Tax-Efficient Investing in Alpharetta, GA
We build and manage your portfolio with taxes in view, so you keep more of what it earns.
Fee-Only • Fiduciary • Independent RIA • CFP®, ChFC® • 30+ Years Serving North Atlanta
How Tax-Efficient Investing Increases What You Keep
Three things decide how much tax you pay on your investments: which account each one sits in, what kind of income it produces, and which accounts you draw from first once you retire.
What We Work Through
We start with what you own and where you own it. That usually turns up accounts that have never been looked at together, most often old 401(k) balances left at former employers alongside a brokerage account that has been managed on its own.
From there we decide which investments belong in which accounts, pick funds with their tax treatment in mind, direct new contributions so those choices hold as your balances grow, and track your gains and losses through the year.
We also look for tax loss harvesting opportunities in your taxable accounts, and read your filed return through a tax return review to see what it says about the year ahead.This work is part of tax planning and investment planning, not a separate service.
Which Accounts Hold Which Investments
Your accounts are taxed three ways: a taxable brokerage account every year, a traditional IRA or 401(k) only when you take money out, and a Roth not at all once the rules are met.
Asset location means deciding which investment goes where. Investments that pay out income every year usually belong in a tax-deferred account. Investments with the most growth ahead of them often belong in a Roth. Investments that pay out little, where you control when gains happen, work well in a taxable account.
The right answer depends on your tax bracket now, the bracket you expect later, and when you plan to spend from each account.
Choosing Funds by How They Are Taxed
Two funds can track the same market and leave you with very different tax bills. A fund that trades often realizes gains inside the fund and passes them on to you, even in a year you bought nothing and sold nothing. Index funds and ETFs generally pass on far less.
This is already how we invest. Our investment philosophy uses globally diversified index and rules-based funds and avoids funds with high management fees. We picked those funds for investment reasons. The tax advantage in taxable accounts comes with them.
The Order You Draw From Accounts Later
Once you are living off your accounts, the order you take money out of them changes what you owe each year. It also affects how much of your Social Security gets taxed and what you pay for Medicare, and it shapes the withdrawals the IRS will require you to take later.
We plan that order as part of your retirement income planning. In early retirement years, when your income may be lower, we look at whether a Roth conversion now would reduce the tax you would otherwise owe on required minimum distributions later.
Fee-only. An annual fee based on assets under management, between 0.75% and 1.25%. No commissions, no product sales, no performance-based fees. Independent means no parent company handing us a list of products to sell, and no incentive to put you in one investment over another.
Why Choose Daner Wealth Management
Two-person firm in Alpharetta. You work directly with Marc, a CFP® and ChFC® with more than 30 years of individual advisory experience, who founded the firm in 2022 after a career at Smith Barney and Wells Fargo.
Independent, SEC-registered, and fiduciary. Client assets are held at Wells Fargo Clearing Services as custodian.
Start With a Conversation
If you have accounts spread across old employers and different platforms, and nobody has looked at them together, that is worth a conversation. The first meeting carries no obligation.
Tax-Efficient Investing FAQs
Get your questions answered about tax-efficient investing.
Building and managing a portfolio with taxes in mind. It covers which investments sit in taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts, which funds you use, and the order you take money out of them later.
There is no single answer, because it depends on the account it sits in. A municipal bond fund can work well in a taxable account and be wasted in an IRA. A fund that trades often can be fine in a tax-deferred account and expensive in a taxable one. What matters is the pairing of investment and account, not the investment on its own.
Usually not much. More often it changes which account a holding sits in and which specific fund you use. The overall mix of investments stays the one your plan calls for.
Generally yes in taxable accounts. The way ETFs are built means they usually pass fewer capital gains on to you than a comparable mutual fund. It is a general pattern rather than a rule that holds every time.
es. We coordinate with your accountant rather than replacing them. We do not prepare or file returns.
