal Lee, it keeps her forever young.
  • John Scharffenberg: Another 100-year-old role model is this longevity expert. His M.O.? Exercise! “For every hour you exercise, you gain three additional hours of life.” Per Scharffenberg, working out not only extends life, it reduces risk of Alzheimer’s. It doesn’t have to be in the gym. Gardening or farming works just as well.
  • Jane Fonda: The Oscar-winning actress, now 87, is another fitness guru who recently revealed on the CBS “Sunday Morning” show her key to living longer. Per Fonda, it’s all about having a good attitude. The number one way to do that is to join a community, whether it’s painting, singing, dancing, exercising, or flower arranging. Doing so reduces stress, makes us braver, kinder to ourselves, and less judgmental.
  • Kay McConaughey: The 93-year-old mother of Matthew is a “razor sharp firecracker,” per Jennifer Birn’s recent Austin Lifestyle article “Life and Lessons from Kay McConaughey.” Her secret? “I eat clean. I exercise and I don’t stress… You are what you eat, and you are what you think… That’s why I think positive.” Her favorite food is salmon, reminding me of a TIGER 21 lecture from Dr. Jonathan Fialkow, a certified lipidologist, who declared salmon as the “number one food on the planet.” She also keeps up with current events and stays curious, a role model for Chip Conley’s definition of a “Modern Elder” as one who is as curious as you are wise.

McConaughey sees happiness as a choice. She overcame struggles with her mother and stepmother, determined to not be like them. “I’m a happy, happy, happy person… I don’t talk negative. I’ve chosen to be happy, in spite of the way that I was treated by those two women. You have a choice.”

I see some themes emerging here—community, mental and physical fitness, purpose-driven passions all making you “happy, happy, happy.” And as Kay’s son Matthew would say, “Alright, Alright, Alright!”

Marvin Blum with Anna Stucker, celebrating her 100th birthday this month. Anna is a role model for fitness and a positive attitude.

Marvin Blum and Opal Lee, the purpose-driven 98-year-old “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”
Kay McConaughey (Matthew's Mother) shares tips on staying "happy, happy, happy," to which her son would reply, "Alright, Alright, Alright!"

Alright, Alright, Alright: Kay McConaughey, Anna Stucker, and Other Longevity Role Models Read More »

Be a Block of Jade, Not a Blank Canvas

Based on the feedback from last week’s post, a lot of you want to learn more about how to live 7 ½ more years. I dug deeper into the science, this time from Professor Arthur Brooks’ weekly column “Happiness Is an Investment” (Dec. 2, 2024) and his recent speech at a TIGER 21 conference (Jan. 29, 2025). Here are more tips on how to live a longer, and happier, life.

As we strive for longevity, Brooks’ emphasis is on finding happiness in the second half of life. He describes the “U-Curve of Happiness.” We are actually happiest at the beginning and end of our lives. Happiness starts declining at age 16, bottoms out at 52, and then goes up again. The goal is for the curve to keep going up for as long as you live.

However, there’s a phenomenon at about age 70. Half keep getting happier, but the other half goes back down again. Research at the University of Texas described this as the “Striver’s Curse.” Those who were high achievers begin to feel irrelevant and unhappier late in life. Brooks gives the example of scientist Charles Darwin, world-famous by age 27, but after 50 with no new research he could do, he died 19 years later as a broken man.

When the fork in the road appears, the key to taking the high road rather than the low road is to celebrate a new kind of intelligence in later years. Shift from “fluid intelligence” (complex problem-solving and innovation, which declines with age) to “crystallized intelligence” (wisdom, judgment, and teaching skills, which increases with age). Per Brooks, that’s why teachers older than 65 get better teacher evaluations. When young, do innovation; when old, do instruction. Be the star lawyer at 30 and the managing partner at 65.

Brooks lauds Bach as a role model. The famous composer was the master of Baroque music in his fluid years. When Baroque fell from favor and gave way to classical music, Bach shifted from composer to professor, dying a happy man who was surrounded by his adoring students.

Another key to late life satisfaction is to reduce your “wants.” Satisfaction equals “haves” divided by “wants.” The better path to happiness is to reduce your “wants” (the denominator) rather than increase your “haves” (the numerator). Brooks contrasts Western civilization (where we treat life as an empty canvas on which we keep adding and adding paint) vs. Eastern civilization (where an intricate jade sculpture starts as a big block of jade, and the more you chip away, the more beautiful it becomes). Be a jade sculpture rather than a blank canvas. As we age, subtract rather than add.

In his article, Brooks also offers these tips:

  • Don’t smoke.
  • Watch your drinking.
  • Maintain a healthy body weight.
  • Prioritize movement.
  • Practice coping mechanisms.
  • Keep learning.
  • Cultivate long-term relationships.

All of this is common sense, but the science actually proves it. Following these tips improves the odds of a life that is not only 7 ½ years longer, but also more enriching.

Marvin and Laurie Blum with his mother Elsie Blum, now 94 and a role model for improved longevity.

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Add 7 ½ Years to Your Life

Want to add 7 ½ years to your life—and not just more years, but fulfilling ones? There’s actually science that tells you how. At a recent TIGER 21 conference, Chip Conley (CEO of Modern Elder Academy) was a wealth of information.

Exercise and stopping smoking both help, but research from Dr. Becca Levy at Yale reveals a tool that’s more than twice as powerful as those two combined—a positive mindset. The result is 7 ½ more years of life. Easier said than done, but Conley offers tips.

  • Become a beginner at something. If you’re no longer a beginner, you’re no longer learning. Ask yourself: “Ten years from now, what will you regret if you don’t learn it or do it now?” Jane Fonda (age 87) suggests art lessons. A National Endowment for the Arts study showed art classes improve mental engagement and physical activity, resulting in fewer doctor visits and making you less likely to fall. As a painter myself, I draw inspiration from other elder artists like George W. Bush, Bob Schieffer, and the late Winston Churchill.
  • Stay curious. Conley defines a “Modern Elder” as one who is as curious as he is wise. You can stimulate that curiosity at a Modern Elder Academy mid-life workshop “to fuel your gas tank for the later years.”
  • Cultivate “social wellness.” Join a community to exercise, paint, or volunteer. Also reconnect with friends from the past. Conley challenged us to take out your phone and text someone from long ago. I texted Jim Lipstate, my best friend from our freshman UT year. He responded instantly, and we’re back in touch after decades of living separate lives. I suggest you try it now.
  • Realize that our most valuable asset is time—edit out negativity in your life. In life’s later stages, it’s time to stop adding to our resume and start subtracting things that suck more juice than add.
  • Laugh at yourself. When laughing, it keeps us from being too self-critical.

Following these tips will improve our ability to handle life’s transitions, so we can go from “caterpillar” (the prior chapter’s ending stage) through “chrysalis” (the “messy middle”) and emerge a “butterfly” (the new beginning). It also helps us to find meaning, equipping us to solve a mystery posed by Mark Twain: The two most important days are the day you were born and the day you figure out why you were born. Solving that will help us live not only 7 ½ years longer, but also live those 7 ½ years with more purpose.

Marvin and Laurie Blum at a TIGER 21 conference, learning the tools to achieve longevity and putting them into practice.

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What’s in a Name? A Lot! (Especially When the Name is Juliet Georgie)

There is a Jewish tradition to name a child after a deceased loved one. Naming someone for an ancestor helps carry on the departed’s soul and memories “l’dor vador,” from generation to generation. Typically, the Hebrew name is the same as the loved one’s, and the English name is similar. When our daughter Lizzy Savetsky was expecting her second child (a daughter) she approached us about naming her after my deceased father Julius George Blum (Yehuda Getzel in Hebrew), as no one had been named for him yet. Rather than saving the name for a son they might never have, they wanted to go ahead and honor my dad. At the first Torah service following the birth, Ira declared his daughter’s name as Juliet Georgie (Yehudit Gital in Hebrew). Yehudit stands for the women of Judea, whereas Yehuda represented the men. I stood by proudly, filled with memories of her namesake.

A couple of weeks ago, each child in Juliet’s grade did a presentation on a deceased ancestor, featuring a meaningful artifact from that person. For her L’dor Vador project, Juliet Georgie chose to honor my father Julius George, highlighting the symbolism of his gold Rolex watch. It’s a proud and significant moment for me that I’d like to share with you.

I’ve written several times in this Family Legacy Planning blog about the importance of preserving family heritage. Research actually shows that the more we know of our ancestors, the higher our self-esteem. Knowledge of a family’s past (particularly stories overcoming struggles) arms us with resilience when adversity strikes. We know we come from stock who handled even worse things and survived, even thrived. I applaud Juliet’s school (SAR Jewish Day School in Riverdale, New York) for supporting this effort.

The irony is that Julius Blum was seemingly a very simple man. It didn’t dawn on me until after he was gone how special and significant he was. He was a hardworking, humble, and unassuming leader. Never once did I hear him brag about anything. Then, going through his papers, I discovered all kinds of youth, college, and adult leadership roles in the Jewish community. Those activities were overshadowed by his heavy work schedule. As Juliet so eloquently describes in her project (see photo attached), Julius was relentlessly committed to earning a living to provide his family with all the advantages he never had. On top of that, he never complained—not once!

Juliet chose his Rolex watch as a symbol of Julius’ success. “The watch was one of the few nice things my great-grandfather ever bought for himself. It was his way of saying he had made it.” He wore it quietly and proudly, as a reward for all his hard work, and never as a means of showing off. Juliet is taking an important lesson from that heirloom watch. To her, the watch symbolizes the importance of having a strong work ethic and taking care of your family. 

Juliet mentioned Julius’ love of bowling. He was in two bowling leagues: the Jolly Clowns on Wednesday nights, and a B’nai Brith Men’s League on Sunday mornings. At the end of each season, there was a trophy ceremony. Every year, Julius brought home a trophy from both bowling leagues engraved “Sportsmanship Award.”  I asked what that meant and he kind of blew it off as a “no big deal” thing. Well, now I know it was a very big deal. Everyone voted for him as the best sport, the nicest competitor, sort of a Mr. Congeniality. That says a lot about Julius Blum.

He loved to take care of our kids Adam and Lizzy. Julius was playful. He arrived at our house with a Big Chief writing tablet and a big fat (easy to hold) pencil to teach them to write their letters. He sat them on the bottom step and asked math problems, and every time they got one right, they got to advance up a step. On Saturday mornings he’d take Lizzy in his pickup truck to the Ol’ South Pancake House for salami & eggs, chocolate milk, and a tummy ache. Then on many of those Saturday nights, Lizzy would go with my parents to the Fort Worth Symphony where Julius bought her a bag of cherry sours to devour through the concert (and yet another tummy ache, but well worth it!). 

I remember when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 76. He looked at the doctor and us and said, “I’ve had 76 wonderful years. Who could ask for more?” Adam was a college freshman, and I remember Julius saying, “Don’t let my illness interfere in any way with you having the best college experience. Go back to Austin, enjoy yourself, and make the most of it.” Throughout my dad’s final year fighting that dreadful cancer, he still never complained. What a role model of strength and positivity. I cling to all these memories now.

Juliet Georgie (Yehudit Gital), indeed you come from good stock. Julius George (Yehuda Getzel) is watching over you.

Marvin Blum’s granddaughter Juliet Georgie Savetsky proudly displaying her great grandfather’s gold watch as a symbol of the heritage he left to her.

Juliet’s L’dor Vador project honoring her namesake, Julius George Blum
Julius George Blum with his adoring granddaughter Lizzy, who grew up to become the mother of Juliet Georgie (as well as Stella and Ollie) Savetsky.

What’s in a Name? A Lot! (Especially When the Name is Juliet Georgie) Read More »

Save Income Tax (and Actually Have Fun Learning How!)

I recently had the challenge of being lunchtime speaker in Lubbock on “Creative Income Tax Strategies.” The speech was to the South Plains Trust and Estate Council. I knew I couldn’t hold their attention by reciting a bunch of tax code sections and technical concepts. Solution? Turn each technique into a catchy story and keep them laughing. With my law partner John Hunter’s help in creating the stories, I pulled it off. No one was drifting asleep. Success!

My typical speech topics are about ways to save estate tax. Estate planners are so good at that, to the point some dub the estate tax a “voluntary tax” (paid by those who volunteer not to plan). I live in the world of “squeeze and freeze” transfers to DGTs, SLATs, and 678 Trusts. But in this speech, I shifted gears to saving income tax. The audience was all ears.

I understand why. As much as people want their family to avoid paying a 40% estate tax when the inheritance comes their way, people get even more excited about saving income tax—now, today, while they’re alive.

One way for people to save income tax is to own appreciated assets and get a stepped-up basis on them when they die. But once again, people prefer to save income tax without having to die. My speech revealed 10 ways to save income tax without having to die.

Some of these tools may sound “too good to be true.” That’s not the test under the law. Bottom line—if the law allows it, you can do it, regardless how it smells. Don’t take my word for it. The Fifth Circuit famously said it doesn’t use its “olfactory senses” in deciding tax cases. Furthermore, here’s the word from the esteemed Judge Learned Hand in Gregory v. Helvering (2nd Circuit Court of Appeals 1934): “Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”

You can click on this link to read my 10 stories in my PowerPoint on “Creative Income Tax Strategies.” Here’s a brief overview:

  • Overfund your Roth IRA. Transfer appreciating assets (like a carried interest in a private equity fund), to a Roth IRA and the permanent income tax avoidance will likely greatly exceed the temporary pain of excise taxes on the overfunded amount.
  • Section 1202 Qualified Small Business Stock. Almost any business owner (other than service businesses or oil and gas, including those who think they don’t qualify under Section 1202) can restructure their business and end up avoiding tax on gains ranging between $10 million and $500 million.
  • Private Placement Life Insurance (“PPLI”). Income earned on investments inside a PPLI can escape income tax forever.
  • Mixing Bowl Partnerships. Transfer high basis assets to a partnership, along with low basis assets (like a building), and achieve a “basis swap,” ending up with a high basis on the building that you can later sell or depreciate.
  • Installment Sales. Sell assets to a related party (like an S Corporation or Trust) for a 25 year, interest-only note, who then sells it two years later for cash. Defer paying income tax on the gain for 23 years.
  • Upstream Planning. Give an elder relative or friend a general power of appointment over your low basis assets and get a free stepped-up basis on the assets when they die.
  • Basis Bump Swap. Swap out low basis assets in a grantor trust in exchange for high basis assets of equal value, and get a step-up when the grantor dies.
  • Conservation Easements. Impose an easement on land you love to preserve it as is, achieving a charitable deduction now and saving estate tax later.
  • Charitable Remainder Trust (“CRT”). Before selling a low basis asset, transfer it to a CRT and let the CRT sell it, deferring tax on the gain.
  • Qualified Opportunity Zone (“QOZ”) Funds. Within 180 days after incurring a gain, transfer proceeds to a QOZ and defer tax. Hold the QOZ for 10 years and never pay tax on the QOZ gain.

This is obviously a quick overview. Don’t engage in these 10 tools without careful tax counsel to guide you through the ins and outs. The Blum Firm would be honored to assist you in your planning.

Marvin Blum speaks on “Creative Income Tax Strategies” to South Plains Trust and Estate Council in Lubbock.

Marvin Blum (right) with legendary Texas Tech professor Gerry Beyer, who expertly trained many estate planning attorneys at The Blum Firm.

Save Income Tax (and Actually Have Fun Learning How!) Read More »

How to Raise Happy Kids

This post wraps up a four-part series on parenting tips. Last week’s post was How to Raise Entrepreneurial Kids. Today’s shifts focus to How to Raise Happy Kids. I’m not an expert on the topic, but just sharing things I’ve learned from those who are. In particular, I’m an avid fan of Arthur Brooks who teaches “Happiness” at Harvard. Today’s tips come from Brooks’ January 27, 2025, weekly column on “The Art and Science of Happiness,” as well as a speech he gave two days later at a TIGER 21 conference.

Brooks gives us hope. Even if we’re not perfect (and who is?), we can succeed at raising happy kids. Here’s how:

  • The science says that one-third of the job is to just be warm and loving. Warmth and affection from fathers gets even more weight.
  • Kids raised in faith fare better. A 2001 study shows the benefits of “parental religiosity.” Once again, a father practicing his faith carries even more weight than a mother.
  • Put the focus on being “happy” rather than “special.” Kids who grow up striving for fame or power struggle with happiness later. The brain gets wired to only be happy when you get the adulation of strangers, often leading to addiction. Per Brooks, the worst thing is for your kid to be a child Disney star.
  • Live a life with purpose. Engage in meaningful family activities.
  • Create a tight family unit. Thousands of aspen trees in a grove all share one root system. Happy people realize their individuality is an illusion. Don’t go it alone. We are all connected.
  • Most of all, “be the person you want your kids to become.” “What you say has very little impact on how kids turn out…. What does matter for their development and well-being as a parent is your behavior—what they see you doing.”

Brooks clarifies that happiness is different from joy. Joy is just evidence of happiness. Joy is the smell of the Thanksgiving turkey; happiness is enjoying the whole meal. Brooks identifies the four daily habits of the happiest people:

  • Faith– Be “little” in an enormous universe.
  • Family– Your true self is not the sum of your achievements, but the sum of the love for the people in your life.
  • Friends– Friends aren’t a “nice to have,” they’re a “need to have”—but you need “real friends,” not “deal friends” who only befriend you because you can benefit them.
  •  Meaning– Engage in daily activity that gives you purpose—a reason to get out of bed in the morning. 

