Attorneys spend their days managing other people's risks and deadlines. Their own finances often run on autopilot: a partner draw, a K-1 in spring, a firm retirement plan nobody revisits. The income is high. The planning rarely matches it.
None of them is unusual. They just need someone looking at all of them together.
As a partner you are paid through draws and a K-1, not a paycheck with withholding. That means quarterly estimated taxes, self-employment tax on your share and, often, a surprise each April. A current-year projection removes the surprise.
Becoming a partner usually means a capital contribution, often financed. How you fund it, and what happens to it when you leave or retire, belongs in your plan from the start.
Many firms can add a profit-sharing component or a cash balance plan on top of the 401(k), which can raise how much a partner shelters each year. Whether yours does, and whether you're using it fully, is worth checking.
Contingency fees, bonuses and origination credit can make one year very different from the next. Big years are the ones to plan hardest: charitable bunching, retirement contributions and deduction timing all do their best work when your bracket is highest.
Our Director of Strategic Tax Planning is a CPA who sits at the same table as your advisor, so your partnership income, taxes and investments are one plan. We are fee-only. We sell no insurance and no investment products, so nothing we recommend pays us more.
Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice. Every situation is different; the right answer depends on the numbers, and that's what the strategy session is for.
Sit down with a fiduciary — not a salesman — and leave with a complimentary strategy for your exact situation, whether or not you ever hire us.