"Know What You Don't Know" recap

On Saturday, May 21, two leaders in their fields came to the Virginia Horse Center to share their knowledge about the Equine Liability Act and financial planning for women, horse owners, and estate management. 

Attorney and equestrian Kelly LaPar from Lenhart Obenshain has acted as counsel for equine related clients on matters involving sales, boarding agreements, leasing agreements, waivers and releases, corporate formation, business litigation and recreational liability. She provided participants with a history of equine liability statutes, detail on Virginia’s equine activity liability act, information on liability waivers as well as analysis of relevant case law.  

Her top tips were:

- Make sure your waiver does not reflect OLD codes/statutes.  If it has not been updated in the last year - update it! You can buy signs with the current statute quite easily at your local tack shops.

- Remember, in Virginia, you CANNOT waive negligence.  Make sure to notify spectators that while on grounds, they are also engaged in an equestrian activity.

-Equine activity also covers things like boarding, care, travel, hoof care with farriers, treatment with vets or other specialists.

-You don't have to have a long waiver - it can be concise and specific.
-ALWAYS provide the waiver at the beginning of your relationship with a new client, visitor, or parent.
-Parents must sign waivers. Letting trainers sign waivers puts everyone at risk.
-You don't need to include other animals in your waiver because Virginia has such a high population of horses and horse activities, it has its own statute.

If you have questions or would like to work with Kelly LaPar to update your waiver and protect your assets, you can contact her through Lenhart Obenshain.

Financial Advisor and equestrian Gardy Bloemers from Merrill Lynch specifically focuses on delivering wealth management planning and advice to women. She regularly speaks to women’s professional associations and enjoys educating her clients on a wide variety of important financial topics ranging from saving for children’s education to planning for retirement. During the session, Gardy spoke to the factors influencing womens' ability to save and care for themselves while having to care for everyone else.

There are 3 major factors that affect womens' finances:

1. Unpredictable Life Events
2. Economic Realities and Planning Hurdles
3. Fear of Making a Mistake  (women think more and act less!)

 She outlined a few interesting statistics including:

- 1 in 5 marriages will end in divorce. Women most likely gain custody of the children.  Custodians experience a 24% decrease in their lifestyle and resources while non-custodians experience a 35% increase.  -Women live an average of five years longer than men.

-Women spend less time in the work force, going in and out to care for families and parents, thus their income is generally 20% less than men's. 
-Because of the factors women should anticipate saving 15% of their income compared to men who are recommended to save 10%.

Gardy emphasized how important diversifying your investments truly is.  Investments fluctuate and no one can really predict the markets so just put a little bit in a lot of places, increasing it as you see fit or as things grow.   She closed her presentation by walking the group through Nine Steps to Financial Freedom:

1. Know Your Finances - Assets vs Liabilities

2.  Examine Your Credit History and Insurance  Coverage

3. Set Goals and Stick To Them
4. Make a Plan for Investments

5. Invest Early and Often

6. Choose Your Investments and Do Something Appropriate for YOU

7. Capitalize on Tax Advantaged Investments
8. Protect Your Assets Through Smart Estate Planning

9. STAY INFORMED!

If you would like to speak with Gardy Bloemers further about your finances or to set up a similar talk, email her here.

We really enjoyed these rich sessions and loved all the feedback and dialogue they inspired. Stay tuned for more great seminars in the coming year.