Reflecting on this, I want to give a shout out to the way my daughter and her husband, Lizzy and Ira Savetsky, are raising Stella (12), Juliet (10), and Ollie (4). It brings Laurie and me great joy that they are checking all Brooks’ boxes, and the results are living proof of it. In particular, Lizzy describes their activism for the Jewish people as a “family business” that employs all five of them. Their kids are involved almost daily supporting Israel—putting up posters of hostages so the world won’t forget, meeting with family members of hostages to give love, visiting hospitals and army bases, serving meals, attending rallies and prayer vigils. Stella even asked for no Bat Mitzvah presents, preferring donations to “IDF Widows and Orphans” (Israel Defense Forces Widows and Orphans).

Brooks sums up the goal: may they grow up to be “good, responsible, compassionate, honest, faithful—and happy—people.” And to that I say, Amen!

Marvin and Laurie Blum with Harvard Professor Arthur Brooks, a leading authority on how to raise happy kids.

Second, Third, and Fourth Photos: Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky, her husband Ira, and kids Stella, Juliet, and Ollie are role models for living with purpose.

How to Raise Happy Kids Read More »

How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids

As an estate planning lawyer, I represent a lot of entrepreneurs. Most of them are first generation wealth creators who grew up in modest circumstances. Family advisor Tom Rogerson of GenLegCo. teaches that a modest upbringing provides the conditions to create an “entrepreneurial incubator.” When trying to make ends meet with limited resources, family members not only learn to stretch the dollar, they also become naturally inter-dependent and learn to work together with others. Those skills come in handy in growing a business.

Many first generation (“G-1”) business creators hope G-2 will follow suit, exhibiting the drive to likewise grow into an entrepreneur. Here’s the dilemma. Many of the G-2’s grow up in very different circumstances than G-1. They lack exposure to the struggle that generated G-1’s grit. Rogerson refers to this rise in resources as fostering family independence (as opposed to inter-dependence), creating an “entrepreneurial kill-zone.” Click here for more on this topic in my April 26, 2022 post, “Declaration of INTER-dependence.”

Rogerson illustrates this concept on a graph. The lower left corner, where wealth is low and family interdependence is high, is the “Entrepreneurial Incubator.” As you move to the right (where wealth is higher) and upward (from interdependence to independence), you hit the “Entrepreneurial Kill Zone.” Families in the “kill zone” lose training on how to interact and make decisions as a team, which is a detriment if you are starting and running a business.

My last two posts were devoted to parenting.  I described it as the hardest and most important job you’ll ever have. Today, let’s explore what can entrepreneurial parents do to improve the odds of raising entrepreneurial kids?

Family Business magazine addressed this topic in “The Entrepreneur Gene” (Sept. 16, 2024). Entrepreneurs grow up with “an appetite for risk and perseverance through adversity.” But as the business grows and focus shifts to an “emphasis on continuity and legacy preservation, it’s easy to become risk-averse—and that mentality can hinder innovation and evolution.” The next gen’s stewardship of the business is healthy, “but there’s a flipside.” “A fear of failure” can inhibit creative thinking, per Prof. Alisa Jno-Charles of Babson College. A child who is afraid to fail will have challenges growing a business. What can parents do?

Jno-Charles offers a solution. The key is to develop “a very trusting and open familial culture, where children feel like they can come to their parents with anything.” Babson professor Angela Randolph expands this concept: “the key for parents hoping to foster entrepreneurship is turning NextGen’s mistakes into teachable moments. After all, entrepreneurs must be able not only to accept failure, but also to take lessons from it.”

Randolph elaborates that parents can best create an entrepreneurial mindset in two ways: “1) they actively share their goals, values and aspirations with their children and 2) they lead by example.” As I quoted Warren Buffett last week: “Your children are watching you more than they are listening to you.”

I’ll conclude with a powerful example from a family meeting I facilitated. The entrepreneurial patriarch suggested that at the next meeting he would review his many success stories on how he built an empire. The kids had a different agenda in mind. They asked their dad to instead describe the times he failed and what he learned from those failures. At the next family meeting, the kids were all ears. That was the best lesson in entrepreneurship he could ever give.

Marvin and Laurie Blum with Tom Rogerson of GenLegCo., advocating the importance of family INTER-dependence in order to raise entrepreneurial kids.

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Marvin Blum & Austin Light Publish Article in Trusts & Estates Magazine

Marvin Blum and Austin Light have co-authored an article published in the February issue of Trusts & Estates magazine.

In this article, they dive into the importance of client communication from an attorney’s perspective and give a few practical tips for effective communication.

To learn more about enhancing attorney-client communication, read the full article here. 

Marvin Blum & Austin Light Publish Article in Trusts & Estates Magazine Read More »

Parenting: Part Two

In last week’s post, I discussed the job of parenting, the hardest and most important job we ever do. The feedback I received was super affirming. Every parent can relate to the challenges. In my mission to help families create a lasting legacy, it starts with our job as parents to try to raise responsible kids. I’m no parenting expert, but I’ll take a stab at sharing some more wisdom on this topic.

Our job starts when our kids are born. I’ll never forget what I learned from the esteemed Rabbi Haskell Lookstein at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. We were attending a Simchat Bat ceremony to celebrate the birth of a friend’s daughter. Rabbi Lookstein admonished the new parents: “Your first job as parents is to teach your child to have gratitude.” He explained that a newborn quickly becomes accustomed to having everything given to them. Naturally, a kid can grow up expecting that free ride to continue. According to the Rabbi, the first task is to teach little ones to say, “thank you.” For starters, it’s as simple as that. As they get older, our job expands.

Legendary Fort Worth vice principal at I.M. Terrell High School, Hazel Harvey Peace, embraced this message when she accepted Fort Worth’s Multicultural Alliance Award. In her speech, she told of high school students who were about to make bad decisions. She asserted that sometimes kids aren’t ready to make certain decisions. She said it is our job as parents (and hers, as their vice principal) to step in and override them. As I said last week, parenting isn’t a popularity contest. The mission is to keep them on track until they have the maturity to make critical decisions. Let kids learn lessons of failure on small decisions, but protect them from major screw-ups until they’re old enough to make responsible decisions.

With Adam and Lizzy both now grown, Laurie and I breathe a sigh of relief. We gave it our all and did our best. We certainly weren’t perfect. Interestingly, Lizzy was interviewed for an article about her life story. Lizzy described my role as the dad who relentlessly pushed her to reach her full potential, and Laurie’s role as the strict disciplinarian pushing her to behave. The author portrayed our parenting approach in a negative light. Our friends were horrified by the negative depiction of our parenting style. Laurie and I were unfazed. In fact, we wear that description as a badge of honor. We’ll take that criticism any day.

I once had the privilege of asking Warren Buffett for his advice on raising responsible kids, especially kids raised in affluence. He instantly responded that the most effective way to parent is to set an example. As Buffett said, “Your kids are watching you more than they are listening to you.”

I see this playing out beautifully in the next generation of our family. At an “End Jew Hatred” event, Lizzy was asked for one piece of advice. Her answer was golden: “I want to talk to all the moms and dads in the audience. It’s our job to raise our kids to care. People ask how I got my kids to be invested in supporting the Jewish people. It’s action. They’re watching everything we do. It’s what we eat, sleep, and breathe in our house. They know this is who they are, and they know what’s expected of them.” It’s the “Savetsky Family Business,” and they grow up knowing they’re a part of it.

That was a mountaintop moment for me as a G-1 parent, to witness my G-2 daughter passing down our family’s values to G-3, l’dor vador, from generation to generation. Lizzy concluded: “As parents, we must prepare the next generation. We need them to be educated. We need them to feel empowered. We need them to be ready to take the reins, carry the torch, and light the way.”

Way to go, Lizzy. And as for Laurie and me, mission accomplished!

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky speaking at an End Jew Hatred event about the importance of parents passing down their values to their kids.

Parenting: Part Two Read More »

The Hardest Job You’ll Ever Have

For most jobs we do in the course of life, we go through some kind of training. Typically, there’s an orientation or at least a “how to” manual. But for one job (the most important of all), there is no schooling or instruction book. You’re thrown into the deep and it’s sink or swim. You’ve likely guessed by now—that job is raising kids.

Parenting is hard. You love with all your heart, but you’re not there to win a popularity contest or be best friends. I can think of lots of times I wasn’t the most popular or “coolest dad” to Adam and Lizzy. A couple of examples come to mind:

  • Lizzy discovered a love of performing in her second grade performance of “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No.” From that point, she wanted a career on stage, in the spotlight. I knew a relentless pursuit of performance would interfere with her Hebrew studies. I struck a bargain with her: “If you wait until after your Bat Mitzvah and devote yourself fully to your religious preparation, I’ll take you to every audition after that and support your dream.” Lizzy complied, and at age 13, only weeks after her Bat Mitzvah, I stood in a long line with her auditioning at the Johnnie High Country Music Revue (not exactly a Jewish hang out). The rest is history. Lizzy performed weekly on that stage for years, a great training ground for her career as a public speaker and advocate for all things Jewish and Israel. Remarkably, she ended up combining her love for the spotlight and her love for Judaism. 
  • When Adam was in his senior year as a business honors and accounting major at UT, he informed me of his decision not to take the CPA exam. He appreciated his accounting education but had no intention of ever practicing as a CPA. He already had a non-accounting job lined up on Wall Street and saw little value in spending his last semester studying for a test. My response: “Adam, you had the misfortune of being born into the wrong family. In the Blum family, taking the CPA exam is not optional.” Again, I wasn’t the popular dad. His answer: “It’s a waste.” Adam aced the exam, is still a CPA, and indeed never has practiced accounting. But he uses his accounting skills daily at his investment firm, and today Adam admits that his CPA designation has enhanced his credibility and has provided a meaningful benefit to him over the years as he’s built and grown his investment firm.

These stories bring to mind a similar time when my mom Elsie had to be the unpopular parent with me. In the summer leading up to my Bar Mitzvah, I was playing at a friend’s house and decided that was more fun than learning to lead the Shacharit service at my Bar Mitzvah. I called my mom at work to inform her I would just do the Torah, Haftarah, and Musaf portions at my Bar Mitzvah and let the Cantor lead Shacharit. Elsie wasn’t having it. To this day, at age 70, I think of Elsie’s insistence every time I recite Shacharit. I suppose I know the source of my own parental pushing. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I share these thoughts to help other parents who struggle with the toughest job on earth. But it’s also the most important job we ever do. We are raising tomorrow’s leaders. The future of the world depends on us to do our job, starting in our kids’ earliest years. Raising responsible kids is also critical to building a legacy and positioning a family for multi-generational success. As we learn in Ethics of our Fathers: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Sometimes that means telling your kids what they don’t want to hear, and then holding the line if they object. That’s our job.

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy with Johnnie High in her first singing appearance on his show—the start of life in the spotlight.

Marvin’s son Adam Blum graduating college with the CPA exam already behind him.
Marvin (age 13) at his Bar Mitzvah, ready to lead Sabbath services start to finish.

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Attorneys Joshua Chandler and Mackenzie Cooper Join The Blum Firm  

Join Us in Welcoming Our New Attorneys!

We are excited to announce that Joshua (Josh) Chandler and Mackenzie (Mac) Cooper have joined The Blum Firm! We’re thrilled to have them as part of our team and look forward to the expertise and dedication they bring.

Josh joins The Blum Firm’s Dallas office, and Mac joins our Austin office.

Read their bios below to learn more about them!

Joshua Chandler, J.D. earned his Juris Doctor from Baylor University, where he received several honors, including the Dean’s Academic Excellence Full-Tuition Scholarship and placement on the Dean’s List for multiple semesters. He also holds a B.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from Baylor University as part of the Baylor Business Fellows program.

Josh has a history with The Blum Firm, having served as a Summer Associate in 2023. He married his wife, Mary, in May 2021, and he enjoys spending quality time with her, reading books by Brandon Sanderson, and is an enthusiastic San Antonio Spurs fan.

Mac Cooper, J.D. is a first-generation lawyer, earning his Juris Doctor from Baylor University. While at Baylor, Mac was a proud member of the Baylor Transactional Law Team, where they won the Best Draft for the Buyer at the 2023 UCLA Transactional Law Competition. Prior to his time at Baylor, Mac earned his bachelor’s in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Mac enjoys playing both golf and disc golf, and he is a huge Chicago Bulls fan! 

Attorneys Joshua Chandler and Mackenzie Cooper Join The Blum Firm   Read More »

A Personal Growth Journey to the Stars 

Last week’s post told how our morning walking buddies, Barbara and Thurman Schweitzer, provided the inspiration for 2025 New Year’s Resolutions for me and for The Blum Firm. I shared how creating a mental “vision board” can help actualize your dreams.

In addition to last week’s wisdom from The Answer, the Schweitzers had another powerful recommendation: The Wealth Money Can’t Buy, by Robin Sharma. The title instantly resonated with my quest to promote the “heart” side of estate planning, along with the “head” side. It reminds me of my mentor James Hughes’ book Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family. Hughes opens by saying that when he uses the word “it” in the title, he doesn’t mean money. Per Hughes, financial capital is only one of five capitals, outnumbered by human, social, intellectual, and spiritual capitals. 

Similarly, in Sharma’s list, “Money is only one of eight forms of wealth, overshadowed by Growth, Wellness, Family, Craft (or your Work), Community, Adventure, and Service.” In my goal to inspire The Blum Firm, I chose to focus on Sharma’s first source of wealth: Growth. My goal was to inspire each member of our team to strive for personal growth.

In explaining Sharma’s book, Barbara taught me that “humans are happiest and genuinely wealthiest when we are steadily realizing our personal gifts and primal talents. The regular pursuit of personal growth is one of your most valuable assets.”

Sharma’s book offers a treasure of tips to achieve personal growth. I selected these few to share with my team:

  • “The most important investment you can make is in yourself,” by my hero Warren Buffett.
  • “Small, daily, seemingly insignificant improvements, when done consistently over time, lead to stunning results.”
  • “All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” [That one really strikes a chord, as many of us are naturally resistant to change (what we call the “C” word at The Blum Firm).]
  • “The way to start, is to start.” Just start and do so now.

When each of us embarks on a journey to achieve our full potential, imagine the outcome of the collective effort. The sky is the limit. Let’s reach for the stars.

This isn’t to say there won’t be meteors to dodge on our rocket ship ride to the heavens. My kids are fortunate graduates of Fort Worth’s Trinity Valley School, where the motto is, “Per Aspera, Ad Astra,” – “Through difficulty, to the stars.” By making the most of our gifts and talents, we empower ourselves to overcome obstacles and keep reaching for the stars. Here’s to the exciting personal growth journey ahead and all the possibilities it offers!

Marvin and Laurie Blum’s morning walks with Thurman and Barbara Schweitzer are a meaningful source of inspiration.

A Personal Growth Journey to the Stars  Read More »

Twelve Blum Firm Attorneys on the Fort Worth Magazine 2024 Top Attorneys List

As we step into the new year, we are excited to announce that 12 of our attorneys made it on the Fort Worth Magazine’s 2024 Top Attorneys List!

To be on the list, attorneys go through a peer-nomination process and are evaluated by a panel to ensure the highest standards and quality are upheld.

Please join us in congratulating our Fort Worth Magazine 2024 Top Attorneys! 

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What’s On Your Vision Board for 2025?

As we wrap up the month for New Year’s Resolutions, I’m looking into my crystal ball to envision a meaningful and productive year, both for me personally and for The Blum Firm. In seeking inspiration for those resolutions, I found it on an early morning walk.

Laurie and I roll out of bed early (the older we get, the earlier that is). Our day starts with exercise. As Laurie advises, “move your body at least an hour a day.” On frequent mornings, we walk the hills in our neighborhood, often linking up with another couple. That couple has become good friends of ours, a fringe benefit of our workout routine. As it turns out, our walking buddies, Barbara and Thurman Schweitzer, provided that source of inspiration.

The Schweitzers are big-time students of motivational books to help inspire their team at Sotheby’s Reality. When I asked for their input, they were a treasure trove of ideas. 

Barbara was reading The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith. As I was asking The Blum Firm to also look into a crystal ball and idealize the firm’s future, Assaraf and Smith offered great advice: When visioning the future as you’d like it to be, figure out what that looks like and get that into your mind. Doing so will automatically train your subconscious mind to take steps to make that vision happen.

The Answer tells how Assaraf grew up in modest circumstances, always wanting to live in a grand house. Assaraf gathered photos from Architectural Digest and created a “vision board.” Fast forward 15 years and Assaraf’s son saw that vision board and declared to his dad,” That’s our house now!” Without realizing it, Assaraf had actualized his vision. That only happened because he had planted that vision in his subconscious mind.

As our team embarked on an exercise to dream big, I asked everyone to close their eyes and envision the ideal Blum Firm of the future. In your mind’s eye, create a vision board with those images. I learned from Assaraf (actually, from Barbara), that’s the first critical step to manifesting your dreams.

When I help facilitate family meetings, I use this same crystal ball exercise. I ask the family to look into that ball and imagine how you want your family to be 25 years in the future. We then discuss steps to take to help you get there. But even without taking intentional steps, just creating that mental vision board will subconsciously help make it happen.

Thanks to the Schweitzers for this valuable lesson we can all use in our families and businesses. Next week, I’ll share round two of their wisdom. Here’s to activating our creative juices and generating some lofty vision boards!

Wishing all a meaningful and productive 2025!

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The Blum Firm Announces Two New Partners and a Senior Associate

We are excited to announce the addition of two Partners at The Blum Firm, Emily K. Seawright, J.D., and Lani Payne Sandu J.D., LL.M., as well as our new Senior Associate, Son T. Nguyen J.D., LL.M. Each of these professionals brings incredible talent, expertise, and dedication to our team.

We could not be more thrilled to have Emily, Lani, and Son at The Blum Firm! To learn more about each of them, read their bios below! 

Emily K. Seawright, J.D., received her J.D. cum laude from Texas Tech University School of Law. She earned a M.S. and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University, achieving a 4.0 GPA in both degrees. Emily is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law and has been with The Blum Firm since 2015. 

