“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein
Generosity Wealth Management is proud to introduce a new dimension to our services: AI-enhanced tax analysis. This tool is designed to complement your comprehensive financial plan by thoroughly examining your tax returns. Leveraging advanced AI technology, this service scans your returns to identify potential strategies for further harnessing the tax code effectively. It’s not just about reducing taxes; it’s about enhancing your overall wealth strategy. Watch as Generosity Wealth Management founder, Mike Brady, explains how this tool integrates with holistic financial planning to increase your net worth, regardless of potential tax implications.
Transcript
Mike Brady with Generosity Wealth Management, a comprehensive, full-service financial services firm headquartered here in Boulder, Colorado.
Today, I want to talk about an added service that I’m providing for my clients and prospective clients, and to the degree that you think that I could help out one of your friends, neighbors, or family, I would love to do that. The reason why I’m doing it is I believe that there are things that you can control and things that you can’t control. As human beings, though, we’re not very good at discerning between them. We seem to spend an awful lot of time worrying about the things that we can’t control, and a lot of times, we just neglect that which we do have control over.
Taxes are one of the biggest expenses that Americans have, and they are something that we can control with certain planning. Yes, we’ve got to take this box and put it on that line, but when it comes to deductions and tax strategies, we have a very complicated tax code that, if we educate ourselves about that tax code, is in our best interest so that we pay that which we owe legally, but using the rules so that we’re not paying more than what we are legally obligated to pay and that is to your benefit.
This tax analysis is really cool. You upload a tax return to me (Secure Upload HERE), and what I do is I use something called an optical character reader, which automatically converts it into a computer line for me. Using AI and my software, it gives me maybe 20 different suggestions. After looking at your modified gross income, your taxable income, this deduction, and that deduction, and your entire tax return, it says here are 10 or 20 things that you might want to consider for this specific client. I go through that, and I say, “I really think that numbers 2, number 7, number 11, 12, and 13 are relevant for this client.” I click it, and it goes to a little report.
Click Here to Download a Sample Planning Report
I print that report out with a tax snapshot that we can then go over. The tax snapshot is your ordinary income, your long-term capital gains, and your effective tax rate. It’s very graphical; we can go through that together so that you are in “relationship” with your tax return. What I mean by that is you understand how your situation’s end result came about. This variable, this second variable, this third variable. Which are the ones that we have control over? Which are the ones that are having the most impact on you and your tax return?
As part of this video and this newsletter, I’ve included an example that comes with my software. These are not real clients, but you can see what it looks like. You can see there’s a tax pyramid so you can see which tax bracket you’re in. You can see whether you’re eligible for various phase-ins and phase-outs and that’s what we call in our industry and the tax industry all the different types of opportunities you have for various income levels. For some of them, it might be $100,000; for some, it might be $50,000. It phases out so that if you’re under, let’s say, $100,000, you’re eligible. Then it slowly goes away by the time you’re at $150,000 as an example. So, that would be a phase-out, so if you make $151,000, that’s no longer eligible for you. We can see which phase-ins and phase-outs are good for you that we should focus on, and other tax opportunities that, frankly, I might have forgotten to ask you and you might have forgotten to tell me, but it’s right there in the report that we received from your tax return.
Why would I do something like this?
It makes me a better financial planner for you. If I see the big picture that’s down on this piece of paper, it will help me do a better job for you.
I want you to share it with your CPA. I want to get to know your CPA so that he or she knows me and says, “Wow, this guy is complementing the work that I’m doing on behalf of my client, our mutual client,” which are you.
I’d love for that CPA to be impressed so that he or she says “Wow, Mike Brady is somebody that I should refer other clients to because I want to continue to grow my business.” If you’ve got friends and family and neighbors that you think would benefit, send them my way and we can talk about it. Maybe I can add value.
I’m in the wealth maximization business for clients, not the tax minimization. There are two different strategies. Wealth maximization means increasing your wealth, even if that means sometimes paying more taxes. I mean, tax minimization is you want it down to zero, which means the best way to do that is to lose money or to lose your job or to put all your investments in the mattress, not making any interest. I’d rather maximize the gain for you in your investments and your income, et cetera so that your taxes go up. But of course, your wealth goes up even faster than your taxes do. I’m in the wealth maximization business, and there might be strategies like a Roth conversion or a backdoor Roth or something else that we’ve missed that we haven’t talked about that will help you out as part of the total services that I am providing for you, the client. If you’re not a client, then prospective client.
What I am hoping that you take away from this video is that I want you to:
Send me your most recent tax return using the secure drop link that will be part of this newsletter. Secure Upload HERE
Talk with me about that. Once I do it, I’ll reach out to you, and I’ll either send it to you, and we can have a quick conversation about it, or I’ll explain what your tax return means and where you might be able to modify it to your advantage.
