Why I do this

Why do I do what I do?

It’s not often that you meet a person who is both a Financial Advisor and a CPA, but we exist and I personally believe it’s the best combination of both professions.

Through my CPA practice I have seen many people make poor financial and tax decisions in many different ways both as business owners and those who are wage earners.   Very often it was because they did not have a financial or legal team around them to ask questions of before a transaction or event happened.

There are a few pivotal events that led me to the decision to get the proper licenses to offer both financial planning and tax planning.  A couple of examples follow.

Once, years ago, I helped a retired person who was referred to me because she had not filed a tax return for the last 10 years.  The IRS had filed a substitute return for her and decided that she owed approximately $50,000. 

When she didn’t pay it, they proceeded to take a significant amount of money out of her IRA to pay the tax plus penalty and interest.  We came on board and did correct tax returns for the past 10 years and got her a $46,000 refund.  She came into my office with the refund check to ask for advice on how to invest it but at that time I did not have the proper licenses to give that advice so was not allowed to give any investment advice even though she needed it.

Not being able to help a client that needed it was a significant event that drew me to deciding to expand my services to offer financial planning and not just tax help.

Another time I had a client with a very large W2 income come to me for their annual tax return filing and I noticed they had no investment income.  In discussing that with them I came to find out that even though they were well above average income they had no financial planner helping them.   Again, at that time I didn’t yet have the proper licenses so I referred them to a financial advisor I knew at a very large well known national level firm.

Next tax year they came back and I asked if they had set a plan in place and was told they did not.  They told me that the person I referred them to was more focused on selling them life insurance than financial planning so they didn’t do anything.  Perhaps they needed life insurance but its not what they wanted and so made no decision to implement a long-term planning process which itself is a decision.

That was another significant event that led me to get the proper licenses to offer financial planning along with the tax and accounting work offered through the CPA firm.

I believe that both financial planning and tax planning should be done together and the vast majority of financial planners are not allowed to give tax advice, won’t give tax advice, or don’t even know what to say about tax so that’s a reason I do this.

Why is tax planning so important in your financial plan?

Almost all financial decisions have a tax effect or the result of a tax choice previously made.  Especially when it comes to future income considerations for retirement planning.  

Do you want a tax deduction now to lower your tax liability in the near term, or do you want to fund your retirement account with after tax money and so not have to pay tax on that money later in life when you are retired at whatever the tax rates are in the future?

That’s not the same answer for everyone, but the same considerations should be done for almost everyone and for many people its not happening.

Why should you consider working with me?

Who do I work best with?

Because I'm also a CPA I work well with business owners and self-employed who need accounting, tax and retirement planning help.

If you are a wage earner, hopefully your company has a plan in place that you can contribute to.  When you are self-employed, the burden is on you to set up and fund your own retirement plan since no one else is going to do it for you.

Tax deductions come about as a result of cash outflows.  Cash flows out of your possession to someone else and is usually their income.   I work with business owners to lower their tax bill by maximizing legitimate deductions and by recognizing that funding their own retirement pan is a cash outflow and a tax deduction, but one that eventually comes back to them in the future.

For those who are not business owners yet recognize the need for tax and retirement planning I help look at what your long term goals are and if your investment choices are aligned with those goals and tolerance for risk.

I mention tax savings as a way to grow wealth.   There are many ways to grow wealth such as consistent savings towards your plans, proper allocation of assets aligned with your goals, and keeping more money in your pocket that can be redirected towards achieving your goals. 

So the intent of tax savings is not to spend it on shiny new toys but rather to redirect it to your long term financial goals as another source of funds to do so.

Who do I not work well with?

Since almost everyone has tax issues to consider, I can work with a fairly wide range of folks but I find that there are things I do not do or won’t do and so those looking for that are probably not a good fit.

Some examples of those are:

1.       Those looking for free advice – Free advice is spelled “Google”

2.       Those looking for the next hot investment tip – Your goals are unique to you and your investment choices should align with your goals.

3.       Those not willing to listen to advice – while it’s your money and ultimately your decision to make, if you are looking for someone to sign off on your get rich quick plan, that’s probably not me.

4.       Those pursuing overly aggressive financial or tax strategies – Your financial plan should match your goals and also your tolerance for risk.  For tax strategies there are things that are clearly allowed, clearly not allowed and lots of things that fall in between.  I don’t believe in leaving money on the table so to speak, but aggressive positions that cannot be justified are not an option either.

I already have a financial advisor, now what?

Congratulations on recognizing the benefits of having someone on your finance team.  If your financial advisor stays in contact, gives advice that you find helpful and that includes tax advice, then sounds like you might have a good fit.

If your financial advisor doesn’t ask to see a copy of your tax return to help you make wise financial decisions and pay less tax, if they are not reaching out and or providing regular educational material perhaps its time to consider alternatives.

I think its time to get serious about my financial health, what’s the next step?

If you’ve decided it’s time to get serious about improving your financial health its time to reach out to me.

While I appreciate the trust that my clients put in me to help with the decision making process, I also believe that continuing education is key to the team effort to help you reach your goals. 

I encourage clients and soon to be clients to check out the Blog postings and sign up for my weekly newsletters to get up to speed on topics I will talk about.

I can be reached at matt@vwshi.com, you can call me at 808-954-6402 or you can schedule an initial call here at https://calendly.com/matt-csats/initial-consultation