Retirement & Insurance Planning

Designed for Your Organization

Our Enterprise Solutions team works with you to build the right experience — whether that's a keynote address, a half-day workshop, a multi-session webinar series, or a fully integrated training program. Topics, format, session length, and depth of content are all customizable to align with your audience, your objectives, and your timeline.

Course Topics

Coordinating IRAs and Retirement Plans with Estate Plans
This program explores the common problem of having an IRA or other retirement plan as a significant asset of the client’s net worth and how to deal with the situation both during life and at death. The requirements, options, taxation, and penalties. The best decisions are made considering all the options being known. Help clients think through this complex area with some simple conversation models.

(The Premature Death of Life Insurance) – How to Position Life Insurance Effectively
The role of life insurance is often misunderstood by clients and often misrepresented by advisors. The role, real value, and transaction potential of this critical tool will be discussed, helping to bring to life the key issues defining when life insurance is an appropriate solution and when it is not.

Structuring and Managing ILITs Effectively
This program explores the complex issues in ILIT administration. We will examine administrative, tax, fiduciary, and investment issues. ILITs often do not link well with standard practices and compensation. This discussion will highlight common problem areas in administration to help streamline administration and turn a loss leader into a profit center.

Managing and Structuring ILITs
Whether the estate tax is an issue or not, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts are one of the most widely used estate planning devices. They are also often widely misunderstood, mismanaged, and ignored. Here we will highlight critical issues in the design, contribution, investment, and management of ILITs.

Who Should Enroll and Why

Trust Officers and Fiduciaries will gain a clearer understanding of the complexities involved in administering retirement assets and insurance trusts. This course will help you recognize tax and administrative issues, understand distribution requirements, and manage fiduciary responsibilities related to IRAs, retirement plans, and ILITs with greater confidence and consistency.

Financial Advisors and Wealth Managers will deepen their understanding of how retirement and insurance planning decisions affect estate outcomes, taxation, and beneficiary experience. This knowledge enables more effective client conversations, better coordination with estate planning attorneys and trustees, and improved ability to position retirement and insurance strategies within a comprehensive wealth plan.

Estate Planning and Insurance Professionals, including attorneys and specialists working with life insurance, will benefit from a structured review of retirement and insurance coordination issues. The course highlights common pitfalls, administrative challenges, and planning considerations that influence both plan design and long‑term execution.

Aspiring Trust and Wealth Professionals will find this program to be a strong foundation in the role retirement assets and insurance play in estate planning and administration. By building fluency in terminology, taxation concepts, and coordination strategies, participants will be better prepared for developing roles in fiduciary services, financial planning, or estate‑related professional practice.

Course Instructors

Daniel A. Smith, CFP®, CWS®

As a dedicated professional, Daniel Smith believes that everyone deserves sound advice and exceptional service. With his extensive real-world experience, Daniel brings a spirited approach to his instruction, helping advisors put their knowledge into immediate, practical use to better serve their clients. His expertise lies in sales and relationship management skills, which he seamlessly integrates with the complexities of estate planning, estate taxation, charitable giving, and investment management. By doing so, Daniel empowers advisors to effectively guide wealthy clients and their families in achieving their goals.

Before joining Cannon, Daniel spent years as a client-facing advisor in the Wealth Management and Trust business. His 25 years of experience with Cannon have further enriched his knowledge, as he constantly interacts with top financial advisors and wealthy individuals across the globe, incorporating best practices into his teachings.

A sought-after speaker, Daniel frequently presents at financial services firms and conferences worldwide, covering topics such as sales, exceptional service, estate planning, taxation, and industry trends. His insights have been featured in numerous publications, including Trusts & Estates and Registered Rep magazines. As the leader of Cannon Trust School, the largest trust school in the country, Daniel continues to make a significant impact on the industry. His consulting work spans distance-based learning solutions, private family wealth consultation, and expert witness services.

Meagan MacBean, J.D.

Meagan MacBean is a dedicated professional who believes that exceptional service is rooted in a deep understanding of the complexities of estate and trust law. As the founder of The MacBean Law Firm, LLC, she brings extensive experience as both a practicing attorney and a former Trust Officer to her work. Meagan provides a spirited, real-world approach to her instruction, helping advisors translate technical knowledge into immediate, practical solutions for their clients. Her expertise seamlessly integrates the nuances of estate planning, asset protection, and planning for incapacity with the operational realities of trust and estate administration.

Before establishing her own firm, Meagan spent years advising high-net-worth clients on wealth transfer strategies and fiduciary responsibilities. Her professional background is further enriched by her academic contributions; she serves as a Lecturer at Mississippi State University, where she teaches Real Estate Law, International Business Law, and Entrepreneur Law. This dual perspective, balancing private practice with academic instruction, allows her to empower advisors to effectively guide wealthy families in achieving their long-term goals.

A highly credentialed expert, Meagan is an honors graduate of Cannon Financial Institute Trust School and holds a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law. Her insights have been featured in publications such as SC Lawyer Magazine, and she is a recognized leader in the field, having been selected for the Mississippi Bar Association’s Leadership Forum and Portico Jackson Magazine’s "Portico 15". Through her work as a guest instructor and her specialized practice in fiduciary litigation and tax preparation, Meagan continues to make a significant impact on the industry.