August 19, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, hosts Chris Picciurro, CPA, and John Tripolsky break down the 4-Step Tax Planning Implementation Process — the same proprietary framework used in Chris’s CPA practice and within Teaching Tax Flow.
As the team approaches their milestone 150th episode, they spotlight the value of moving from tax ideas to tax results by following a clear, repeatable process: Diagnose, Prescribe, IQ (Suitability) Test, and Implement. Through real-world examples and engaging analogies, Chris and John show how this approach creates tailored, effective strategies that minimize lifetime tax liability — legally and ethically.
What You’ll Learn:
• The four steps of the proprietary tax planning process and how each works
• Why knowing your marginal tax rate is the #1 KPI for tax planning
• How to determine the right prescription for your unique tax needs
• Common pitfalls when implementing tax strategies without suitability checks
• Why execution matters more than simply collecting ideas
Key Insights:
The same structured process works for every case, but the results are always unique. By diagnosing the current tax position, prescribing the right strategies, testing them for suitability, and then implementing them, taxpayers can avoid wasted effort and ensure their plans fit their circumstances.
Notable Quotes:
• “The process is the same for every case, but the results are always unique.”
• “Just because there’s four steps in this process doesn’t mean it necessarily has to take a long time.”
• “Implementation is key. Make some things you could self-implement like a health savings account…”
• “Your marginal tax rate is your number one KPI for your tax planning.”
• “Ideas are cheap, you can find them on TikTok, Instagram, etc. Implementation is valuable.”
Resources:
Episode Sponsor:
Wealth Builders Mortgage Group
wealthbuildersmortgagegroup.com
- (00:00) - Introduction and Episode Overview
- (00:46) - Episode Sponsor: Wealth Builders Mortgage Group
- (01:45) - Introduction to Chris and the Episode Topic
- (03:03) - Four-Step Tax Strategy Process Overview
- (05:45) - Step 1: Diagnose Your Tax Situation
- (09:15) - Step 2: Prescribe Tax Strategies
- (10:48) - Step 3: Suitability and IQ Testing
- (13:06) - Step 4: Implement the Strategy
- (15:34) - Conclusion and Community Engagement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Tripolsky (00:02):
Everybody, welcome back to the Teaching Tax
Flow podcast, episode 149. Weare, yes, one away from 150.
We've got some special plan foryou. Maybe we'll give you a
hint. Maybe we won't.
It's kinda like Christmas. Yourparents wrap something up, let
you see the gift, but you can'topen it yet. We're gonna get
into it. But this episodespecifically, doing something
(00:23):
related to other ones, but we'regonna dive a little deeper into
a process or a strategyimplementation process, to be
exact, which is used in teachingTax Flow, but also in Chris
Pacquero, who is my cohost, ifyou haven't met him yet, in his
private practice. So before weget into it in detail, let's
take a brief moment and thankour episode sponsor.
Ad Read (00:46):
This episode is sponsored by Wealth Builders
Mortgage Group, powered byMovement Mortgage, one of the
top mortgage teams in the nationand a powerhouse in the real
estate investing world. Withover $1,100,000,000 in closed
mortgage volume and more than3,000 investor deals under their
belt. They don't just talk thetalk, they walk it. Their team
(01:07):
specializes in helping shortterm and long term rental
investors scale smart withcustomized lending strategies.
They offer all STR loanproducts, including second home,
investment, non QM, bankstatement, asset based, and
HELOCs.
They also offer all primary homeloan products, too. Whether
you're just starting out orexpanding an existing portfolio,
(01:28):
their unique path of 10 strategyis designed to help you move
from a nine to five job tofinancial independence. If
you're looking for a lendingpartner who truly understands
the investor mindset, visitwealthbuildersmortgagegroup.com
and start building your roadmaptoday.
John Tripolsky (01:45):
Alright, everybody. We are back here
again on the podcast. ChrisMcKierro. Welcome back, sir. How
are doing today?
Chris Picciurro, CPA (01:49):
It's great to be back. How are you doing
today?
John Tripolsky (01:52):
K. You know what? I'm doing good, man. I got
a different hat on. I pulledthis one out of out of the
archives, I think, is and ifanybody that's watched this, you
probably have never seen my hairdone.
