Tag: Tax Planning

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7 Costly Financial Planning Mistakes You’re Making (And How to Avoid Them!) [Ep. 167]

7 Costly Financial Planning Mistakes You’re Making (And How to Avoid Them!) [Ep. 167]

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How well do you truly know your tax bracket? Did you know that not knowing enough could cost you thousands?

Get ready to learn some critical financial planning mistakes that might secretly derail your financial security.

This week on the Life Unlimited podcast, Larry Heller identifies the seven most common financial mistakes people make and how to avoid them—such as lacking knowledge about their tax bracket and neglecting estate planning updates. 

Key conversations include:

  • Understanding Your Tax Bracket: Learn why knowing your tax bracket is essential for maximizing opportunities like Roth conversions and minimizing overpayments.
  • Zero Capital Gain Brackets: Discover how to take advantage of tax-free gains to grow your wealth.
  • Investment Pitfalls: Avoid the dangers of chasing past investment performance and align your strategy with your goals.
  • Estate Planning Essentials: Ensure your estate planning documents are up to date and reflect life’s changes.
  • Liability Insurance: Protect yourself and your family with adequate coverage, including an umbrella policy for uninsured motorist protection.
  • Heir and Spouse Preparedness: Steps to prepare your loved ones, including non-financial spouses, for managing wealth.
  • Spending and Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement: Avoid overspending while ensuring your savings last throughout your lifetime.

Actionable Takeaway: Through practical examples and insightful advice, Larry highlights the importance of staying informed and proactive with your finances. 

 

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Protecting What Matters Most: Estate Planning for Women with Allison Dolzani [Ep. 166]

Protecting What Matters Most: Estate Planning for Women with Allison Dolzani [Ep. 166]

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Estate planning goes beyond documents—it’s about protecting loved ones, achieving financial independence, and aligning plans with long-term goals.

In this episode of the Life Unlimited podcast, host Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, sits down with Allison Dolzani, estate planning attorney and partner at Julie Kessler, LLP, to explore strategies tailored to women navigating major life transitions like divorce, widowhood, or retirement.

They discuss critical topics, including naming guardians for minor children, safeguarding inherited assets, and maintaining up-to-date estate plans. Allison also emphasizes the importance of foundational documents like healthcare proxies, powers of attorney, and trusts in creating a solid plan.

With actionable insights on avoiding costly mistakes and tailoring plans to personal and family goals, Allison provides a clear roadmap for building an estate plan that safeguards your future and protects what matters most.

Key Points Covered:

  • Unique Considerations for Women: Proactively update estate plans after major life events and align documents with custody agreements.
  • Guardianship Essentials: Designate primary and successor guardians to ensure your children are cared for according to your wishes.
  • Critical Documents: Secure essential documents such as wills, trusts, healthcare proxies, and powers of attorney for comprehensive protection.
  • Managing Inherited Assets: Protect personal wealth from marital commingling and preserve assets for future generations.
  • Legacy Planning: Create a lasting impact by incorporating charitable contributions or personal wishes into your estate plan.
  • Tax Planning: Navigate challenges like New York’s “cliff tax” and take advantage of exemptions tailored for single women.
  • Empowering Financial Independence: Use estate planning to confidently manage transitions, secure financial stability, and achieve long-term goals.
  • And much more!

Actionable Takeaway: Estate planning is vital to stabilizing your family’s future and building financial independence. Start today by consulting an estate planning professional to create a plan tailored to your unique needs.

Connect with Larry Heller: 

Connect with Allison E. Dolzani: 

About Our Guest:

Allison Dolzani specializes in estate planning, estate administration, and Surrogate’s Court practice. Allison represents domestic and international individuals and multigenerational families in sophisticated estate planning, emphasizing minimizing the impact of gift, estate, generation-skipping transfer, and income taxes.

Allison joined the firm in September 2018. Before joining Julie Kessler LLP, Allison was an associate at a New York City law firm focused on estate administration and litigation.

Allison earned her law degree from Touro Law School. While in law school, Allison served as Research Editor of Touro Law Review and authored Intellectual Property and Constitutional Law articles.  Allison graduated magna cum laude from Western New England University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.

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Navigating S Corps: The Pros, Cons, and Tax Implications for Small Businesses [Ep. 165]

Navigating S Corps: The Pros, Cons, and Tax Implications for Small Businesses [Ep. 165]

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Choosing the right business structure isn’t just about compliance – it’s about maximizing tax efficiency and aligning with your long-term goals.

Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, and William Huether, CPA, CGMA, MBA, discuss how S-Corporations can help business owners save on taxes, streamline compliance, and drive growth. They compare S-Corps to C-Corps, LLCs, and partnerships, offering insights on tax benefits, drawbacks, and strategies to align business structures with long-term goals. 

