“Carpe Diem” suggests seizing the day and doing exactly what you dream of in life. 

Surely taxes detract from this, but they generally don’t make positive life planning impossible.  If tax were the only consideration in life, we could all legally live like panhandlers, combat soldiers, spoiled rich kids without jobs or priests in vows of poverty. If taxes make you feel stuck in your current lifestyle, feel free to vent a little, but feel freer to talk with me about how things might be and ought to be. How can I help you live life to the fullest?

Life transitions are sometimes gratifying and sometimes horrifying, but almost certainly perplexing for the tax and planning issues they generate. If seizing the day is the ideal, you may find silver linings to every cloudy transition. Your preparer has worked through trust issues with dying parents, death and divorce with two wives, and plenty of bumps on the road to financial independence. He won an Offer in Compromise for survivors of suicide and prepared coordinated post-marital returns with stock options. He’s helped families that lost everything in 2008 and those who recovered spectacularly with ISO sales. He understands the subjective side of these issues and ways to address social or family conflict. For a more thorough look at life planning, go to Carpe Diem Financial Life Planning.

The “Kiddie Tax”

• Up to a point, one can avoid income taxes with trusts and gifting strategies, but kiddie taxes and low trust income thresholds limit these strategies.

Tax Planning for College

• What are the most tax efficient ways to save for college or retirement? How can this be done without earning low returns and paying high fees? What are the best credits to take while paying for education?

Tax Planning for Marriage

• Even when love is at stake, some couples have asked: “Will marriage increase our taxes?” Once married, they may ask: “Should we file separately?” If I do the math, you’ll find the answers.

Divorce Tax Planning

• Some partners in need ask “How can I prepare a tax efficient divorce settlement?” Then I will assist with legal strategy. (I usually don’t work with both partners in a divorce.)

Business Failure or Bankruptcy

• How do taxes and personal finances fit into bankruptcies, real estate foreclosures or other problems certain to be more prevalent in the current viral crisis?  Talk to an empathetic advisor who has had both ups and downs in life and who understands alternatives to bank.

Retirement Planning

• See the next section.

Disability Tax Planning

• “What options does my mom’s trust leave for a brother and sister, one of whom has special needs?”

Tax Planning Before and After Death

• How can one arrange one’s resources to pay the least tax — income as well as estate tax — before death and leave the greatest amounts to family, friends, or charity?