And I do that for a number ofreasons. Heck, there's a
strategy behind it. Not a fourstep strategy what we're about
to talk about, but there's astrategy behind it. I don't
wanna make Chris jealous.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (02:10):
Right. You don't want everyone yeah. You
don't you don't wanna show yourflowing locks with a bald man.
John Tripolsky (02:15):
Hey. It happens. And that's, you know, a good
thing we didn't do podcast orvideos way back in the early
ones because that's my longerhair. You know, I cut, like, 12
or 13 inches off at one point.It was pretty long.
But who cares about hair? That'snot why we're here. We're
talking about implementations.Right? So and and those of you
that have listened to previousepisodes, you've heard us always
talk about strategy and taxplanning.
(02:35):
You're probably saying, alright.I know what this is. I don't
need anything else about it, butI guarantee you have not heard
this on this podcast. So we'regonna jump into those four
steps. Chris, I'm gonna let youkinda drive this one a little
bit and walk us through thesebecause I know this is something
that you guys in the privatepractice, you know, your private
practice with your businesspartner, you guys have really
(02:56):
developed this, but then it'sit's morphed over time.
It's not like you woke up oneday and said, yep. This is it.
This is the four steps. We'regonna try this. You guys have
really built this on the backsof working with clients and that
letting it kinda drive thisdevelopment.
Right?
Chris Picciurro, CPA (03:11):
That's correct. So we have developed a
proprietary personalized taxplanning process. I'm gonna
share it with the listeners, theviewers today. This is something
that we work with our privateCPA firm clients, basically
holding their hand. We call itwhite gloving it.
That being said, the purpose ofthis podcast episode is not to
(03:35):
bring in tons of people into theprivate CPA practice as clients.
The the purpose is to givepeople an idea of of the the the
way we operate in our privateCPA practice and also an idea of
how they should be doing taxplanning from a mental
standpoint, from a processstandpoint. Because what we find
in our tax planning is I wantyou to think about this as you
(03:57):
watch or listen. The process isthe same for every case, but the
results are always unique, andthat's what's important. Anyone
can do tax planning andstrategy.
What we're finding out there isthat too many people try to
reverse engineer the taxplanning process. Most tax
(04:18):
professionals are very equippedfor to do tax planning and
strategy with their clients, butthey just don't have a process
either. So what happens is theythey're reluctant to provide
those services because clientsand taxpayers are constantly
coming in with what we callideas, what we call
prescriptions, without goingthrough any type of process to
(04:40):
determine if it's suitable. Sosometimes you get clients coming
to your tax payers coming to youwith an implementation, meaning
they've they've deployed a taxplanning strategy. However, they
never went through the processto determine if it makes sense.
A great example, John, would be,let's say you live far out in
the country and you decide tobuy an electric vehicle and
(05:04):
you're really excited about it,and then you realize there's no
charging stations within a 100miles of your house. Now you've
just forced yourself tobasically put a charging station
in your house. Now most peoplethat buy an EV put a station in
the but that that's just anexample of an unintended
consequence. So you've got todetermine, kind of the end
(05:27):
result, and what you want toaccomplish. What we're trying to
accomplish legally and ethicallyreduce the tax you're paying in
your lifetime.
So let's I'm gonna take you allbehind the curtain, and walk you
through our four step process.Now the process starts with a
current year tax projection. Youcan't figure out this is life in
(05:48):
general. This is a trip. Right?
If I said, John, I wanna driveto Orlando, Florida, the city
beautiful as we all know it, youwould say, great. The first
thing you have to figure out iswhere in the heck am I? Right?
You have to know where you're atbefore you can figure out where
you're going. First step, figureout where you're at year to
(06:10):
date.
When you are watching this orlistening to this, look at the
date and say, okay. If the dateis August 31, September 30,
October 31, if the year ended atthe end of the month I'm
listening to this podcast orwatching it, where would my tax
return stand? What is mysituation if I do nothing?
(06:32):
That's your starting spot. Ifyou don't do that, you can't go
through the process.
How can you get to yourdestination without knowing
where the heck you are in thebeginning? So figure out where
you're at. That that's yourprerequisite.
