Take a look at our latest newsletter!
For The Ambitious Advocate BRIEF RECESS
AUG/SEPT 2025
FROM THE LAW OFFICES OF J. PRICE MCNAMARA
HOW TO HELP WITH COLLEGE A GRANDFATHER’S GUIDE TO SMART GIVING
Hey grandparents and parents, this is good stuff to know!
My three kids were fortunate enough to get great educations without student loan debt — my daughter through medical school, my son through law school, and my other son through engineering school. And they never took it for granted. They excelled, are grateful for it, and have a great work ethic. The gift of a debt‑free education is priceless. Education costs are rising, and many grandparents, like me, want to help their grandchildren afford college. So, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about smart ways to contribute while maximizing the impact of your generosity. First things first: As with any investment, time is your friend. Start as early as you can to maximize the power of market growth. If you start right away with the birth of a grandchild, you get the benefit of 18 years of growth, and that’s a huge advantage.
•
Fund Future Education: Unused funds can be kept in a 529 account to get them an incredible head start on education savings for their future kids. What a family legacy! Pay for College Alternatives: Unused funds can also be used for vocational schools if they’re inclined in that direction.
Whether you incurred student debt or not, I’m guessing my fellow attorneys appreciate and place a great value on the investment in their education. The gift of my first grandchild (he just turned 1 year old — man, that was fast!) got me thinking about the benefits — and staggering cost — of higher education.
•
Other Smart Ways to Help Beyond 529 plans, there are a few other great strategies to support your grandchild’s education. One is gifting cash directly to your adult children to help with education costs. In 2025, you can gift up to $18,000 per grandchild annually ($36,000 with a spouse) without triggering gift taxes. Another great idea is paying tuition directly to the school. When you do this, it doesn’t count toward your annual gift exclusion, and it guarantees the money is used for its intended purpose. This strategy works for both private schools and colleges, and it can make a real dent in reducing or avoiding student loan debt. A Legacy That Lasts Helping a grandchild with education costs is a powerful way to shape their future. It’s an investment in who they’ll become and a meaningful way to show how much you care and believe in them. Whether
The 529 Savings Plan A 529 plan allows tax-free growth and
withdrawals for education expenses. If you can, it’s best to front-load investments to maximize time in the market. You can even contribute five years’ worth of gifts in one year, up to $90,000 per grandchild ($180,000 between you and a spouse). This maximizes growth while staying within tax limits. But what if the grandchild doesn’t go to college? Unused 529 funds can be used to: • Jumpstart Retirement Savings: As of now,
through a 529 plan or direct tuition payments, what a gift!
up to $35,000 can be rolled into a Roth IRA. And 40 years of tax-free growth on $35,000 is huge!
(225) 201-8311 1
Back to School, Back to Routine Rethinking Rhythm as Seasons Shift Even without kids in school, most of us can feel the shift when summer starts to wind down and routines pick up again. School buses reappear, morning traffic thickens, and the long, loose days of summer give way to something more structured. That change can sometimes feel abrupt, but it can also be a good thing. Researchers say that structure and routine support our mental health by reducing decision fatigue and helping us focus on what really matters. Routines provide an easy way to conserve mental energy for more important tasks, which can lessen daily stress and anxiety. Getting back into rhythm can be particularly beneficial after several weeks of flexible but often hectic summer schedules. Does your office turn away calls about “long-term disability insurance” claim denials because you don’t handle administrative appeals or “ERISA litigation” in federal court? We want to hear from you! We happily share fees on referred ERISA long-term disability, life insurance, and accidental death insurance denial cases. Send us an email at BriefRecess@jpricemcnamara.com or call (225) 201-8311 to start the referral process! WE VALUE YOUR REFERRALS! The good news is that we don’t even need a dramatic overhaul of our day to get there. Just a few small adjustments can make life feel more manageable. Laying out clothes or prepping meals the night before can cut down on morning chaos. Taking 10 minutes to jot down the week’s top priorities can help us feel more in control. Along with reducing
Most pet owners already know their furry friends make life better, but according to a new study, the value might be higher than anyone realized. Some researchers say it’s close to $100,000. Researchers in the U.K. aimed to measure how much happiness dogs and cats bring to people’s lives. Using data from more than 700 people, they found that owning a pet can boost life satisfaction as much as getting married or landing a massive raise. In economic terms, it’s the emotional equivalent of earning nearly $93,000 more per year. To determine whether pets actually improve happiness, rather than the opposite — happy people are more likely to have pets — the team factored in things like age, income, personality traits, and family size. They also used a clever workaround: They asked people whether they look after their neighbor’s house while they’re away. That behavior is linked to pet ownership but not directly to happiness, which helped researchers isolate the impact of pet ownership. It’s not just a fun fact, either. Experts say findings like this could affect everything from housing laws to public health programs. If pets fight loneliness and lift people’s moods, it might make sense to rethink rules that prevent pet ownership in some apartments and assisted living facilities. While the researchers focused only on cats and dogs, the message came through clearly. Pets matter, maybe even more than we thought. And if you already live with one and know how they benefit your well-being, the science now backs you NEW STUDY SAYS PETS ARE WORTH PLENTY THE $100K REASON TO GET A PET
up. That wagging tail or soft purr might be worth more than you ever guessed.