Lani Payne Sandu, J.D., LL.M., received her J.D., cum laude, from Southern Methodist University School of Law, and earned her LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. She graduated magna cum laude from Baylor University with a double major in Economics and International Business. Lani is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law. She previously worked as a Tax Associate at Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Denver, Colorado, and KPMG, LLP in Dallas. Lani has been with The Blum Firm since 2016. 

Son T. Nguyen, J.D., LL.M., earned his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law and his LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Texas at Arlington. Previously, Son worked as an M&A Tax Associate at KPMG, LLP, and as an M&A Tax Manager at Aprio, LLP. Son has been with The Blum Firm since 2021.

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Trump’s Back—Now What?

In last week’s post, I made a plea for unity as the inauguration approached. The inauguration happened yesterday, the country is still surviving, now what? As a tax lawyer, the question I get most about Trump is, what tax legislation can we expect?

We’ve been here before. Let’s wind the clock back eight years to 2017, the last time we had a “triple R” government (Republican Senate, House, and White House). Like now, tax reform was on the priority list. By the end of 2017, we had the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (often called the “Trump Tax Act”) that became effective on January 1, 2018. What can we learn from the 2017 Tax Act experience?

First, tax legislation is complicated. Last time, it took all year to make it happen, passing in December 2017. I expect the same this time, although Trump is trying to package up everything in one “big, beautiful bill.” There are legislative priorities (such as border security, energy, and increasing the defense budget) that will be easier to push through—expect them to go first. Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune expects tax legislation to lag until later in the year.

Second, the 2017 Trump Tax Act barely passed, receiving only 51 aye votes in the Senate. Unsurprisingly, not one was a Democrat. With razor thin Republican majorities in the House and Senate, I expect the same this time. If the tax legislation passes, it will likely pass very narrowly, without one Democrat vote.

Third, due to filibuster, it generally takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass legislation. To pass with only 51 votes, tax cuts have to be part of the budget reconciliation process. Here’s the rub. Reconciliation prohibits tax cuts that extend beyond a budget window (typically 10 years), unless the cuts are “paid for” with new revenue or spending cuts. That’s why most of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts had an expiration date at the end of this year. Expect the same this time around—tax cuts with an expiration date.

If these 2017 tax cuts expire next New Year’s Day here’s what will happen:

  • The top individual tax rate will increase from 37% to 39.6%
  • The estate tax exemption will cut in half from about $14 million to about $7 million
  • The Pease cut-back returns, causing high-income taxpayers to lose part of their itemized deductions
  • Passthrough businesses and sole proprietors will lose the 20% deduction of their qualified business income (“QBI”).

This leads to the big question on so many minds: with the Republican trifecta, will those cuts actually expire this year or will the sunset date be extended? And if extended, for how long?

We are painfully aware of the mounting federal debt, now at $36 trillion. Just extending the 2017 tax cuts adds $4.6 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. Additional proposed tax breaks would add considerably more (such as eliminating tax on tips, overtime pay, and social security, cutting the corporate income tax rate to 15%, and lifting the $10,000 “SALT” cap for state and local taxes). As the budget bargaining begins, don’t be surprised if the extension of tax cuts is far less than 10 years (some suggest a window of two to five years). Some Republicans will be concerned about the cost, and agreeing on “pay fors” will be a heavy lift in this Congress.

While we watch them duke it out, here’s a word to the wise: the day will come when these tax breaks (such as a doubled $14 million estate tax exemption) will go away. When the pendulum swings, “squeeze and freeze” transfers to Grantor Trusts will also likely go away. But as we’ve seen in prior legislative proposals, when that day of reckoning comes, those who already did squeeze and freeze planning will almost assuredly be grandfathered.

Even if there is an extension of the sunset, now is the ideal time to take advantage of the “Golden Age” toolbox of opportunities available today. You can shift assets into entities and trusts that will “squeeze” down the current value of your estate, and then “freeze” your estate at that discounted value. With careful planning, you can do this and still retain access, control and flexibility.

By acting now, you not only lock in the benefit of today’s tax cuts, you also immediately begin shifting future growth out of your estate. Waiting is costly and risky. As my TIGER 21 chair Jack Mueller wisely says, “The greatest return we can get from anything we do is estate planning.” You won’t regret it. In fact, years from now, your family and you will be giving you a big pat on the back.

With Trump back in office, Marvin Blum ponders what tax legislation will pass, and the impact it will have on the Internal Revenue Code.

Trump’s Back—Now What? Read More »

Don’t Let Politics Ruin Relationships: It’s Not Worth It. 

As we approach the inauguration, so many of us are on edge, grappling with our country’s polarization and tense political environment. We are tempted to team up with others who are like-minded, while we shut out those who aren’t. Even within our own friend groups, we bond with those who closely share our views and may shun those who don’t.

I am thankful to be a part of the Canoe Brothers, a group of 21 buddies from law school. We travel together frequently, canoe trips and other excursions, and we share lively text discussions daily. Even in this tightly knit brotherhood, we are about 50/50 divided on political views. That’s a recipe for friction.

However, soon after the election, Canoe Brother Pete Geren provided us with very insightful wisdom. Pete’s words fueled within our group a commitment to stay unified, in spite of our political differences. How did he do that? Pete urged us to stand in the other person’s shoes and understand where they are coming from. Their perspective may differ from yours, but that doesn’t make either right or wrong.

Doing so isn’t easy, but the effort is worth it. As my daughter Lizzy Savetsky posted on her Instagram account after the election:

“Many of us have strong issues we’re fighting for on both sides that we genuinely believe are life and death. To my friends, family members, mentors, and followers who voted differently than I did, I maintain love and respect for you. We can have healthy discussions and even arguments without writing each other off completely. We can hold space for each other’s fears and pains while still grappling with our own. No election should end relationships.”

I can never do justice to Pete’s words by paraphrasing them, so I’ll repeat them here:

“Neither party will grow beyond its base until it learns and takes to heart the truth that those on the other side are equally ‘good’ and equally worthy of respect. In trying to understand those with whom we disagree, we are quick to vilify, assign base motives, and look for personal shortcomings to explain away decisions inexplicable to us. And quick to disrespect, if not denigrate the benighted them who act as they do. For the most part, “we” are talking about people we don’t know, communities way outside our personal experiences, people who faced lives with choices very different from ours, equally intelligent but differently educated, equally self-interested and equally public-spirited, equally generous and equally venal, and with faith and cultural traditions beyond our experience. How much respect do they deserve? As much as we deserve. No more, no less.

Talmage [Boston] has taught us to look to our Presidents for wisdom. For that and so much more, including this conversation we are having, thank you, Talmage. I will close with Lincoln’s closing lines from his first inaugural. He spoke to a nation on the brink of war with itself.

‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.’”

I took Pete’s words to heart and accepted them as a challenge. I pledged to work on having a better understanding of Canoe Brothers (and others) who see things differently than I do. Other brothers likewise accepted the challenge.

This pledge to see things through the other’s eyes and be open to their viewpoints is also important in creating a family legacy. We all know that family disagreements can lead to lasting feuds that destroy a family’s legacy. It’s not worth it.

I’ve written about this before. Click here to see my post of May 31, 2022, “Family Friction? Be Thankful for the Variety of Spices.”

Professor Adam Grant (U. Penn, Wharton School) concurs: “Great minds don’t think alike. They challenge each other to think differently….Diverging views introduce you to new answers.” As we embark on a new year and a new administration, let’s resolve to be open-minded and empathetic.

The Canoe Brothers, though outspoken in our lively conversations (some might call them debates), remain committed to staying unified. May we serve as role models for others to do the same.

Marvin Blum (front and center) enjoying a friendly Texas vs. Vanderbilt rivalry with fellow Canoe Brothers. Even with our divergent football and political viewpoints, we remain committed to staying unified.

Don’t Let Politics Ruin Relationships: It’s Not Worth It.  Read More »

Choose the Right Spouse: That’s What Friends Are For

Next week, Laurie and I will celebrate our 46th anniversary. When I was growing up, my mother Elsie repeatedly advised me: “The most important decision you make in your life is who you marry. If you get that right, you can handle anything that comes your way, and you’ll have a happy life.” I must’ve heard that from her 1,000 times. Evidently, I took that advice to heart. When I chose Laurie for my wife, boy did I get it right!

Laurie grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, but fortunately chose the University of Texas for college. As fate had it, she chose to live at Dobie, a new co-ed dorm where I was a Resident Advisor. We met on her first day. As the Beatles sang, “She was just 17, and you know what I mean…” But the romance didn’t happen so fast. Instead, we became good buddies, eating together with a group of friends every night. But then one Sunday night a couple of years later, I was eating out with a law school friend Paul, and he asked (as guys tend to do), “Who’s your idea of the perfect girl?” He answered first, and without hesitation, Paul said, “To me, the perfect girl is Laurie Kriger.” I was speechless. Duh! How could I have not seen that? I agreed 100%, but was too close to her to realize it. We were just friends. But I decided then and there to take it to the next level.

I returned to my apartment and called Laurie to ask her out on a date—not just one date, but two. “Are you free next Friday night and next Saturday night?” I never had any “game,” or knew how to play it cool with a girl. That Friday night, I told my roommate Talmage Boston not to come home till late, as I was going to have a serious conversation with Laurie and break the news to her that we were going to become more than just friends. I had the lights dim, and the setting just right for a romance to start on the spot. Well, I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that it didn’t go the way I planned. Laurie was shocked and nervous. There was no romance that night.

In the coming months, I backed off, or at least tried to. Laurie was dating another guy (super rich, by the way, and his last name was the same as a big jewelry store), but nothing would deter me. I knew what I wanted, and I wasn’t going to give up. I somehow had to win her over.

I saw a chance and I grabbed it. Right after my law school graduation and the Bar exam, I became aware that Laurie, her parents, and her sister Peggy were going to London for a vacation.  I decided a vacation to London was just what I needed before starting my job. I asked Talmage to join me, and being my best friend and knowing how much this meant to me, he agreed. So, the two of us (broke, but with borrowed money) “happened” to be in London at the same time as the Kriger family. Laurie’s parents took a liking to us. In particular, her dad, Abe, saw my potential, even if I didn’t have a jewelry store last name. Laurie’s parents gave Talmage and me their two tickets to go see the London Broadway show “Annie” with Laurie and Peggy. That’s when it happened – the ice finally melted. During the tender song “Something Was Missing,” sung by Daddy Warbucks, our hands clasped, and I could feel the magic happening. 

Within weeks, we were engaged and planning a wedding. There was no reason to wait. We’d been friends for five years and knew all there was to know about each other. So, on January 13, 1979, at Temple Israel in Memphis, we became Mr. and Mrs. Blum. Talmage stood right by me as we said our vows. He was a big part of how we made it to that wedding canopy, as there would have been no Marvin in London had Talmage not agreed to join me.

Talmage is a Presidential historian and was recently researching George Washington and his marriage to Martha. He sent me a page from Washington’s God (by Michael and Jana Novak) that describes how George “loved having Martha at his side, and they shared every aspect of each other’s lives…. They were soul mates.” George considered Martha “his dearest friend, who thought they were two in one soul.” Talmage said the image of “two people, one soul” made him think of Laurie and me.  He sent me a copy of the page where next to those words, Talmage had written “Marvin & Laurie” in the margin. Laurie and I are deeply touched by Talmage’s words.

When I selected the title of this post as “Choose the Right Spouse: That’s What Friends Are For,” I had in mind a double meaning. In Laurie becoming my wife, Talmage was an essential element in making it happen, as without him, there’d have been no London meltaway moment. That’s what friends do for each other. But there’s a second meaning. Very often, the right spouse may well be someone who is your friend. When choosing a spouse, don’t overlook your close friends. It may take some time to get both of you on the same page, but stick with it and the rewards will come. I can hear Dionne Warwick singing now: “In good times and bad times, I’ll be on your side forever more. That’s what friends are for.” For me, that’s Talmage, and that’s Laurie.

Marvin & Laurie Blum on their wedding day, January 13, 1979.

Marvin & Laurie Blum today, as they celebrate their 46th anniversary.

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2024’s Top Moments: Mia’s Birth and Stella’s Bat Mitzvah Speech

In this New Year’s Eve post, I urge all to reflect on 2024. If your year was typical, it brought lots of downs and ups. We learn more from the downs. Let’s discover those lessons and incorporate them into our legacy. When we recover from failures, we can use those stories to teach our heirs resilience.  So, let’s not sweep disappointments under the rug. Let’s turn the downtimes into teachable moments and pass those lessons down to our heirs. I was once working with a family who was planning the agenda for a family meeting. The patriarch wanted to present a recap of his successes. Instead, his kids asked him to identify the failures and talk about how he overcame them.

As I look back on 2024, I faced up to some challenges that just go with living—health, family, work. Laurie was always right there with me, and I feel good about the way we recovered from each challenge. On the world stage, 2024 brought a dramatic rise in antisemitism and attacks on Israel. Rather than crumble, I joined forces with others to raise our voices and raise awareness. I am hopeful the future will somehow be better. The hardest thing we confronted in 2024 was losing Laurie’s sister Linda, totally unexpected. But two things happened that tempered our sadness. The first was that right around that time, our 6th grandchild Mia was born. It was a circle of life moment—one life ends, another begins. Mia’s birth brings us enormous joy.  

The second salve to soothe our loss was that two weeks before losing Linda, the whole family had gathered in St. Louis for a cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. We had a glorious time. I wrote about this in a post dated June 25, 2024, “Family Matters: Farewell, Dear Linda.” I spoke about it in the eulogy I gave at Linda’s funeral, urging everyone that when presented with an opportunity to gather with family—GO! You never know; it may be the last chance to all be together. 

Later in 2024, we took advantage of just such an opportunity to all be together again. Our whole family gathered in New York for our oldest grandchild Stella’s Bat Mitzvah.  The experience was rewarding on so many levels. It provided us with magical moments of family connection and lifetime memories. Our dear friend Karen Reisman summed it up so well. As a child, Karen’s mother Anne Cortell was miraculously saved from the Holocaust, though many family members weren’t so fortunate. The impact on Anne was profound, but it empowered her to always give these words of advice: “You HAVE TO celebrate the good times.” (Karen adds a corollary: “because the bad times happen for free.”) As Karen emphasizes, you HAVE TO go celebrate. It’s not optional.

Of the many Bat Mitzvah highlights, the greatest of all was Stella’s speech at Sabbath services. I’ve never been more proud or grateful. Stella stood in front of a packed synagogue and confidently delivered a moving speech. Both her words and her powerful delivery will ring in my memory bank forever.  Here is Stella’s Bat Mitzvah speech:

I want to talk to you about Zionism. To me it means that the Jewish people and the land of Israel are one. This not a modern idea, it’s a biblical one, as we read about in this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha. 

This week’s parsha is really special because it is literally the birth of Zionism. Hashem tells Avraham to leave his birthplace, his father’s home, and to follow Him to a new land. Without any hesitation, Avraham packs his bags and goes. Hashem brings Avraham to the land of Israel and promises, “I will make you into a great nation in this land.”

This, right here in this Parsha, is the beginning of the Jewish people AND our connection to the land of Israel!!!! We have been one nation bound to the land of Israel and G-d from the very beginning of our story!! 

Now, I want to get personal for a minute. I had always known my Jewish identity was number one thanks to my family, my school, and of course my AMAZING synagogue (love you guys!). 

But on October 7th, I was in Israel, getting ready for shul, when my baby brother ran out of our hotel room. I went to go get him, and as I was in the hallway, I heard someone next to me banging on their dad’s door, shouting, “Dad, dad! Hundreds of rockets were just launched into Israel!” The dad ran downstairs to tell the hotel, and I went back to tell my mom. She told me, “You’re fine, don’t worry,” but then, just a minute later, the sirens went off. I grabbed my baby brother and we ran downstairs to the bomb shelter.

In that moment, the whole world changed for me—and for every Jew. Suddenly Zionism—our connection to Israel— wasn’t just something I heard my parents talking about all the time anymore. It became real. I understood the Jewish people’s responsibility to protect the land of Israel and stand with our people all over the world, no matter what. 

I saw the hatred against us, I saw my brothers and sisters suffering, and I realized how important it is to protect our home. I also saw how so many people turned on the Jews all over the world.

But I also saw something else. I saw the bravery of our soldiers, risking their lives to defend Israel, and I saw people all over the world, like my mom, standing up for what they believe in—even when they’re getting hate and death threats. She keeps fighting for what’s right, and I’m so lucky to have her as my role model.

That experience made me see Zionism in a whole new way. It’s not just about believing in Israel and loving Israel—it’s about protecting it, caring for it, and standing up for it. And the same thing goes for the Jewish nation. It’s our job to defend our people whether it’s in the battlefield, online, or in the streets. 

If we don’t, who will? 

And now that I’m becoming a bat mitzvah, I realize that this responsibility is part of what it means to grow up as a Jewish woman. It means taking responsibility—not just following the mitzvot, but being there for our people and for Israel. 

After my experience in Israel on October 7th, I decided to choose IDF Widows and Orphans as my bat mitzvah project. The soldiers of the IDF are like the protectors of the promise made in Lech Lecha. When they give their lives for Israel, we have to take care of their families. This is how we stand together as Am Yisrael—the Jewish nation. 

I got to meet and spend time with the orphans over the summer and just a couple weeks ago. These kids lost their parents in the war. I can’t imagine how hard that must be. This organization has camps, special events, and a bar and bat mitzvah program for the kids my age so they can feel special and supported by all of us. 

I am so blessed that today on my bat mitzvah I have both my mom and dad here, but these kids don’t. So we have a duty to support them as the Jewish nation. Their parents sacrificed their lives for all of us. Meeting them, hugging them, getting to know them, and supporting these programs for them has left a huge mark on my heart. 

