Tax Decisions Are Financial Decisions
So why are they so often planned separately?
At Ardent Tax & Advisory, PLLC, we believe some of the most important financial decisions a family makes occur at the intersection of taxes and financial planning.
How much should you convert to Roth?
When should you begin Social Security?
Which account should fund retirement spending?
Should you intentionally recognize income today to potentially reduce taxes later?
How could today's decisions affect a surviving spouse?
What tax burden could eventually pass to your children along with your retirement accounts?
These are not simply tax questions.
And they are not simply investment questions.
They are planning questions.
That is why Ardent Tax & Advisory brings CPA and CFP® perspectives together in one coordinated process.
Looking Forward Instead of Only Looking Back
Traditional tax preparation is primarily historical.
By the time a tax return is prepared, many of the decisions affecting that return have already been made.
We approach taxes differently.
Your tax return becomes the starting point for planning.
We analyze where you are today, model where your current strategy may lead, and evaluate whether alternative decisions could improve your long-term outcome.
That can include Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, RMD management, charitable strategies, Medicare planning, investment taxation, and other opportunities appropriate to your circumstances.
Then we connect those tax decisions to a comprehensive financial model.
Because reducing taxes doesn't help if the strategy creates a bigger financial problem somewhere else.
Built Around Retirement
The years surrounding retirement can create some of the most significant tax-planning opportunities of a person's financial life.
For many people, taxable income temporarily declines after they stop working but before Social Security and required minimum distributions fully begin.
We call this the retirement tax-planning window.
Used thoughtfully, those years may provide opportunities to:
Accelerate income at intentionally selected tax rates
Convert tax-deferred assets to Roth accounts
Reduce future required minimum distributions
Manage Medicare IRMAA exposure
Improve withdrawal sequencing
Prepare for surviving-spouse tax brackets
Reduce potential taxes associated with inherited retirement accounts
But these strategies should not be implemented in isolation.
Our job is to evaluate the tradeoffs.
More Than Software
We use sophisticated planning technology to model tax and retirement scenarios.
But software does not make the recommendation.
People do.
Technology helps us evaluate possibilities.
Our CPAs and CFP® professionals provide the judgment needed to interpret those possibilities in the context of your circumstances.
That distinction matters.
A software model can calculate a Roth conversion.
A planning professional should help determine whether you should actually make it.
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