ERISA is all we do!
WinMyBenefits.com 2
We all focus on revenue, overhead, website costs, and other financial data, but many law firm owners overlook one critical factor: unhappy clients. The Cost of Unhappy Clients
The number of clients who are unhappy with your firm matters — big time. Why?
stress, these simple strategies can increase our productivity and even help us stay more focused and less likely to procrastinate.
Unhappy clients post negative reviews, steer others away from your firm, and never send referrals. But most importantly, unhappy clients are the result of systemic problems in your law firm. And the root cause is almost always poor communication. So, what do you do? Step 1: Send automated client surveys. Create a client survey that asks for their candid feedback. If there’s a problem, you want to know about it. Try sending a short survey three months into representation, again at nine months, or at the end of the case if it concludes earlier. Ask a few pointed questions like:
It’s also worth checking in on our boundaries. Without established routines, it’s easy for work hours to creep into our personal time. While this is sometimes unavoidable, it can quickly lead to burnout if left unchecked. This transition from summer to fall is a natural time to reset. It gives us a chance to rethink how we spend our time and reclaim the parts of the day that matter most. This time of year also brings its own momentum. After the slower pace of summer, many of us feel a renewed sense of energy and purpose heading into fall. Whether establishing personal goals or setting new objectives at work, it’s an ideal time to plan and execute strategies to finish the year strong. As the season changes and routines return, we can all take this opportunity to focus, reset, and move forward with intention.
•
Are your questions being answered?
•
How responsive is your paralegal or attorney? Would you recommend us to someone you care about?
•
Be sure to leave space for open-ended feedback, which often gives you the most revealing insights.
LEGAL LAUGHS
Step 2: Speak with the unhappy client. When a negative survey comes in, first speak with your case manager, paralegal, or attorney to find out what happened. You might not need to do anything if a client is being unreasonable or abusive. But if the complaint is valid, a phone call can go a long way. On the call, try something like: “I want you to know that we take this seriously. We’re not perfect, and we want to get better to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Is there anything I can do to make this right?”
Clients appreciate the personal touch, and if they left a negative review, they may delete it after speaking with you.
Step 3: Fix the problem with your team. Next, be honest with your team about what went wrong. If there was a communication breakdown, ask what can be done to prevent this from happening again. Be fanatical about client communication. Perhaps you begin a policy that every client in your firm, new or existing, should be contacted by a team member at least once every 30 days and document the communication. Even if you’re doing great work, clients won’t know it unless you communicate. And when a client is unhappy, your firm is not doing its job (in most cases). That’s why client communication is the most important thing your law firm does to minimize the number of unhappy clients.
(225) 201-8311 3
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
ERISA INSURANCE J. PRICE MCNAMARA Claim Attorney
10455 Jefferson Hwy. Suite 130 Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (225) 201-8311 WinMyBenefits.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
The Gift That Keeps Growing
2
Why Pets Beat Pay Raises
Fall Is the New Fresh Start
3
A Silent Reputation Killer
4
The Nuttiest Car in America
Food on Wheels: The Nutty Cruiser Rolls Out
Food companies have tried every trick in the book to get your attention, but few can beat the simple charm of a giant snack rolling down the street. It all started early in the 20th century when people dressed up cars with quirky decorations to drum up business. The most famous example came in 1936, when the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile hit the road and turned heads everywhere it went. The tradition is still alive today, and the newest edition is as nutty as they come. Blue Diamond’s Nutty Cruiser is a 20-foot-long
almond on wheels, designed to spread the love for almonds across America. It even has an almond cannon that will shoot small bags of almonds on tiny parachutes, just in case the giant almond wasn’t enough to grab your attention. Inside, it has room for 10,000 snack packs, making it one of the tastiest vehicles on the highway. The Nutty Cruiser tours state fairs, sporting events, and festivals and draws a crowd wherever it goes. Drivers say it handles surprisingly well, thanks to its smooth,
aerodynamic design — though they still get pulled over by curious police officers who just want a closer look. From hot dogs to nuts, food-shaped vehicles have a strange way of sticking around. Maybe it’s because they’re fun, a little bit ridiculous, and impossible to ignore. In a world full of billboards and pop-up ads, there’s still something special about spotting a giant almond cruising down the highway.
WinMyBenefits.com 4
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator