We had some unexpected, meaning unplanned for, gains this year. Unexpected or unplanned for gains mean that you have no chance to act in advance to plan for the increased tax expense. For us, people who are living on our savings, this is a big issue.
Because of this, we decided to hire a tax person. We didn’t want an inexpensive tax guy (HR Block). We wanted someone who will certainly help us lower our taxes for this year, if possible. More importantly though, we wanted someone who will help us address our financial issues so that we can minimize these unexpected issues in the future.
We found someone through a friend and met with him. He has some very credible ideas. I find him a bit aggressive which in turn is hard to deal with but at the same time, it is good to have someone who is not afraid of bad news and will deliver that bad news with the necessary action recommendations.
We got some bad news today. We got some good plans. We got some preliminary ideas that we will vet further in the coming months. Overall, we began something that will probably make our overall savings and portfolio healthier in the long run though there might be some scary stuff going in it for the short term to get it cleaned up.
We’ll also have to see how we work these changes with our current Financial Advisor. It is likely changes are going to be made. I’m not sure how these changes might occur given that I’m not clarvoyant. It could be smooth and everything is great and our FA does everything smoothly and has some positive and cooperative things to add. It could be negative and we could choose to change FA’s. Likely it will be somewhere in the middle.
Stay tuned!