Jeff Motske advocates a special kind of date with your spouse – “a financial date night” – to discuss the family’s finances…
Jeff Motske advocates a special kind of date with your spouse – “a financial date night” – to discuss the family’s finances…

“We all must work together for the client, connecting and collaborating to help solve their problems.” – Jeff Motske
Robert Reiss: Let's roll back to 1999. Talk about your vision for Trilogy.
Jeff Motske: I created the model that we use at Trilogy Financial, which is the combination of tax, financial and estate planning. In my previous life I was in the retirement planning space, but I knew there was more out there. I was working with my clients, and I recognized they had needs that we didn't service. So, I built a little network to better serve those needs, specifically tax and estate planning. Then I realized that a more comprehensive solution needed to be created, and the only way to realize this vision was to start my own firm…and that was the very beginning of Trilogy Financial. The way I look at it, tax, estate and financial planning may be in different lanes, but they're all on the same highway heading toward our clients' final destination. We all must work together for the client, connecting and collaborating to help solve their problems.
...As a parent, it’s natural to want to help your children succeed. In fact, in our recent survey of parents, 37% of respondents said no investment goal is more important than saving for a child’s college education.
If you plan to pay for all of your child’s college expenses, you can expect to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for one year, according to the College Board’s 2017-2018 figures:
While it might feel good to give your child a head start in life, choosing to pay for their education might not be an easy choice for everyone.
“The decision to contribute to a child’s college education is a deeply nuanced and personal decision,” said Jeff Motske, a certified financial planner and the president of Trilogy Financial.
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