If you like it, pass it on to your CPA or other advisors like your estate planning attorney so that my centers of influence – my professional network — continue to grow because that helps me out as well.
When I help you out, and you say nice things about me, that helps me out, which then allows me to help more and more people out. One of the things that I like to say is that everyone who comes to me is helped, even if not everyone needs to be a client. That means that when you say nice things about me, I always take the time to help others out to increase your social capital so that you look like a hero, so it helps you out, it helps them out, it helps me out. It helps out our community. That’s really what being generous is all about and that’s why I created Generosity Wealth Management.
Mike Brady, Generosity Wealth Management. 303-747-6455. Have a wonderful day. Thanks.
One of the main tenants of Generosity Wealth Management is to make an impact in the community, to live and give generously. We are proud of the difference our Generosity Wealth Community members are making each and every day. In total last year, GWM gave nearly $30,000 to over ten charities, with the largest financial donations to the following charities:
Besides financial contributions, we also shared stories from various GWM Community members in our newsletters last year that detailed their involvement with organizations that mean the most to them. It was heartwarming to learn about all the ways they get involved in our community.
Generosity Wealth founder, Mike Brady, also got involved as much as I could last year, including:
spending a week in Poland with children from Ukrainian orphanages (and cheers to GWM community member Margaret Seltzer for doing the same!)
spending 2 weekends being a guardian for Rocky Mountain Honor Flights (cheers again to the 2 community members I did this with)
acting as Treasurer of Frontier Horizons, Prison Mindfulness Institute, Boulder Rotary Club Foundation
serving as Board member-at-large for Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity
accomplishing innumerable committee responsibilities at Boulder Rotary Club (membership vice-chair, produce weekly promo video, fundraising chair, legacy fund chair, MC the annual fundraising dinner)
dedicating innumerable hours mentoring young college-age men
We look forward to 2023 and all the ways our community will live and give generously. If you need assistance figuring out how to maximize generosity in your financial plan, give us a shout at mike@generositywealth.com.
Barron’s Advisor News discusses how financial advisors connected with clients during the pandemic in their latest article, ‘Pie Drive-Bys’ and Celebrity Chefs: Will Pandemic-Era Client Events Outlive Covid? Gone were the traditional in-person events, replaced by virtual gatherings, drive-by events and more.
Included in the article are Michael Brady and Generosity Wealth Management’s ‘Seven Days of Thanks.’ When the annual client appreciation movie event couldn’t happen at the end of 2020, the online event filled in.
“Over a seven-day period, he sent clients seven emails, asking a thought-provoking question each day. He asked them, for example, to describe a personal success that made them most proud, where they dream about living, and their favorite charity.
Clients who responded were eligible for a small daily prize, and at the end of the week, Brady donated $500 to one winner’s charity of choice. The effort gave client’s a bit of what they ‘were craving’ Brady said.”
It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses. ― George Eliot
80 percent of reaching your financial goals is clearly defining them and having a plan for how to get there, proactively discussing any speed bumps, big or small. One of the speed bumps that I’ve identified personally, is dying prematurely.
While it may be difficult to think about your own mortality, it is essential. For me, it is not just my personal life that would be impacted, but my clients’ as well. Financial planning is deeply personal, so ensuring that there is someone who can step up in the untimely event of my incapacitation or death is critical.
In this video I chat with fellow financial advisor, Chris Schipske of Columbia, Maryland. Chris would act as my successor in the event of my death, which I hope doesn’t happen for many decades.
Listen for more on the importance of planning ahead.
Transcript
Hi clients and friends. Mike Brady here with Generosity Wealth Management, a comprehensive, financial services firm headquartered right here in Boulder, Colorado.
Today I have a special guest with me, Chris Schipske. The reason for my video today is I practice what I preach. I’m always telling you that it’s my believe that 80 percent of reaching your financial goals is clearly defining them and having a plan for how to get there, and to proactively discuss the speed bumps, life’s speed bumps, that happen whether they’re small or whether they’re big. As I was looking at my life over the last – I’ve actually been thinking about this for many years – I realized that one of the speed bumps is that if I die prematurely. I have to tell you that I’m in excellent shape. I’m very proud of this and I work really hard. I hope to be your financial advisor for at least the next 20 years, if not longer because I absolutely love what I’m doing. It’s been 30 years now, almost 30 years I’ve been meeting with clients and I hope to do this for another 20 years. But, this is where it involves you. If I was to die, I want to make sure that you’re well taken care of and I also want my wife to have someone that she would trust and could go to.
