A recent article in Financial Planning highlighted a report from 1st Global that suggests the top priority among affluent and emerging affluent consumers when choosing a financial advisor is tax knowledge.
The survey reveals that even though 53% of respondents currently work with a CPA or accountant, tax-aware advice is still a crucial concern for them.
We found this insight from the article particularly helpful:
"Many investors are looking for tax-optimized investing strategies, especially in the wake of the new tax law (though the survey didn’t ask specifically about the new regulation). And there's more opportunity for CPAs to offer such services in the context of the tax overhaul."
Many financial advisors know taxes have a significant impact on their clients, but have uncertainty about addressing the topic. However, advisors can and should talk taxes with their clients. Covisum President, Joe Elsasser, CFP® addressed this exact issue in his whitepaper, "The Elephant and the Snowball."
Do you have clients who don’t understand the interactions between different types of income and deductions? If you do, they could be on their way to potentially significant tax inefficiency in their retirement strategy. You can help with Tax Clarity®. Provide tax alpha and quickly identify sub-optimal situations to show clients how to make retirement decisions in the most tax-efficient way. Additionally, when you subscribe to the software you get an entire support team to help you answer client and software questions.