Cynthia de Fazio 00:00
Welcome to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia de Fazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti Sr and Henry Lande of Empower Wealth and Tax and to our viewers at home, thank you for spending time with us each and every week, you know that Phil and Henry are very passionate about planning for taxes, especially when it comes to year end, and that’s what today’s show is all about. Making some moves right now to make sure that you’re in the best possible position when it comes to taxes. So, Phil, how are you today?
Philip Capriotti 00:56
Good morning. Cynthia. It’s a blessing to be with you today.
Cynthia de Fazio 00:59
It’s a blessing to be with you as well. Thank you so much. And Henry, how are you doing?
Henry Lande 01:04
Great. It’s a good day. Any day we’re together, it’s a good day.
Cynthia de Fazio 01:06
Yes, it is. It’s a blessing. And I know it’s just been so busy, it’s amazing to me just to see all of the interest that comes, of course, from the television shows, the radio. Just, people are curious how to get ahold of you. So, Phil, how do people get a hold of you? Let’s start right there. Do they call a number, click a QR code? What do they do?
Philip Capriotti 01:24
They do both. They call the number and click the QR code. No, either. Either one is fine. For those of you who’ve been watching for the last five plus years, I’ve been telling you for the longest time that this is a generational practice, that we’re going to grow this company, and we’re and this is designed to be part of our legacy. As part of it, recruiting intelligent, mannerly, very well versed, certified financial planners like Henry is one of my most important priorities. We are opening up our Lakeway B caves office in the first week in December, and we’re going to be opening up two other offices in January, and two in 2026 we’re going to be opening up our Dripping Springs and also Bernie office. We’re going to open up offices in the entire area, and we are recruiting certified financial planners. And what I’m looking for is partners. I’m looking for folks that are young. I want between the ages of 2523 and 35 maybe 40. To become partners, you have to be certified financial planner, you have to understand taxes, you have to be willing to work with a team and to grow a company and to be a partner, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. And Henry is a perfect example of this growth. Yes, I’ve had folks say, How old are you? Well, why should I work with you? You’re in retirement yourself. And I’m like, Well, no, I’m actually just getting started, but the fact of the matter is, we want you, folks, so, here’s my thought, my thought is, we want to work with you, but we want our children, our children to work with your children especially. So, let’s go ahead and talk about today’s topic.
Cynthia de Fazio 03:18
Wonderful. Thank you, Phil and Henry. I’m going to put you in the hot seat for a little bit, because I know that you’re passionate not only about tax planning, financial planning, all of it overall, but especially when it comes to implementing some year-end strategies for your clients. That really gets the wheels going for you. Because, you know, there’s some things that they can take advantage of that perhaps they haven’t thought about until they come in and they sit down with you talk to me a little bit about some of these things that we should be looking at before the end of the year. Yeah.
Henry Lande 03:45
I mean, there’s a plethora we’re going to blanket cover a few of them today. Start getting the wheels turning in your head so you can think through it. But really, there are three main ones that I would say must get done. Must get done sooner than later. Okay, don’t wait until the last minute, first and foremost would be your required minimum distributions. So, you’re required to take a certain amount of qualified accounts every year if you’re going to be doing so, make sure it’s done, otherwise you could incur a penalty. But another way that we’ve been able to help our clients and help our clients help causes that are close to them, is by doing qualified charitable distributions, so taking a portion or all of the required minimum distribution and sending it directly to a 501- a registered 501(c)(3) so there are tons, thousands and thousands of these organizations out there. It doesn’t really matter which one, but if you have a cause that you like to give, to continually consider utilizing that to accomplish that, and then you won’t receive any of it on your tax return, so you can still continue gifting the charity gets the benefit of you not paying taxes on it first, and it going directly to them, and you get the benefit of not putting it on your tax return.
Cynthia de Fazio 04:54
And I’m so glad you brought that up, because there’s a difference. And correct me if I’m wrong, but people that have made the mistake of actually. Taking the RMD, putting it into their own checking account, and then writing that check, that can actually be a very bad move. So, thank you for clarifying that. Please talk about that a little bit further, how it has to be sent directly to the charity.
Henry Lande 05:12
Yeah. So, most of these 501(c)(3), organizations have a DTC number, and you will set up a direct link. You know, if it’s a church organization, you can go talk to their back office. If it’s Salvation Army, you can go onto their website. All of them will have a directed way of sending it directly to them. That is how you go about doing it. Never, ever, ever send the check directly to yourself and then them. Otherwise, the $100 you were going to gift, that was $100 of income to you, whatever your tax rate was at you pay and then they get the remainder.