Lech Lecha is the story of how we became a people and how G-d gave us our homeland. All in one breath. Just like Avraham answered G-d’s call to journey to Israel, today I’m becoming a bat mitzvah and taking on the responsibility to care for Israel and our people. G-d promised us we would be a great nation. He promised us the land of Israel. But he never promised us it would be easy. So I know I have a big job to do now as a Jewish woman. 

I will always remember the sacrifices made to protect our land, from the time of Avraham until today, and make sure they are never forgotten. Today, as I enter adulthood, I commit myself to doing whatever I can for the Jewish nation and the land of Israel. May I always go where G-d leads me to serve my people and my homeland, just like Avraham.

 

[For any who are interested, the website for the Israel Defense Forces Widows and Orphans can be found by searching IDFWO Organization. I’m thrilled to report that Stella has raised about $30,000 toward her goal of $36,000. She told everyone to make donations rather than give her gifts. That’s the kind of kid she is. Laurie and I are overwhelmed with gratitude.]

 

Here’s wishing all of you many good lessons from 2024!

Marvin Blum’s 12-year-old granddaughter Stella Savetsky delivered a Bat Mitzvah speech we’ll cherish forever.

As her Bat Mitzvah begins, Stella (joined by her mother Lizzy and sister Juliet) carries on the tradition of our matriarchs in lighting Shabbat candles.
The Blum Family is grateful to all be together at Stella’s Bat Mitzvah party, with the newest addition Mia held in her mother Brooke’s arms. You HAVE TO celebrate the good times!

2024’s Top Moments: Mia’s Birth and Stella’s Bat Mitzvah Speech Read More »

The Miracle of Ollie

Tomorrow night begins the Jewish festival of Chanukah, a holiday of miracles. We celebrate the miraculous victory of the Maccabean revolt against the Greek forces, the miracle of one day’s supply of oil lasting eight days, and the miraculous rededication of the Holy Second Temple of Jerusalem. Even the letters on the dreidel spinning top stand for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, “a great miracle happened there.”  The holiday season seems the perfect time to celebrate miracles.

Do you believe in miracles? As a very practical person, I confess to my skepticism. That is, until four years ago, when my grandson Ollie was born. His birth was a complete miracle. I’ll share the story of Oliver Strong Savetsky to offer hope to all families struggling with something (and who isn’t?). Ollie’s life proves that indeed, miracles can happen. Never give up hope.

Wind the clock back a few years. Our daughter Lizzy experienced three miscarriages in one calendar year. Two were ectopic and nearly claimed her life. Although deeply grateful for two healthy daughters, after a pause (and at her husband Ira’s urging), Lizzy mustered the courage to try once more. Her IVF treatment was a success—pregnant for the sixth time.

And then came a familiar crushing blow—the heartbreaking report of yet another miscarriage. The doctor was a religious man and preferred to wait to let nature take its course. Then came the day to terminate the pregnancy, but wait—a pre-procedure sonogram revealed a startling announcement: “There’s a heartbeat!” Lizzy broke into tears: “I had a feeling my baby was still alive.”

It wasn’t an easy pregnancy. A month before her due date, Lizzy went to the hospital and was sent home as a “false alarm.” Laurie joined her the next morning with the premonition she needed to be with her daughter. Their intuition was right. Lizzy’s water broke and there was blood everywhere. Lizzy believed she was losing the baby. She was too nervous to tell Laurie how to get to the hospital, so Lizzy jumped into the driver’s seat and drove them there herself. The doctor’s diagnosis was the life-threatening condition of placenta abruption. Miraculously, Lizzy delivered a premature baby boy minutes later. Ira made it there too, barely in time.

They chose the Hebrew name “Yisroel” (Hebrew for Israel). He was named for my deceased brother Irwin, whose Hebrew name was also Yisroel. The baby’s English name was Oliver Strong Savetsky, a nod to the little fellow’s survival strength.

Jewish law calls for circumcision on the eighth day, but little Oliver Strong was in NICU growing stronger, so we had to delay the Bris a few weeks. Ira, a plastic surgeon, circumcised his own son just as our forefather Abraham did his son Isaac. 

At the Bris, Ira arrived with a mysterious gift-wrapped box and told this story. A few years earlier, Lizzy went to Poland to tour the concentration camps. Her group made a stop at Rabbi Elimelech’s grave to pray. Rabbi Elimelech taught that when you pray for something, pray as if you have the faith it will absolutely happen. Lizzy left the grave and immediately called Ira back in New York. She told him to go buy a gender-neutral baby outfit. Ira thought this request was crazy, but he complied. Ira rushed to a kids store and told the clerk, “I need a newborn outfit. I don’t know the size or the gender. Just pick something and wrap it up.” That box sat in the top of Ira’s closet, and he hand carried it to Dallas when they moved over a year later. Ira had no idea what was actually in that box.

Ira then opened the mystery package in front of the Bris attendees. Inside that box was a little boy outfit for a preemie baby just Ollie’s size. We were all aghast … Lizzy’s prayer had been answered, not on her schedule, but on G-d’s. Rabbi Elimelech was right. By taking action to prove they believed, their dream manifested in a newborn son. 

Following Jewish tradition, they waited until Ollie’s third birthday for his first haircut. At the “Upsherin” ceremony we attended in Jerusalem, Lizzy told her son, “Oliver Strong, you are small and strong, just like Yisroel, the land of Israel, your Hebrew name. And like Israel, you have the faith and fight in you that it takes to survive. Israel is a miracle, and Ollie, you are a miracle.”

I now believe in miracles.

 

Grandfather Marvin Blum and father Ira Savetsky rejoicing in the miracle of Ollie’s birth at his Bris (circumcision ceremony).

Ira reveals the contents of a surprise package at the Bris.
Three years later, the family gathered in Jerusalem for Ollie’s “Upsherin” (first haircut) celebration.
Moments later, at the Holy Temple Wall, Ira praises G-d for the miracle of his son Ollie.

The Miracle of Ollie Read More »

There’s No Place Like Home

As I’ve often stressed in this Family Legacy Planning blog, it’s important to identify significant lifetime moments, preserve them in some tangible way, and then pass them down to future generations as part of our story. Looking back on 2024, one of my most memorable moments was falling in love with my hometown at an event called Discover Fort Worth. In my upcoming year-end post, I’ll reveal more of the 2024 highlights that moved me. But I’ll start close to home with this one. As Dorothy discovered in “The Wizard of Oz,” and as I discovered too: “There’s no place like home.”

I am honored to serve on the national board of TIGER 21, an international peer learning network. Each year, we feature a city in a “Discover” program, a 3-day deep-dive into a city where important things are happening. This year, the featured city (at my urging) was Fort Worth. When we announced it, the membership’s reaction (as you might expect) was WHY FORT WORTH? For most of our 1,500 members, Fort Worth wasn’t on their radar. The registrations were trickling in until I began a big promo push. They were shocked to learn that Fort Worth is the 12th largest city in the US, and the fastest growing city too. When we announced the schedule of events, attendance picked up. We ultimately sold out and had a waiting list. After the 3-day “discovery,” comments went from “Why Fort Worth?” to “How can I invest here?” and “I want to move here.”  Planning Discover Fort Worth and proudly showcasing my city was one of my top highlights of 2024. In fact, in TIGER 21’s 25-year history, Discover Fort Worth is the first event to score a perfect “5 out of 5” in the post-event member surveys.  

We had to limit the size to 40 attendees, not only for intimacy, but also because one of the events (a behind-the-scenes tour of the F-35 fighter plane production assembly) had a strict cap of 40. Those 40 came from about 20 different cities, mostly outside of Texas. Our host hotel was the exquisite Michelin-awarded Bowie House, a perfect reflection of Fort Worth’s “Cowboys & Culture” moniker. Our first venture out was for a taste of Old Mexico with a mariachi-serenaded opening dinner at Joe T. Garcia’s patio paradise, a favorite of US Presidents and even Sir Paul McCartney. Dessert followed at Hotel Drover (also Michelin rated) in Fort Worth’s Historic Stockyards, featuring an all-out tribute to our Western heritage (even down to the longhorn steer and a branding station). We had a learning session with the team who recently redeveloped the area, making the Fort Worth Stockyards into the 15th most visited destination in America.

Day 2 started with an education program at Sotheby’s Realty on Fort Worth’s blossoming real estate industry, followed by a tour of the Modern Art Museum. Just the building itself is an art treasure, designed by Tadao Ando and designated by Travel & Leisure magazine as one of the World’s Most Beautiful Art Museums, and named by Architectural Digest as the Best Designed Building in Texas.  After an outdoor lunch at Quince overlooking the Trinity River, we headed to a VIP tour at Lockheed Martin. There we discovered Fort Worth’s role in the international defense industry and our contribution to protecting the world.  We not only toured the F-35 assembly, but also flew an F-35 simulator and discovered why you want me to plan your estate but not pilot your fighter plane. It’s harder than it looks.

That evening featured dinner at one of only two homes in the world designed by I. M. Pei, architect of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, JFK Library, and dozens of other contemporary masterpieces. Our hosts, John & Cami Goff, opened up in a fireside chat where I coaxed John to tell of his remarkable rise from modest beginnings to prominence in the world of real estate and investing. They also revealed Fort Worth’s rising role as a TV and film mecca, as the night before John gave the speech at the Texas Business Hall of Fame to induct Fort Worth’s Taylor Sheridan (creator of Yellowstone, 1883, Landman, and other acclaimed shows starring the likes of Kevin Costner, Jeff Bridges, Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton, and Demi Moore). The Goffs are also spearheading efforts to create the Texas A&M Research Campus in downtown Fort Worth. John’s enthusiasm was so contagious that one of the TIGER 21 members from Chicago raised his hand on-the-spot and donated $100,000 to the project.

Day 3 concluded with a trio of Fort Worth Power Women: Mayor Mattie Parker, Rose Bradshaw (President/CEO of North Texas Community Foundation), and Elaine Agather (Central Region Head of JP Morgan). Mayor Parker revealed that, out of all US cities, Fort Worth has the second highest percentage of young families. During her tenure, Fort Worth has been named the most pro-growth city in America and the Best City in Texas for starting a business. By the way, while I’m unashamedly bragging, Texas is the eighth largest economy in the world and was named the number one state for business in America. Elaine Agather explained that the economic growth in Texas started in the 1970s with the Bass group in Fort Worth, due to what she described as “the Richard Rainwater effect.” Rose Bradshaw and Cullum Clark (Director of the George W. Bush Institute) put the cherry on top by spotlighting Fort Worth’s philanthropic story as we rank among the top for private giving in the country. In explaining Fort Worth’s success, Clark gave these five reasons why Fort Worth succeeds as an “opportunity economy:”

 

  • We focus on education and innovation.
  • We are commerce friendly—a great place to do business.
  • We’re a great place to live and raise a family (affordable, but not super cheap).
  • We invest in social capital and build a strong sense of community.
  • We welcome newcomers to our city.

I’ve bragged about Fort Worth before (click here for my blog post of June 13, 2023 “I’m Fort Worth Proud!”). Forgive me for going overboard again today about my hometown, but Discover Fort Worth just left me bursting with pride. Even better, all those out-of-towners realize why we’ve earned the nickname of “The Unexpected City.” We’re proud to also be known as “Cowtown” and “Where the West Begins,” but as our group “discovered,” we’re a lot more than that. With only three days, we had to leave out a lot of local treasures, but the wheels in my head are already spinning to come back in two years for “Rediscover Fort Worth.” My only worry is that, in letting the secret out, we don’t want Fort Worth to change. But please come visit—I’m happy to be your personal tour guide!

Marvin & Laurie Blum kick off the 3-day Discover Fort Worth event on a longhorn steer at Hotel Drover. Hook ‘em Horns!

Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum is an architectural and artistic treasure, as described to us by expert docent, Gail Granek (center).
The TIGER 21 group heading into a behind-the-scenes F-35 assembly tour at Lockheed Martin.
Marvin & Laurie Blum joined by John Goff (left), Cami Goff (right), and Michelle & Jay Young at an evening fireside chat with the Goffs.
Marvin Blum with Power Women (from left) Laurie Blum, Rose Bradshaw, & Elaine Agather.
Marvin Blum with Fort Worth’s premier “Power Woman,” Mayor Mattie Parker.

There’s No Place Like Home Read More »

Spotlight on Dyann McCully, Our Guardianship Guru

While attending a Texas Tech seminar on estate planning, the opening speaker greeted us with these words: “If you ever see Dyann McCully, you need to give her a big thank you.” The topic was a Texas legislative update. The speaker continued: “Dyann McCully spearheaded the charge on updating the Texas law on guardianships. Thanks to Dyann’s tireless efforts, the legislature has adopted major improvements to the guardianship laws.” Hearing these words, I swelled up with pride. Do I ever see Dyann McCully? Only every day—Dyann heads up our litigation team at The Blum firm and her office is just one down from mine.

I love the story of how Dyann and her colleagues joined The Blum Firm eight years ago, creating our trust and estates litigation section. I attended the monthly meeting of the Tarrant County Probate Bar Association and had the good fortune of randomly sitting next to Dyann at the lunch. Dyann shared an interest in moving her firm’s litigation team to a new law firm, and I was instantly interested. She and I spoke later that day and got the wheels turning. Within a few months, Dyann joined us, along with David Bakutis, Beth Hampton, Cindi Adler, and Mary Ellen McMahon. Since that time, we have added many more to the team. We are grateful to have a vibrant and busy group of fiduciary trial attorneys now at The Blum Firm who not only know where the courthouse is, but who know what to do when they get there. My late father-in-law Abe Kriger used to refer to them as “real lawyers,” and often asked me when we planned to add some “real lawyers” to our law firm. Abe would join me in being super proud of our litigation section.

Dyann is truly a rockstar in the world of guardianships, as well as all aspects of trust and estate controversy.  She is a frequent speaker at probate and guardianship seminars, recognized by all as the “go to” expert in her field. She also testifies frequently at the Texas legislature to address needed changes in the law.  Recently, the State Bar of Texas invited her to be the Course Director for the 2025 Advanced Elder Law and Advanced Guardianship Law Course. Also, the Texas Guardianship Association Public Affairs Committee just asked her to join the committee to help with guardianship legislation issues for the upcoming legislative session. In this role, she will review proposed guardianship-related legislation and engage with legislators on finding solutions for these matters.

The mission of the Texas Guardianship Association (TGA) is the following:

  • To educate involved professionals, consumers and the general public regarding guardianship and its alternatives.​
  • To promote the development of guardianship and alternative programs to serve and protect vulnerable individuals.
  • To advocate for development and implementation of effective public policy regarding guardianship and related issues that are consumer sensitive.

And as if that’s not enough, Dyann is also a certified mediator in guardianship mediation, making her part of one of the first groups of attorneys to be certified in guardianship mediations. She mediates in contested guardianships, probates, and estates.

Having a robust litigation section at The Blum Firm has been a major “win-win” for us. The estate planners are grateful for the opportunity to consult with litigators on sensitive planning matters. And vice versa, the litigators welcome the trust, estate, and tax expertise our planners can provide for their complex cases. 

It’s my honor to shine this spotlight on Dyann McCully and sing out praises to her, loud and strong. Way to go, Dyann!

 

Marvin Blum is proud to shine a spotlight on his partner Dyann McCully, a rockstar in the guardianship and fiduciary litigation world.

Spotlight on Dyann McCully, Our Guardianship Guru Read More »

Don’t You Dare Steal My Aggie Ring

I’ve written before of life lessons I learned from my dad, Julius Blum. A man of simple yet strong words, he taught more by example then by narrative. In a powerful episode involving my dad’s prized Aggie ring, I learned lessons of courage and conviction I’ll never forget.

Julius Blum grew up in modest circumstances, living behind his family’s small neighborhood grocery store. He was a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. Remarkably, that wasn’t his only degree. My dad was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from “The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas” in 1949 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Julius was rightfully proud of that achievement.

The fact my dad even went to college was remarkable in and of itself. There were two factors that propelled him to College Station. The youngest of four children, Julius had an older brother Sol who had big college dreams for his baby brother. Sol worked day and night to care for his family, seeing to it that Julius could receive the education others in the family couldn’t. The second factor was the GI Bill, earned from my dad’s World War II service in the army. Julius was forever grateful to both his brother Sol and this great country for his education.

Julius was an exceptional student in all things technical—a math and engineering whiz. I never confronted a math homework problem he couldn’t help me solve. But when it came to English—not so much. But let’s give him a break. He was raised by immigrant parents whose only language in the house was Yiddish, so making it through college English and earning that degree was an even bigger deal. That’s why the symbol of his degree, the iconic Aggie ring, meant so much to him.

That brings me to my story. When the ring became too tight on his finger, he carried it with him everywhere he went on his keychain. One day, a little boy Marvin happily joined his daddy on a father-son outing to University Car Wash. We watched through the window as his car went swish-swish down the line of water and suds. Returning home, he removed his key from the ignition and instantly realized his Aggie ring was gone! On a chain with many keys, the ring divided his car key from his house key, so he noticed immediately.

We instantly got back in the car and drove to the car wash. I followed him as he marched with purpose into the manager’s office. Julius wasn’t leaving without that ring. I thought that was mighty bold of him and I had my doubts. I underestimated him.

The manager knew Julius meant business. He temporarily shut down the car wash and gathered every employee in his office. I’ll never forget the manager’s words, “I’m going to leave this room and close the door. And when I return that ring better be on my desk, or everyone here is fired.” We waited outside the door with the bossman. After a moment, we re-entered his office. Lo and behold the Aggie ring was on the manager’s desk. Everyone returned to work, and I returned home with my dad and with a lesson I will never forget:

When something is precious to you, you fearlessly fight for it.