John Tripolsky (06:46):
And you made a great reference earlier. It was
a medical one. Right? It'ssimilar to, you know, bypassing
the doctor's office and goingand knocking on the window at
the pharmacy. Tell them you wantmedication for a pain you have,
except they force you most,hopefully, force you to go to
the doctor before you pick up ascript.
Right? But this is what you'resaying, right, people trying to
reverse engineer it or kind ofskip ahead because they think
(07:08):
maybe there's some fluff in themiddle of it. The result, you
know, basically implodes onitself.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (07:14):
And just because there's four steps in
this process doesn't mean itnecessarily has to take a long
time. That's the other thing. Sothe yep. The first thing is
figure out where you're at andfigure out what your MTR is,
marginal tax rate that'sdifferent than your tax bracket,
that's more important than yourtax bracket. It's your number
one KPI key performanceindicator for your tax planning.
(07:38):
Marginal tax rate. Remember, oneof the three laws of teaching
tax flow that tax agencies areyour involuntary business
partner. Tax laws are written toencourage and discourage certain
economic, social behavior,financial behavior, etcetera,
etcetera. So your marginal taxrate means this. For every
dollar that you're putting onyour tax return and reporting as
(08:01):
taxable income, how much isgoing to your business partner?
That could be the IRS. Thatcould be a state. That could be
a city. Once you figure thatout, then you will diagnose
yourself. We use color codeddiagnosis in teaching tax law.
You could use whatever you want.We use red, green, purple, gold.
So a 25% or higher marginal taxrate means you are in a red
(08:27):
diagnosis. Okay? Green meanslower marginal tax rate.
Gold is tax free income andgrowth. Purple is tax deferral.
Again, that's just a teachingtax law system. I want this to
resonate with everyone thatwatches and listens. So diagnose
your situation by determiningyour marginal tax rate.
(08:49):
From your marginal tax rate,then you need to prescribe
different tax planningimplementations. So for
instance, John, if you are in avery low marginal tax rate, we
would call it green, but don'tworry about that necessarily.
Let's say you are a teacher. Youjust got done with college. You
(09:11):
have your first job.
You're in a 12% marginal taxrate. It's good to put money
into retirement. Great. Put itinto your Roth. Don't put it
into your traditional IRA or orfour zero three b.
Why? Because you don't need taxdeferral. You don't need the red
diagnosis versus tax deferraltaking a digging in the
(09:34):
deduction today. You want taxfree income and growth. Again,
another example would be, let'ssay you have a property.
You're gonna sell a very largecapital gain, and you are in a
very high marginal tax rate, andyou're in a situation where you
don't necessarily need that cashin your pocket, you're a red
diagnosis, then the prescriptionof a $10.31 exchange might make
(09:57):
sense. So the prescription hasto match the diagnosis.
John Tripolsky (10:02):
Mhmm. Right? People are skipping ahead.
Right? Then they're they're justkinda doing it off of, we'll
call it a gut feeling, which inthis case, it's frankly, it's
pretty lazy.
It is. You you have everythingin front of you. Look at the
darn thing.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (10:17):
It's just uninformed. You know? I don't
think people are trying to belazy necessarily. I think
they're just uninformed. Andthen within prescriptions,
understand there are differentprescriptions.
Some tax planningimplementations are behavioral.
Some are tax advantagedinvestments. Some are tax
mitigation strategies. We havetons of content elsewhere in
teaching tax law and on ourYouTube channel that dive into
each specific strategy. Butalways diagnose, then prescribe.
(10:40):
The third step, we call it an IQtest, identify strategy,
quantify a result, but thinkabout it as a suitability test.
Does this make sense? So forinstance, let's take an example
of let's say you were thinkingabout investing in some type of
fifteen year investment.However, you're 95 years old,
(11:02):
and you can't that might not bea suitable time horizon for 95
year old person to invest theirassets in. Maybe they'll lift a
110.
Hopefully, they do. The point issuitability. I'll I'll give you
one more example on thesuitability. So a lot of times
people come to us and say, wannamaximize the amount I can put in
(11:24):
retirement. Great.
