Would it surprise you to know that a large portion of our new clients already have a financial plan and an investment advisor they like? It might feel a little bit odd or even counterintuitive, but that's a fairly regular occurrence around here.
Why would someone with a financial plan and an investment manager they like reach out to Van Leeuwen and Company for financial planning?
I'll try to paint a picture for you of why this scenario happens.
Good People, Missing Coordination
Many financially successful families have done a good job of saving and consistently investing over a couple of decades. It would be surprising if they didn’t have an experienced investment advisor, a CPA, or an estate attorney. Each person is typically doing the job they were hired to do. The difficulty appears when everyone is operating in separate lanes.
- The advisor is focused on the portfolio.
- The CPA is preparing last year’s tax return.
- The attorney is drafting documents.
Meanwhile, no one is responsible for integrating decisions into the overall financial picture. It's in the coordination areas that we see the most problems or missed opportunities. A few examples:
- A Roth conversion window passes without discussion.
- An employer-awarded stock compensation decision is made without considering the tax bracket implications two years from now.
- A concentrated portfolio position grows larger than intended because no one revisited the strategy.
- An estate plan says one thing while beneficiary designations on investment accounts say another.
These are the kinds of gaps that appear when planning is fragmented.
Upgrading Your Definition of Financial Planning
Why does this happen to very intelligent, financially successful families? I would suggest that this is because we have a low view of what financial planning should be capable of. Many people associate financial planning with projections, return assumptions, and investment simulations.
Those are certainly important, but they represent only part of the work. Planning should begin with understanding what a family is trying to accomplish with their money. Very rarely is something like a legacy plan or a proactive tax plan able to be fully executed within one of these silos. Tax strategy, investment decisions, stock compensation, retirement income, family priorities, estate structure, and charitable planning should all be coordinated.
That is what financial planning should be doing.
At Van Leeuwen & Company, we approach the work with that broader view. The conversation rarely begins or ends with a portfolio discussion. We spend far more time understanding what clients want their lives to look like and how their financial resources can support those goals.
When clients are clear about their direction, we can build a plan that aligns the pieces. Without that coordination, people end up reacting instead of planning.
This Shows Up During Tax Season
April is one of the windows where these coordination gaps show up most commonly. We do a great deal of work with corporate executives who have unique layers of complexity with their compensation and portfolio.
For this kind of client, compensation packages today include multiple moving parts. Salary and bonuses are only part of the picture. Restricted stock, performance shares, employer-awarded stock options, and deferred compensation add additional layers that require careful planning. The timing of these decisions matters. Elections made early in the year can influence tax outcomes for years to come.
I have seen very smart executives default into equity elections with frustrating consequences. I have also seen missed election windows simply because the individual was busy, and there was no clear process in place to evaluate the options.
Employer-awarded stock compensation is not a side account. It represents a meaningful portion of many executives’ balance sheets. Decisions around vesting, exercising, holding, or diversifying shares affect both taxes and long-term risk.
Those choices should be evaluated within the full financial plan.
Process Matters More Than Most People Realize
Many expensive financial mistakes are made by accident, or you might say, by default. Default equity elections remain in place for years without being revisited. Deadlines pass during busy work cycles. Concentrated positions grow larger than intended. Advice from colleagues or friends substitutes for structured planning.
A disciplined planning process helps reduce those risks. When the process is in place, each decision is evaluated within the larger strategy. Realistically, very few families seem to have this kind of process in place. It's one of the core areas we serve clients in.
Stock compensation decisions connect to tax strategy. Tax strategy connects to retirement income planning. Retirement planning connects to estate design and family goals.
Integration keeps the plan moving in one direction.
How We Approach the Work
At Van Leeuwen & Company, we have always believed in serving as a financial partner for the families we advise. Some clients describe that role as a family CFO. The work extends well beyond portfolio management.
Our planning process includes reviewing tax returns to improve planning efficiency, coordinating with CPAs and attorneys, advising on Roth conversion strategies, evaluating the tax treatment of stock compensation, tracking RMDs, helping families think through trust structures, and developing strategies for charitable giving and legacy planning.
Each of these areas connects to the others. Integration is what allows the strategy to work.
The Rembrandt Society
Many people who come to us already have advisors and accountants they respect. They are not necessarily looking to replace those relationships. They simply recognize that something is missing. That’s why we designed the Rembrandt Society.
Members receive a planning relationship that focuses on integration. The planning team reviews tax returns with a forward-looking lens, develops multi-year tax strategies, evaluates executive compensation decisions, and coordinates with the existing advisor and CPA.
The goal is to connect the work already being done by different professionals. That coordination often brings clarity to decisions that previously felt complicated.
What Clients Can (and Should) Expect From Planning
We believe families should seek more than just a backward-looking tax-return review and an investment-performance update. They deserve a planning process that integrates the major decisions affecting their financial lives.
Taxes, investments, retirement income, family priorities, estate planning, and charitable strategies should all be working together.
When planning functions that way, the strategy becomes easier to follow. Decisions feel calmer. Surprises become less common. That level of coordination is what financial planning should deliver. Integration is the work.
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.
Stock investing includes risks, including fluctuating prices and loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.
Traditional IRA account owners have considerations to make before performing a Roth IRA conversion. These primarily include income tax consequences on the converted amount in the year of conversion, withdrawal limitations from a Roth IRA, and income limitations for future contributions to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you are required to take a required minimum distribution (RMD) in the year you convert, you must do so before converting to a Roth IRA.