University of Missouri - St. Louis
College of Business Administration
FIN 3564 Estate and Trust Planning
Spring 2024 Gary L. Flotron, MBA, CLU®, ChFC®, AEP®
Tuesday & Thursday Office: 504 Tower (Will be Moved Sometime This
Semester to Another Unknown Office)
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday,
106 ABH 2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. and By Appointment
Also, Feel Free to Contact me Anytime for a
Call Time or Zoom Session
Phone: (314) 308-9428
PREREQUISITES: ?.
REQUIRED COURSE
MATERIAL: Dalton, Michael A. And Thomas P. Langdon, Estate
Planning for Financial Planners, 13th Edition, Money
Education, St. Rose, LA, 2022.
The above textbook in hard copy only is available (or
should be available) from the UMSL bookstore.
Alternatively, you can purchase the book directly in either a
hard copy or electronic format from the publisher Money
Education at www.money-education.com or 888-295-6023.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: 1. To past the examinations.
2. To learn and understand the basics of estate and
trust planning.
3. To understand the need for estate planning and the
role of estate planning in financial, business and
benefits planning.
4. To provide practical information
5. To explore possible careers within the estate
planning team disciplines - accounting, law, trust,
financial planning and life insurance.
6. To make this a positive learning experience.
GRADING POLICY: At this time, Tuesday, January 16, 2024, I intend to have
three examinations including a final examination. A short
paper will be required. Participation and attendance in
the class will also be a factor in the final grade.
ACADEMIC HONESTY: It is the policy of the instructor to treat every student with
respect, courtesy and as an adult, and to assume honesty
with each student. However, plagiarism of any kind, or
being caught cheating on an exam in any manner, including
whispering answers, texting or receiving text answers, or
transferring written answers, will result in an automatic
grade of F and failure of the course. Remember, while we
may do the end of chapter questions as a sub-group or
group, the exams are an individual effort, not a group
effort.
ATTENTION IN CLASS: Part of being a student is to pay attention in class and not
be engaged in other activities. Please do not use your
computer, or smart phone, to search the web, read
emails, or any other purpose. (Exception if you have
purchased the electronic version of the textbook.) Please
place your cell phone on vibrate or silent mode, or
better yet completely turn it off. Students caught
looking at their cell phones or computer during class
will be counted as absent for that class.
ARRIVINNG ON TIME: In your professional careers you will find that arriving on
time is very important. It is no different for this class. Yes,
I understand that traffic and weather conditions may make
it difficult sometimes to get to class on time. However,
there is no excuse for habitually being late to class. Will
tell the story about Benito Musssolini and how he got the
trains to arrive in Italy on time in class sometime.
CREDIT TOWARDS You may be able to transfer credit for this course towards
FUTURE the required fundamental estate and gift planning course
PROFESSIONAL (HS 330) for the CLU®, ChFC® and CFP® professional
DESIGNATIONS designations through The American College of Financial
Services of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
FORMAT OF CLASS: This is the 48th Estate and Trust Planning Class I have
taught in the undergraduate degree program at UMSL, plus
about another six or seven courses of the same subject in
the UMSL CFP® Exam Preparation Certificate Program.
The class sessions will be lectures on the chapters followed
by multiple choice questions for the end of each chapter in
which students—divided into two teams—will work as a
group on the question and provide an answer. The
instructor will then analyze the questions and give the
correct answer. These questions will be similar to the exam
questions and questions on the CFP® Board of Standards
Comprehensive Examination.
By the way, in the class sessions there will be a lot of
interaction. This makes the class more interesting and fun.
I will try to get to know you by your first name and some
things about you in about two weeks. That is why I ask you
to fill out a Student Information Sheet, which is a required
document for the course and if not submitted will result in a
delayed grade. I will make you role play. In fact, I am
known to “marry” students off and have other students play
as their kids.
The exams will be online with a window of days for you to
take the exam. Reasonable time will be allotted so you
should have sufficient time to complete the exam.