If you're self employed, let'ssay you make, you know, a half a
million dollars a year, first ofgood for you, we might be able
to design a retirement planwhere you're putting away a 150
or $200,000, way more than thefour zero one k using, a defined
benefit plan. Woah. I don't no.That's you know, that hey.
(11:46):
That's I wanna put money away.
I thought the max was, you know,$60. So the point is you you've
gotta talk about the liquidity.So the better question for
someone like that is, well, howmuch per year are you
comfortable with earmarkingtowards retirement? Then you
build that whatever plan aroundwhat what their liquidity is.
John Tripolsky (12:06):
So really finding the perfect partnership
in your tax professional too.Right? Because, obviously,
somebody that's not, and nottalking bad about anybody
specific, but, you know,somebody that just files returns
and calls it a day. Right? Like,that that's if if you're the
type of person that this issomething that you're after,
then you're probably not a bestfit for that type of tax pro.
(12:28):
Right. Right. Because there's alot of knowledge of what's going
on and changes.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (12:32):
You know, when we're talking about tax
planning and strategy, we'retalking about everything moving
forward. Tax compliance iseverything looking backwards. So
sometimes you can implement atax strategy or tax planning
implementation, after the end ofthe year, but vast majority is
forward looking. So diagnose,prescribe, what we call IQ test,
(12:53):
but think about suitability.Does it make sense for you?
Are you required to be anaccredited investor? Ultimately,
when you're looking at that menuin the restaurant, if you have
an if you don't like onions oryou have the palate of a 10 year
old like me, don't ordersomething that you know is gonna
(13:15):
have stuff in it you don't like.
John Tripolsky (13:17):
And he's not kidding, folks. He he likes some
very plain stuff.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (13:21):
I'm a plain guy. The final step four,
implement. And, John, you knowyou hear this multiple times a
week from me. Ideas are cheap.You can find them on TikTok,
Instagram, etcetera.
Implementation is valuable. Makesure that you implement the
strategy properly, the taxplanning implementation, and use
the right partners. So forinstance, if you want to do that
(13:44):
$10.31 exchange, I literally hadpeople over my 22 career say,
I'm doing a ten thirty oneexchange with a property I sold.
Great. Who's your qualifiedintermediary?
Client. No. They're not aclient. Actually, our clients
are very important. Taxpayer.
I haven't found one yet, but Iclosed, I just put the money in
my bank account. I'm gonna giveit to the QI. Qualified in. It
(14:06):
doesn't work that way. Right?
You haven't implemented itproperly.
John Tripolsky (14:10):
Game over.
Chris Picciurro, CPA: Implementation is key. Make some (14:11):
undefined
things you could self implement,like a health savings account
going to the bank and creatingthat. But a lot of times, you
need to build your team toimplement. And so if you're
listening or watching into thisand you feel like you've got a
good idea of what you wanna doand you need that help with
implementation, check out theteaching tax flow hub. John will
(14:32):
put a link in the show notes,and we're happy to connect you.
So that's the four step process.Let's keep it simple. Let's keep
it quick. Diagnose, prescribe.IQ test slash suitability,
implement, repeat.
Every year is different.
John Tripolsky (14:49):
Bingo. Bingo. So, yeah, this one, we kept a
little bit more condensed andwhat I mean, what a great topic
to do this. What? Right?
Because we started off sayingthat it it doesn't have to
necessarily be lengthy and verycomplex. I mean, for the client
part. You have the rightpartners, right people on your
side. You can power through itpretty quick. Chris, yes.
So now we mentioned a little bitearlier on that. People aren't
(15:10):
necessarily lazy. They'reuninformed. But now that you,
who's ever watching or listeningto this, now you're informed. So
now if you don't do this, nowyou're being lazy.
We'll we'll put it that way. Buton that note too, we will drop
that hub link in the bottom. Gocheck that out.
Defeatingtexas.com. We'll sendyou directly to the private
Facebook group that you can askany question under the sun
(15:31):
within that box of tax.
We're happy to answer it.Somebody from our team, extended
team, as well as others in theindustry and the community
members. Everybody kinda chimesin and helps each other out with
that. The great thing is veryeasy to moderate because
everybody behaves themselves. Sowe have no problems.