One more thing: In addition to my dad’s strength of character and integrity, another testament to his solid priorities was being a good sport when Irwin and I chose UT for college instead of A&M. Love of family came first, even when tested by some lively Longhorn/Aggie football experiences together. I cherish the memories. I even felt some of my dad’s Aggie spirit in my Longhorn body at last weekend’s rivalry game. Gig ’em Aggies and Hook ’em Horns!

 

Marvin Blum’s father Julius was the first in his family to graduate college, as evidenced by his prized diploma.

Marvin Blum at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, cheering for his Longhorns but channeling his father’s Gig ‘em Aggie pride!

Don’t You Dare Steal My Aggie Ring Read More »

20 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table Talk

By popular request, we are repeating the blog post from November 23, 2021.

Wishing all of you a meaningful and joyful Thanksgiving.

Here’s a suggestion for the conversation at your Thanksgiving table: use the time to discuss the “Do You Know?” scale. Arming your family with answers to these 20 questions reinforces family bonds and helps heirs become more resilient. This assertion is based on research by Dr. Marshall Duke and Dr. Robyn Fivush, psychologists on the faculty at Emory University, developers of the 20 question “Do You Know?” list.

This thesis was further tested and confirmed by Bruce Feiler, author of The Secrets of Happy Families. After years of research and interviews, Feiler arrived at this startling conclusion: “The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The ‘Do You Know?’ scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.”

Enjoy a lively and thought-provoking table conversation with the help of these 20 questions:

  • Do you know how your parents met?
  • Do you know where your mother grew up?
  • Do you know where your father grew up?
  • Do you know where some of your grandparents grew up?
  • Do you know where some of your grandparents met?
  • Do you know where your parents were married?
  • Do you know what went on when you were being born?
  • Do you know the source of your name?
  • Do you know some things about what happened when your brothers or sisters were being born?
  • Do you know which person in the family you look most like?
  • Do you know which person in the family you act most like?
  • Do you know some of the illnesses and injuries that your parents experienced when they were younger?
  • Do you know some of the lessons that your parents learned from good or bad experiences?
  • Do you know some things that happened to your mom or dad when they were in school?
  • Do you know the national background of your family (such as English, German, Russian, Chinese, and so on)?
  • Do you know some of the jobs that your parents had when they were young?
  • Do you know some awards that your parents received when they were young?
  • Do you know the names of the schools that your mom went to?
  • Do you know the names of the schools that your dad went to?
  • Do you know about a relative whose face “froze” in a grumpy position because he or she did not smile enough?

The Blum Firm wishes you a meaningful Thanksgiving celebration with your loved ones.

From their home to yours, Marvin and Laurie Blum wish you a meaningful Thanksgiving.

20 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table Talk Read More »

The Big Reveal: The Blum Firm’s Core Values

Do you, your family, or your business have a set of core values? What are they? And, more importantly, what do those values truly mean?

We recently held The Blum Firm’s Annual Meeting, where everyone comes together to review the past year, assess where we currently are, and dream about where we are going. The focal point of this year’s meeting was to identify our core values.

As the firm’s Human Resources Manager, Eric Evans, said, “Core values are a small set of vital and timeless guiding principles. They define culture and who we truly are as people.”

I have discussed this in previous blogs, but core values aren’t just company-based. In fact, the Blum Family’s core values are faith, family, hard work, and education. These values were born out of the experience of being raised by immigrants who came to America with nothing but their values. It was those four core values that enabled my grandparents to survive hardships and set our family on a course to achieve the American Dream.

But you may wonder, how do I define my business or my family’s core values? And let me tell you, it isn’t an overnight process. Our Senior Leadership Team spent many hours, over several days, trying to hone-in on core values. We came up with a long list including some of what you might expect to see, such as honesty, integrity, and respect. We ended up with over 40 words on the list.

Knowing we needed to narrow down the list to only a few, we decided which values were truly “CORE.” We ultimately landed on three core values and let them “simmer” for 30 days, understanding these values are not something we strive for, but values we live by every day. 

From there, we crafted definitions, being very intentional with wording and how we demonstrate them both within our firm and out in the community.

Here’s the big reveal of The Blum Firm’s core values:

  • Excellence:We exceed expectations by delivering superior work with unmatched client service; we expand knowledge, enhance skills, and refine processes to maintain the highest standards of performance and quality. 
  • Relationships:We connect with kindness and humility, actively listening to different perspectives, following through on commitments, and serving as a trusted advisor.
  • Collaboration:We partner with each other and outside advisors to achieve common goals by sharing ideas and leveraging strengths; we remain open to feedback and celebrate each other’s wins.

At the meeting, I shared a story about where The Blum Firm began—just my secretary, Sandy Stroman, and me. Now, 44 years later, the firm has grown and evolved beyond anything I could have imagined. The combination of faith, family, hard work, and education is what brought The Blum Firm to where we are today, a family of 68 dedicated team players who strive together to reach for the stars.

When we define our core principles—whether personally, for our family, or our business—we gain the ability to adapt while remaining true to our essence. This clarity aids in decision-making and unites us to grow and create the legacy we first envisioned.

Adversity will come—I can promise you that—but when it does, returning to your core values will give you the vision for moving forward.

My challenge to you is this: What are your core values?

The Big Reveal: The Blum Firm’s Core Values Read More »

My Granddaughter Stella Becomes a Woman 

Twelve years ago, our first grandchild Stella was born. It seems like yesterday Laurie and I were pacing nervously in the hall at New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital, waiting to hear that first cry. Fast forward to November 10, 2024, and that little baby Stella became a Bat Mitzvah, the coming of age when a Jewish girl becomes a woman.

Jewish boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvah at age 13. But in traditional Jewish families, girls become a Bat Mitzvah, a daughter of the covenant, at age 12. The idea is that 12-year-old girls are at a maturity level comparable to 13-year-old boys (I might argue that girls hit that point long before age 12).

We celebrated Stella over the last weekend, kicking off with a Friday night dinner at New York’s Altneu Synagogue. As a very proud Zaidy (the Yiddish word for grandfather that my 6 grandkids call me), I had the privilege of speaking at the dinner. Since I’ve become so personal with you all in this Family Legacy Planning blog, I’ll share with you what I had to say.

To my dear granddaughter Stella, the oldest of our 6 grandkids: 

I want to talk to you about trees. You know I love trees and nature. Trees are significant in Judaism. Our Torah is called Etz Chaim, a tree of life, and also a tree of knowledge. But as we celebrate you becoming a Bat Mitzvah, I want to tell you about a different tree — a family tree. The Torah teaches that parents are the trunk of a tree and children are the branches. It also teaches that all future generations are embedded in that tree within their parents, so the tree represents a family’s past, present, and future.

I want to talk about a particular family tree that starts with your ancestors, my grandparents, Meyer & Pauline Oberstein, and goes down l’dor vador, from generation to generation. Stella, you are part of a family tree that has very deep roots. Those roots will keep you secure and grounded when the winds of adversity blow your way. You come from a long line of very strong women.

I want to start with the amazing and strong woman in the first generation in that family tree, my grandmother Pauline, your great great grandmother. Pauline and her family came to America from Ukraine where her family was persecuted because they were Jewish. She arrived in Ellis Island with nothing but her commitment to their Jewish values, joining her brother Joe in Montgomery, Alabama, a place where it wasn’t easy to be religious. Like Abraham and Sarah, they were really alone in their observance, pioneers of Judaism in a new land, as described in your Torah portion, Lech Lecha. 

But Mama Pauline created an observant Jewish home. She lit Shabbos candles every week, strictly observed kashrut and Shabbat,  and remained deeply committed to Jewish values. She was actively involved in their synagogue and establishing a Jewish community deep in the heart of Dixie. Her parents lived with her, also clinging to their Judaism. Her father, our Zaidy, never ate meat in America because he didn’t trust it to be kosher. Mama Pauline only served him fresh vegetables (which she pronounced “vege-TABLES”) because he mistrusted the kashrut of the canning process. When he died, Pauline had his body prepared at home and the funeral was in their living room. She didn’t want Zaidy’s body to ever enter a non-Jewish funeral home. 

The second generation of matriarchs is my mother Elsie, your great grandmother whom you call Bobbie, the same name she called her grandmother, Pauline’s mother Bobbie Leah. Bobbie is also a light unto the world. She is the dynamic force behind our shul in Fort Worth, Texas. Her Hebrew name is Sora Elke, like our matriarch Sarah. Also like our matriarch Sarah, Bobbie leads the way in creating a place for those seeking G-d to come and worship. My mother has devoted her life to strengthening our shul and preserving Jewish values in Fort Worth, Texas, far from the Old Country of her parents.

The next generation is me, along with my beloved bride of 45 years, your Mimi. You know very well how strong Mimi is and what a rock she is in our family.

Next comes your mother, Elizabeth Pauline, named after our matriarch Pauline. Both are named Pesha Ita, and like you, both are lights unto the world. We all know what a power house your mother is, giving her all to support Israel and fight antisemitism. She is a role model of leadership, strength, and courage.

This brings us to generation five. Stella, this is significant: you are the FIRST member of generation five in our family tree, a generation that will someday have more than 100 Jewish cousins in it, with all the Obersteins in our family. But Stella, you are the FIRST. You lead the way. 

Stella, your very birth as a little four pound bundle of joy was a miracle, a symbol that our family is growing and thriving, the start of a new rung on our family tree. As your dad’s Unkie said, your birth signifies that “We beat Hitler!” You were made for this moment. And you’re growing into such a dynamic role model, just like your matriarch ancestors Pauline, Elsie, Laurie, and Lizzy. 

Every week, I learn from your Torah Corner as you explain the week’s parsha in a way like no one else can do. I once filled in for you as the substitute teacher, and I can tell you that it’s a lot harder than it looks. I watched you interview Holocaust survivors in Israel, where you showed so much love and compassion. And I saw how much you care about our people as we toured Yad Vashem and other holy sites in Jerusalem. You have a gift—a gift of connecting with people and bringing light and Jewish values to the world.

My prayer for you is that you grow up strong and courageous, marry the right guy like your mom did, raise a family who carries on the heritage of our ancestors, and that you live a life of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. 

Shine your light, baby!

With all my love,

Your Zaidy

Sharing this with you, I feel so full of love and gratitude. This weekend was a major link in the Blum Family Legacy chain. Here’s wishing you meaningful moments and milestone memories in your own family legacy journey.

Marvin & Laurie Blum make memories that will last forever at the Bat Mitzvah of their granddaughter Stella.

The Bat Mitzvah celebration continues with Stella and a very proud Zaidy!

My Granddaughter Stella Becomes a Woman  Read More »

The Blum Firm Has Been Recognized in the 2025 Edition of the Best Law Firms® Rankings

We are so thankful to announce The Blum Firm has been recognized in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms® as a top firm in DFW for Trusts and Estates, as well as for Litigation-Trust and Estates.

This year is the 15th edition of this recognition process, produced by Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication company in the legal profession. Law firms are selected based on several aspects of the evaluation process, including both qualitative and quantitative data.

We wouldn’t be able to receive recognition like this without our outstanding team of 68 superstars. Every day, they work hard to deliver superior work to our clients, going above and beyond to maintain the highest standards of performance and quality.

It is a team effort, and we are so proud to be highly respected by our peers in the legal industry!

To learn more about the rankings click here. 

The Blum Firm Has Been Recognized in the 2025 Edition of the Best Law Firms® Rankings Read More »

Is Your Mind Wired for a “Worst Case” or “Best Case” Scenario?

Here we are on Election Day with a race that’s too close to call. Even after the outcome is known, so much uncertainty lies ahead. How do we deal with the unknowns? Some are wired to see a half-full glass. Good for them. However, for me and most in my network, the tendency is to see the glass half empty. My wonderfully positive wife is helping me learn to shift from “worst case” to “best case” thinking.

Laurie and I recently spent a glorious evening dining with TIGER 21 colleagues. As usual, the conversation was thought-provoking, stimulated by a revelation earlier that day at a TIGER 21 meeting. At the meeting, a hugely successful entrepreneur gave his “Portfolio Defense” and confessed that he still wakes up during the night and worries about his business. Although he’s ten times more successful than he ever imagined, worrying is a habit that is hard to break.

I was visiting with other TIGER 21 members about this and discovered that all of us shared that same mental wiring. We all wake up during the night, the brain activates, and the worry starts. It’s comforting to know I am not alone.

In my recent post, “On Turning 70,” I shared that, looking back on those 70 years, my main regret is all the time I wasted worrying about things that never ended up happening. I announced that my goal going forward is to worry less—easier said than done. But I have something (or rather, someone) going for me to help me in this effort—a very wise and supportive wife of 45 years.

Here’s Laurie’s good counsel to me: when presented with a scenario, instead of always assuming the “worst case” outcome, force your brain to imagine a “best case” outcome. That’s a heavy lift for me, given the natural wiring in my brain and my almost 50 years of lawyering. It’s my job to envision all the “what if’s” that can go wrong and plan ahead for them. But Laurie isn’t letting me off the hook that easy. You have to work at envisioning an ideal outcome. After all, a bright outcome is more likely than a dark one. That’s certainly been the case over the years, as all those things I wasted time and energy worrying about never ended up happening.

So now when I wake up concerned about something, Laurie advises me to imagine the best case outcome. Redirect your thoughts and attach your mind to that best case.

Laurie explained some research that shows how worrying triggers stress and fear, releasing hormones as if what you fear might happen has actually occurred. By shifting your mind to a positive outcome, your energy goes where your thoughts tell it to go. Imagining the best case scenario, you can actually feel the relief and joy that scenario would produce. You’ll begin to feel that relief and joy right now.

I’ve tried it, and it works. It’s not yet natural to me, so I have to work at it. But if you’re wired like me, I highly recommend trying to think “best case” instead of “worst case.”

When I do slip into imagining the worst, Laurie’s provided me with a mantra to repeat in my head: “It’s solvable. If it happens, we will figure it out.” That helps too. And if it doesn’t, I can always wake up Laurie for a middle-of-the-night counseling session. I’m a very lucky guy.

Marvin and Laurie Blum at a dinner party with TIGER 21 colleagues who, like Marvin, find it easier to embrace a “worst case” rather than “best case” scenario. We all need Laurie's wise counsel.

Is Your Mind Wired for a “Worst Case” or “Best Case” Scenario? Read More »

The Blum Firm Honors Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Today, The Blum Firm wore pink today in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Here is a little history about this cause:

Breast Cancer Awareness Month began in October 1985, launched by the American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries. Former First Lady Betty Ford, a breast cancer survivor, helped kick off the event. Since then, it has grown into a global movement, raising awareness and advocating for research funding.

Thanks to everyone who has shown their support for such an important cause this October!

The Blum Firm Honors Breast Cancer Awareness Month Read More »

Buffett Changes His Will—Is It Time to Change Yours?

In last week’s 200th post in my Family Legacy Planning series, I reflected on some of my personal favorite posts. Looking back over those 200, one of the most popular and recurring subjects is Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha. People are fascinated with everything Buffett says and does. Today I’ll share an update on Buffett’s estate plan that he recently revealed.

My personal fascination with Buffett started years ago when our family made the annual pilgrimage to Omaha for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. As many as 50,000 gather each year and hang on every word as he answers questions from selected attendees. As I’ve written in this blog, I had the privilege three times of asking questions of Buffett. Click on this link for a prior post covering my questions on Buffett’s estate plan, his philanthropy, and his views on preparing heirs.

For a long time, Buffett’s Will leaves more than 99% of his estate to charity (Berkshire Hathway Inc. News Release, Business Wire, June 28, 2024). With a net worth of more than $100 billion, that money will do a lot of good. But who gets to decide what charities to support? That’s the big change Buffett recently disclosed.

In an earlier version of his Will, Buffett (then the world’s second richest man) was entrusting that task to the world’s then richest man, Bill Gates. Although his lifetime gifts to the Gates Foundation exceed $39 billion, Buffett has decided that’s enough.

Why the shift? The notoriously modest-living (some even say frugal) Buffett expressed concern over Bill Gates’ extravagant billionaire lifestyle—homes, planes, fast cars, art, and a big personal staff. He also has “been bothered by what he saw as the bloat and inflated operating costs” of the Gates Foundation. (Anupreeta Das, “Has the Long Friendship of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Reached Its Final Act?,” The New York Times, August 4, 2024).

In place of the Gates Foundation, Buffett’s Will now creates a charitable trust to be administered by his three children—Susan, Howard, and Peter. His kids will disburse the funds over a ten-year period following Warren’s death. But here’s the catch: the three must unanimously agree on how to donate the funds. Given that they each have very divergent charitable priorities, many speculate Buffett may be setting up “a version of a philanthropic ‘Succession’” battle. (Madeline Berg, “Warren Buffett Wants His Children to Give Away His $130 Billion Fortune. Does that Set Up a ‘Succession’ ­­– Style Fight?,” Business Insider, July 11, 2024).

Susan, a full-time philanthropist, favors social justice, education, and healthcare. Howard, a farmer and former sheriff, focuses on food security, crime, human trafficking, and aid to Ukraine. Peter, a musician and composer, supports Indigenous communities and combating hunger. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Buffett defends his decision after seeing how his children have matured over the years. “’I have 100% trust in how they will carry things out… I like to think I can think outside the box, but I’m not sure if I can think outside the box when it’s 6 feet below the surface and do a better job than three people who are on the surface who I trust completely.’” Buffett adds that his children will be able to respond to any future law changes governing taxes and foundations. (Karen Langley, “Warren Buffett Gives Us a Preview of His Will,” The Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2024).

Here’s my key takeaway: Don’t lock away your Will and fail to update it periodically. Our rule of thumb at The Blum Firm is to review your estate plan at each Presidential election. Over time, your views and your wishes may change. When that happens, it may be time to follow Warren Buffett’s lead and change your Will.

Marvin and Laurie with business and philanthropic role model, Warren Buffett.