However, that is not an invitation for you to look up the
answer in the book or call a friend or try to do the exam in
a group effort. I am exploring the use of some kind of exam
Proctoring Software or having you take the exam at the
UMSL Testing Center.
The textbook is required and you must read the
material assigned in the textbook. I cannot stress this
enough! Exams are based on the textbook and the
questions used are from test banks provided by the
publisher. These are not easy exams. They are in the
format and difficulty of exam questions on the CFP®
Comprehensive Exam, and are like the exam questions
used in securities licenses such as Series 7 and insurance
licenses.
You are expected to read the chapters in the textbook
when scheduled and come prepared for class. If at my
discretion I feel too many students are not reading the
textbook, then I reserved the right to give and grade a
surprise quiz or quizzes.
The Course Outline is a goal and is not an absolute cast
in stone schedule. I rather cover a topic in depth so that
you understand it as opposed to rushing through to cover all
the material. Therefore, this schedule may be amended. If
we get behind there may be extra Zoom or recorded
sessions to catch up. Please, please be flexible.
As mentioned above a paper will be required and
information about the paper is provided in separate
material.
The plan is to have two guest lectures. Will explain more
about the guest lectures doing the first-class session but
both have been highlights of the class for a decade.
Please feel free to communicate with me at any time. My
cell number is 314-308-9428. Please feel free to call,
although, please not pass 10:00 p.m. Leave me a voice
message with your name and number and the best time to
call. I will not answer the phone to unknown numbers. But
once I have your name and number, I will put you in my
contacts so I can directly answer the call. We can also set
up Zoom meetings if you like. And, of course, there is also
email. I don't bite, so do not hesitate to call me.
View me as a resource you can use. Have over 40 years as
a professional practitioner in the estate planning profession,
even though I am only 39. Well, at least I feel and try to
act like I am somewhere between 39 and 50.
So, let's have fun with this class! Want to make this an
enjoyable semester!
So, welcome to the class and thank you for taking the
course!
ESTATE AND TRUST PLANNING - FIN 3564
TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE
2024 SPRING
JANUARY 16, 2024
Class Session Topic Reading Assignment
Jan 16, 2024 Introduction None
Jan 18, 2024 Introduction to Estate Planning Ch 1
Jan 23, 2024 Basic Estate Planning Documents Ch 2
Jan 25, 2024 Basic Estate Planning Documents (Cont.) Ch 2
Jan 30, 2024 Basic Estate Planning Documents (Cont.) Ch 2
Feb 1, 2024 Types of Property Interests Ch 3
Feb 6, 2024 Types of Property Interests (Continued) Ch 3
Feb 8, 2024 The Probate Process Ch 4
Feb 13, 2024 The Probate Process (Continued) Ch 4
Feb 15, 2024 Gift Tax Ch 5
Feb 20, 2024 Gift Tax (Continued) Ch 5
Feb 22, 2024 Gift Tax (Continued) Ch 5
Feb 27, 2024 Estate Tax Ch 6
Feb 29, 2024 Estate Tax (Continued) Ch 6
Mar 5, 2024 Estate Tax (Continued) Ch 6
Mar 7, 2024 Transfers During Life & At Death Ch 7
ESTATE AND TRUST PLANNING - FIN 3564
TENATIVE COURSE OUTLINE (CONTINUED)
2024 SPRING
JANUARY 16, 2024
Class Session Topic Reading Assignment
Mar 8-Mar 11,
2024 Exam 1 Online Window – Chapters 1 - 5 Study
Mar 12, 2024 Transfers During Life & At Death (Cont.) Ch 7
Mar 14, 2024 Trusts Ch 8
Mar 19, 2024 Trusts (Continued) Ch 8
Mar 21, 2024 Charitable Giving Ch 9
Mar 26, 2024 Spring Break Enjoy
Mar 28, 2024 Spring Break Enjoy
Apr 2, 2024 Charitable Giving (Continued) Ch 9
Apr 4, 2024 The Unlimited Marital Deduction Ch 10
Apr 9, 2024 The Unlimited Marital Deduction (Cont.) Ch 10
Apr 11, 2024 Generation-Skipping Transfers Ch 13
Apr 12-Apr 15,
2024 Exam 2 Online Window Chapters 6 – 10 Study
Apr 16, 2024 Mr. Jeffrey Cowley, J.D., AEP®, CEPA® Guest Lecturer
Apr 18, 2024 Mr. James “Jim” Reid, M.Arch., MBA Guest Lecturer
Estate Planning Paper Due
ESTATE AND TRUST PLANNING - FIN 3564
TENATIVE COURSE OUTLINE (CONTINUED)
2024 SPRING
JANUARY 16, 2024
Class Session Topic Reading Assignment
Apr 23, 2024 Generation-Skipping Transfers (Cont.) Ch 13
Apr 23, 2024 Special Elections & Post Mortem Planning Ch 12
Apr 25, 2024 Special Elections & Post Mortem Planning Ch 12
(Cont.)
