Vanilla Guides and Reports

Take a closer look at estate planning concepts with in-depth guides and reports
Vanilla
Oct 31, 2025

The Financial Advisor’s Guide to AI in Estate Planning

Learn the basics of AI-powered estate planning, a framework for evaluating tools and establishing a repeatable process, and how to standardize the estate planning experience across advisor teams and clients.

The financial advisor's guide to AI in estate planning landscape

Guides

Estate planning advisor playbook featuring financial strategies, frameworks, and client planning insights.

Vanilla

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Jan 06, 2026

Steve Lockshin’s Estate Planning Playbook

A step-by-step checklist to guide your client conversations. This playbook is inspired by the guide used by Vanilla founder Steve Lockshin and his advisory firm AdvicePeriod, based on Lockshin’s 30+ years of financial advice and estate planning for some of the most successful ultra-high net worth clients in the world.

Gift box illustration symbolizing estate planning benefits and wealth transfer opportunities.

Vanilla

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Oct 31, 2025

A Guide to Gifting (Charitable)

Making lifetime gifts is one of the most common, tried-and-true strategies to reduce estate tax liability. We’ll walk you through the major types of charitable gifts that you might want to consider, as this year draws to an end.

Gift box illustration symbolizing estate planning benefits and wealth transfer opportunities.

Vanilla

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Jul 11, 2025

A Guide to Gifting (Non-Charitable)

Making lifetime gifts is one of the most common, tried-and-true strategies to reduce estate tax liability. We’ll walk you through the major types of non-charitable gifts that you might want to consider, as this year draws to an end.

Estate planning trust strategies for wealth management and tax efficiency.

Vanilla

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May 05, 2025

Connected Financial and Estate Planning: Delivering Holistic Client Outcomes

Financial advisors are increasingly recognizing that comprehensive financial planning must include estate planning to truly serve clients’ long-term goals. Traditionally, financial planning (investments, retirement, tax, etc.) and estate planning (wills, trusts, legacy) operated in silos. However, this separation is no longer viable or competitive in today’s client-centric advisory landscape. In this whitepaper, we explore: Why integrating financial and estate planning is essential How leading platforms like eMoney Advisor and Vanilla enable a seamless, holistic planning experience when connected What benefits advisors and clients can expect from this integration. Industry statistics, real-world workflow examples, and forward-looking trends to help financial advisors...

Estate planning trust strategies for wealth transfer and tax optimization.

Vanilla

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Feb 26, 2025

A guide to trusts for estate planning

Trusts are an important component of financial and estate planning, but there are many types of trusts – each with unique pros and cons. This guide helps financial advisors and clients sort through the many different types of trusts to better understand what they might want to employ for their own estate strategies.

Holistic wealth management starts here

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