#wealth-shelter

#wealth-shelter

The family is faced with the challenge of appointing a decision-making representative for their mother, who has dementia, without a prior power of attorney in place.

For high-net-worth individuals who declare residence in low- or non-tax jurisdictions such as Florida, Texas, or Puerto Rico, yet continue to circulate between New York, California, Illinois, and other high-tax states, the answer increasingly runs through software. Most tax tracking apps were launched in the 2010s, but they gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as remote work expanded dramatically.

Trump Accounts are designed to be tax-advantaged, long-term savings vehicles for families to leverage on behalf of children born in the US between 2025 and 2028. These accounts include a $1,000 government deposit when they're opened. Families can also make annual contributions of up to $5,000, which can be invested until the child turns 18.

Most employer 401(k) plans allow mid-year changes to the deferral election percentage. Before the bonus pay period, raise the deferral rate high enough to funnel as much of the bonus as possible into the 401(k), up to the annual limit.

The key to selling underperforming holdings at a loss and using those losses to cancel out capital gains on a dollar-for-dollar basis is to bring one's capital gains level down as close as possible to zero. Additionally, it's possible to use $3,000 of capital losses per year to offset other ordinary income, so there's the potential here with such a strategy to actually lower one's overall tax burden by selling the right securities at the correct time.

Choosing a financial advisor is one of the most important money-related decisions you can make, yet many people approach it casually or skip the vetting process altogether. With countless professionals offering financial advice, titles that sound impressive, and complex fee structures, it's easy to lose transparency in the process. In reality, the quality of guidance you receive can vary dramatically depending on who you hire and how they're compensated.

"We are still in the early days of the so-called great wealth transfer," says the lawyer Pierre Valentin, the joint head of art law at Fieldfisher. "The wave started in the US with the sale of collections such as those of Sydell Miller, Mica Ertegun and more recently, Leonard Lauder. The wave is coming to Europe, for example with the auction of the collection of Pauline Karpidas [last] September. I expect that there will be many more of those 'white glove' sales in the next 10 to 15 years because younger collectors collect differently from their parents and grandparents."

This tax year (2025/26), you can add up to £20,000 to one ISA or split the money between several of the various types; the most used being Cash ISAs and Stocks & Shares ISAs. Whichever type of ISA you invest in you pay no income or capital gains tax (CGT) on the returns - no matter how much they are.

Currently, pension savings are not used for estate valuations when calculating IHT charges when someone dies. This means money left in a pension can be passed on without worrying about generating a tax bill. But from the new tax year in April 2027, pensions will be included in estate calculations. This creates a higher chance of pushing the value of an estate above the IHT threshold, currently 325,000.

What gets glossed over in most of these conversations is taxes, as everyone focuses on the accumulation phase by maxing out your 401(k), funneling money into accounts like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, and watching your net worth compound. However, when you retire early and need your portfolio to generate income, the tax bill can be significantly higher than you planned for, particularly if most of your money is in tax-deferred accounts or you've accumulated large unrealized gains in taxable accounts.