That's why we kind of open itup. And as always, again,
creeping up on that one fifty.We got something pretty cool
(15:51):
that we're gonna go through onthat one next. But really,
that's it. It's as simple asthat, you guys.
Check it out. Questions, youknow where to reach us, and we
will see everybody back hereagain next week on the Teaching
Tax Flow podcast. Let's try thisone again. Different week, same
day of the week, different timeof day, completely different
topic. We'll see everybody soon.
(16:11):
Have a great weekend.
Disclaimer (16:15):
The content provided is for educational purposes
only. We encourage you to seekpersonalized investment advice
from your financialprofessional. For all tax and
legal advice, please consultyour CPA or attorney. Investment
advisory services are offeredthrough Cabin Advisors, a
registered investment advisor.Securities are offered through
Cabin Securities, a registeredbroker dealer.
The content of this podcast doesnot constitute an offer of
(16:37):
securities. Offerings can onlybe made through an offering
memorandum, and you shouldcarefully examine the risk
factors and other informationcontained in the memorandum.
Everybody, welcome back to the Teaching Tax
Flow podcast, episode 149. Weare, yes, one away from 150.
We've got some special plan foryou. Maybe we'll give you a
hint. Maybe we won't.
It's kinda like Christmas. Yourparents wrap something up, let
you see the gift, but you can'topen it yet. We're gonna get
into it. But this episodespecifically, doing something
(00:23):
related to other ones, but we'regonna dive a little deeper into
a process or a strategyimplementation process, to be
exact, which is used in teachingTax Flow, but also in Chris
Pacquero, who is my cohost, ifyou haven't met him yet, in his
private practice. So before weget into it in detail, let's
take a brief moment and thankour episode sponsor.
Ad Read (00:46):
This episode is sponsored by Wealth Builders
Mortgage Group, powered byMovement Mortgage, one of the
top mortgage teams in the nationand a powerhouse in the real
estate investing world. Withover $1,100,000,000 in closed
mortgage volume and more than3,000 investor deals under their
belt. They don't just talk thetalk, they walk it. Their team
(01:07):
specializes in helping shortterm and long term rental
investors scale smart withcustomized lending strategies.
They offer all STR loanproducts, including second home,
investment, non QM, bankstatement, asset based, and
HELOCs.
They also offer all primary homeloan products, too. Whether
you're just starting out orexpanding an existing portfolio,
(01:28):
their unique path of 10 strategyis designed to help you move
from a nine to five job tofinancial independence. If
you're looking for a lendingpartner who truly understands
the investor mindset, visitwealthbuildersmortgagegroup.com
and start building your roadmaptoday.
John Tripolsky (01:45):
Alright, everybody. We are back here
again on the podcast. ChrisMcKierro. Welcome back, sir. How
are doing today?
Chris Picciurro, CPA (01:49):
It's great to be back. How are you doing
today?
John Tripolsky (01:52):
K. You know what? I'm doing good, man. I got
a different hat on. I pulledthis one out of out of the
archives, I think, is and ifanybody that's watched this, you
probably have never seen my hairdone.
And I do that for a number ofreasons. Heck, there's a
strategy behind it. Not a fourstep strategy what we're about
to talk about, but there's astrategy behind it. I don't
wanna make Chris jealous.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (02:10):
Right. You don't want everyone yeah. You
don't you don't wanna show yourflowing locks with a bald man.
John Tripolsky (02:15):
Hey. It happens. And that's, you know, a good
thing we didn't do podcast orvideos way back in the early
ones because that's my longerhair. You know, I cut, like, 12
or 13 inches off at one point.It was pretty long.
But who cares about hair? That'snot why we're here. We're
talking about implementations.Right? So and and those of you
that have listened to previousepisodes, you've heard us always
talk about strategy and taxplanning.
(02:35):
You're probably saying, alright.I know what this is. I don't
need anything else about it, butI guarantee you have not heard
this on this podcast. So we'regonna jump into those four
steps. Chris, I'm gonna let youkinda drive this one a little
bit and walk us through thesebecause I know this is something
that you guys in the privatepractice, you know, your private
practice with your businesspartner, you guys have really
(02:56):
developed this, but then it'sit's morphed over time.
