North Texas Dentistry Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 21

ability to harvest capital losses against capital gains, donate appreciated shares to charity, implement a step-up in basis, and take foreign tax credits. While these opportunities have more or less importance depending on your goals and circumstances, they become unavailable for stocks held in tax-sheltered accounts. In short, arriving at – and maintaining – the best asset location formula for you and your unique circumstances is something of an art as well as a science. That’s one reason why it’s important to have a well-coordinated adviser team, to ensure that you’re making best use of all of the wealth-building opportunities available to you, including but not limited to asset location. Organized Alliances: Do Your Advisers Get Along? It’s important to manage your investments tax efficiently. But what about when it comes time to transfer your wealth – bequeathing it to heirs and making meaningful donations? And what about your tax filings themselves? Is your accountant aware of what your investment manager is up to, and are both of them informed of pertinent details related to your estate planning? In short, are key members of your financial team – your estate planning attorney, investment adviser, tax professional, insurance providers and others – acting in isolation or in coordinated concert with one another? Even if each is seeking to best manage tax-related events within his or her specialized area of expertise, if there is little or no coordination among their activities, unnecessary (taxable) gaps or overlaps may occur when key communications break down. As we’ve covered in this series, tax-wise investing includes: n Establishing an effective Investment Policy Statement n Making best use of available taxsheltered or tax-free investment accounts n Investing tax efficiently yourself n Selecting fund managers who invest tax efficiently on your behalf n Appropriately locating your more and less tax-efficient holdings among your taxable and tax-favored accounts n Ensuring that all of the members of your financial team are acting in taxefficient concert with one another across the spectrum of your financial activities All this and more is why the final piece in the puzzle is to engage a wealth manager like Bland Garvey to organize the many moving parts and players involved, keep an eye on it all over time, and help you and your specialized team members make adjustments when appropriate. The savings achieved can more than offset your investment in ongoing oversight of your tax-wise wealth. That’s a good idea, any time of the year. Bland Garvey, P.C. is located at 2600 N. Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. For information, please visit www.blandgarvey.com, send email to: [email protected] or call (972) 231-2503. John Garvey, Jr., CPA/PFS Chief Executive Officer Joining Bland Garvey, PC in 1991, John is the firm’s Managing Partner and shareholder in charge of tax and consulting service engagement. As investment advisor he also manages our affiliated Bland Garvey Wealth Advisors, LLC. He has been instrumental within our affiliated firms’ mission to provide integrated accounting and wealth management partnerships for each of our clients. His decades-long background in general accounting and his hands-on expertise in various facets of dental practice and business planning have provided an excellent