Apr 30, 2024 Life Insurance In Estate Planning Ch 11
May 2, 2024 Review & Sample Final Exam Study
May 4-May 8, Final Exam Online Window – Study
2024 Chapters 1-14 Good Luck
FIN 3564 Estate and Trust Planning
Estate Planning Paper
2024 Spring
This assignment was started in the 2005 Spring semester estate planning class and seems
to be highly appreciated by all of the classes. In fact, many students have told me that
this assignment is quite rewarding and gives relativeness, realism, and appreciation of the
subject of estate and trust planning. There is also considerable flexibility in the
assignment.
As in past classes the paper will be due near the end of the course. This is done in order
for you to gain the advantages and understanding that you will gain from reading and
studying the first several chapters of the textbook and be able to relate and appreciate this
this material in this very important assignment. Thus, the paper will be due on April
18, 2023.
The assignment is to interview from one to three people about what are their estate
plans, or as you will find from some, their lack of estate plans and their reasons for not
doing any estate planning. However, a vast number of people do not fully understand
what estate planning is and, therefore, will not always initially relate to questions
concerning their estate plans. In this case, you will have to explain to your interviewees
what estate planning is and why it is so important. Thus, you will be playing an
advocate role.
Estate planning is an enigma and can have sinister connotations that have been
perpetuated by fiction through books, television shows and movies. Thus, there are a
tremendous number of myths and misunderstandings about estate planning. While some
interviewees will not relate to the term estate planning, almost everyone understands
what a will is and can relate to the questions whether or not they have a will. So, in
approaching some interviewees it may be best to start off with questions like: “Tell me
about the legacy you would like to leave when you pass away?” (Note: legacy may
involve goals for family, charities, or community). “Do you have a will?” If so, “Tell me
about the will and what you want it to accomplish?” If not, “Why not and any plans to
make a will in the future?” Another approach you may wish to try would be to ask, “If
God forbid, something would happen to you today, what plans have you made for your
family?”
.
However, as you will learn in this course, the will is just a part of estate planning and
there are other important estate planning documents such as a durable power of
attorney (for both property and healthcare), living will (advanced medical
directive), and revocable living trusts. Please probe and explore these documents
with your interviewees as well. Irrevocable trusts are also used most commonly for
either asset protection purposes or for ultra-high net worth individuals and families that
are actually subject to estate taxation. Many business owners have also executed buy-sell
agreements. Here again, you may have to play an advocacy role. However, if a good
discussion is started many interviewees may tell you about these documents in their
description of their estate plans.
Do not assume that your interviewees know or understand the exact name or nature
of the estate planning documents that they have had prepared for them.
Interviewees quite often get mixed up as to which document is which document and what
the various documents do (just like students). This means you may have to gently probe
in your interview the interviewee’s understanding of the document they have. Here again
you may have to play an advocacy or education role.