Cynthia de Fazio 05:42
I’m sure a lot of people make that mistake without the proper guidance, of course, Phil.
Philip Capriotti 05:47
Oh, the only thing I wanted to add is we actually do all of the paperwork and administrative work for all qualified charitable distributions, QCDs. One of the nice things about having such an expense, expensive, expansive back office. And I say back office, I’m talking about our partners, our administrators. We have eight different administrators. It is customer service, so we want to be able to provide that service, and we want to be able to do it ASAP. One of the other, one of the other mistakes that many folks make is not to do Roth conversions before the end of the year. Normally, with our clients, if you’re working with an advisory firm that’s not looking at doing Roth conversions on your expected income in the first quarter of the year and then doing Clean up on aisle four or quarter four in the fourth quarter of the year, there’s a problem that you’re making, especially with all the new deductions. With this Big Beautiful Bill for seniors, we have a bonus deduction of up to $12,000 if you’re married filing joint this has opened up a lot, an unbelievable, gigantic opportunity for folks. I’ve had folks come in and say, Well, I was going to do my Roth conversions, but I’m going to do them before I file my taxes. You have to do it before the 31st, I would say, all Roth conversions should be done before December 15 of the year that you’re doing them. You can’t wait till you file that tax return. You have to do the Roth conversions by the 15th, we say by the 15th, because it takes time to process the paperwork. If your financial advisor is recommending that you don’t do Roth conversions without working up a comprehensive tax plan like I say often, Run, Run Forrest, run, run right over to Empower Wealth and Tax and let us help you out with that, because this is also a key strategy that is missed more times than not.
Cynthia de Fazio 07:48
Henry, how often do you find that people are calling a little too late, like they want to make some changes, they want to use some strategies, but they’ve missed that window of opportunity without working with both of you?
Henry Lande 07:58
Many times, a lot of people tend to think retroactively, so they’ll get their first 1099 in the mail come February the year after, and it’s too late, typically, to take advantage of some of the year-end type strategies that we’re discussing today. We’re at a perfect time period now where let’s get our ducks in a row. The year’s getting close to a close. Let’s get in. Let’s have these conversations now, that way we can help you before the year does end.
Cynthia de Fazio 08:23
Henry, thank you, Phil, you’ve come up with Empower tax I love this, the empowertaxbill.com. Talk a little bit about that before we take our first commercial break. What can people find by visiting that website, by clicking the QR?
Philip Capriotti 08:37
I would say to all of the viewers, if you feel as though you’re paying too much in taxes. Click empowertaxbill.com just click on it, okay. Set up an appointment to come in and talk to one of our tax professionals, one of our Certified Financial Planning Specialists. Come in. You can talk with me as well. You, we can talk with our tax team as well. But click empowertaxbill.com and set up a complimentary consultation to come in and talk with us. How often do you get an opportunity to talk with a professional without having to pay some sort of a service fee? So, this is an excellent opportunity. There’s no obligation to work with us. As you know, you’ve been watching the show for over five, close to six years now. Click empowertaxbill.com if you have an IRA and have not done Roth conversions, or feel as though you’re missing opportunities, or don’t know whether you’re missing opportunities, click empowerrothquiz.com, empowerrothquiz.com set up an appointment or click the QR code, come on in. That’s a big conversation.
Cynthia de Fazio 09:41
Phil, thank you so much. Henry, thank you so much to the viewers at home. The number to call is 888-818-6557, again, 888-818-6557, again. If you’re curious about what your current tax burden is, go ahead and visit the empowertaxbill.com, empowertaxbill.com, there’s a QR code at the bottom corner of your screen. You can click on that for the fast track to get your information and the report put together. Also, Phil mentioned empowerrothquiz.com another one that you definitely want to take advantage of. Empowerrothquiz.com, click on that QR code and see if a Roth conversion would benefit your specific situation. We’re going to take a very short commercial break here on Retire Smart Austin. Don’t go anywhere. We’re talking all about tax planning and implementing some strategies before years end. Stay tuned.
Philip Capriotti 10:32
Hello. My name is Phil Capriotti. You know some of the folks that come into our office are concerned that they might outlive their money in retirement. At Empower Wealth and Tax we’re able to address those concerns by answering your questions and by developing a comprehensive tax efficient retirement income plan. Now this includes a cash flow analysis, a tax and risk assessment as well as a comprehensive investment portfolio review. Remember, this is a complete and comprehensive analysis, and it’s prepared by one of our licensed fiduciaries, absolutely free. As you know, we never accept compensation for this service. We simply want you to be educated and informed. So, call us today or select one of the options below and start empowering your retirement right now.
