Craig Wear, a CFP, warns that financial planning software often limits tax conversions to your current bracket, costing you money over time. Most advisors have conflicts of interest. Find someone who specializes in tax planning and acts as a fiduciary.
And if they know what they're doing, they can show you this in black and white. The problem is a lot of software that financial advisors use have built in assumptions that you should only convert up to your current tax bracket. A lot of these online calculators also have that built in. And a lot of financial advisors, investment advisors normally focus on investments and they don't do a lot of planning. And a lot of other regular financial advisors, if they, especially if they work for a larger firm, the firm doesn't want them to get into this tax area. So you really got to ferret out, are they really giving you a fiduciary look? Like, say they're a fiduciary, but in our world, fiduciary means I can still have conflicts of interest. And really I just want to sell you annuities or life insurance or get assets under management. So find somebody. That's all that they do, which is what we do, obviously. But every year that you delay, cost you more in taxes. Over time, waiting only cost you more in taxes. I have rarely seen it work out for anybody, no matter what their income level, what their tax brackets.
