April 21, 2026 · The Community Library, Ketchum
Blue Sands Wealth partnered with Alturus Law Group and Windermere Realty in Ketchum to host an evening workshop focused on investing and estate planning for women at The Community Library. The session was designed to be practical, approachable, and grounded in real-world scenarios, bringing together financial and legal expertise under one roof for attendees across the Wood River Valley.
What We Covered
Topics from the evening
- The Great Wealth Transfer What it means, why it is happening now, and how it can affect women at multiple stages of life, from inheriting assets to transferring wealth to the next generation.
- Investment Fundamentals A plain-language overview of stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, and managed accounts, including how risk and time horizon interact with investment decisions.
- Beneficiary Designations Why keeping beneficiary designations current on retirement accounts, insurance policies, and bank accounts is one of the most important and often overlooked elements of an estate plan.
- Wills vs. Trusts The practical differences between a will and a revocable living trust, including when a trust makes sense, how to fund it properly, and why an unfunded trust can create unintended complications.
- Probate in Idaho How Idaho probate works, why it is generally more straightforward here than in many other states, and circumstances where avoiding probate through a trust may still be preferable.
- Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives The role of durable powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, advance care planning documents, and POST forms in protecting your wishes and supporting your family during difficult moments.
Featured Speakers
Letitia “Tish” Birnbaum | Founder, Blue Sands Wealth Tish founded Blue Sands Wealth with the goal of delivering the depth and personalized service of a family office to a broader audience. Named the number one female financial advisor in her state by Forbes in 2024 and a contributing editor to Forbes magazine, she brings decades of experience in capital markets and a genuine passion for empowering clients to take ownership of their financial lives.
George Berridge | Senior Wealth Advisor, Blue Sands Wealth, Ketchum George brings more than 30 years of experience in finance to his role as Senior Wealth Advisor at Blue Sands Wealth’s Ketchum office. Deeply rooted in the Wood River Valley community, he leads an ongoing financial literacy series at The Community Library and is committed to making investing and financial planning more accessible for everyone in the region.
Laura Smithman | Estate Planning Attorney, Alturus Law A graduate of the University of Florida School of Law with honors, Laura practiced at an international law firm in Atlanta before relocating to the Wood River Valley. She now focuses exclusively on individual estate planning at Alturus Law in Hailey, tailoring plans to reflect each client’s values, protect loved ones, and address the realities of Idaho law with clarity and compassion.
Event Recap
The workshop opened with a reminder that the great wealth transfer is not a distant event for most attendees. Whether through a parent’s estate, a spouse’s retirement assets, or their own financial transition into and through retirement, many women in the room were already navigating these shifts in real time.
Tish Birnbaum led attendees through the investing segment, grounding abstract concepts like diversification, asset allocation, and time horizon in the kinds of decisions women actually face at different stages of life. The conversation moved fluidly from market basics to the way financial and estate planning must work together.
Laura Smithman covered the legal side in practical terms, addressing the mechanics of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives. She emphasized that for most people in Idaho, the estate planning process does not need to be complicated or expensive, but it does need to happen, and it needs to stay current as life changes.
The session closed with a lively Q and A covering topics including asset thresholds for trust planning, beneficiary designation mistakes to avoid, and how to approach healthcare decisions when a loved one is incapacitated. Attendees were encouraged to reach out to George Berridge or Laura Smithman directly with follow-up questions.
Event Details
Date: Monday, April 21, 2026
Time: 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm MT
Location: Idaho Room, The Community Library, Ketchum Audience: Adults
