Personal services
Retirement and financial tax planning
Which account to fund, which to draw from first, whether to convert, and when to claim Social Security — advised by a firm that sells no financial products and earns no commission on the answer.
✓ No products, no commissions✓ Withdrawal sequencing✓ Social Security timing analysis
We are accountants, not brokers. We do not sell annuities, insurance or funds, and nobody pays us for a referral. What we advise on is the tax structure around your savings, which is the part most often left to chance and which compounds just as powerfully as the returns do.
The questions that matter are unglamorous. Traditional or Roth, given the bracket you are in now versus the one you will be in later. Which account to draw down first. Whether to convert in a low-income year. When to claim Social Security. And how all of that interacts with Medicare premiums, which are set from your tax return two years earlier and surprise almost everybody.
While you are still working
Plan selection for business owners
Solo 401(k), SEP-IRA, SIMPLE and defined benefit — the contribution limits differ enormously and so does the administration.
Traditional versus Roth
Decided from your marginal rate now against your expected rate later, not from a general preference.
Backdoor and mega-backdoor contributions
Where income rules out a direct Roth, including the pro-rata rule that quietly ruins this for people with existing IRA balances.
Employer plan review
Match, vesting, and whether the plan's options are worth using beyond the match.
Catch-up contributions
From age fifty, and the further increase in the early sixties.
As you approach and enter retirement
Withdrawal sequencing
Taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free accounts drawn in an order that manages your bracket year by year.
Roth conversions
In the low-income years between retiring and required distributions, which is frequently the single largest opportunity available.
Required minimum distributions
Timing, aggregation across accounts, and the qualified charitable distribution that satisfies the requirement without adding to income.
Social Security timing
The trade-off between claiming early and the increase for waiting, and the effect of provisional income on how much of the benefit is taxed.
Medicare IRMAA
Premiums are set from your return two years back. A one-off spike — a Roth conversion or a property sale — raises them, and there is an appeal route when the cause was a life event.
New York's exclusions
New York does not tax Social Security at all and excludes a meaningful amount of other pension and annuity income. Out-of-state preparers miss this constantly.
Planning fees
We receive no commission, referral fee or product revenue from anyone. Our fee is the only compensation we take.
| Retirement tax review Current position, contribution and account strategy |
$650 |
| Withdrawal sequencing plan Multi-year model across your accounts |
from $1,200 |
| Roth conversion analysis Multi-year, including IRMAA effects |
from $850 |
| Social Security timing analysis Claiming options modelled against your other income |
$450 |
| Business owner plan selection Solo 401(k), SEP, SIMPLE or defined benefit |
$750 |
General information, current for the 2026 filing season and not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Tax law changes, and the answer for your situation may differ. Speak to us before acting on anything you read here.
Questions
Retirement Planning — the questions we are asked most
Do you sell investments or insurance?
No. We hold no securities or insurance licences, sell no products and accept no referral fees. That is deliberate — it means the advice has nothing riding on it, and it is the reason we can tell you when the answer is to do nothing.
Should I convert my IRA to a Roth?
It depends almost entirely on your marginal rate this year against your expected rate later, and on whether you can pay the tax from outside the account. The years between retiring and starting required distributions are very often the best window, and that window is worth planning for.
When should I claim Social Security?
Later increases the monthly benefit substantially, but the right answer depends on other income, health, marital status and whether you are still working. We model it rather than quoting the general rule.
Does New York tax my retirement income?
Social Security is not taxed by New York at all. Public pensions are generally exempt, and a meaningful amount of private pension and annuity income is excluded from age fifty-nine and a half. It is a real advantage and it is regularly missed on returns prepared out of state.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Personal
Personal Tax Returns
Individual federal, New York State and New York City returns prepared and e-filed by a CPA — including the complicated ones.
Personal
Tax Planning
Planning done in the autumn, when it can still change the outcome — rather than in April, when it can only be reported.
Personal
IRS Representation
Audits, notices, back taxes, liens and payment plans — we deal with the IRS and New York State so that you do not have to.
The first conversation is free
Talk to a CPA before you decide anything
Twenty minutes on the phone or across a desk on Roosevelt Avenue. Bring last year's return if you have one — most of what we need in order to quote you is already in it.