2025 Field Guide to Estate Planning

Randy L. Zipse, J.D., AEP (Distinguished) has worked in the life insurance industry for the past 25 years where he has managed advanced sales departments for major life insurance carriers and independent distribution organizations. Randy is currently Advanced Sales Lead for MassMutual Strategic Distributors.

Mr. Zipse has written numerous articles on trust taxation, estate planning, and business succession planning which have appeared in the Journal of Financial Service Professionals, Broker World, Estate Planning, Life Insurance Selling, and ALM Think Advisor. He is the author of the Field Guide. He is also a co-author with Stephan R. Leimberg of Tools and Techniques of Charitable Planning and a member of the Tax Facts Editorial Advisory Board. Mr. Zipse is a frequent lecturer at industry meetings, including such major events as the AALU, Forum 400, Million Dollar Round Table, New York University Tax Institute, University of Miami Heckerling Tax Institute, Hawaii Tax Institute, and the Annual Harris M. Plaisted Conference.

Prior to entering the life insurance industry, he worked as an attorney in private practice. Mr. Zipse has been associated with several large firms, including Jones Day Reavis & Pogue and Gardere & Wynne – both in Dallas, Texas. As a private practice attorney, Mr. Zipse concentrated on estate planning, deferred compensation, business succession planning, and charitable planning. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Zipse worked as a CPA with Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

An honors graduate of the University of Northern Iowa (B.A. in accounting), Mr. Zipse subsequently received his J.D. from Drake University College of Law (Order of the Coif, class rank number one), and is a member of the Iowa, Texas and Missouri Bars.

AUTHOR EMERITUS

Donald F. Cady conceived and developed the Field Guide to Estate Planning, Business Planning & Employee Benefits in 1989 and updated it annually for twenty-five years, when Randy L. Zipse was named the successor author.

Mr. Cady continues as author of the Field Guide to Financial Planning, which is co-written with Michael Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, RHU, REBC, CASL.

Mr. Cady is an attorney and a Chartered Life Underwriter. He is a graduate of St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in Economics, where he received the Wall Street Journal Award for excellence in that subject. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law, holds the degree of LL.M. (Taxation) from Emory University School of Law, and is a member of the New York Bar.

He is an independent consultant working with ALM Think Advisor in providing support materials and services to the financial planning industry.

For twenty years Mr. Cady was with the Aetna Life Insurance & Annuity Company in various advanced underwriting positions. Prior to this, he was a member of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps, with tours of duty in both Vietnam and Europe. He and his wife live in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

Mr. Cady has been a frequent speaker on the subjects of estate planning, business planning, and employee benefits, before business and professional organizations, estate planning associations, life underwriter’s meetings and various civic groups. Through these appearances, together with his work with agents, their clients, and advisers, Mr. Cady has shared the frustrations of trying to effectively explain and communicate planning concepts and techniques to both student and laymen. The two Field Guide publications represent his response to that challenge.

Lina R. Storm, CLU, ChFC, MBA is currently Advanced Sales Marketing Director at MassMutual Strategic Distributors. She has an extensive background in marketing financial services, pioneering innovative marketing strategies, distilling technical content to package it into stories, and directing the development of planning software and digital tools in the financial planning space. Over the past 15 years she has led marketing teams to win multiple industry awards of marketing and digital excellence in finance.

As a subject matter expert, Lina has served as an industry thought leader, prolific industry columnist and blogger, frequent speaker, as well as a brand strategist, helping financial firms to position and differentiate expertise, translate their offline brands into online followings, and to drive business by simplifying complex financial concepts.

Lina is a CLU,® ChFC,® and received her B.A. from Trinity College in CT and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.