A wise person once said, "It's not what you earn, it's what you keep." We agree. Effective tax planning lies at the heart of every successful financial planning strategy. The majority of our clients have investments with tax ramifications - long and short-term capital gains, interest and dividends. Tax planning is an important part of retirement planning, due to tax issues with IRAs, required minimum distributions, forward averaging, early withdrawals and so forth. Still other clients have qualified and non-qualified stock options, private or restricted stock, illiquid assets or inherited assets from trusts or relatives. The ownership, use and ultimate disposition of these investments have significant tax consequences.

If that wasn't enough of a problem, state and federal tax laws are constantly being re-written, amended, updated, revised, repealed and corrected in a patchwork quilt of "do's", "don'ts" and "maybe's." Even the most skilled and seasoned tax professional is hard pressed to keep up with it all and successfully navigate all the statutes. The Monitor Group's work revolves around both income and estate tax law. As a result, we focus our attention in areas that impact investments and assets owned by retirement plans, estates, trusts and individuals.

The tax issues we deal with aren't usually answered by Turbo Tax or the columnist in the newspaper. Nor does "one size fit all." As tax planning and tax return professionals, we realize financial advisors must include consideration of the tax impact of every action in a financial plan. Financial planning for the long-term growth and conservation of your wealth requires a myriad of tax-related decisions that allow you to reach your financial objectives and goals. These decisions address every aspect of your financial affairs - investment, income, gift and estate tax issues, charitable objectives and retirement needs. Further, we know each client has a different sensitivity to tax matters.

Some of the things we do for clients tax-wise:

• During the retirement planning process, we take into account income and estate tax issues for both after-tax investments and retirement accounts. Our planning software runs a "mini-tax return" for each year in your future at the federal and state level.
• As we work to develop or review and update your estate plan, we look carefully at income tax issues in addition to the gift and estate tax issues. This may include establishing and managing revocable or irrevocable trusts.
• Developing your investment policy and portfolio design to take into account your particular tax situation and preferences. When possible, we use funds specifically designed to be tax efficient.
• Tax advantaged education funding strategies.
• Charitable planning and gifting, including the establishment of charitable trusts.
• Stock option planning and implementation of liquidation and diversification programs.
• Consideration of deferred compensation and other executive bonus arrangements.
• Where appropriate, preparation of estate, trust and personal tax returns.