By Sonya Ranker, president, Tampa division, Questmont Strategic Wealth Advisors
It’s not about how much money your investments can earn … it’s about how much of the earnings you keep. Tax smart investing is critical to maximizing your returns and is about to become even more important considering the pending tax proposals.
While most investors focus on picking the right stock or nailing the asset allocation, they often overlook strategies that can keep more of their earnings in their pocket. You have worked so diligently to build your business and your wealth. You have created liquidity and your money is now working for you. But changing regulatory and tax landscapes threaten to erode your net worth. The current tax proposals are targeting capital gains and cost basis. If you are thinking of selling a business in the next several years, and you don’t have a Virtual Family Office working to strategize in advance, you may owe the IRS 43.4% of your profitable proceeds.
What can you do to protect yourself?
- Plan in advance: Depending on your goals, your motivations and your lifestyle, you can find solutions that minimize capital gain exposure, provide a substantial first year tax deduction and provide income for you for the future.
- Asset Location vs Asset Allocation: minimize your tax exposure by looking at your assets as a whole…not each account individually. This gives you the flexibility to bunch highly taxable investments into tax deferred accounts and tax friendly investments into brokerage accounts.
- Harvest your losses: It may seem counterintuitive to sell something when it is down, but if it is done the right way you can watch the growth of both your investments and your loss carry forward bucket. Use this loss carry forward to offset your future gains.
- Strategic Charity: Gifting to charity doesn’t have to benefit only the charity…you can win too. By coordinating your charitable gifting using one of many available tools, you can significantly reduce your tax bill in an abnormally high taxable income year.
These strategies are wonderful, and very impactful, but you are busy, how can you manage this while you are managing your business and still have a life?
The key is to work with a Virtual Family Office, a formalized team of specialists, who strategize with creative, and best-in-class solutions, to protect your wealth from unnecessary taxation. This new approach to wealth management is designed to act like your personal CFO. It provides access to cutting-edge tools, and techniques, to maximize the return on your time and capital.
When was the last time your Wealth Manager, CPA, Business Attorney and Bankers got into a room and discussed nothing but your concerns? As a successful business owner and entrepreneur, if that answer is “never” just how much valuable time and money are you losing?
Sonya Ranker is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®), Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®) and Director of Family Office Services. Her role, as part of the Virtual Family Office, is that of the personal CFO to the family.
She has been quoted multiple times in financial articles in US News & World Report.
Sonya is passionate about her family and her community.
Sonya lives in Odessa, FL with her husband, Taylor, and her son, Ian.