I’ve known Chris Schipske for the last ten years, if not a little bit longer. About a year-and-a-half ago I reached out to Chris and said, “Chris, you and I have been friends and colleagues for many years and I’ve told my wife that I would like her to talk with you if I was to die.” Hopefully that doesn’t happen for many decades. You and I are together at the old folks home and in our 90s. But, god forbid it happened I would want her to come to you. I trust you so much, Chris, that I want to offer you to my clients as well. If I was to die I would want you to, without a lot of disruption, be able to come in here – and I know you would because you’ve been doing this for almost as long as I have, for decades, and you would see how my clients are. Hopefully, in the coming years as you come out to Colorado – I know you have Colorado clients. We have some clients in common, but you’ll get to know some of my clients as well. They know that, once again, if I was to die I have someone that they could rely on. So Chris, would you mind just sharing a few things about yourself because it feels like I’m doing all the talking. So, go right ahead Chris.
Sure, sure. Mike, first of all thank you so much. It’s really nice to be able to get together with you on occasion. I remember the days when we could get together in person and that was a lot nicer and hopefully we’ll get back to that. It seems like COVID-19 is starting to wane a little bit and maybe we’ll be able to get back to some sense of normalcy. You mentioned and you’re right. It’s nice to find someone who thinks like you, maybe gets your jokes a little bit. Over the years we’ve bonded like that and found each other in that business sense that we could trust each other. I really truly appreciate the trust that you put in me. Like you said earlier, my name is Chris Schipske. I’m right out side of Baltimore, Maryland and it’s where I call home. A little town called Columbia, Maryland. I’m married and I have two daughters. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now so I’m ready to step in if needed, but I hope it’s not needed. I want to stress that. If needed, yes, I’m here ready for you and your clients and your wife.
Like you mentioned, I am a CPA as well as a CFP so I have a very active tax practice as well as an active investment advisory practice here in the Maryland area. We do span across the country and I’ve got some clients over there in Colorado. We’ve talked that I’m going to be making my way out there more and more when hopefully COVID allows that sort of thing. I’m looking forward to it.
Well, thank you Chris. For everyone who’s listening Chris actually has a very successful business there right outside of Baltimore. He’s got a tax practice, a financial planning and wealth management just like I do, with many staff which is great. He and I have slightly different business models. Currently as you know I don’t have a lot of staff. That’s by design. I have a very deep relationship with a small number of clients. What I like about Chris, and this has been my experience and the clients that we have in common is he has a very deep relationship with those clients as well. He really spends the time in order to understand what’s important to the individual client and how to meet those needs. Now he is in Baltimore, but frankly one thing that the last year-and-a-half has shown us is that Zoom works great. He comes out to Colorado quite often and is going to continue that as we continue to work together. Frankly, we increased the number of clients that we’re working with together whether it’s on the financial planning side or whether or not he’s handling the CPA work, the tax and all this advanced and sophisticated estate planning from a tax point of view. I’m doing the financial planning, et cetera, so it’s not a problem.
I want to offer Chris as someone that is trusted for me and I want to let you know that you’ve got to practice what you preach which is I would be a hypocrite if I said you need to be prepared for the loss of your spouse, the loss of your ability to work, all of these really bad things that can happen and that can derail you from reaching your goals if I, too, didn’t take a very serious look and say what could derail my family? What could derail my clients? Which would be me leaving you in the lurch. I don’t want to do that.
So, thank you Chris. Thank you clients and we’ll give a little bit more information on Chris in the link. I’ll also put your website on there and we’ll have you back here as a guest periodically over the coming years.
Sounds good, Michael. Thanks. Absolutely. Thank you Chris and thank you clients. You have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.
Time for my annual book review, and in 2015 I ended up reading 95 books, less than the 118 in 2014 but I also had a pretty busy year (lost 40+ lbs, started martial arts, expert in over 40 different publications, etc.).
54% were fiction 46% non-fiction. 70 of the books I rated 4 or 5 stars, so I chose well. I read 11 personal development books, 15 business, and 18 general non-fiction.
My favorite fiction was probably Genesis Extinction Point #4, which doesn’t help you if you haven’t read books 1-3. It’s a dystopian view of a plague brought by an invading alien race. Totally didn’t know where it was going, and very creative.
My favorite personal development book was Extreme Productivity, which taught me the OHIO principal Only Handle It Once. My favorite business book was How Winning Works by Robyn Benincasa, an extreme sports professional I saw speak in August. My favorite general non-fiction was American Icon, a book about Ford Motor Company in the 2000s. Fascinating.
My least favorite book by far was Tony Robbins’ Money Master the Game. Horrible writing, horrible analysis and conclusions.
I’ve had a great time this year being interviewed by many journalists, allowing me to share my thoughts with others.
I was going to post or email each time I was quoted, but there have been so many (Wall Street Journal, Forbes, DailyFinance, US News and World Report), that I was afraid you’d think I was some media hound and it’d get boring.
So, I’ve added a new page to my webpage that will keep a running tally of all my mentions in the general press. You’ll notice the advice I give is far ranging, which is what you’ve come to expect from me.