With practical advice on avoiding double taxation and leveraging pass-through entity tax (PTET) benefits, William provides a roadmap for optimizing your business structure.

Key Points Covered:

  • Why S-Corps Work: Reduce double taxation, save on self-employment taxes, and enjoy a corporate framework’s perks
  • PTET Benefits: Discover how to bypass the $10,000 SALT cap using pass-through entity tax strategies
  • Entity Selection Simplified: Weigh the pros and cons of S-Corps, C-Corps, LLCs, and partnerships to find the best fit for your business
  • Compliance Essentials: Stay on top of filing deadlines, salary requirements, and state-specific rules like New York elections
  • Avoiding Pitfalls: Learn about reasonable salary requirements, local jurisdiction limitations, and transition strategies between entity types
  • And much more!

Actionable Takeaway: The right business structure could be the key to significant tax savings and long-term financial success. Consult a CPA or tax professional to evaluate your options and create a tax plan tailored to your goals.

 

Resources:

Connect with Larry Heller: 

Connect with William Huether: 

 

About Our Guest:

William Huether is a Certified Public Accountant with over eleven years of experience with clients in a broad range of industries, including the retail, wholesale, distribution, restaurant/hospitality, not-for-profit, solar, investment company, manufacturing, and real estate industries.  William holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation from the AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

William works in Sheehan’s assurance practice and provides auditing, accounting, and consulting services to clients in various industries in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and International Financial Reporting Standards.  William also provides a variety of tax planning, compliance, and consulting services to individuals, corporations, flow-through entities, and trusts. He is an active member of the firm’s recruiting committee, a mentor in the firm’s career advisor program, and serves on the firm’s Quality Control Committee.

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Unlocking Tax Strategies to Optimize Your Retirement (Ep. 152)

Unlocking Tax Strategies to Optimize Your Retirement (Ep. 152)

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Are you effectively using tax strategies to boost your retirement investments?

Explore this insightful episode of the Life Unlimited Podcast featuring Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®. Larry delves into strategic tax planning and investment strategies designed to optimize retirement savings both during your working years and in retirement. Drawing from his experience as a former CPA, he underscores the significance of not only what you earn but also what you retain after taxes. Tune in as Larry highlights key strategies like capital gains management, tax loss harvesting, and the advantages of ETFs over mutual funds for tax efficiency. The episode emphasizes the importance of proactive tax planning for a secure and financially efficient retirement.

Larry Discusses:

  • The importance of understanding the advantages of ETFs for minimizing capital gains taxes
  • How and when to implement this strategy to reduce taxes by offsetting gains with losses
  • Insights on deciding which retirement account fits best depending on your current and future tax brackets
  • Maximizing tax benefits by converting during lower-income years, benefiting both the account holder and heirs
  • The necessity for a coordinated approach between financial advisors and tax professionals to optimize retirement strategies
  • And more!

 

Resources: 

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The Great Wealth Transfer, Part 1: From Boomers to Millennials (Ep. 141)

The Great Wealth Transfer, Part 1: From Boomers to Millennials (Ep. 141)

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Ever heard of the Great Wealth Transfer? It’s about to change everything you thought you knew about money.

Imagine a staggering $68 to $74 trillion cascading down over the next decade or so. Could this make millennials the richest age group the U.S. has ever seen?

In this two-part series, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, offers a glimpse into the psyche of the baby boomers as they navigate this monumental transition of wealth to the millennials. Learn how you can prepare as Larry covers such topics as taxes, Roth conversions, estate planning, and the benefits of being diligent with your record-keeping.

Part 1 of this Great Wealth Transfer series highlights:

  • The intricacies of taxes associated with this massive wealth movement
  • A review of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) and Roth conversions
  • How to engage in family tax planning, including the importance of candid conversations 
  • Eyebrow-raising tales like the Miami Dolphins’ sale driven by unforeseen tax burdens
  • The often overshadowed aspects of estate planning, such as safeguarding assets and diligent record-keeping
  • And much more!

 

Resources: 

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Five Important Steps to Take Before Retiring (Ep. 99)

Five Important Steps to Take Before Retiring (Ep. 99)

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What are you going to do every day in retirement? As you think a little bit more about retirement, there are five important planning steps to keep in mind. 

In this episode, Larry Heller discusses each of the five steps to start planning for a well lived retirement. This episode will help you start visualizing your dream retirement and what it looks like for you!

Larry discusses: 

  • Visualizing your future life
  • Tax and legacy planning
  • How much money is enough money
  • The impacts of long-term illness
  • And much more!

Resources: 

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