The assignment, obviously, entails asking questions and skillfully probing for
information. This is a skill required of all good financial and estate planners. Most
importantly, we are interested in what are the interviewee’s goals and objectives;
what are they trying to accomplish and has their planning, so far, accomplished
their objectives?
So, here are the parameters for completing the assignment:
• The paper must be typed and sent as a Microsoft Word document attached to an
email sent to [email protected] or [email protected]. I have no objection if, in
addition, you also turn in a hard copy. In fact, I would appreciate it, but I
definitely want an electronic copy. Please do not try to send via Google docs or
a shared document.
• Unlike written communication in the academic world - i.e., most term papers that
are supposed to be lengthy by nature - the business world requires brevity.
Therefore, the maximum length for this paper is three pages, and I have no
objections if it is shorter.
• It is always a good policy to spell and grammar check a document. Please
have someone proof read it who knows English and is a good writer. I am not
an English teacher, and, accordingly, I am not grading on these factors unless the
English in the paper is absolutely horrible. However, the use of clear
communication is important and encouraged, and a skill you will need in your
career. During some semesters of the past, I have had papers turned in with
unbelievable flagrant writing mistakes that are not worthy of a person who is a
senior at UMSL. So please, please, have your paper read and reviewed and
proofed by, again, someone who knows English and how to write.
• Quality and depth are more important than quantity. It, therefore, is better to have
one in depth quality interview than three interviews, but that one interview better
be in depth. However, interviewees will vary considerably in the length and
depth of their answers, and some may just not have much to say about estate
planning and wills. In general, it is best to do two or three interviews, but,
again, depending on the various interviewees, one or two may only be necessary
depending on the depth.
• It is imperative to use and understand proper estate planning terms and
terminology. For example, understand the difference between an executor or
administrator and a trustee, the difference between a durable power of attorney for
healthcare and a living will. This requires, of course, that you really learn the
terms as they are brought up in the course.
• In the past students have interviewed a variety of different people that includes
parents, classmates, teachers, business associates, bosses, and business owners.
One student interviewed everyone in her office, including her boss, and what was
fascinating was the diversity of answers.
• For those students in the life insurance and employee benefits class you may want
to interview different people than for the similar assignment in that class.
• It will not be unusual if you receive in response to your questions a variety of
misconceptions and misunderstandings about estate planning from your
interviewees. Just record their responses and your observations. Also, try to be
an advocate and educator and describe these actions and results in the paper.
Explain to your interviewee the consequences of not planning.
• With some interviewees, you may want to explore charitable relationships and
intentions. For example, find out if there are any charities - such as a school,
museum, zoo, or church – that they contribute currently to and ask if they have
considered these institutions in their estate plans.
• “Feeling” questions and responses are far more important than factual, or
data, questions. While you may need factual, or data, information for
perspective and to describe the overall circumstances of the interviewee, the
overall objectives of what the interviewee wants to accomplish and his or her
feelings about family, community, businesses, potential beneficiaries is the
heart of estate planning.
• It is not necessary to reveal the name or names of your interviewees. However, it
is a good idea to describe the relationship, if any, that you have with the
interviewee. Would, also, like to have an indication of the interviewee’s
family net worth, and the possibility of any significant inheritances.
• A good example of a summary of the interviewee(s) back ground is as follows:
Age: 44, Gender: Male, Marital Status: Divorced, Children: N/A, Home Owner:
Yes, Profession: Teacher, Approx. Net Worth: 400k, Annual Salary: 60k/year,
Highest Level of Education: Master’s Degree, Field of Study in Degree:
Education and Mathematics (if interviewee has a college degree or has attended
college), Relationship to Interviewee: Close friend.
• Do not need or want an introductory paragraph, or two, which goes into the
importance of estate planning. At this point you should be well aware of the
importance of estate planning, and I accept that as a fact. In other words, “cut to
the chase.” Background on how you choose your interviewees is fine as an
introduction. Also, I do not need a separate cover page for the paper.
