Frequently asked questions.

A fee-only fiduciary is an advisor who's paid only by you. No commissions, no product revenue, no compensation from any third party. That's different from "fee-based," which sounds nearly identical but means the advisor charges you a fee and can still collect commissions from other parties. The distinction decides whose interests are sitting across the table from you.

One more thing worth knowing. In financial services, "fiduciary" means putting your interests before the advisor's own. In law it means treating the client as well as the lawyer would treat themselves. I like the lawyer's version better.

I'm paid one way: directly by you, as a percentage of the money I manage. Nobody else pays me. No commissions, no product revenue, no third party writing me a check for putting you in something.

What that costs depends on what you have and what you need, and you'll see the number in writing before you sign anything.

It also means good tax work usually shrinks my own fee, because my fee is calculated on the balance that work moves money out of. I'd rather that than the alternative.

You usually have more than one, and the right one depends on what you're selling, what else is on your return that year, and when you need the money. That's why the honest answer is that I'd have to look.

Most of the levers in the tax code work on timing: how the sale is structured, which year the gain lands in, and where the proceeds go next. Some of those choices have to be made before the sale. Others stay open for a while after it.

Here's the question worth taking to the advisor you already have. Ask them whether selling has to cost what they told you it costs, and what they'd want to see in order to answer.

Before, if you can. Before the sale, the timing is still yours: how the deal is structured, what year the gain lands in, and what else happens on that year's return. That's when you have the most options.

If you've already sold, call anyway, and soon. Under current rules, some options for the capital gain portion stay open for up to 180 days after a sale, and there's still a return to read and years ahead to plan.

I'd rather talk to somebody with an offer on the table than somebody whose wire cleared last week. But I'd much rather talk to the second person than not at all.

Start with the fact most people don't think about: almost everything you saved in your retirement accounts has never been taxed. The day you start taking it out, it gets taxed, and how much depends on choices you still control.

The years between your last paycheck and required minimum distributions are when you have the most say over your own tax bracket. That's usually where Roth conversions happen, spread over several years rather than crammed into one. Medicare looks back two years at your income, so each year's choices show up later too.

If you have a pension, the way you take it is usually a one-time choice. And if your retirement plan holds your employer's stock, rolling everything into an IRA by default can cost you a special tax election on that stock.

None of that is a recommendation for your situation, and what applies to you depends on your own circumstances. It's why I'd rather talk to somebody a year early than a year late.

It's a real tool, and it's a much smaller one than it's sold as.

Here's the math. You buy a position, it drops, your advisor sells it and immediately buys something similar to stay invested. Later the position recovers and you sell, and the gain you didn't pay earlier usually shows up then. Harvesting usually postpones the tax rather than removing it.

There is one legitimate benefit, and it's a good one: harvested losses give you the flexibility to rebalance a portfolio without triggering a tax event. That's genuinely useful. It just isn't the same thing as a tax plan.

The Investment and Tax Audit finds the gap between what you're paying and what you're getting: your all-in fees, how your assets are actually allocated, and the tax drag on your wealth across your whole lifetime rather than just last year.

Traditional tax planning looks backward at the year that already closed and asks how to legally owe the least on it. The audit looks forward. It examines tax-loss harvesting, investment allocation optimization, tax return matching, variable annuities, Roth conversions, charitable giving, and more.

Over a lifetime, taxes can be one of the largest costs an investor carries, which is why the audit looks forward and not just at last year.

No. I work alongside your CPA rather than instead of them. They file the return. I read it.

Reading it is the part that tends to go missing. Ask the advisor you already have whether they've ever asked to see your tax return. The answer tells you how much tax planning is actually happening.

If you don't have a CPA and you need one, I'll point you toward somebody good.

At a major independent custodian, in an account in your own name. Not in an account with my name on it. Yours.

I never hold your money. I advise on it. You can look at it any day you want, and if you ever decide to leave, it's already yours to take.

That distinction sounds small until the day you want to ask a hard question, and the person answering has nothing to hold over you.

This isn't for you if you want somebody picking hot stocks and calling it a strategy. It also isn't for you if you're comfortable keeping 40% of your money in bonds because that's what the standard chart says.

If what you want is a quarterly hot idea, a lot of movement, and the feeling that somebody is always doing something, we're going to frustrate each other.

And if you want somebody to tell you your current plan is great, I'm not the person to say it unless it's true. I'd rather lose you here than mislead you in a meeting.

Nothing, if you don't want to. There's no prep required and nothing to sign.

If you'd like the call to be useful faster, bring your statements, your account agreements, and your last couple of tax returns. Whatever you can gather is enough to start.

And if all you have is a nagging sense that something is off, that's enough too.

As early as you can, ideally before you sign a letter of intent. That's when the structure, the price split, and the timing are still open to negotiation.

A year out is better than a month out, and a month out is better than after closing.