Buffett Changes His Will—Is It Time to Change Yours? Read More »

My 200th Post 

This is my 200th post in this Family Legacy Planning series (now called “Blum’s Blog”). The idea for this blog was born during the height of the COVID pandemic. I was sheltering at home, spending 23 hours of every day holed up in our bedroom. Until COVID happened, I never worked at home. I kept a clear separation between work and home. That all changed overnight.

My assistant Cat (whom I often refer to as my “boss”) informed me that, as captain of The Blum Firm team, I had to set the example and work remotely. We set up a desk in our master bedroom with a computer and supplies, and voila! It became my new office. I’d roll out of bed and turn on the computer, breaking only briefly for meals, then roll back into bed late at night. I never stopped working. No bueno, but that was my new M.O.

It was the fall of 2020, approaching October 1st, the 40th anniversary of my founding The Blum Firm. Locked away from the world and all human interaction, what could we possibly do to celebrate it? Then it hit me. On October 1, 2020, I sent out a mass email announcing the launching of a new initiative in 2021 in honor of The Blum Firm’s 40th year milestone. But I didn’t say what the “initiative” was. It was meant as a teaser, not only for the public, but also for me. I still hadn’t fully baked the idea. I needed more time to figure it out.

So, on the first Tuesday of 2021, I announced the birth of this Family Legacy Planning series. My plan was to post weekly for a few months, till I ran out of juice on wisdom to impart. Beyond my wildest expectations, here’s post number 200—never missing a consecutive Tuesday morning, 10:00 Central, blast to your inbox. So far, the juice is still flowing.

This blog has evolved. It started out as a more formal communication, aimed at offering practical estate planning tips to create a lasting legacy. Each post was accompanied by my headshot. Then my dear friend Karen Reisman (a speaking coach with her own inspiring blog, “Speak for Yourself”) told me to stop attaching my “yearbook photo” and offer up a warmer, clever photo instead. I resisted. My audience expected me to be buttoned up, coat and tie. Karen persisted; I gave it a try—lo and behold, Karen was right. Even a serious lawyer could warm up and become more relatable.

Then the next revolutionary change happened. After months of heavy, impersonal content, I took a risk and got personal. Moved by Russia’s vicious attack on Ukraine, I divulged “I Am Ukrainian.” My four grandparents were persecuted in Eastern Europe and came to America barely in time to escape Hitler. The photo was of Zaidy, my one-eyed great grandfather whose eye was poked out in an Ukranian pogrom. I wrote of the importance of preserving family heritage and stories of resilience. The feedback floored me. In response, I became more and more open. I was now feeling a warm connection with my readers. I dispensed with formalities and just wrote from the heart. 

I told more of what makes me tick, my family and friends, my modest “hard knocks” upbringing, even “How a Jukebox Paid for My Bar Mitzvah.” Doing so, I still try to weave in an estate planning lesson in each post. After unintentionally stumbling into these self-revelations, this blog has become somewhat autobiographical. I never saw that coming.

As I reveal more about myself and my family, I had an interesting recent comment from attorney friend Andrew Rosell: “Why is it you write so much more about your daughter Lizzy than your son Adam?” I laughed and responded, “I have a daughter that loves the spotlight and a son who prefers privacy.” For those of you who’ve raised kids from the same gene pool but who turned out totally different, I’m sure you can relate.

Click on the link below to peruse all 200 posts and see which ones catch your eye. My personal favorite is my five-part series from a year ago about our week in Israel, culminating with the vicious terrorist attack by Hamas. That day changed my life forever.

I’ll close with a hearty thank you for all the affirming feedback I receive each week. You are all my friends now. And maybe someday, I’ll give into the clamoring from all those encouraging me to write a book. If I ever do, it will read differently than the “How to Do Estate Planning” manual I’d have written a few years ago.

Feeling gratitude for the support of devoted readers, Marvin Blum celebrates the 200th post in his weekly Family Legacy Planning series.

My 200th Post  Read More »

Passing Down Legacy Real Estate—Family Glue or Family Feud? 

Does your family own a meaningful real estate asset that you’d like to keep in the family? Maybe it’s a childhood home, lake or beach house, vacation home, or ranch. Places like that hold special memories. Gathering there can provide powerful family glue for kids and grandkids. Passing down legacy real estate to future generations requires special planning, or else the hoped for “glue” causes a family to become “unglued.”

At The Blum Firm, we work with many families who own real estate that is precious to them. For example, we’re working now with a family of college football fans who owns a “game day house” near their team’s stadium. Since Laurie and I raised a son who is also a passionate football fan (or should I say “fanatic”), I understand the passion associated with that property. In their eyes, it’s not just a “house.”

While the matriarch and patriarch are alive, they foot the bill to cover operating costs such as taxes, insurance, utilities, housekeeping, lawn care, maintenance and repairs. Mom and dad also establish the rules for shared use, including overseeing the calendar for who gets to use it and when. But who steps into that role when parents are gone and the home is co-owned by siblings, and further down the road when it’s owned by cousins?

Hayley Cuccinello grapples with these issues in her article, “Who Gets the Hamptons House? How Rich Americans Give Homes to Their Children Without Causing Feuds,” (Business Insider, August 13, 2024). She quotes Adam Ludman, head of tax advisory at J.P. Morgan Private Bank: “‘You have to start by recognizing that the family home or the vacation home is more than a financial asset. It is deeply personal.’” Cuccinello elaborates: “Even among rich heirs, passing on real estate without proper planning can lead to sibling strife. Who gets the Hamptons house for July 4? What if one sibling wants to renovate the Aspen chalet and the others don’t want to split the cost?” 

We recommend a multi-step solution:

  1. Transfer the real estate to an entity (such as an LLC) to limit liability exposure. If someone’s injured there, you want to insulate your other assets from being reachable.
  2. Consult with an insurance professional for optimum coverage.
  3. Create an LLC Operating Agreement to cover the rules for shared use.
  4. Transfer the LLC interests to a FAST trust (Family Advancement Sustainability Trust) to remove the real estate from your estate, avoiding a 40% estate tax at death. With the lifetime exemption at almost $14 million ($28 million for a couple), now is the ideal time to make that transfer, locking in the doubled exemption before it sunsets in half at midnight on December 31, 2025.
  5. Provide a governance structure in the FAST to insure selection of LLC managers who will honor the founders’ intent.
  6. Fund the FAST with assets that generate a sufficient cash flow to cover the ongoing cost of operations. In many cases, the ideal solution is a life insurance policy on the parents, with proceeds payable at their death to the FAST.
  7. Build in flexibility into the FAST and LLC agreements, so the plan is not set in stone. As Ludman cautions, “‘Families obviously evolve and expand, and circumstances can change.’”

Every family has unique considerations. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. The Blum Firm would be honored to help you tailor a solution for your legacy real estate that matches the needs of your family.

Whether you’re leaving your heirs a Texas ranch or a home in the Hamptons, Marvin Blum provides planning tips for shared use of a family’s legacy real estate.

Passing Down Legacy Real Estate—Family Glue or Family Feud?  Read More »

Seven Blum Firm Attorneys Featured in 2024 Super Lawyers Magazine

We are excited to announce that seven of our attorneys have been recognized in the Texas Super Lawyers 2024 Magazine!

Only the top attorneys in Texas are honored on the Super Lawyers list, with approximately 5% of all lawyers selected. The Rising Stars category is even more exclusive, recognizing just 2.5% of early-career attorneys. We are proud to have six Super Lawyers and one Rising Star among our team!

Congratulations to the honorees! We couldn’t be more pleased to have such strong representation in the field.

Seven Blum Firm Attorneys Featured in 2024 Super Lawyers Magazine Read More »

No Matter Who Wins the Election, Now Is the Ideal Time to Do Tax & Estate Planning 

National Estate Planning Awareness Week is coming up in two weeks. For me, that week comes 52 times a year. But I guess Hallmark needed an excuse for another greeting card. So let me be the first to wish all of you a Happy Estate Planning Awareness Week!

In honor of that special week, I am devoting this post to urgent tax planning considerations given today’s volatile political climate. I’m reminded of the Chinese fortune cookie that says, “May you live in interesting times.” When it comes to tax law, we are certainly living in “interesting times!”

I note that this post is based on my upcoming presentation at the virtual Oil & Gas Investor Summit, where I will be speaking on the topic entitled “No Matter Who Wins the Election, Now is the Ideal Time to Do Tax & Estate Planning.” You can tune in to the summit by registering for free here, and I will be speaking tomorrow around 5 PM Central Time. If you miss it but still want to watch, the recording will be posted on the website as soon as it’s available. Also, a copy of my PowerPoint can be found here. As I stated at the start of my presentation, I am not taking any political positions in this discussion. I’m not advocating for the red or the blue. I deliberately wore a purple tie so no one could draw an inference from a tie that was red or blue. I’m just presenting facts.

As described below, the presentation explores how the election outcome may impact tax law under three scenarios: Divided Government, Triple D (Democrat White House, Senate, & House), and Triple R (Republican sweep). We have no way of predicting which outcome will happen, but regardless of who wins, here’s what we know for sure:

  • Most of the tax cuts in the 2017 Trump Tax Act (“Tax Cuts & Jobs Act”) will sunset at midnight on December 31, 2025. Plan now to lock in tax benefits before they expire.
  • Neither party is proposing to lower individual income tax rates. No matter who wins, income tax rates won’t go down.
  • The recent rise in interest rates and government spending has more than doubled the annual cost of US debt service. A day of reckoning is coming when we’ll have to deal with the soaring national debt.
  • No matter the election results, tax law change is coming. Take advantage of extraordinary opportunities in today’s “Golden Age of Estate Planning” before the window closes.
  • History tells us that those who plan under the current law, before new laws go into effect, will most likely be grandfathered.

We recently learned that the lifetime estate exemption rises on New Year’s Day 2025 to $13,990,000 per person (for ease of discussion, let’s round that to $14 million). But be aware that on New Year’s Eve 2025, that $14 million exemption shrinks to $7 million. As I’ve so often encouraged, now’s the time to do “squeeze & freeze” planning to lock in the extra $7 million before it goes to zero. It’s a “use it or lose it” situation. And with the top income tax rate rising from 37% to 39.6% in 2026, consider doing a Roth IRA conversion in 2025 and paying a lower income tax hit. The PowerPoint goes into detail on these and other ideas, but I’ll close with what to anticipate under the three election scenarios. 

 

If We Have a Divided Government

  • Most tax cuts in 2017 Tax Act will sunset; it’s already baked into the law.
  • Ordinary income tax rate will increase from 37% to 39.6%. (Note: corporate tax stays at 21% but 20% 199A deduction expires).
  • Convert a traditional IRA to Roth in 2025, and pay income tax hit at lower rates.
  • Accelerate income/ take gains in 2025 rather than 2026.
  • Postpone SALT (state and local tax) payments/ property taxes exceeding $10,000 until 2026 (when $10,000 SALT cap is gone).
  • Make large cash gifts to public charities before AGI deduction cap sunsets from 60% to 50%; otherwise consider postponing contributions to 2026 when tax rates are higher.
  • Lock in the $7 million “bonus” lifetime exemption before it goes to zero.
  • Review formula gifts in estate plans tied to size of the exemption.

 

If We Have a Triple D Outcome

  • Quickly engage in “squeeze & freeze” transfers to trusts.
  • Use in-kind assets to repay balance due on notes from prior sales to grantor trusts.
  • Anticipate these possible changes (in addition to sunset):
  • Reduce lifetime exemption to $3.5 million.
  • Increase long-term capital gain rate from 20% to 28% (for investors with income over $1 million).
  • Increase NII (net investment income) tax from 3.8% to 5%.
  • Impose an annual tax on unrealized gains for taxpayers worth $100 million.
  • Increase corporate tax from 21% to 28%.
  • Increase estate tax rates from 40% to 55%, 60%, 65%.
  • Limit valuation discounts.
  • End use of grantor trusts.
  • Eliminate basis step-up at death.
  • Limit annual exclusion gifts to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per donor per year.

 

If We Have a Triple R Outcome

  • Anticipate efforts to make tax cuts in 2017 Act permanent.
  • $10,000 SALT (state & local taxes) cap likely to remain in place.
  • Expect efforts to reduce capital gains tax and corporate income tax.
  • Expect provisions to eliminate tax on tips and on social security benefits.
  • Do not anticipate efforts to reduce individual income tax rates. 

 

Once again, Happy Estate Planning Awareness Week to everyone. My hope is that you’ll use it to take advantage of “Golden Age of Estate Planning” before it’s too late.

Marvin Blum prepares to deliver a one-hour presentation, entitled "No Matter Who Wins the Election, Now Is the Ideal Time to Do Tax & Estate Planning," at the upcoming virtual Oil & Gas Investor Summit.

No Matter Who Wins the Election, Now Is the Ideal Time to Do Tax & Estate Planning  Read More »

The Day That Changed My Life Forever   

“Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” Alan Jackson’s country song captures how I felt one year ago. The first time I felt that way was in my fourth-grade classroom the day President Kennedy had breakfast here in Fort Worth, then was assassinated in Dallas by lunchtime. I felt that way again on 9/11 as the horrors unfolded.  And a year ago, I was reeling from the most vicious and deadly attack against Jews since the Holocaust. Next week marks one year since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists unleashed the most inhumane attack imaginable against Israel. Laurie and I had just left Israel on one of the last American Airlines flights to take off before shutting down operations (and to this day, they have still not resumed service). October 7 transformed me. My life will never be the same after that day.

For a few brief moments, there was compassion for Israel. I knew from history that it wouldn’t last long. Indeed, within days, the sympathy for Israel vanished from the public square. The narrative was replaced with hate crimes against Jews and antisemitic rallies calling for the annihilation of Israel “from the river to the sea.” These protests have escalated at an alarming rate, become more and more hateful and violent against Jews. In particular, Jewish students are unsafe and unprotected on college campuses across the US. 

Here we are one year later, and there are still over 100 hostages held captive in Gaza. Some are US citizens. Where is a worldwide, all-out effort to rescue them? The silence of the masses speaks volumes.

Although I expected some rise in antisemitism, what is actually happening far exceeds my worst fears and shakes me to the core. The level of hate that has surfaced is a harsh wake-up call, and a reminder of another time in history that we naively thought wouldn’t happen again in our lifetime. What we’re seeing eerily resembles the pattern of Jew hatred that took over Eastern Europe in the 1930s. Before calling me an alarmist, let me share that Jews in Europe were living a luxurious life before Hitler came to power. My son-in-law Ira has an uncle (affectionately called “Unkie”) who was imprisoned in concentration camps and lived to warn us: “You think you’re comfortable in America? Well let me tell you something, we were just as comfortable in Europe. You don’t think it can happen again. I’m telling you it can.” Pay attention to the signs—the noise is coming from the media, the internet, elected officials, professors and students on college campuses, the entertainment industry, all blaming the Jews. It’s everywhere. It’s even become a topic among Jews to ask each other: “If a Holocaust happens again, who would hide you?”

My wife Laurie had an intellectual Aunt Marjorie who lived in Israel. I once asked her to tell me the lesson of the Holocaust, and the simplicity of her answer surprised me: “When someone says they want to kill you, you should believe them.” Over and over, we say, “Never Again.” But here we are again. Israel is surrounded by enemies who openly shout their intention to kill every Jew and push Israel into the sea. We should believe them.

In spite of the horror, there are some silver linings. It’s times like these that I feel a deeper connection to my loved ones, both family and friends. To those of you who are on our team, siding with good over evil, I express abundant gratitude. Your support means the world to me. 

On a very personal note, I’ll reveal a choice I silently made after October 7. I have always observed a semi-kosher diet, never eating pork or shellfish. But I’ve now gone all in and stopped eating all non-kosher meat. Every time I eat, I get a feeling of solidarity with my people. As Rabbi Mark Wildes teaches, stepping up our game awakens in us a very intense pride in being Jewish.  I’ve been very private about this and only share this at my daughter’s urging. Perhaps others might find meaning in doing something similar, such as lighting Shabbat candles or saying daily prayers.

I’ll also share that I am extremely proud of our kids who have become strong advocates for our people. Adam was appointed by Governor Abbott to serve on the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission. Lizzy is a tireless and courageous activist supporting Israel in the public arena and on her social media Instagram platform LizzySavetsky. Speaking of their advocacy brings back an old memory from my high school days when I was the Texas chair of SSSJ (Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry) to bring awareness to Russia’s persecution of Jews. I’d tucked that story away and never even mentioned that to Laurie or my kids. 

Standing up for our people is deeply woven into the fabric of our family. By taking action, raising our voices, and tightly banding together, I have faith that we will survive. And through that tight togetherness, our family is creating a powerful legacy to pass down from generation to generation — a legacy of faith, courage, and devotion to our people.

Tomorrow evening begins the Jewish High Holiday season. Wishing all a meaningful Rosh Hashanah and a more peaceful 5785.

Marvin Blum and his family celebrating a year ago in Israel for the “upsherin” first haircut of 3-year-old grandson Ollie, a glorious week that ended in horror.

Marvin’s daughter Lizzy and her two daughters Stella and Juliet (left) and son-in-law Ira (far right) praying in a Jerusalem bomb shelter after the October 7 attack on Israel.

The Day That Changed My Life Forever    Read More »

A Cost-Free Way to Supercharge the Charitable Gifts in Your Estate  

In last week’s post, I covered the complex analysis involved in filling out a beneficiary form for a retirement account. For example, I stressed the benefits of leaving your retirement accounts to an Accumulation Trust, rather than outright to your kids. As I have been highlighting in this Family Legacy Planning series, it’s important to give careful thought to your kids’ inheritance. How much is too much to leave to your kids? What’s the right balance between leaving assets to your kids vs. leaving assets to charities?