• Do an actual in person, face to face interview or a Zoom meeting! A phone
interview is allowed in cases of clarification after the face-to-face interview, or if
the interviewee is out of town. DO NOT IN ANY WAY ATTEMPT TO DO
THE INTERVIEW BY EMAIL OR TEXTING!
• Do not attempt to fake or make up, in whole or in part, an interview. Believe me,
I can tell! After over 40 plus years as an estate planner, I know which
arrangements make sense and which are science fiction. Naturally, students will
make mistakes in terminology. That is understandable. However, to describe
planning techniques that would be thoroughly inappropriate for the family
situation described in the interview merely to try to impress me that you know the
terminology of these techniques is intolerable!
• It never ceases to amaze me how many students fail to either read these
instructions or read them at the beginning of the semester and forgot to reread
them while completing their papers. So please reread these guidelines and
instructions right before your interviews and right before writing your
paper.
• In lieu of this assignment I am open to alternative research and papers. Naturally,
we both have to agree to the alternative. For example, one year a student from
India did a paper on estate planning in India. However, do not come to me at the
last minute with this request. The request must be made early in the semester.
• Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this assignment or
your interviewees. However, do not ask me to do a preliminary reading of the
paper as sort of a trial before turning the paper in. If I do this for one student, I
would have to do it for all students.
Over the years six situations have come up in a few of the student interviews that I think
you should be aware of and how you might approach these situations:
• Too often the interviewee and student fail to realize that the will only controls
property titled solely in the name of the decedent. Property titled as joint tenancy
with rights of survivorship, tenancy by the entirely, bank accounts or other
property with payable on death (POD) designations or brokerage accountant with
transfer on death (TOD) designations, and life insurance, annuities, qualified
retirement plans and IRAs with designated beneficiaries pass on death outside of
the probate process either by operation of law or contract law. Therefore, it is
important in your interviews to try to ascertain the titling of your interviewees
major assets to understand how these assets will transfer at death. Most of your
interviewees think the will controls the disposition of all property at death not
realizing that all the arrangements listed above trump the will. You will most
likely have to explain this to your interviewees.
• It is amazing how many folks think that just because they executed a will or
some of the other estate planning documents, that they think their planning
is complete and they never have to do anything again. The first thing to do in
this situation is to find out when these documents were completed. The second
question is to find out if the estate plan took into consideration the forms of
ownership of all property and beneficiary designation for life insurance and
retirement plans. In other words, was this an integrated, coordinated, thorough
estate plan? It is interesting to note just how easy it is to screw up an estate plan
merely by selling or obtaining other assets and improperly titling the assets
acquired or the fact that the new assets were not documented in the current estate
plan, such as listings of specific bequest items.
• If your interviewee has an ownership in a business - whether as a sole proprietor,
partner, limited partner, member of an LLC, or shares in a C or S corporation –
ask the interviewee what he or she plans to do with the business upon his or her
retirement, disability, or death? The main two choices are to either sell the
business or keep the business for the family. Both choices have serious planning
implications. If they are to sell the business the question would be to whom, at
what price and how is that price, or value, to be determined, and how are they
going to finance or pay for it? If they plan to keep the business who is going to
run the business, and, maybe, how do you treat all family members fairly?
• As you will learn in this class, the will, durable power of attorney for property,
durable power of attorney for health care and advanced medical directive (living
will) are essential estate planning documents for most folks. In many situations,
the revocable living trust is also a very important estate planning document.
However, with the current estate tax exemption amount in 2024 at $13.61 million
per individual or a combined $27.22 million for a married couple, an irrevocable
trust is unnecessary and not appropriate unless the trust is needed for asset
protection purposes or the individual or family net worth exceeds the estate tax
exemption amount. In the past, too many students have brought up the
irrevocable trust as an estate planning option where that option would be
completely inappropriate given the current net worth of the interviewee or his or
her family. (Of course, this can all change depending on who gets elected in the
future and the whims of Congress.) The point here is students need to assess the
situation of their interviewees and, if they discuss with their interviewees needed
estate planning documents, suggest those estate planning documents that are
appropriate given the interviewee’s situation and net worth.
