You’ve worked hard to build your income and savings. But when tax season arrives, it often feels like the rules are stacked against you.
You look at the number on your return and wonder if you’re paying more than you should. You suspect there are smarter strategies out there, but you’re not sure who to trust or how to find them.
And deep down, you know this isn’t just about this year’s return. It’s about how much of your money you’ll get to keep over a lifetime—and how much will quietly slip away to the IRS.
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Most people think “tax planning” means hiring a CPA to file their return and look for a few deductions.
But that approach is reactive. It looks backward, at what happened last year, rather than forward, at what’s possible over the next 10, 20, or 30 years.
At the same time, most Americans have the bulk of their wealth sitting in tax-deferred accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs.
On paper, those accounts look like assets. In reality, they’re IOUs to the government—a tax time bomb waiting to explode when you retire and start taking withdrawals.
Traditional approaches also fall apart because they lack coordination. Your CPA focuses on filing. Your financial advisor may focus on investments. Your attorney drafts documents.
But without someone looking at the whole picture, major inefficiencies slip through the cracks.
The result? You pay more than you should, you lose flexibility, and you risk leaving your family with an avoidable tax mess.
At Eastman Wealth Strategies, we believe tax planning shouldn’t be about squeezing out one more deduction this year. It should be about giving you clarity, control, and confidence for a lifetime.
Our approach is proactive, not reactive. It looks forward, not backward. And most importantly, it coordinates all the moving pieces—your CPA, your attorney, and your financial strategy—into a unified plan.
The outcomes our clients care about are simple:
Lower lifetime taxes.
Flexibility to access money without penalties or surprise tax hits.
Greater control over when and how income is recognized.
More wealth preserved for their family and causes they care about—not lost to the IRS.
Every client’s plan is unique, but most tax-smart strategies share a few common elements. Here’s what that looks like:
Repositioning assets across different “tax buckets”—taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free—to balance efficiency and flexibility.
Using Roth conversions or 7702-based accounts to build pools of tax-free income for retirement.
Sequencing withdrawals in a way that reduces your lifetime tax exposure, not just your short-term bill.
Coordinating with your CPA and attorney to close gaps and eliminate conflicts.
These aren’t gimmicks or loopholes. They’re proven strategies that the wealthiest families and institutions have quietly used for generations. They can work for you too, when they’re designed properly.
We start with a 30-minute Discovery Call to understand your goals and frustrations. From there, we conduct a tax exposure review, showing you exactly where your current plan may be leaking efficiency.
We then build a Tax Map alongside your Retirement Income Map, stress-testing it against different scenarios.
We review your plan together in simple, understandable terms. When you decide to move forward, we coordinate with your CPA and attorney to implement it, ensuring all parts of your financial life are aligned.
Each year, we revisit your plan, monitor tax law changes, and make adjustments so your strategy stays efficient and relevant.
If you’re not sure how much control and tax efficiency you really have in your plan, our Financial Control & Tax Efficiency Scorecard is the perfect place to start. It takes less than five minutes to complete and gives you instant clarity.
If you’d rather skip the quiz and begin the conversation, schedule a relaxed, 20-minute discovery call. It’s the easiest way to see where taxes may be eroding your future — and how to take back control.
*Disclaimer: Financial Advisors do not provide specific tax/legal advice and this information should not be considered as such. You should always consult your tax/legal advisor regarding your own specific tax/legal situation. Separate from the financial plan and our role as a financial planner, we may recommend the purchase of specific investment or insurance products or account. These product recommendations are not part of the financial plan and you are under no obligation to follow them. Life insurance products contain fees, such as mortality and expense charges (which may increase over time), and may contain restrictions, such as surrender periods.