Tax Planning Is Not a Once-a-Year Event. It Is a Year-Round Strategy.
Every financial decision you make has a tax dimension. The investments you hold, the accounts you draw from in retirement, the way your business is structured, the timing of your Social Security claim, and the strategy behind your estate all carry tax consequences that build on each other over time. At Animas Capital Management, tax planning is embedded into every wealth management strategy we build. We work alongside your accountant throughout the year to coordinate strategies that reduce your current tax burden, minimize future exposure, and keep more of your wealth working for you.
Year-Round Tax Coordination
Most people meet with their accountant once a year to file a return. By then, the best opportunities to reduce that year’s tax bill have already passed. At Animas Capital Management, we work proactively alongside your accountant throughout the year to identify and implement tax strategies before events occur, not after. We align on timing, investment decisions, retirement distributions, and year-end moves so that every part of your financial strategy is working toward the same tax outcome. If you do not currently have a trusted accountant, we will connect you with one from our professional network who understands your full financial picture.
Retirement Tax Strategy
Retirement introduces a new and often more complex set of tax challenges. Required minimum distributions, Social Security taxation, Medicare premium thresholds, and the sequencing of withdrawals across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts all interact with each other in ways that can significantly increase or decrease your lifetime tax bill depending on how they are managed. At Animas Capital Management, we build retirement tax strategies that address all of these variables together. We model withdrawal sequences, Roth conversion opportunities, and Social Security timing against your projected income and tax brackets to find the approach that keeps the most money in your hands over the long term.
Roth Conversion Planning
The years between retirement and the start of required minimum distributions are often the most valuable window for Roth conversions. Income is typically lower, tax brackets are more favorable, and converting pre-tax funds to a Roth IRA during this window can significantly reduce the taxes you pay on retirement income for the rest of your life. At Animas Capital Management, we model Roth conversion scenarios against your full financial picture, including projected RMDs, Social Security income, Medicare premium thresholds, and estate goals, to identify the right conversion amount in the right years. The goal is always to minimize your lifetime tax burden, not just your current year bill.
The Less You Pay in Taxes, the More Your Wealth Can Grow.
Taxes are the single largest expense most people face over a lifetime. Yet for most investors, tax planning is reactive, something that happens after the year is over rather than a strategy that shapes decisions throughout the year.
At Animas Capital Management, we approach tax planning the other way around. Every investment decision, every retirement distribution, every business transaction, and every estate move is evaluated with its tax impact in mind before it happens. That proactive approach compounds over time into meaningful, lasting savings.
We have been helping clients across Durango and Southwest Colorado keep more of what they earn for more than 35 years. The earlier you engage with tax planning as a year-round strategy, the more we can do together.
How We Build Your Tax Strategy
Reviewing Your Full Tax Picture
We start by reviewing your complete tax situation, including your income sources, account types, investment holdings, business structure, retirement timeline, and estate documents. This gives us everything we need to identify where taxes are costing you the most and where the greatest planning opportunities exist.
Building the Coordinated Strategy
We develop a tax strategy that addresses your investments, retirement income, Roth conversion opportunities, withdrawal sequencing, and estate planning as a single integrated approach. Every recommendation is designed to work together so that reducing taxes in one area does not create an unexpected liability in another.
Coordinating with Your Accountant
We work directly alongside your accountant to align on timing, transactions, and year-end decisions before they happen. This coordination ensures that your investment strategy and your tax strategy are always moving in the same direction. If you do not have a trusted accountant, we will connect you with one from our professional network.
Annual Review and Adjustment
Tax laws change. Your income changes. Your life changes. We revisit your tax strategy every year as part of your comprehensive wealth management review, adjusting for new legislation, changes in your situation, and upcoming events that could affect your tax position. Proactive planning always beats reactive filing.