It's not like you woke up oneday and said, yep. This is it.
This is the four steps. We'regonna try this. You guys have
really built this on the backsof working with clients and that
letting it kinda drive thisdevelopment.
Right?
Chris Picciurro, CPA (03:11):
That's correct. So we have developed a
proprietary personalized taxplanning process. I'm gonna
share it with the listeners, theviewers today. This is something
that we work with our privateCPA firm clients, basically
holding their hand. We call itwhite gloving it.
That being said, the purpose ofthis podcast episode is not to
(03:35):
bring in tons of people into theprivate CPA practice as clients.
The the purpose is to givepeople an idea of of the the the
way we operate in our privateCPA practice and also an idea of
how they should be doing taxplanning from a mental
standpoint, from a processstandpoint. Because what we find
in our tax planning is I wantyou to think about this as you
(03:57):
watch or listen. The process isthe same for every case, but the
results are always unique, andthat's what's important. Anyone
can do tax planning andstrategy.
What we're finding out there isthat too many people try to
reverse engineer the taxplanning process. Most tax
(04:18):
professionals are very equippedfor to do tax planning and
strategy with their clients, butthey just don't have a process
either. So what happens is theythey're reluctant to provide
those services because clientsand taxpayers are constantly
coming in with what we callideas, what we call
prescriptions, without goingthrough any type of process to
(04:40):
determine if it's suitable. Sosometimes you get clients coming
to your tax payers coming to youwith an implementation, meaning
they've they've deployed a taxplanning strategy. However, they
never went through the processto determine if it makes sense.
A great example, John, would be,let's say you live far out in
the country and you decide tobuy an electric vehicle and
(05:04):
you're really excited about it,and then you realize there's no
charging stations within a 100miles of your house. Now you've
just forced yourself tobasically put a charging station
in your house. Now most peoplethat buy an EV put a station in
the but that that's just anexample of an unintended
consequence. So you've got todetermine, kind of the end
(05:27):
result, and what you want toaccomplish. What we're trying to
accomplish legally and ethicallyreduce the tax you're paying in
your lifetime.
So let's I'm gonna take you allbehind the curtain, and walk you
through our four step process.Now the process starts with a
current year tax projection. Youcan't figure out this is life in
(05:48):
general. This is a trip. Right?
If I said, John, I wanna driveto Orlando, Florida, the city
beautiful as we all know it, youwould say, great. The first
thing you have to figure out iswhere in the heck am I? Right?
You have to know where you're atbefore you can figure out where
you're going. First step, figureout where you're at year to
(06:10):
date.
When you are watching this orlistening to this, look at the
date and say, okay. If the dateis August 31, September 30,
October 31, if the year ended atthe end of the month I'm
listening to this podcast orwatching it, where would my tax
return stand? What is mysituation if I do nothing?
(06:32):
That's your starting spot. Ifyou don't do that, you can't go
through the process.
How can you get to yourdestination without knowing
where the heck you are in thebeginning? So figure out where
you're at. That that's yourprerequisite.
John Tripolsky (06:46):
And you made a great reference earlier. It was
a medical one. Right? It'ssimilar to, you know, bypassing
the doctor's office and goingand knocking on the window at
the pharmacy. Tell them you wantmedication for a pain you have,
except they force you most,hopefully, force you to go to
the doctor before you pick up ascript.
Right? But this is what you'resaying, right, people trying to
reverse engineer it or kind ofskip ahead because they think
(07:08):
maybe there's some fluff in themiddle of it. The result, you
know, basically implodes onitself.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (07:14):
And just because there's four steps in
this process doesn't mean itnecessarily has to take a long
time. That's the other thing. Sothe yep. The first thing is
figure out where you're at andfigure out what your MTR is,
marginal tax rate that'sdifferent than your tax bracket,
that's more important than yourtax bracket. It's your number
one KPI key performanceindicator for your tax planning.
