St. Joseph, MI
Tax planning and coordination in St. Joseph, MI
From our office in St. Joseph, Aspirean Wealth serves individuals and families across Benton Harbor and Southwest Michigan, many of them owners of closely-held and family businesses. Tax planning sits under one coordinated team here, alongside the investment plan and the estate documents, rather than in a conversation of its own each spring.
Tax planning inside the investment plan
Realization and loss harvesting
We set a gains budget for the year before we trade, so what gets realized is a decision rather than a byproduct of rebalancing. When markets give us the opportunity, we harvest losses to carry against the gains you would otherwise recognize, keeping the wash-sale rules in view as we do it. The aim is an April with no surprise bill attached to it.
Charitable giving
Giving appreciated stock instead of cash moves a low-basis position off your balance sheet without realizing the gain, and it can fund a donor-advised fund in a year when your income runs unusually high — the year a business sells, for instance. After the qualifying age, a qualified charitable distribution sends money straight from an IRA to the charity. We work out which of these fits the year you are actually having.
Roth conversions and bracket management
Between the year you stop working and the year required distributions begin, many households sit in a lower bracket than they are likely to see again. We use that window deliberately — filling a bracket to its top with a Roth conversion, then stopping — instead of letting later distributions fill it for you.
Working with your CPA
Our team includes CFP® and CPA professionals in-house, and they coordinate directly with the accountant who prepares your return. We do not replace your CPA. What changes is that the plan and the return stop being two separate conversations: we share the year’s realized gains and the moves we have planned before filing season, so nothing on the return is the first your preparer has heard of it.
Events that change the tax picture
A business sale is the clearest case, because whether the QSBS §1202 exclusion applies depends on choices made well before the closing table. Vesting dates and the timing of an option exercise move income between years. Retirement changes which accounts you draw from and which bracket you land in. And states do not agree: Michigan, Indiana, and California tax the same event differently, so a move across a state line is a tax event as much as a change of address. Many of our clients move between our three regions, or work with us nationally through our midwest and west coast offices, and we plan around the state that will receive the return.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have a minimum asset level?
Yes. We best serve individuals with at least $1 million in investable assets, including 401(k) plan assets, or more complex financial situations. Our minimum annual fee is $7,500 for clients below that threshold.
How are you compensated?
We are a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor and a fiduciary, paid via a percentage of the assets we manage.
Do you prepare my tax return?
No. We plan the year and coordinate directly with the CPA who files your return, so the plan and the paperwork agree rather than arriving at the same numbers by accident.
Other services in St. Joseph, MI
- Financial advisors in St. Joseph, MI
- Financial planning in St. Joseph, MI
- Investment management in St. Joseph, MI
- Wealth management in St. Joseph, MI
- Estate & legacy planning in St. Joseph, MI
- Risk management planning in St. Joseph, MI
Our office in St. Joseph, MI
505 Pleasant St, Suite 401St. Joseph, MI 49085
(844) 687-5342 · Directions & contact
Meet with us
If you’d like to talk through the tax side of your situation, we’d like to hear from you.
Meet with usSt. Joseph, MI — 505 Pleasant St, Suite 401, St. Joseph, MI 49085 · (844) 687-5342