A written plan, $2,400 or $3,600
Retirement planning
Every source of income you will have, in the order you can draw on it, and the decisions in front of you, written down in plain words.
With your CPA, agent and attorney
Tax-aware investing, worked out with your CPA rather than instead of one
Which accounts to save into and draw from, and when, set out as questions for the person who prepares your tax return.
AI-generated illustration. Not a real home or business.
What tax-aware means here
The plan lists the questions about which accounts to use and when, for your CPA or whoever prepares your tax return. It is not tax advice, and the practice prepares no tax returns.
Most households' savings sit in more than one kind of account: a plan at work, an account opened yourself, an account for a child, plain savings at the bank. Each kind has its own tax rules, which your CPA knows and the plan does not decide.
Being tax-aware, for a plan, means noticing where a decision touches those rules and writing the question down before the decision is made, not after the tax return is filed.
- Questions for your CPA, in writing.
- No tax returns prepared here.
Which accounts, and when, as questions for your CPA
The plan writes these in your words, for the person who prepares your tax return, in the order the decisions come.
If we put more aside through work this year, how would it show on our tax return?
Asked before the year's choices at work are made, not after them.
When the time comes to draw on savings, which account would you have us draw on first, and why?
The plan lists the accounts and the years; the order is a question for the person who sees your whole tax return.
Does doing this in one year rather than another change what we owe?
Selling something, stopping work, starting a pension: the plan notes the timing question wherever one comes up.
Does an account for a child change anything on our state tax return?
The education page prints the one figure New York publishes for it, with its date.
What records do you want kept from the start?
Especially for a side business, rent from a room, or money that comes from family abroad.
Who answers what
The plan
Lists your accounts, when each might be used, and every assumption it makes about them, labeled as one. It sets the questions in the order the decisions come.
Your CPA, or whoever prepares your tax return
Answers the questions with the whole tax return in front of them. Where a decision changes the tax return, theirs is the word that counts.
You
Decide, and act in your own accounts, wherever they already are.
Only a person licensed in New York may call themselves a certified public accountant or a CPA, and nobody here is one. Where a plan touches a tax return, the question goes to yours.
- N.Y. Education Law § 7402 (opens the source in a new tab) Only a person licensed by New York may practice public accountancy or use the title certified public accountant or the designation CPA.
Why the plan stops at the tax return
The person who signs your tax return sees all of it: every kind of income, every deduction, last year's and the year before. A plan sees the part of it that touches the decisions in front of you. So the plan's work is to bring that person the right questions, in writing and in good time, and to change the plan when the answers come back.
If you ask, the practice gives you more than one name for an attorney, an accountant or an insurance professional, and takes nothing from any of them. You choose, and you may already have your own.
There is nothing to sell here: no insurance, no annuity, no fund, no account. The practice never holds, moves or manages your money; you act on a plan in your own accounts, wherever they already are.
What it costs
The questions on this page are part of every written plan, at the plan's published fee; there is nothing to buy on top of it.
| What it is | What it covers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Written plan | One household, up to two goals, two meetings and the written plan, with sixty days of questions by e-mail. | $2,400 |
| Detailed written plan | A household with a business, two retirement systems, a home purchase or family abroad: two meetings and the written plan, with sixty days of questions by e-mail. | $3,600 |
A written plan is billed in two halves: $1,200 (or $1,800 for a detailed plan) when you sign the written agreement, and the same again when the plan is delivered, which is within ten weeks of the agreement. No fee is billed more than three months ahead.
Related planning
A written plan, $2,400 or $3,600
Planning for business owners
Uneven income, a business that is most of what you own, and a household that still needs its own plan.
Part of every written plan
Estate coordination with your attorney
A list of what you own and how each part would pass, and the questions for the attorney who drafts the documents.
Ask for a first meeting
A first meeting costs nothing, gives no advice and asks nothing of you afterwards: about forty-five minutes, at the office or by video. The office replies in office hours.