Cynthia de Fazio 11:29
Welcome back to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia de Fazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti, senior and Henry Lande, certified financial planner at Empower Wealth and Tax. And we’re talking all about some important tax strategies that you can implement before the end of the year. So, thank you for being with us today. I love the fact that in this next segment, we’re going to talk more about charitable giving strategies, because so many people, they want to give to the charities of their choice. They love being able to serve because they’ve been blessed. Let’s talk about some strategies that can be implemented. One is the donor advised fund. What is that, exactly, Henry? The DAX.
Henry Lande 12:09
Yeah. So, it’s a really unique way to gift to charities. Over time, I have worked with executives. I have worked with people that have worked hard and saved well and invested right? A common theme is they may have bought a stock for $10 back in the day, and now it’s worth 100 Well, great. You’ve made money on it. You’ve done exactly what you wanted to on an investment side, but you’re going to have to pay capital gains tax if you were to sell that and utilize it. A donor advised fund is a way of taking an appreciated stock. Adding it to a donor advised fund, you don’t have to pay any taxes, and you get the full write off on your tax return by doing so, wow. So, make that example. Example bigger. Make it $100,000 or whatnot. It makes a really big impact, but you don’t have to gift all of it away at once. The donor advised fund allows for you to donate to any 501(c)(3), organization that exists out there. You can do it in increments as small as $50 and do it over time. I’ve even seen families use it as a legacy, way to get your family excited about the same events. You know, what do you want to give to today? They’ll ask a son or daughter or whomever, and send to that charity for them each Christmas or whenever. So, it’s a really unique tool and an out of the box way to think through, how else can we help? How can we save money on taxes, and how can charity get the most beneficial amount out of it?
Cynthia de Fazio 13:34
That is brilliant, because so often we struggle with this when we are blessed with children that have a lot that they can get on their own gifts, is what I’m trying to say. When you’re like, how much do I put underneath the tree? Because they already have so much. I love the idea of using that tool. You’re actually using what you’ve been blessed with to bless others. That’s a phenomenal tool. Thank you so much for talking about that. Henry, that’s quite impressive. Most definitely. Okay. Phil, this next one I want to ask you. We talked a little bit about these, but QCDs qualified charitable distributions. Why are these important to consider at year’s end?
Philip Capriotti 14:08
Well, first of all, many folks realize or believe that they QCDs only come into play when you start receiving required minimum distributions or RMDs. But that’s not true. So when they originally changed the RMD age from 70 and a half to 72 with the secure act one, and then again, they changed it to 73 or 75 would be your first RMD age, depending on whether you were born before 1960 or after 1960 they never changed the ability to be able to do QCDs at age 70 and a half. Okay, so many folks believe that they can’t do QCDs until they’re either 73 receiving RMDs and because a QCD basically is taking a portion or all of your required minimum distribution at. In directly to the registered 501, c3, charity. Okay, so I would say for most of you folks, if your advisor, again, isn’t talking to you about talking to you about these strategies, understand, you are eligible to do QCDs, and you’re eligible to do them at 70 and a half and by the way, you can contribute up to 105,000 is it per year? 105,000 per year to any charity and have that circumvent your tax return?
Cynthia de Fazio 15:32
Wow. Does that also impact your Social Security and your Medicare premiums? Does it lower those as well?
Philip Capriotti 15:37
It can limit well, it can, first of all, by not taking that RMD, by donating it and form a QCD, excuse me, it could prevent you from jumping your Irma tax on your Part B and Part D of Medicare number one from 185 or 190 sometimes these RMDs will jump your insurance premium for Medicare up fivefold, 600 $700 per month. Wow, per person. Wow. Okay, so we’re talking significant, yeah, so if, again, this is all part of retirement income tax planning. It’s extremely important. But understand the other thing too is many folks believe they can’t do a Roth conversion while they’re collecting RMDs, and that’s simply not true as well. You simply cannot convert the RMD to a Roth. You have to take an amount above that. So, for instance, for many folks that want to wind down these seven, eight-digit retirement accounts, I can send my QCD directly to my charities if I’m charitably inclined and we are okay, then that circumvents my tax return. Now I can take a nice big chunk of that IRA convert it over to the Roth. So, I’m reducing my RMDs each and every year in retirement.