When dividing assets between kids and charities, the asset mix usually contains retirement assets and non-retirement assets. All of these assets are potentially subject to estate tax. But retirement assets are also subject to income tax. When leaving retirement assets to your kids, there’s a double whammy tax hit, often leaving only 20 cents of each dollar to your kids.

However, if you fill out the beneficiary designation form to pass retirement assets to charity, the charity keeps 100 cents of each dollar. As you allocate assets between your kids and charities, it is most tax efficient to leave your retirement accounts to charity, avoiding both estate tax and income tax on those assets. The portion you leave your kids should come from the non-retirement portion of your estate.

Consider this simple example. Your estate contains a $100,000 IRA and $100,000 cash. You plan to leave $100,000 to charity and $100,000 to your kids. If you leave cash to charity and the IRA to the kids (who are in a 35% income tax bracket), the kids pay $35,000 income tax on the IRA. Net result: charity gets $100,000, kids get $65,000. Let’s reverse it and give the IRA to charity and cash to the kids. A charity is exempt from tax, so it pays no income tax on the IRA. Net result: charity gets $100,000, kids get $100,000.

Note that for any IRAs designated to pass to charity, do not elect to convert those to Roth IRAs. By converting to Roth, you would be unnecessarily incurring an income tax cost that would be avoided when the assets pass to charity. It’s more tax efficient to leave traditional IRAs to charity and Roth IRAs to your family.

In leaving retirement assets to charity, consider these choices:

  • Outright to your favorite public charities;
  • A Donor Advised Fund, where your family can designate the charities they would like to benefit and spread out the donations over the years following your death;
  • A Private Family Foundation managed by your family, which can be a powerful source of “glue” for future generations to stay connected.

The Blum Firm works actively to help our clients structure their charitable and family inheritances in the most tax efficient way. We would be honored to assist you in this important endeavor.

Marvin Blum is in a quandary over how to fill out retirement plan beneficiary forms. Do I name my kids, or do I name a charity?

A Cost-Free Way to Supercharge the Charitable Gifts in Your Estate   Read More »

“I Just Have One Simple Question” – NOT! 

It happens all the time. My assistant Cat receives this call: “I just have one simple question for Marvin. How should I fill out the beneficiary designation form for my retirement plan?” As explained below, that question is anything but simple. Moreover, it’s critically important. The beneficiary designation form (not your Will) is the document that dictates where your retirement account goes when you die. And very often, the retirement account is the biggest asset in the estate.

In my post dated July 30th, I told the horror story of a retirement account (which was almost the entire estate) passing to a long-lost girlfriend. The beneficiary designation form hadn’t been updated in nearly 40 years! When you update your Will, don’t forget to also update your beneficiary forms.

For those who are married with kids, the “knee jerk” is to just designate your spouse, then your kids. However, the estate plan often contains trusts to protect assets from divorce, creditors, and taxes. By designating individuals, the retirement assets pass outright, and you lose all the important trust protections over those assets.

The better plan is usually to designate a trust as the beneficiary—but not just any trust. To achieve optimal tax benefits, it has to be a trust with special provisions, such as an “Accumulation Trust.” Such a trust allows for the longest possible stretch out, and assets paid into it are protected until needed. Until spent, the assets are in a pocket free from reach by creditors or divorcing spouses.

Roth IRAs can accumulate free of income tax. The decision to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA (and pay the income tax hit early) involves a complicated mathematical analysis. With income tax rates rising in 2026, many plan to convert to a Roth in 2025 and pay the tax at today’s lower rates. But for those not converting to Roth, be aware that traditional IRAs are hit with income tax as the assets are distributed. There is a complex maze of tax rules to navigate in order to achieve optimal income tax deferral.

One more thing—if your estate makes a charitable gift, the most tax-efficient way to do it is to designate the charity as the beneficiary of retirement assets. Designating a charity avoids paying income tax and estate tax on the retirement assets. I’ll explain in more detail in next week’s post.

Suffice to say, how to fill out your retirement beneficiary form is no simple question!

Marvin Blum’s assistant, Cat Bardin, receives a call asking “just one simple question” on how to fill out a retirement plan beneficiary form—not a simple question!

“I Just Have One Simple Question” – NOT!  Read More »

Corporate Transparency Act Alert: Only Four Months Left for Compliance!

Effective January 1, 2024, all Reporting Companies must disclose information about the company and its Beneficial Owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) under the Department of Treasury. The purpose of the Act is to enhance national security, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts to combat money laundering, and other illicit activities. Importantly, this requirement is not related to tax reporting or the IRS.

The CTA deadlines are approaching fast as existing entities only have four months left for initial compliance. For entities formed or registered to do business in the U.S. before January 1, 2024, the initial reports must be filed with FinCEN by January 1, 2025.

Anyone who willfully provides false or fraudulent information, or willfully fails to report complete or updated Beneficial Ownership information faces significant penalties. These include civil penalties of $500/day if the violation continues or is not remedied, and criminal fines of up to $10,000, and/or up to two years imprisonment.

With the deadline approaching, it’s critical to start preparing now. Gathering the necessary Beneficial Ownership Information and navigating the legal complexities of the CTA can be challenging, so existing entities should be taking steps now to prepare for timely compliance.

The Blum Firm is actively engaged in helping clients with CTA Compliance, including filing the reports directly with FinCEN. Please contact us if you would like our assistance with CTA Compliance or if you have any questions about the impact of this law on your entities.

Please note that dissolving a Reporting Company before the compliance deadline will not allow you to escape the initial reporting requirements. FinCEN has recently clarified that unless an entity was dissolved and ceased to exist by the end of 2023, it must file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with FinCEN.

Corporate Transparency Act Alert: Only Four Months Left for Compliance! Read More »

Three Role Models for Aging with Dignity

President Biden’s painful exit from his reelection campaign, coupled with my 70th birthday, got me thinking about how to age with dignity. What lessons can we learn so that, as we approach the final chapter, we can go out on top? I identified many role models who continued to hit home runs in their final innings. For today’s post, I narrowed it to a diverse trio: Lou Barnett (patriarch of the Fort Worth Jewish community), Henry Kissinger, and Dolly Parton.

I’ll start closest to home with Lou Barnett, who made it past 100 before he left us. When he was still a young 94, I had the privilege of interviewing him on May 19, 2013. He may be gone physically, but he lives on through the wisdom he imparted to me that day. When I asked for his reflections, Lou responded with 18 tips. In Hebrew, the letters that signify 18 are chet (8) and yud (10), spelling chai, the Hebrew word for “life.” (“To life, to life, L’chaim!”) How appropriate that Lou’s stream of consciousness happened to provide 18 tips for living a beautiful life.

Click on the link at the bottom of the post to read the entire list, but here are a few highlights:

• Family, first and foremost. Family is by far the most important thing in the world.

• Find a hobby. Get away from the cell phone and disconnect from the world.

• Laugh at yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

• Live! Don’t live like you’re coming back. It’s later than you think.

• Go see your grandkids often and be a part of their lives.

• Don’t carry a grudge. Let it go.

Like Lou Barnett, Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also made it to 100 with grace and purpose till his final days. In his essay on Kissinger, Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Google) explained the key: “How did Henry make it to 100? He never retired. Until shortly before his death, he was working as hard as he did when he was 70. From the moment he woke up, he was thinking, taking joy in following a new idea, a new strategy, a new challenge. He never lost his deep commitment to making the world safer and more prosperous” (The Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2023).

Harvard professor Arthur Brooks elaborates on Kissinger’s formula for successful aging. Brooks credits Kissinger with transforming into a senior role, becoming an “eminence” who wasn’t expected to “have the rigor and the focus and the energy to be putting in the grinding work of national and international governance… Nobody wanted to elect Kissinger as president of the United States; people just wanted his opinion on the issues of the day” (“The Essence of Retiring Well,” The Atlantic, July 5, 2024). 

And finally, let’s hear it for country music legend Dolly Parton, a rockstar role model at age 78 who “shows no signs of letting up.” In “Dolly Parton on How She Succeeds in Business,” Deena Shanker reveals: “Dolly Parton is a live performer, recording artist, songwriter, novelist, philanthropist, Netflix producer, theme-park operator, and hotelier, just to name a handful of her business ventures. She sells everything from dog accessories to fragrances and even muffin mixes. How does she keep up the momentum? ‘I work my butt off,’ she says.”

Parton also believes you have to be present to win. She challenges the post-COVID world of remote working. “In an age where ‘quiet quitting’ has pervaded workplaces across the US and hustle culture is being criticized by the rising number of Gen-Zers shuffling into the office (or Zoom rooms), Parton works for her success, way past 9 to 5.”

So, for those like me who seek guidance on how to remain relevant till the end, let’s learn from Lou Barnett, Henry Kissinger, and Dolly Parton. In doing so, Arthur Brooks wisely admonishes us of the need to adjust to the role that best suits us, which changes over time. Brooks suggests that role may be more as a teacher than an innovator. Or, as my esteemed colleague Matt Wesley so powerfully describes—there comes a time when you need to move from being quarterback to being coach.

 

Marvin Blum’s Interview of Lou Barnett—May 19, 2013

Henry Kissinger stayed on top of his game all the way to 100.

Dolly Parton achieves success at age 78 by merging the gift of creativity with plain old hard work.

Three Role Models for Aging with Dignity Read More »

Three Blum Firm Attorneys Recognized with Best Lawyers® Awards

We are excited to announce that two of our attorneys were recognized with the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® Award, and one of our attorneys was recognized with the 2025 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America Award.

Both award lists are determined through a comprehensive peer-review survey, and according to Best Lawyers®, “This was a record-breaking year with more than 3.2 million evaluations collected for the 31st edition of The Best Lawyers in America®  and over 1.2 million for the fifth edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America.”

We couldn’t be more pleased to be well-represented in the legal field. Congratulations to our honorees!

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Julius Blum, a Role Model from “The Greatest Generation”

My recent post, “I’m a Graduate of Blum’s Café School of Hard Knocks,” focused on the lessons in life I learned from my hard-working father, Julius Blum. That post generated a heart-warming reaction from many of my readers. Although my dad’s been gone for 21 years, he’s very much alive in my heart.

I wrote of the hard-knocks world at Blum’s Café, nestled in Fort Worth’s smelly and sweaty meat packing district. One response summed it up and meant a lot to me: “The Blum family was an important piece of the packing house fabric in the stockyards. A sweet, hard-working family.” I chuckled at another line in his message: “Marvin was smart and got out of there ASAP.” True, but I took the lessons of that world with me.

My dear friend Lisa Mikus asked if my dad was part of “The Greatest Generation from the WWII era—I’m so in awe of that generation.” That swelled up my admiration for my dad’s service in the U.S. Army during World War II. As was typical of these men, he rarely spoke of it. He finally opened up during our nightly visits during his final year, dying of pancreatic cancer at age 77.

Julius Blum was a true patriot, pro-America all-the-way. I only knew him as strong and brave, but a letter we found after he died revealed the fear he masked as he was going off to war. In the letter, he confided to his sister Sophia the trepidation and home-sickness he felt as he was about to be shipped off overseas. I never saw that side of him. That was a powerful revelation.

As patriotic as my dad was, he didn’t want to see my brother Irwin or me shipped off to Vietnam. That was a different kind of war. When President Johnson called for a surge in troops, every young man (including Irwin and me) received a draft number. The higher the number, the better the odds for avoiding the draft.

I remember it like yesterday—December 1, 1969, the day draft numbers were chosen by lottery. A large glass vessel held 366 blue capsules, each containing a birth date from January 1 through December 31 (including one for February 29). We were all glued to the television to discover, day by day, the number corresponding to our birthday. Irwin (who was three years older) got a high draft number—big relief! I wasn’t so lucky—the number corresponding to August 8 was low.

This quote summed up my feelings: “The draft deepened the rift that already existed in our country; the divide, expressed in bumper stickers. America, Love It or Leave It was one; Hell No, We Won’t Go was another. I loved America, but I didn’t want to end up in a body bag. I didn’t want to leave the country, either, dodging the draft by fleeing to Canada. And I had no interest in burning things, whether it was the flag or my draft card.” Those are the eloquent words of Byron Gossett in his outstanding book, Expand the Frame.

My father, the patriot, shared my feelings. We sweated out the next few years until it was my time to be drafted, and then at the eleventh hour came the announcement that the draft was ending, just as they got to my turn. Once again, big relief!

 The country survived the turbulence of Vietnam—And now, here we are again in turbulent political times. As we wrestle with political discord, I’ll share one more lesson from my dad. We can disagree, but let’s do so civilly. Harvard professor Arthur Brooks disclosed in a speech I attended that one in six families don’t talk to each other because of politics. That was April 27, 2023. It’s likely worse today. My father would never allow political views to tear apart a family. He was a role model for civility.

 I’ll close with a simple illustration from my early memories. My dad was politically conservative. On the other hand, I was a youthful liberal, largely influenced by our staunch Democrat housekeeper, Nelsie, whom I adored. I vocally supported JFK to my Nixon-voting dad. It got more potent in the next election. I made a poster promoting LBJ and proudly displayed it in our front yard. To my dismay, my dad supported Goldwater. But whether it was JFK vs. Tricky Dick or LBJ vs. Au-H2O, it never affected our relationship and love for each other. And he never asked me to remove that poster from our yard!

In my quest to help families stay connected and build a meaningful family legacy, may the lessons of Julius Blum inspire us. Inevitably, we will disagree, mightily at times. But let’s discover and celebrate our commonalities, fighting the temptation to let discord tear us apart. It’s not worth it.

Marvin Blum’s father Julius Blum as a young soldier, a role model for patriotism and civility. May we learn from his example.

Julius Blum, a Role Model from “The Greatest Generation” Read More »

Welcome Attorney Kaitlin Goddard

We’re proud to announce that Kaitlin Goddard has joined The Blum Firm as an Associate Attorney in our Fort Worth office!

Kaitlin is a North Texas native who earned her Juris Doctor at the University of Houston Law Center in 2016 and has been practicing probate law for the past seven years. Before joining The Blum Firm, she served as in-house probate counsel for a medical malpractice plaintiff’s firm.

Throughout her career, Kaitlin has handled hundreds of estate administrations across Texas and takes great pride in guiding families during their most difficult times. She also spent several years serving as a certified Court-Appointed Attorney Ad-Litem on probate and guardianship matters to serve both the courts and the people of her community.

Please join us in welcoming Kaitlin Goddard to The Blum Firm team!

Welcome Attorney Kaitlin Goddard Read More »

What Kamala Didn’t Say

At last week’s Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris delivered a stirring “New Way Forward.” Here’s what Kamala didn’t reveal: How do we pay for it? However, her campaign has quietly endorsed legislation to raise taxes, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Bill to pay for the proposed housing program.

Click on this link for a recap of the key provisions of this legislation. But without diving into specifics, let’s focus on the benefits of “squeeze & freeze” planning using tools this new law would eliminate. Squeeze planning involves transferring assets to a Family Limited Partnership (“FLP”) and achieving a valuation discount. Freeze planning involves transferring your discounted FLP interests to certain trusts to remove the assets from your estate. Through proper squeeze & freeze planning, you can save estate tax and also protect assets from creditors, but retain control, access, and flexibility.

 Squeeze & freeze planning can generate millions of dollars of tax savings. In one recent case, The Blum Firm actually saved a family over one billion dollars, which the IRS approved on audit of the estate tax return. If Harris gets her way, squeeze & freeze, along with other tax saving tools, will soon go away.

 If you start planning soon, there’s still time to lock in the benefits. Similar legislation came within two votes of becoming law in 2021. Here’s an important takeaway from the lessons of 2021: if you completed your planning before the law change, you’d be grandfathered. In a new administration, law changes can happen fast. It takes time to do this planning, so it’s wise to get an early start.

 Most of our clients are investors who are aiming to grow a portfolio. The goal is to maximize returns, but with the least possible risk (a concept known as “investment alpha”). In his July 2015 article “The Only Form of Pure Alpha,” Steven Lockshin defines pure alpha as “an increase in net results with zero increase in portfolio risk.” Per Lockshin, the only form of pure alpha is tax planning: “tax management can have a far greater effect on a wealthy family’s overall wealth” than investment returns. In particular, “‘estate tax alpha’ will almost undoubtedly dwarf long-term market gains.”

Lockshin illustrates with two hypotheticals, each investing a $10 million portfolio. Advisor A takes more risk and yields an 8% return, growing $10 million to $217 million over 40 years. Advisor A fails to do tax planning, resulting in an $82 million estate tax, netting the next-gen $135 million. Advisor B invests more conservatively, yields a lower return, but transfers assets in a discounted manner to a generation-skipping trust at inception. The outcome? Advisor B beats Advisor A by $80 million. It doesn’t have to be either/or—do both! Aim for higher returns and do tax planning.

Michael Sonnenfeldt, founder of TIGER 21, once commented at a speech I gave: “Return on investment is a rounding error compared to estate tax planning.” Similarly, my TIGER 21 chair Jack Mueller remarked: “Good estate planning trumps investment return any day.”

Per Lockshin, don’t count on your investment advisor or the media to tell you about tax alpha. It doesn’t generate commissions, and “the idea of beating the market is sexier.” Lockshin concludes that wealth “is only valuable to the extent that you can keep it in your family’s hands and out of Uncle Sam’s…. With no increase in risk, but significant increase in net results to your family, tax planning is the only form of pure alpha.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. And given today’s political climate, I submit that the need to do tax planning is urgent. It may soon be too late.

At last week’s Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris unveiled her “New Way Forward.” What she didn’t reveal is how to pay for it, but we know—the tax man is coming!

What Kamala Didn’t Say Read More »

Best Companies to Work For in Fort Worth 2024 Award

Marvin Blum pays tribute to The Blum Firm team for receiving the Best Companies to Work For in Fort Worth 2024 Award.

