People tell me every single day that they want to cut down on taxes.

Asian people tell me this.
Caucasian people tell me this. 
Hispanic people tell me this.
Men tell me this.
Women tell me this.
Young people tell me this.
Old people tell me this. 

Unfortunately, avoiding an investing or business decision just to save on taxes, is usually not a good decision. Same goes for sale of securities.

I have had people tell me that they don’t want to make more money because they have to pay more tax, or they don’t want to open a brokerage account because it’s taxable.

And in the most professional response as possible, I usually ask them… “are you sure? What makes you feel that way?”

A few examples:
➡️ When you sell a business, the goal is to maximize enterprise value and get the best deal terms possible (for example - an all cash deal with no earn out).

➡️ When you sell a property, the goal is to sell during a seller’s market and get as many bids as possible to drive up the sale price above asking. 

➡️ When you rent a property whether for airBnB or long term, it’s to maximize rent value, achieve positive cash flow, and maximize occupancy rates. (It’s not to capitalize on the Augusta rule...)

➡️ When you sell a security, the goal is to sell when times are good and markets are strong.

➡️ When you invest, the goal is to maximize your returns (%) and grow your portfolio.  It’s not to avoid brokerage accounts because they’re taxable.

Once above are actually achieved, then we can talk about tax liabilities and strategies. 

Sometimes decisions that optimize for tax today, are what hurt you in the long run by 10x more. That’s the irony of the tax code.

Paying tax is a good problem to have. Only rich people have tax problems.

I used to see some of them donate huge bills to charities like hospitals, schools, etc. All while being compliant with the tax code.

These were people who paid millions in taxes, made millions more on top of that, and kept getting richer.

I promise you that tax has never made anyone poor before.

Spending everything you make, making bad investment decisions, and prioritizing the wrong financial choices, is what makes you poor.

Alice