• While we talk about the estate planning team, the whole estate planning team is
involved in very few circumstances. Of course, the attorney is involved in
preparing legal documents and sometimes that is the only team member involved.
It is not unusual to have only two members involved in the planning process and
those two members are the attorney and the life insurance professional or the
financial planner. Generally, the accountant gets involved when there is a
business or professional practice, along with the attorney or the financial planner
and life insurance professional. In my practice, I have only had a trust officer
involved in very sophisticated trust situations where an independent trustee was
required. Most of the trustees for trusts tend to be unprofessional or the CPA,
although one could certainly suggest and see that a professional co-trustee should
be involved. In the past a few students have told their interviewees that they
needed all the members of the estate planning team, and, in most cases, that is
simply not the case.
• It seems in every class a student runs into some person whose plan is to either
directly bequeath another individual, or name that individual as beneficiary of life
insurance, with the expectation that individual will use the money to care for
someone else who the person making the plan thinks is incapable of managing
money. This is not a guardianship or trustee arrangement – which is a fiduciary
arrangement - which would be okay and legally a far better arrangement. While
the person left the money to care for another is under a moral obligation, they are
not under any legal obligation. Any granting of money by the person who has left
money or other assets in a non-fiduciary capacity to the person to be cared for,
over the gift tax annual exclusion, which we will discuss in class, is a taxable gift.
Furthermore, what would happen to the money expected to be used for someone
else under this arrangement, if the individual expected to care for another either
goes bankrupt, becomes involved in a divorce proceeding, lawsuit, or dies? The
money would not end up where intended. Also, in the case of two siblings, what
would this arrangement do to the sibling relationship when one sibling has control
over the funds and can economically control the life of the other sibling? In other
words, the idea of leaving assets directly to a person for the benefit of another
person without a trust or guardianship is a horrible planning technique.
It has become my custom to provide each student with an analysis and evaluation of their
paper via email. Some of these emails will be more detailed than others and it is not
unusual for the email to print out to two or three pages. Generally, I write the separate
evaluations in a Word document and copy them into individual emails to students that are
all sent out at the same time.
Normally each of the papers is read at least two times. First, I read the paper to get an
overall feel for the paper. Then I reread each paper for specific comments and grade
evaluation. Frankly, this process is damn time consuming, and part of the reason I limit
the papers to three pages.
I also try to do the grading when I can allot sufficient continuous time in my schedule to
do it right. Thus, when I start grading the papers is determined by my other commitments
at the time, what is on my plate and going on in my life; some of which I will not know at
the start of the semester when I assigned the due date for the paper. If I know I will not
be able to grade the papers shortly by the due date, I will extend that due date. It is unfair
for me to require you to turn in a paper by a certain date if I know, in advance, that I will
not be able to read your papers right away. That does not preclude you from turning in
your paper early or by the original due date. Rather it is meant as a courtesy to you.
You are made aware of the fact that this paper is due and the due date as of the first
day of class. So please plan accordingly! While I know your schedules are busy and
you all have full plates, I do encourage you not to procrastinate doing this paper.
The best thing to do is early on determine who you are going to interview and seek their
permission to do the interview. The best time to do the interview itself is after we have
completed, at least, the first four chapters. With potential interviewees who could have
estate tax issues, i.e., estates worth over $13.61 million in 2024, then you may not want to
do the interview until either you have read, or we have completed chapter 6; and you may
also want to read or skim over chapter 8. HOWEVER, REMEMBER PLEASE DO
NOT PROCRASTINATE, PLAN AHEAD AND START THIS PAPER EARLY.
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN WITH THIS ASSIGNMENT!
