From Tax Stress to Tax Strategy: Building Your Foundation

When you open your tax bill, do you usually think, “This is terrible—how can I avoid this?” If so, you’re not alone. But taxes don’t have to be something you dread. With clear goals and the right team in place, tax season can feel less like a scramble and more like an annual progress check—a moment to see where you stand and adjust your strategy as needed.

The key to handling taxes successfully is moving from a reactive approach to a C-suite approach, treating taxes like any other business operation you’ve planned for and can execute effectively. We’ve helped many clients to stress-free tax management using this three-step process.

1. Define Your True Goals

Before any strategy can work, you first need clarity on what you’re trying to accomplish. Ask yourself these questions:

• Where do you want to be in 10-20 years?
• What does financial freedom mean to your family?
• How do you want to be remembered?

Your tax strategy should reflect your values and goals—whether that’s building a legacy, funding education, or planning for retirement. Without this clarity, you risk optimizing for the wrong outcomes. For instance, strategies that minimize this year’s taxes might create unexpected estate tax burdens for your heirs, the opposite of the legacy you intended.

2. Build Your Financial Foundation

The next step is to understand your current financial situation. If you’re like many of our clients, your financial picture may be more fragmented than you realize, with 401(k)s from past employers, equity compensation at various stages, or estate documents created years ago. Focus on these key tasks to get you started:

• Create comprehensive financial statements that include your net worth and cash flow.
• Consolidate any scattered accounts and strategies that have accumulated over the years.
• Schedule a meeting with your CPA to evaluate your most recent tax returns, looking for patterns and identifying any missed opportunities.

Setting this groundwork helps support more informed financial decisions during tax season and beyond.

3. Assemble Your Team

With more than five decades of experience in wealth management, we have observed that clients who work with coordinated teams often express increased confidence in their planning. We believe an effective wealth management approach typically involves collaboration with a highly trained team of financial professionals, including:

• Wealth advisors who understand high-net-worth clients and offer personalized financial planning.
• CPAs with complex wealth experience.
• Estate attorneys familiar with sophisticated wealth structures.

By working together rather than in silos, your team can leverage its collective expertise to better align your investment decisions, tax strategies, and estate plans. For example, a coordinated team may be able to identify tax-loss harvesting opportunities before year-end or spot potential conflicts between estate structures and charitable giving objectives.

The Foundation That Makes Strategy Possible

With your goals, financial picture, and team defined, you’re ready for the next phase: creating a systematic approach that helps turn taxes into an integrated strategy rather than a yearly burden.

Schedule a call with a Linscomb advisor today to learn more about transforming your relationship with taxes.