Cynthia de Fazio 16:56
Oh my gosh, that’s fascinating. All of these are strategies that people are unaware of unless they work with a certified financial planner. That’s also a tax planner being married together, Henry. This next one, I want to guide you again. We talked a little bit about this in the prior segment, but direct charitable gifting, the 501(c)(3), talk a little bit about those gifting appreciated assets and some things that you should be concerned about or aware of, I should say.
Henry Lande 17:24
Yeah, so we covered a few examples. You can do a qualified charitable distribution. You can fund a donor advised fund. The third layer would be, you can donate a stock directly to a 501(c)(3), organization. Oh, wow, if you had 100 shares of Company stock that you bought a long time ago, or maybe you got granted a restricted stock unit. You can take it in kind and give it directly to the charity and recommend to them to sell it as soon as they receive it. You want that sale to occur because you’re gifting them a tax deduction on your bill, and you want them to get the same value that they’re giving them. But it’s another great way to look at the tax environment and say, I can get a deduction, I can help out somewhere that I want to and that stock had a big gain in it. You know, it was going to be a tax bill burden for me.
Cynthia de Fazio 18:10
Wow, incredible. I know a lot of people in the viewing audience are hearing a lot of this information for the very first time. Phil, they’re going to want to get a hold of you. They’re going to want to call in and book a consultation talk about how they can reach you folks.
Philip Capriotti 18:24
As you can obviously see, we are not retiring, okay? We are moving on forward and upward by hiring advisors and partners like Henry. So, what I would say is pick up that phone today. 888-818-6557, if you were ever apprehensive about calling because you felt that maybe I would be retired, retiring because I am a baby boomer like you are, think again. Okay, it’s onward and upward. 888-818-6557, or click the QR code, set up an appointment. Come in and meet Henry, meet our entire staff. We are the absolute best in the industry, and in my professional opinion, Empower Wealth and Tax is probably one of the best financial services company to work with. We set the gold standard.
Cynthia de Fazio 19:16
Yes, you most definitely do. Phil and Henry, thank you so much to the viewers at home, the number to call is 888-818-6557, 888-818-6557, book that consultation today let them get to know you, one on one, the team of Empower Wealth and Tax your goals, your dreams, your hopes for retirement, you deserve to have certified financial planners also working with your tax planning purposes, married together in one company, Empower Wealth and Tax your one stop shop and yes, viewers at home, I have known Phil for over six years now, and I can tell you, he is not slowing down. He is continuing. He is growing. He is going. He and his beautiful wife, Jimmy are amazing. So yes, don’t miss the opportunity, call in today.
Philip Capriotti 20:06
You know, folks, as individuals, we strive for better, from a better house to a better career to a better life for our kids, but when it comes to retirement, What Does better mean to you? More income, a flexible lifestyle, better solutions, a better retirement begins with a customized plan for you and your family that highlights your goals and objectives in retirement. So, to get your complimentary written financial plan, call us at the number you see here. You only retire once, so this is your opportunity to plan for better. Thank you very much and have a blessed day.
Cynthia de Fazio 20:51
Welcome back to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia DeFazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti Sr and Henry Lande of Empower Wealth and Tax. We’re talking all about the importance of working not only with a certified financial planner, but also a certified financial planner that just happens to be a tax planner. Those two things are crucial to marry together for your retirement success again, allow that to empower you as you go forward. Gentlemen, today’s show is so important, obviously talking about tax planning strategies that can be implemented before the end of year. If you will talk a little bit more in depth about tax loss harvesting, what exactly is that? And gentlemen, which one of you would like to tackle that first? Because I know you both want to.
Philip Capriotti 21:33
So, I’m going to let Henry go ahead and kick it off, and then I’ll kind of close it up you and I’ll close it up just like old times.
Cynthia de Fazio 21:41
Yes, that sounds great. Thank you for sharing.
Henry Lande 21:44
Yeah, so tax loss harvesting is essentially taking a stock that has gone down in value and selling it. Some people say I don’t want to sell something when it’s down, that just means I lose money. But the reality is that loss gets transferred over to a tax return. It can be used to offset a little bit of your ordinary income, but the more important thing is, if it’s a bigger loss, it can be used to offset future gains that you may have in your portfolio. It’s not always bad to sell a loser. Sometimes it is beneficial. On the other side of the financial planning spectrum that I tend to live, breathe and die in.
Cynthia de Fazio 22:19
Okay, okay, and a lot of people don’t think about tax loss harvesting, Phil, but you’ve been talking about that since you and I first started filming together, way back when, the importance of understanding it and actually utilizing it. It’s not just to set it and forget it, but really, it’s hands on. It’s active management there.