(07:38):
Marginal tax rate. Remember, oneof the three laws of teaching
tax flow that tax agencies areyour involuntary business
partner. Tax laws are written toencourage and discourage certain
economic, social behavior,financial behavior, etcetera,
etcetera. So your marginal taxrate means this. For every
dollar that you're putting onyour tax return and reporting as
(08:01):
taxable income, how much isgoing to your business partner?
That could be the IRS. Thatcould be a state. That could be
a city. Once you figure thatout, then you will diagnose
yourself. We use color codeddiagnosis in teaching tax law.
You could use whatever you want.We use red, green, purple, gold.
So a 25% or higher marginal taxrate means you are in a red
(08:27):
diagnosis. Okay? Green meanslower marginal tax rate.
Gold is tax free income andgrowth. Purple is tax deferral.
Again, that's just a teachingtax law system. I want this to
resonate with everyone thatwatches and listens. So diagnose
your situation by determiningyour marginal tax rate.
(08:49):
From your marginal tax rate,then you need to prescribe
different tax planningimplementations. So for
instance, John, if you are in avery low marginal tax rate, we
would call it green, but don'tworry about that necessarily.
Let's say you are a teacher. Youjust got done with college. You
(09:11):
have your first job.
You're in a 12% marginal taxrate. It's good to put money
into retirement. Great. Put itinto your Roth. Don't put it
into your traditional IRA or orfour zero three b.
Why? Because you don't need taxdeferral. You don't need the red
diagnosis versus tax deferraltaking a digging in the
(09:34):
deduction today. You want taxfree income and growth. Again,
another example would be, let'ssay you have a property.
You're gonna sell a very largecapital gain, and you are in a
very high marginal tax rate, andyou're in a situation where you
don't necessarily need that cashin your pocket, you're a red
diagnosis, then the prescriptionof a $10.31 exchange might make
(09:57):
sense. So the prescription hasto match the diagnosis.
John Tripolsky (10:02):
Mhmm. Right? People are skipping ahead.
Right? Then they're they're justkinda doing it off of, we'll
call it a gut feeling, which inthis case, it's frankly, it's
pretty lazy.
It is. You you have everythingin front of you. Look at the
darn thing.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (10:17):
It's just uninformed. You know? I don't
think people are trying to belazy necessarily. I think
they're just uninformed. Andthen within prescriptions,
understand there are differentprescriptions.
Some tax planningimplementations are behavioral.
Some are tax advantagedinvestments. Some are tax
mitigation strategies. We havetons of content elsewhere in
teaching tax law and on ourYouTube channel that dive into
each specific strategy. Butalways diagnose, then prescribe.
(10:40):
The third step, we call it an IQtest, identify strategy,
quantify a result, but thinkabout it as a suitability test.
Does this make sense? So forinstance, let's take an example
of let's say you were thinkingabout investing in some type of
fifteen year investment.However, you're 95 years old,
(11:02):
and you can't that might not bea suitable time horizon for 95
year old person to invest theirassets in. Maybe they'll lift a
110.
Hopefully, they do. The point issuitability. I'll I'll give you
one more example on thesuitability. So a lot of times
people come to us and say, wannamaximize the amount I can put in
(11:24):
retirement. Great.
If you're self employed, let'ssay you make, you know, a half a
million dollars a year, first ofgood for you, we might be able
to design a retirement planwhere you're putting away a 150
or $200,000, way more than thefour zero one k using, a defined
benefit plan. Woah. I don't no.That's you know, that hey.
(11:46):
That's I wanna put money away.
I thought the max was, you know,$60. So the point is you you've
gotta talk about the liquidity.So the better question for
someone like that is, well, howmuch per year are you
comfortable with earmarkingtowards retirement? Then you
build that whatever plan aroundwhat what their liquidity is.
John Tripolsky (12:06):
So really finding the perfect partnership
in your tax professional too.Right? Because, obviously,
somebody that's not, and nottalking bad about anybody
specific, but, you know,somebody that just files returns
and calls it a day. Right? Like,that that's if if you're the
type of person that this issomething that you're after,
then you're probably not a bestfit for that type of tax pro.
