It's not what your investments earn, but what they earn after taxes that counts. After factoring in federal income and capital gains taxes, the alternative minimum tax, and any applicable state and local taxes, your investments' returns in any given year may be reduced by 40% or more. We use advanced tax management techniques in the investment process for all taxable accounts, including but not limited to:
Tax-Aware Trading
Location Optimization
Tax-Loss Harvesting & Gain Loss Offset
Tax-Lot Accounting
Managing the Holding Period
Deferring Realization of Gains
Transitioning of Low Cost Basis Stock
Avoiding the Wash-Sale Rule
Here are some of the ways we can supercharge your investments:
Location Optimization
This is where we place specific asset classes in accounts with unique tax traits. The simplest example is placing bonds in an IRA so that the bond interest isn’t taxable income.
Tax-Loss Harvesting
Capital losses are good forever, until you use them. They offset investment gains to lower, and sometimes eliminate, capital gains tax. For example, if you have realized gains on a securities sale, it can be worthwhile to find and harvest offsetting losses in the same tax year. We take advantage of market swings to lock in losses while keeping your money 100% invested.
Capital Gain Minimization
We sell high cost lots in order to limit the amount of capital gains you incur.
Capital Gain Distribution Avoidance
This may sound counter-intuitive, but you want to avoid capital gains distributions from mutual funds. The share price goes down by the same amount that gets distributed. So all you are getting is a taxable capital gain. This can be avoided if you move to a similar mutual fund without a capital gain distribution.
Tax-Efficient Investing
Tax-efficient investing is aimed at improving your after-tax return. Most investment returns are measured and presented before taxes. While this is an important starting point, this could be an incomplete picture of your true returns if you are using these investments in taxable accounts.
Research shows that effective tax management can make a significant difference in your long-term wealth. Intelligent asset management and distribution methodologies can increase income in retirement by up to 33% and the remaining assets to pass on as a bequest by up to 45%.*
Every client wants to get the most out of their investments. You want the highest possible returns with the least amount of risk. Most investors own multiple accounts and products, purchased at different times, for different reasons, with little consideration of how those accounts may work together. The fact that a part of an investment's growth is given up in taxes is often seen as unavoidable. However, there is a way to reduce the taxes paid on investments, capture more of the investment returns and without changing the investment themselves. Optimizing a portfolio's asset location provides exactly that.
You've worked hard for your money. Let us show you how to keep more of it.
* “Improving After-Tax Returns, Retirement Income, and Bequests Through Tax-Smart Household Management,” LifeYield and EY, October 2010.