Philip Capriotti 22:37
It’s a dynamic retirement income. It’s a dynamic retirement strategy to use to reduce your tax return. Or Europe kind of messed that one up. Let’s try that again. Great tool. What I like to do is, I like to take the losses against the gains and then provide my client with tax free income. So, it’s much more effective than, say, just a Muni bond ladder, a ladder portfolio. The other thing I like to use, because if you don’t use it, you do lose it. I like to take losses for many folks, especially folks that have huge RMDs. I like to take these losses and apply them towards Roth conversions. So, I have a net zero taxable liability when I do a Roth conversion. I can’t begin to tell you, since Cynthia, how many 1000s of advisors, hundreds I personally interviewed? Okay, because I interview them across the across the country that don’t use this one tool. And to me, I look at the, look at, look at how many of these clients are underserved. They’re being underserved by the very advisor they’re paying to look out look after their best interest. Yes, so it doesn’t make any sense. And so again, this is why we started this company 20 years ago, and here’s to the next 200 years, as far as I’m concerned.
Cynthia de Fazio 24:02
Absolutely, because all of these things tie into proper tax planning and just empowering your overall retirement years. I mean, Phil, obviously you have an amazing website, but talk a little bit more in depth about the two that we’re so focused on. Empowertaxbill.com. Empowerrothquiz.com. I know you want to say something, because I saw you getting ready.
Philip Capriotti 24:20
So, I was warming up. So if some of the strategies you’ve heard today or last week are foreign to you, are strategies that you either don’t understand, and if you don’t understand them, obviously your advisor is not talking to you about them or explaining them to you, or strategies that you’re not utilizing, I would say, click on empowertaxbill.com. Let’s help you reduce taxes for next year and for the years that follow. And let’s also click on empowerrothquiz.com. If you have not been converting your IRA each and every year doing a mock tax. Return to determine how much you can convert into a tax-free Roth IRA, which you do not have to take required minimum distributions from, I would say, click on empowerrothquiz.com answer a few questions and then book your complimentary appointment with either myself or Henry or one of our other licensed and certified planners. We have a great staff. I’m very proud of our people, I truly am, and I’m very proud of the service that we offer. You know, we offer three complimentary interviews. All you have to do is click the QR code, answer a few questions and set up the appointment with appropriate advisors. So, click empowertaxbill.com and or empowerrothquiz.com or click them both. Okay, and come on in, set up an appointment and come visit with us.
Cynthia de Fazio 25:48
I think it’s so important, because obviously Henry, when we started today’s show, we were talking about the importance of truly being proactive when it comes to being at the end of the year. We’re not talking about tax preparation when you see your accountant and you give them a pile of stuff. We’re talking about true, intricate, detailed tax planning. Again, reiterate to the viewers at home why that’s so important to know the difference. We have about a minute and 45 seconds left.
Henry Lande 26:11
Yeah. The main thing is, just like, you want to have a plan of having money left at the end of your retirement plan, if that’s your goal, is to spend money, don’t you want to maximize that and have the most money that you can have. Yes, planning is the same way with taxes. We don’t want to be retroactive and say, Oh, we could have done that. We should have done that. We stay on top of all the tax codes. Phil and I geek out daily reading the news and saying, Hey, this might happen in December. Do you think we’ll get lucky enough with the new bill coming out? Right? But it’s important to stay on top of those things. And if you don’t have time, that’s why we’re here. We want to work for you. Want to help you and your family moving forward.
Cynthia de Fazio 26:45
Most definitely.
Philip Capriotti 26:46
And if you don’t have a tax plan, I would say, give us a call today, and let’s give us a tax plan for 2026 and 2027 and 28 and onward. So, if you, the folks that are listening, if you’re high net worth, or even if you’re I would say, comfortable and you don’t have a tax plan as part of your retirement income plan. Give us a call. Dial, 888-818-6557, you’re missing the boat. Now, I’ve had one person in my entire career say I don’t mind paying the IRS more. I know I’ve paid them hundreds of 1000s of dollars through the course of my retirement. But I don’t have any children. I don’t mind giving them all of it. And I say for that person, okay, that’s good. Maybe you might have a charity you might want to give that money to, but if the IRS is your charity, don’t make the call. If it’s not your charity, give us a call. 888-818-6557, it’s a pleasure to be with you all.
Cynthia de Fazio 27:41
Phil, thank you so much, Henry, thank you to the viewers at home. Thank you for spending time with us on Retire Smart Austin, be safe, be happy and be blessed. We’ll see you back one week from today. Take care now. Remember tax planning empowers your financial future. Take care.