When Your Tax Advisor Also Speaks Investments, Retirement, and Estate Planning
Most people work with a tax preparer and a financial advisor who never talk to each other. The result is a plan with gaps — a Roth conversion that triggers unexpected tax, a retirement withdrawal strategy that wasn't stress-tested against your bracket, an estate plan your CPA never saw. At Hedlund Tax & Accounting, we hold the credentials to work across all of these disciplines at once: JD, LL.M. (Tax), MBA, and CFP®. That means tax and financial planning coordination isn't a referral we make — it's a service we provide.
Why Coordination Breaks Down — and What It Costs You
Most advisors are specialists. Your CPA prepares your return. Your financial planner manages your portfolio. Your estate attorney drafts the documents. Each does their job well — but nobody is watching how those pieces interact. A Roth conversion that makes sense in isolation can push you into a higher Medicare premium bracket. A charitable giving strategy your financial advisor recommends may or may not align with your actual tax picture. An estate plan built without a tax lens can transfer wealth less efficiently than it should.
The cost isn't always visible on a single return. It accumulates quietly across decisions made without a full view of the board.
The Credential Combination That Makes This Possible
Coordinating across tax, retirement, and estate planning requires fluency in all three. That's not common. Our credential stack — JD, LL.M. (Tax), MBA, CFP® — reflects more than two decades of work across tax law, business advisory, and financial planning. The CFP® designation in particular signals training in retirement income planning, estate planning, and investment analysis that most tax preparers don't hold. The LL.M. in Tax reflects graduate-level legal training in federal tax that most financial planners don't hold. Together, they make genuine coordination possible in a single advisory relationship.
What Financial Coordination Looks Like at Hedlund Tax
Financial coordination here isn't a separate product — it's the natural result of having one advisor who understands all the moving parts. When you work with us on tax planning, we're already thinking about how your retirement accounts, investment mix, and estate structure interact with your tax position. When a decision comes up — should you convert to a Roth this year, take Social Security now or later, restructure how your business pays you — we can evaluate it from every relevant angle before you act.
Tax-Efficient Retirement Planning
Financial coordination here isn't a separate product — it's the natural result of having one advisor who understands all the moving parts. When you work with us on tax planning, we're already thinking about how your retirement accounts, investment mix, and estate structure interact with your tax position. When a decision comes up — should you convert to a Roth this year, take Social Security now or later, restructure how your business pays you — we can evaluate it from every relevant angle before you act.
Roth Conversion Planning
A Roth conversion can be a powerful long-term move, but the decision depends on your current bracket, your projected future income, your estate goals, and the tax cost of converting now versus later. We walk through each of those variables before recommending anything. For clients who are ready to move forward, we also prepare the returns that reflect the conversion accurately.
Estate Planning Coordination
We don't draft wills or trusts — that's an attorney's role. What we do is make sure the tax implications of your estate plan are understood before documents are signed, and that your tax strategy accounts for what your estate plan is designed to accomplish. For families with taxable estates, business interests, or significant retirement assets, that coordination can matter considerably. We also prepare trust, gift, and estate returns when those filings become necessary.
Investment and Equity Compensation
Equity compensation — RSUs, stock options, ESPP shares — creates tax events that need to be planned around, not just reported after the fact. We help clients with equity comp think through vesting, exercise timing, and holding period decisions in the context of their broader tax picture. For clients with taxable investment accounts, we coordinate on tax-loss harvesting timing and asset location questions that intersect with their return.
Who This Service Is Built For
Financial coordination is most valuable when your financial life has started to involve multiple moving parts that need to work together. That typically includes:
- Families building wealth across retirement accounts, real estate, and taxable investments
- Business owners whose personal and business finances are closely intertwined
- Pre-retirees navigating the transition from accumulation to distribution
- Retirees managing withdrawals, RMDs, and Social Security in a tax-efficient sequence
- Individuals with equity compensation or significant investment income
- Families with estate planning documents already in place who want a tax lens applied to them
If you're working with other advisors — a financial planner, an estate attorney, a business attorney — we work alongside them. If you're not, we can help you think through what you need and when.
Ready to Work with an Advisor Who Sees the Whole Picture?
What does a CFP® do that a regular tax advisor doesn't?
A CFP® has formal training in retirement income planning, investment analysis, education funding, and estate planning — not just tax preparation. Most tax preparers are skilled at reporting what happened; a CFP® with tax credentials can help you plan what should happen across all of those areas before decisions are made.Do I need to leave my current financial advisor to work with you?
No. We regularly work alongside existing financial advisors, providing the tax planning layer that complements their investment work. If anything, having a tax advisor and a financial advisor who are in communication tends to produce better outcomes than working with each in isolation.How is financial coordination different from tax planning?
Tax planning focuses on your tax position — reducing what you owe and making smart decisions around your return. Financial coordination is broader: it's the work of making sure your retirement strategy, investment decisions, and estate plan are all pulling in the same direction from a tax standpoint. Think of tax planning as one discipline within a coordinated financial strategy.Can you help me decide whether a Roth conversion makes sense for my situation?
Yes. Roth conversion planning is one of the decisions we work through most frequently with clients. The answer depends on your current bracket, projected future income, estate goals, and the tax cost of converting now versus deferring. We walk through each variable before arriving at a recommendation.Do you serve clients outside of Federal Way and the South Puget Sound area?
We do. While our local roots are in Federal Way and the surrounding communities — including Tacoma, Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, and Renton — we work with clients virtually across Washington State. For coordination-focused engagements, most of the work happens over video and phone regardless of location.