(12:28):
Right. Right. Because there's alot of knowledge of what's going
on and changes.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (12:32):
You know, when we're talking about tax
planning and strategy, we'retalking about everything moving
forward. Tax compliance iseverything looking backwards. So
sometimes you can implement atax strategy or tax planning
implementation, after the end ofthe year, but vast majority is
forward looking. So diagnose,prescribe, what we call IQ test,
(12:53):
but think about suitability.Does it make sense for you?
Are you required to be anaccredited investor? Ultimately,
when you're looking at that menuin the restaurant, if you have
an if you don't like onions oryou have the palate of a 10 year
old like me, don't ordersomething that you know is gonna
(13:15):
have stuff in it you don't like.
John Tripolsky (13:17):
And he's not kidding, folks. He he likes some
very plain stuff.
Chris Picciurro, CPA (13:21):
I'm a plain guy. The final step four,
implement. And, John, you knowyou hear this multiple times a
week from me. Ideas are cheap.You can find them on TikTok,
Instagram, etcetera.
Implementation is valuable. Makesure that you implement the
strategy properly, the taxplanning implementation, and use
the right partners. So forinstance, if you want to do that
(13:44):
$10.31 exchange, I literally hadpeople over my 22 career say,
I'm doing a ten thirty oneexchange with a property I sold.
Great. Who's your qualifiedintermediary?
Client. No. They're not aclient. Actually, our clients
are very important. Taxpayer.
I haven't found one yet, but Iclosed, I just put the money in
my bank account. I'm gonna giveit to the QI. Qualified in. It
(14:06):
doesn't work that way. Right?
You haven't implemented itproperly.
John Tripolsky (14:10):
Game over.
Chris Picciurro, CPA: Implementation is key. Make some (14:11):
undefined
things you could self implement,like a health savings account
going to the bank and creatingthat. But a lot of times, you
need to build your team toimplement. And so if you're
listening or watching into thisand you feel like you've got a
good idea of what you wanna doand you need that help with
implementation, check out theteaching tax flow hub. John will
(14:32):
put a link in the show notes,and we're happy to connect you.
So that's the four step process.Let's keep it simple. Let's keep
it quick. Diagnose, prescribe.IQ test slash suitability,
implement, repeat.
Every year is different.
John Tripolsky (14:49):
Bingo. Bingo. So, yeah, this one, we kept a
little bit more condensed andwhat I mean, what a great topic
to do this. What? Right?
Because we started off sayingthat it it doesn't have to
necessarily be lengthy and verycomplex. I mean, for the client
part. You have the rightpartners, right people on your
side. You can power through itpretty quick. Chris, yes.
So now we mentioned a little bitearlier on that. People aren't
(15:10):
necessarily lazy. They'reuninformed. But now that you,
who's ever watching or listeningto this, now you're informed. So
now if you don't do this, nowyou're being lazy.
We'll we'll put it that way. Buton that note too, we will drop
that hub link in the bottom. Gocheck that out.
Defeatingtexas.com. We'll sendyou directly to the private
Facebook group that you can askany question under the sun
(15:31):
within that box of tax.
We're happy to answer it.Somebody from our team, extended
team, as well as others in theindustry and the community
members. Everybody kinda chimesin and helps each other out with
that. The great thing is veryeasy to moderate because
everybody behaves themselves. Sowe have no problems.
That's why we kind of open itup. And as always, again,
creeping up on that one fifty.We got something pretty cool
(15:51):
that we're gonna go through onthat one next. But really,
that's it. It's as simple asthat, you guys.
Check it out. Questions, youknow where to reach us, and we
will see everybody back hereagain next week on the Teaching
Tax Flow podcast. Let's try thisone again. Different week, same
day of the week, different timeof day, completely different
topic. We'll see everybody soon.
(16:11):
Have a great weekend.
Disclaimer (16:15):
The content provided is for educational purposes
only. We encourage you to seekpersonalized investment advice
from your financialprofessional. For all tax and
legal advice, please consultyour CPA or attorney. Investment
advisory services are offeredthrough Cabin Advisors, a
registered investment advisor.Securities are offered through
Cabin Securities, a registeredbroker dealer.
The content of this podcast doesnot constitute an offer of
(16:37):
securities. Offerings can onlybe made through an offering
memorandum, and you shouldcarefully examine the risk
factors and other informationcontained in the memorandum.
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