Gary L. Flotron, MBA, CLU®, ChFC®, AEP®
Gary L. Flotron is principal of G. L. Flotron & Associates and
specializes in the areas of trust-owned life insurance,
estate and business planning, and executive and employee
benefit plans. He is also the Associate Director Financial
Planning Programs and an Adjunct Faculty member at the
College of Business Administration, University of Missouri -
St. Louis, where he teaches courses in estate and trust
planning, financial planning, planning for business owners
and professionals, retirement planning, employee benefits
and life insurance. In addition, he is a former Adjunct
Professor with The American College of Financial Services of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. An
author and frequent national speaker, Gary has spoken to numerous professional associations
and groups, including the Heckerling Institute On Estate Planning, the NAEPC Annual
Conference, The Federal Tax Institute of New England, and, the LISI Webinar Programs. In April
2020 the American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law published Gary’s book
Understanding Life Insurance and Rethinking Policy Management and Evaluation: Explaining
the Unexplainable.
Mr. Flotron has been an active member in various professional associations. He is Chair
Emeritus and a Member of the Executive Committee for the Synergy Summit, an organization
and think tank composed of representatives from ten major national legal and financial services
professional organizations involved in estate planning. Previously he has served on the
Executive Committee and is a Past Chair of the Professional Education and Development
Committee for the Synergy Summit. He is a Past President of the National Association of Estate
Planners & Councils (NAEPC) and The NAEPC Education Foundation, as well as past Chair of The
NAEPC Education Foundation Committee and past Chair of the Accredited Estate Planner®
(AEP®) Designation Committee for NAEPC. A past Member of the National Board of Directors of
the Society of Financial Service Professionals (FSP), Mr. Flotron, in addition to having served on
numerous National Committees and Task Forces, is the current Editor of the Estate Planning
quarterly publication for FSP. He is also a former member of the University of Missouri – St.
Louis Planned Giving Advisory Committee.
A past President of the FSP Greater St. Louis Chapter, Gary is also a past President of the Estate
Planning Council of St. Louis, and past President of the National Association of Insurance and
Financial Advisors St. Louis Chapter. He is a past Member of the Board of Directors of the
Foundation for Financial Service Professionals and a past Regional Chair for the National Council
of The American College. Mr. Flotron has also served as a Member of the Chartered Financial
Consultant (ChFC®) Curriculum Advisory Board for The American College of Financial Services.
An MBA graduate of the Washington University John M. Olin Graduate School of Business
Administration, where he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the National Business Honors
Fraternity; Flotron completed his undergraduate work in engineering management with a
concentration in electrical engineering (B.S.E.Mgt.) at the University of Missouri at Rolla (now
Missouri University of Science and Technology). He received the Chartered Life Underwriter
(CLU®) designation in 1984 and the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) designation in 1985,
both granted by The American College of Financial Services. In 1995 he was awarded the
Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designation by NAEPC. Gary is the 1996 recipient of the Stan
Towerman Excellence in Professional Education Award from the FSP Greater St. Louis Chapter,
and a 1994 recipient of the Paul F. Mills Scholarship from the Foundation for Financial Service
Professionals. He was inducted into the National Association of Insurance and Financial
Advisors St. Louis Chapter Hall of Fame in 2003. The University of Missouri – St. Louis named
Mr. Flotron as the recipient of the 2014-2015 Chancellor’s Excellence Award for a Part-time
Faculty Member. The Financial Awareness Foundation selected Gary as a 2021 Distinguished
Improving Financial & Financial Literacy Movement Co-Honoree Representing the Financial
Services Thought Leadership.
Gary has two sons, Paul and John, and one grandson, Luke, and one granddaughter, Liliana.
Flotron's hobbies include reading and learning, traveling, exercising, hiking, modern era
architecture, photography, and walking/running his greyhound Jackson (at least in spirit and
until he gets another greyhound) and his Boston terrier Spike. Gary’s response when asked
“what is something about you that is unique, and most folks are unaware of?” is “that he had a
dinner party in his home for a man that subsequently led a coup d’état and is now the
President/Dictator of an African country.”
December 31, 2022