I want to attribute this post to my wonderful work “family,” a term I use very sincerely. As the adage goes, “It takes a village,” and that cannot be more true. The Blum Firm was recently recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work For in Fort Worth 2024, and to say I am overwhelmed with gratitude is an understatement. Upon receiving the news, I couldn’t help but reflect on our phenomenal team and the path that got us where we are today.

 To paint a picture of how richly blessed I am, I will start from the beginning, when I was at my first lawyer job in the Big Law world. It was not a happy fit for me, so when I left to form The Blum Firm, I made a vow to create a caring environment where people would be surrounded by coworkers who support each other and care about each other. And that is precisely what happened. 

When I’m asked about my greatest professional accomplishment, the answer is easy: it’s the team I’ve assembled. We share a commitment to our clients and each other, and we strive for excellence in everything we do. No one here is flying solo. We know we can rely on the strengths of everyone in the firm to always be there to help, making each of us a better professional and a happier worker. When I left the big law firm, my father-in-law wisely said, “Don’t be mad at them. Send them a thank-you note.” And was Abe Kriger right! Every day, I send a mental thank-you note that I get to spend my work hours with a wonderful work family.

I am reminded of a quote from Albert Einstein, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” Our team of attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, and all the other members of our support team are successful because they focus on providing meaningful work and repeatedly go above and beyond to help us achieve our mission:

  • Caring for our clients and each other;
  • Collaborating with other advisors and among ourselves;
  • Creating a community of character and talent.

Each takes pride in bringing their best to work every day. And there’s no ego—we just want the best solutions for our clients.

 Receiving the Best Companies to Work For in Fort Worth 2024 Award is a true reflection of our team and their hard work and dedication. As I said above, “It takes a village,” and boy, am I so thankful for my village!

Marvin proudly holds the award plaque, showcasing his immense gratitude for his team achieving such an honor.

Best Companies to Work For in Fort Worth 2024 Award Read More »

Happy “Sobriety” Birthday to My Daughter

Last week’s post was about my 70th birthday, which I celebrated joyfully a few days ago, and I now embark on my eighth decade with renewed energy. In today’s post, I want to share another birthday we celebrated this month in our family. With my daughter Lizzy’s permission (indeed, her encouragement), I am grateful to rejoice in Lizzy’s 3rd “sobriety” birthday. As I’ve revealed in the past, Lizzy is waging a very successful but hard-fought battle against alcoholism. August 1, 2024, marks the completion of 3 years being sober.

Lizzy encourages me to tell her story with the hope it will help others who are battling addiction. I am proud of her willingness to be open and transparent about her struggle with alcohol dependency. So many are suffering in silence. Lizzy is a champion for saying you don’t have to live like that. She acknowledges that it’s a tough road, but there is help out there. Don’t try to fight this disease alone. Find a program that works for you, like Lizzy is doing.

Thanks to her program, Lizzy enjoys a very purpose-driven and meaningful life. In addition, her whole family benefits from her ability to be fully present and engaged with them. In fact, Lizzy, Ira, and their 3 kids just completed a three-week trip to Israel, where they brought comfort to families who are suffering from losses and injuries due to the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.  Their 3 kids are actively involved as well, providing love to these victims and to families of those still held hostage for 312 days now. Lizzy’s full-time mission is to fight antisemitism and support Israel through her social media platform, LizzySavetsky- work that wouldn’t be possible were it not for Lizzy’s sobriety. Laurie and I are very grateful and proud parents.

I learned this week that in some programs, a person with a sobriety birthday randomly selects a card that depicts a value to embrace for the coming year. The value one such person selected was the word “joy.” That person’s goal for the coming year is to experience joy.

 That story brings to mind something that I experienced that I’d like to share. In one of my TIGER 21 meetings, we engaged in a “values exercise.” We were each presented with cards containing 56 values and directed to sort them into 3 stacks revealing how they apply to us: (1) always, (2) sometimes, (3) never. We then narrowed the “always” stack down to 10 and prioritized them, building a pyramid with our number one on top, followed by the next two, then the next three, then the next four. We assigned numerical weights and reported each of our results to the group. The group then constructed a group pyramid with the group’s top 10. It was fascinating to compare my individual pyramid to the group pyramid. 

Here was my main takeaway: One of the group’s top 5 values was “joy.” The word “joy” was nowhere on my values pyramid. It never dawned on me that seeking joy was an appropriate goal. As a person who is (obsessively) productive, I never allowed myself to prioritize joy. Seeing how highly it ranked with the rest of my TIGER 21 group was a big wake-up call for me.

A values exercise like this is a very meaningful activity for a family meeting. As I continue to promote family legacy planning, the cornerstone of that process is the family meeting. I commend to you to bring your family together and engage in meaningful conversation and learning, and in doing so, reveal the values that your family holds in common. It’s a great unifying activity—what I often call “family glue.”

So, as I embark on my eighth decade, I am choosing the word “joy” as my new word of the year. It won’t replace my other values, but as I celebrate this 70th birthday, it’s time to smell the roses.

I do have some dissonance advocating the idea of “joy” during these very disturbing times, as my people are targets for unimaginable hate and terrorism. However, rabbis teach that G-d wants us to continue to celebrate life, even in the midst of our suffering. My heart is heavy, but I can still feel abundant gratitude, and yes—even “joy”—for all the blessings in my life.

Marvin Blum’s daughter Lizzy Savetsky (pictured here with her 3 kids) celebrated three years of sobriety, a golden gift to her and her loved ones.

Marvin expresses his immeasurable love for his daughter Lizzy.

Happy “Sobriety” Birthday to My Daughter Read More »

On Turning 70

I turn 70 on August 8th. I used to think 70 was old—I don’t anymore. I don’t feel 70, maybe more like 50. But when I look in the mirror, it says 70.

Every birthday is a time for introspection and reflection, but especially those decade birthdays. As I engage in this self-assessment, questions abound about past, present, and future Marvin. How have past highs and lows shaped me? Where am I now in my life journey? Where am I going in (G-d willing) the days that lie ahead?

Some of my introspection is colored by a thought-provoking article by Anne Lamott, “It’s not so terribly strange to be 70” (The Washington Post, April 10, 2024). “Today, when I woke up, I was 70. Seventy! I think that I am only 57, but the paperwork does not back this up… When younger people ask me when I graduated from high school and I say 1971 [1972 in my case], there’s a moment’s pause, as if this is inconceivable and I might as well have said 20 B.C. That’s when I feel my age. But… I would not go back even one year.”

I have shared that the Blum Family Mission Statement focuses on Relationships, Productive Work, Spirituality, and Memorable Moments. I’ll use that framework to organize my reflections.

  • Relationships- My gratitude for the supportive and loving communities in my life is off-the-charts. I am richly blessed by my connection with family, friends, and faith. I can handle whatever adversity life throws my way because I’m not flying solo.
  • Productive Work- I am grateful to wake up each day with purpose. I’ve shared repeatedly my desire to keep working. Retirement isn’t in my vocabulary, as long as my mind and body cooperate.
  • Spirituality- It brings me great comfort to know I’m a link in a long, unbroken chain of family who cling tightly to our faith. But aside from religion, I feel powerful spirituality from walks in nature, cuddling with my six precious grandkids, and painting pictures. Whether at the easel or not, I am always painting in my mind.
  • Memorable Moments- Speaking of painting, Lamott writes of the beauty of shadows. “Shadows show us how life can gleam in contrast.” That’s true in all my paintings, but it’s also true in life experiences. The sweet moments are all the sweeter because they stand in contrast to the turbulent ones that taught me resilience, gratitude, and shaped me into the man I am today. So, as I reflect on births, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and graduations, I also recall life’s tornadoes (like the literal one that destroyed my law office in 2000 and the figurative ones like the deaths of loved ones). 

We are living in turbulent times. The attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has impacted me forever, especially as we witness the extreme rise in antisemitism that it fostered. I am heartbroken but defiant. I lived through the turmoil of Vietnam and Watergate, and we survived. Today’s turbulence is worse for me, but once again, I have faith that we will survive it— we must.

As I start to wrap up, I’ll concur with some more of Anne Lamott’s age 70 wisdom.

  • “I know how little I know.” Boy, as I age, I realize that more and more!
  • “I know everything is in flux…so I don’t sweat feeling a little disoriented some days.”
  • “I know that people and pets I adore will keep dying…I know the cycle is life, death, new life.”
  • “Age is just a number when you still know how to shine.”

Looking back on my own 70 years, my main regret is all the times I worried about things that ended up never occurring—so much time wasted. The things that did happen hadn’t occurred to me, but we always managed to get through them. Going forward, my goal is to worry less. Laurie, my ultra-wise wife of 45 years (and truly the rock in our family), always lifts me up with these words: “If it happens, we’ll figure it out.” 

I’ll close with words from a poem, “The Valuable Time of Maturity,” sent to me by my law school “Canoe Brother,” Bill Parrish:

               I feel like the boy that got a bowl of cherries —

               At first, he gobbed them,

               But when he realized there were only a few left,

               He began to taste them intensely…

               I do not intend to waste any of the remaining cherries.

As Marvin Blum turns 70 this week, it’s a time for serious introspection and reflection.

On Turning 70 Read More »

August is “National Make-a-Will Month”—But You Need More! 

As last week’s post highlights, a Will is only one component of an estate plan. A proper estate plan also manages your affairs during incapacity, protects assets from creditors and divorce, provides business succession planning, and creates a lasting family legacy. Although August is “National Make-a-Will Month,” I urge all to broaden their thinking beyond just having a Will.

Of course, I don’t mean to minimize the importance of having a Will. Indeed, the statistics may shock you. More than half of Americans die without a Will. News stories abound of celebrities like Prince who died intestate, sparking years of legal battles among heirs (or those claiming to be an heir). Research shows that 73% of those who die in Texas each year die without a Will.

A Will not only addresses who inherits your assets, but it also designates an Executor to oversee the process. In Texas, if you use the term “Independent Executor,” the Executor can act free from court control, greatly simplifying the probate process.

A Will can also designate who will serve as guardian of your minor children, arguably the most important provision of an estate plan. It’s also an opportunity to make bequests to loved ones and charitable causes dear to you.

But don’t stop with just a Will. For many, the greater portion of their estate consists of retirement plans, life insurance, and assets in “pay-on-death” or “survivorship” accounts. In just 12 years since 2010, assets in workplace retirement accounts ballooned from $2.8 trillion to $6.8 trillion. These assets don’t pass under a Will. They pass according to a Beneficiary Designation. You can have a perfect Will, but if your Beneficiary Designations are out-of-date, your plans are thwarted.

Every year, we are privy to horror stories of outdated beneficiary designations. Here’s one reported by Ashlea Ebeling, “His Ex is Getting His $1 Million Retirement Account. They Broke Up in 1989.” (Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2024).

Ebeling tells the story of Jeffrey Rolison who dated Margaret Sjostedt in their early 20’s, but soon broke up. While dating Margaret, Jeffrey named her when filling out the beneficiary card for his Procter & Gamble retirement plan. Now almost 40 years later, Jeffrey’s $1.15 million retirement goes to his long-ago ex-girlfriend. Jeffrey’s only other assets are a $66,000 home, some used cars, and two cats.

Jeffrey’s two surviving brothers went to court arguing “it wasn’t fair.” Too bad, says the court. “The form is the form.” Ebeling warns: “The battle over Rolison’s money is a stark reminder that the beneficiary forms on retirement accounts, life-insurance policies, and bank accounts matter. In most cases, they trump the Will even if they were filled out decades prior.”

So as August approaches with its focus on making a Will, be sure all the other aspects of your estate plan are current—especially your beneficiary designation forms!

Photo: Jeffrey Rolison’s outdated beneficiary designation form leaves his $1.15 million retirement to a “cohabitor” Margaret who broke up with him 35 years ago. Lucky Margaret!

August is “National Make-a-Will Month”—But You Need More!  Read More »

On a Scale of 1-10, How’s Your Estate Plan?

I once conducted a workshop on estate planning, and at the end, the moderator asked each attendee, “On a scale of 1-10, how’s your estate plan?” I had just explained that there’s so much more to an estate plan than just having a Will. As described below, a Will is just one component. As the room of participants gave honest answers (most of whom answered a 5 or below), it was my turn to answer. The room expected me to say “10.” When I answered “7,” the shock was palpable.

Why did I grade my estate plan a 7? I had a good Will and basic estate planning documents. But I had been listening to my own words that day and realized I had fallen short on some of the more sophisticated aspects of an estate plan.

My true confession was a harsh wake-up call for me. It was time for this cobbler to fly home and take care of my own shoes. And that’s what I did. I could then proudly answer, “My estate plan is a 10!”

However, I realize that over time, I’ve slipped back to an 8 or 9. The thing about estate planning is that you can never put it away and think “I’m all set.” Things change over time: your family, your assets, the law. To remain a “10,” an estate plan has to be regularly reviewed and updated.

For years, our rule of thumb at The Blum Firm has been to review your estate plan every four years, or sooner if changes necessitate. We conveniently tie it to presidential election years, as that’s an easy reminder. Well, here we are in just such a year. November is just around the corner.

If you need more persuasion, August happens to be “National Make-A-Will Month.” As August is now only days away, I hope that’s extra motivation to not only have a Will, but to update your overall estate plan.

To elaborate on my above assertion that an estate plan is more than a Will, here’s a slide from my workshop:

After conducting a workshop on estate planning, Marvin Blum shockingly graded his own plan a “7 out of 10.” Within weeks, Blum brought it up to a 10.

On a Scale of 1-10, How’s Your Estate Plan? Read More »

Nine Blum Firm Attorneys Recognized in 360West Magazine’s “Top Attorneys 2024” List

We are thrilled to announce that NINE of our attorneys were included in the list of 523 “Top Attorneys 2024” in 360West Magazine!

This is a nominated-based project in which fellow attorneys vote for their peers who exemplify excellence, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be well represented in the field. 

Congratulations to all of our 360West Magazine Top Attorneys for 2024!

Nine Blum Firm Attorneys Recognized in 360West Magazine’s “Top Attorneys 2024” List Read More »

I’m a Graduate of Blum’s Café School of Hard Knocks

My son Adam is a voracious reader. He regularly feeds me fascinating stories that inspire many of my weekly blog posts. Such is the case today with Beth DeCarbo’s family business piece “My Mom and Dad Owned Competing Side-by-Side Hardware Stores. It Was a Lesson in Life,” (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2024). It’s a fascinating account of a daughter growing up working in her family’s hardware stores.

Upon first reading it, I didn’t grasp its application to me. Then, it hit me. I also learned “lessons in life” growing up working at Blum’s Café. It was far from glamorous, but it instilled in me a work ethic that serves me well to this day.

My father, Julius Blum, had a hard-knocks upbringing, raised behind his family’s small neighborhood grocery store in an impoverished area of Fort Worth. He was the son of immigrant parents who barely escaped Hitler. Though living in America, they were never “Americanized,” speaking only Yiddish and associating only with other similar immigrant families. Miraculously, my dad (with the help of his older brother Sol) rose from that world and became the first college-educated member of the family. Though my brother and I were Longhorns, we respected our dad’s affection for Texas A&M. He was a proud Aggie with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

As a newlywed with my mom Elsie, Julius put his degree to use working for Almar-York Air Conditioning. That didn’t last long. As seems to be in our DNA, my dad wanted to be his own boss. Julius used to say he’d rather own a lemonade stand than work for someone else. He took it one notch up and instead opened Blum’s Café, an industrial restaurant in Fort Worth’s meat packing district.

Julius awoke every day at 4:15 a.m. in order to open for business at 5:00. You have to start early to fire up the oven and griddle and get the coffee going. Any day we weren’t in school, my brother and I were right there with our mom and dad. That’s where we spent our summer and Christmas breaks. The days started early and ended late, loading the soda water cases before we could head home, tired and hot. There was no air conditioning.

Like DeCarbo’s article reports, I learned a lot of life lessons growing up in a family business. Here’s a sampling. 

  • My dad never complained. Though the work was hard, he was grateful we made a good living.
  • Julius treated every customer with the same dignity and respect. Upon buying the café, he terminated the prior practice of segregation where white customers ate in the front and black customers ate in the back. He brought everyone together. I noticed.
  • Though he worked hard seven days a week, my dad found time to volunteer at our synagogue, proudly serving as an officer as well as cooking all the synagogue dinners. His example taught me that you have to give back.
  • I learned to be self-reliant. Two of my dad’s favorite sayings were:

“If you take care of your business, it will take care of you.”

“The only helping hand you need is the one at the end of your arm.”

  • I interacted with all walks of life, gaining an openness and awareness different from all my friends who never engaged with folks like packing house workers. I learned to see the value in every person.

My upbringing at Blum’s Café has certainly influenced who I am today. It generated enormous gratitude I have for my law firm. It informs the second prong of the Blum Family Mission Statement: We embrace productive work, waking up each day to engage in meaningful activity. I am grateful this work ethic is equally embraced by my children Adam and Lizzy.

Along these lines, Laurie recently asked our handyman Don for a referral to a washing machine repairman. It was 7:30 a.m., and she asked Don, “Can I text him now, or do I need to wait?” Don’s reply was choice: “Text him now. Successful people are awake by now.”

To sum this up, my heritage of hard work gave me a unique connection to the comments by comedian Jerry Seinfeld in his recent commencement address at Duke. His number one piece of advice to the graduates was “Work hard.” Then he followed it up with words that resonated: “Bust your ass.” I can hear my dad saying that to me now. 

First photo: Marvin Blum grew up working at Blum’s Café, an industrial restaurant in the stockyards. It wasn’t glamorous, but it provided important lessons in life. Second photo: A young Julius Blum (Marvin Blum’s father) who set an example for a strong work ethic and a positive attitude.

I’m a Graduate of Blum’s Café School of Hard Knocks Read More »