Tax Planning
It’s said that only two things are certain in life: Death…and Taxes! And while there’s not much you can do to avoid the former, with prudent planning and foresight, there’s a lot you can do to minimize the latter. However, similar to planning that goes into living a happy and fruitful life, a well-planned tax strategy can yield great benefits – but only if it’s done professionally, and earlier on during your wealth accumulation cycle.
Our Tax Planning philosophy is not centered around tax avoidance, but rather on helping you structure your finances, so you and your family aren’t overburdened by undue tax liability.
Why Tax Planning is Important
Consider this fact: If you managed to shave off just $250 from your tax bill each year, through prudent Tax Planning, and invested it at a 5% rate of return annually, you could have a tidy sum of over $15,250 waiting for you by the time you retire in 30 years!
Delayed tax planning is tantamount to leaving potentially savable dollars, of your hard-earned money, on the tax table for others to benefit from. The longer you defer tax planning, the more money you’ll end up owing and paying in taxes. That money could potentially have been saved, through a reduced tax bill, invested, and grown, through the magic of compounding, over many years.
Addressing Taxes
Although we are all obligated to pay our fair share of taxes, few of us would be pleased to pay taxes unnecessarily. Because taxes lower the actual return on your investments, we work with clients to address taxes on their investment portfolios. This is especially important as you enter retirement.
Estate taxes and your portfolio
If your assets are such that you're concerned about estate taxes within your portfolio, we can pursue strategies today to potentially address the tax impact.
M Financial Services and LPL Financial do not offer tax advice or services.
What We Can Do For You
We help our clients through long-term Tax Planning strategies – and that’s exactly how we’ll help you. Tax planning does not commence on the date of filing your tax returns. Prudent tax planning often starts long before – sometimes even before you make investment decisions that trigger a tax liability. We can help devise tax planning strategies that minimize taxes, maximize tax refunds and guide you to optimize your tax-friendly investment returns.
Here’s what we can do for you through our Tax Planning service:
- While the best advice you can get is: Save. Save. Save…as much as you can. The next best advice is: Be careful how you invest those savings. Our Tax Planning advice will include considerations on whether you should invest with pre-tax dollars, or post-tax income. How you invest, and in what types of vehicles, can make a significant difference to the taxes you pay. Our Tax specialists can help you navigate through the various advantages and disadvantages of choosing one strategy over another
- When planning for tax impact on your income, we’ll also plan for the types of income that you might receive: Dividends, Interest, Annuity payments, Capital Gains, Inheritances, Employer or Government benefits. While all of these are potential income streams in retirement and before, each has different tax planning implications
- Our professionals will help you foresee impacts to your future net wealth. If left unplanned, your net wealth could be diminished due to likely claw-backs to benefits, and the possibility of erosion to your estate through substantial taxes
- We’ll help you mitigate possible tax impacts when it comes to your estate. A good tax plan aims to ensure that future generations do not bear the burden of taxes due to the legacy you leave them. But to ensure a tax-advantage inheritance to your beneficiaries, you need to put appropriate plans in place NOW – and that’s where our professionals can help
