Most financial advisors think about your taxes in April. We think about them year-round. The decisions that reduce your lifetime tax bill happen throughout the year, not after it ends.
Learn about our tax reduction analysis. Schedule a consultation today.
Every Investment Decision Has a Tax Consequence. At Canter Wealth, We Plan for It.
Most investors spend years focused on returns and almost no time on the one variable they can actually control: taxes.
You can't control what happens in the market. You can't control interest rates. What you can control is when you take a capital gain, which accounts you draw from first, and how you structure your withdrawals in retirement.
Done well, proactive tax planning may have as much impact on your long-term wealth as the investments themselves.
We help with the tax decisions that can make a significant difference:
- The order you withdraw from your accounts in retirement
- Which investments you hold in which account types
- The year you choose to take a large capital gain
- When you convert traditional IRA funds to Roth
- How you time your Required Minimum Distributions
Each of these decisions affect what you keep. Together, they can potentially represent tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a retirement — sometimes more.
At Canter Wealth, tax planning is not a separate service we bolt on at the end. It is built into investment recommendation, every withdrawal decision, and every financial planning conversation we have.
Our fee-only, fiduciary Certified Financial Planners™ are compensated only by you, never by commissions, which means the only thing motivating our recommendations is your outcome.
What Tax Planning Looks Like in Practice
Roth Conversion Strategy
Roth conversions can make sense at numerous points in one’s life, even while working. It often depends on income in a given year, deductions, future tax rates vs current, and a variety of other variables. Oftentimes a key opportunity window is the years between retiring and when Social Security and Required Minimum Distributions begin. We model multi-year Roth conversion strategies designed to convert pre-tax IRA funds at lower rates today — before RMDs push your income into higher brackets.
For California residents, this matters even more. California taxes traditional IRA withdrawals as ordinary income at rates up to 13.3%, the highest in the United States. Converting strategically now can potentially mean paying lower taxes today instead of higher taxes in the future.
Capital Gains & Qualified Dividends Management
Not all investment gains are equal — and not all of them have to be taxed the same way. Qualified dividends, for example, are taxed as capital gains, often a lower tax rate than non-qualified dividends which are taxes at your ordinary income rates. That difference can add up quickly.
Coordinating the timing of realized gains, pairing them against harvested losses, and identifying opportunities to donate appreciated securities to charity or gifting them to family, can potentially eliminate the capital gains tax entirely.
California taxes capital gains as ordinary income with no preferential state rate. That makes gain management significantly more valuable here than in most other states.
Tax-Efficient Investing: Asset Location
Tax Lot Optimization
When we sell investments, we are specific about which shares we sell and in what order. By selecting lots with the highest cost basis first, we minimize the taxable gain on each transaction. Over years of investing, this precision can add up to meaningful tax savings.
Tax-Efficient Distribution Strategy
In retirement, the sequence of withdrawals — which account you draw from first, in what amounts, in what years — determines your effective tax rate for decades. A thoughtful distribution strategy considers:
- Drawing from taxable accounts first while Roth assets continue to grow tax-free
- Coordinating withdrawals with Social Security timing
- Managing Required Minimum Distributions to avoid bracket creep and IRMAA surcharges
Done right, this is where a retirement income plan can potentially pay for itself many times over.
Year-Round Tax Monitoring and Year-End Review
We dynamically monitor client portfolios throughout the year for tax-loss harvesting opportunities. Markets create losses at unpredictable times, and capturing them requires attention year-round, not a single annual sweep.
Every November and December, we also conduct a dedicated year-end review: checking estimated tax payments, reviewing Roth conversion opportunities before the window closes, confirming RMDs have been satisfied, and coordinating charitable giving decisions before December 31
HSA / FSA / 529 Plans
Health Savings Accounts offer a triple tax advantage: contributions are pre-tax, growth is tax-free, and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. Canter Wealth helps clients maximize HSA contributions as part of a long-term tax strategy, not just as a healthcare
account. 529 Plans offer similar advantages for education funding and in some cases estate planning.
1031 Exchange Coordination
For clients with investment real estate, a 1031 exchange allows you to defer capital gains taxes on a sale by reinvesting proceeds into a like-kind property. We work alongside your real estate advisor and CPA to ensure 1031 timing, identification periods, and replacement property decisions align with your overall financial plan.
Navigating New Tax Law
Tax laws are forever changing. Shifts in income brackets, estate exemptions, deduction rules, and retirement account regulations can have an immediate and substantial impact on your financial plan.
Our team monitors legislative developments year-round and adjusts your plan proactively. When the rules change, we want you to hear it first from us.
Tax Planning for Pre-Retirees & Retirees in San Diego
Compensation
Fee-Only
We are compensated only by our clients. No commissions, no product revenue, no referral fees. This is what makes objective tax planning possible — we have no financial incentive to recommend anything other than what we believe is best for your tax situation.
What fee-only means →Legal Standard
Fiduciary
As a Registered Investment Advisor, we are legally required to act in your best interest at all times. That obligation extends to every tax planning recommendation we make.
What fiduciary means →Credential
CFP® Professionals
Every Canter Wealth advisor holds the CFP® designation. The CFP® curriculum covers tax planning as one of its core competencies — not as an afterthought.
About the CFP® credential →