Not necessarily. Under current rules, some options for the capital gain portion stay open for up to 180 days after a sale, and there's still the return to plan and the years ahead.

Call sooner rather than later, because those windows don't wait.

Your CPA is essential, and I work alongside them, not instead of them. If your CPA is already planning the sale, good, and I'll work with them. The person filing the return and the person planning it need to agree.

Yes. I coordinate with your CPA and attorney rather than working around them. My part is the tax strategy and what happens to the money afterward.

In most cases you're choosing how and when the tax is paid, not making it disappear. The main routes are rolling the proceeds into another property (a 1031 exchange), reinvesting the capital gain within a set window (a Qualified Opportunity Fund), or selling and planning around the tax.

Which one fits depends on your numbers and your timing, which is why it's worth looking before you list.

If you want to roll the proceeds into another property through a 1031 exchange, you generally have 45 days after closing to identify the replacement and 180 days to complete the purchase, and the arrangement has to be in place before closing. Both are firm deadlines set by statute.

Missing it closes that route, but not every route.

Maybe not. Under current rules, some options for the capital gain portion stay open for up to 180 days after a sale. Call soon, because those windows don't wait.

No. Rolling into another property is one route, not the only one. Some routes let you own real estate without managing a building, and some don't involve real estate at all.

It usually comes back into the picture when you sell, and it's often taxed differently from the rest of the gain. It's one of the reasons the real tax on a sale is worth calculating before you list, not after.

There's no single best age. Conversions tend to make the most sense in years when your income is lower than it will be later, which for many people is the stretch between retiring and starting required minimum distributions or Social Security.

The right amount each year depends on your bracket, your other income, and Medicare.

Usually not a large one. The year you retire often still includes a lot of earned income, which can make it an expensive year to add more. Conversions are more often spread across the years after, but your own numbers decide it.

At an age set by federal law, which has changed twice since 2019, with another change scheduled, and now depends on the year you were born. Your CPA or I can confirm the age that applies to you.

Medicare premiums can rise based on your income from two years earlier. So a large conversion or sale this year can raise what you pay for Medicare two years from now, which is one more reason to plan conversions over several years.

It depends on your health, your other income, your spouse, and what the lump sum would have to earn to match the payments. It's usually a permanent choice, and giving up a survivor benefit usually needs your spouse's written consent, so it deserves a side-by-side comparison before you sign anything.

If your plan holds your employer's stock, you may be able to elect a special tax treatment on that stock, known as net unrealized appreciation (NUA), generally if the whole plan balance comes out within one tax year after you leave. If it's all rolled into an IRA by default, that option is usually gone, so talk to someone before you roll.

A written promise on my advisory fee. If you're not completely satisfied with our progress in your first six months, I stop charging you, help you find a new advisor, help with the transfer, and refund the advisory fees from those six months. It covers fees, not investment results.

No. It covers the advisory fees you pay me. It isn't a guarantee of investment performance, of any particular result, or against loss. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Neither. It's a refund of the advisory fees from your first six months, not a credit toward future work.

In the client agreement, which you'll see in writing before you sign anything. The warranty applies to every client, and the six months start the day you sign your fee agreement.

Because if the work isn't worth the fee in the first six months, you shouldn't have paid it. Putting that in writing is easier than asking you to take my word for it.

Ask what happens if you're unhappy six months from now. Ask what you'd get back, and what they'd do to help you leave. The answer tells you who's carrying the risk.

Shaun M. Jones, CFS, CFP®, is the president and founder of Jones Fiduciary Wealth Management. He spent nearly two decades on the legacy side of the industry before leaving to build this firm for the future of advice.

He wrote UnBrainwashed Investing, contributed to Real Life Financial Planning for Physicians, has written for CNBC online, and hosts the Unbrainwashed Success podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The people who end up on my calendar are usually inside one of three moments: the sale of a business, the sale of a property, or the last day of a career. Each one has a window where the tax strategy matters as much as the portfolio, and usually more.

The Who We Serve page walks through all three.

Three things, and none of them is a promise about returns.

Tax planning comes first. If a sale or a retirement is coming, we plan the tax around it before we build the portfolio, not after.

I read your actual tax return. Not just when your CPA is filing it, but throughout the year, because almost every tax strategy has to be in place before December 31.

And there's a Fee Warranty behind my fee. If you're not completely satisfied with our progress in your first six months, I refund the advisory fees from those months. It covers fees, not investment results, and the full terms are in the client agreement.

I actually invest in the same way I recommend to my clients. The order of operations matters, so here's how that works in my own house. I don't go looking for products to put clients in. I figure out what I want to own, I invest my own money, and then I share what I found with the people I serve. The alignment is a byproduct of my own conviction, not a marketing posture.

Owning what my clients own can look like a conflict of interest, and you should know that up front. It's a fair thing to ask me about.