Financial advisors are specialists in product—those instruments that may help you get a higher return on your investment dollars. However, few of these professionals are educated and updated on the changing tax code that could bear a heavy consequence in taxes during retirement. We work directly with clients and our services extend to financial advisors across the nation who seek our expertise on behalf of their clients. The important thing to remember is that the single largest expense you will have in retirement will be taxes—our job is to minimize that cost.

If there is one important thing for all pre-retirees to understand is that a tax preparer is not qualified to offer tax advice. Your stockbroker—definitely not qualified. And most financial planners are purveyors of recommending product—they are not tax specialist. And keep in mind that that the US Tax Code is a moving target—it changes regularly and decisions that you mad in 2020 will have a different outcome in 2021.

It’s easy to assume that you are paying the least amount of taxes each year when your taxes forms are provided to you to sign. WRONG. Over 70 percent of financial planning cases, the tax code is not adhered to and savings of tens of thousands of dollars each year is missed. The lack of tax planning is common.

One of the most vulnerable targets of taxation are widows. In addition to the devastating loss of their soul mates, the tax code is cruel. Not only will they lose a large part of their social security, they are taxed in a higher tax bracket as a single woman. And the sad fact is that 90% of women will be alone in their life and they will be the hardest hit without a tax plan. At Robert Martinelli Tax Planning we focus on today and the future. We can assess the unexpected costs that happen in life and ensure that widows are protected against the tax changes in your retirement years. Let’s talk. Let us help.