Do you have a financial guy or cpa?

[cyanide12345678]

So my financial life is getting a lot more complicated with traditional to roth conversions, 2 w2 income, 2 or 3 1099 incomes, schedule C deductions for my sole proprietor llc, 3 broker accounts with trading activity. Plan of switching taxation status to S corp in 2020 instead of sole proprietor.

So far I've done everything myself. I can still probably pull off 2019 tax year with turbo tax. I didn't have any issues last year with schedule C deductions. But it will take me 6 or so hours to do all of that, if not more. And it's a lot of tedious data entry -_-

At what point of your financial lives did you folks get a financial advisor and/or an accountant/cpa/ea for taxes.

At what complexity of finances did you feel that an advisor and/or accountant were "worth it"? How much are they charging you?

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[deleted497653]

I use an accountant but last year my friend did mine on TurboTax. No problems either method. But I only have one income w2.. I wouldn’t have an accountant on hire all year though. Just hire them for taxes and ask your questions at that time

 

[cyanide12345678]

I use an accountant but last year my friend did mine on TurboTax. No problems either method. But I only have one income w2.. I wouldn’t have an accountant on hire all year though. Just hire them for taxes and ask your questions at that time

I live in a low cost city, have an upcoming appointment with a cpa who said that I'm looking at $500-600 for this tax year and $900-1200 for S corp taxes next year with one time fee of S corp set up. Having said that, i think I'm fairly organized with QuickBooks and my schedule C is pretty easy as everything including receipts already is set up in QuickBooks.

For that same cost, he is available year round for answers to questions basically. Which i think isn't all that bad. Their CPA firm seems to be the highest rated in the city as well.

 

[Tenk]

For me, the money for an accountant outweighs the pain of doing my own taxes. I make a lot of $/hr so it’s probably actually a cheaper use of my time. I can also email my accountant lots of financial questions and he answers them free of charge and he doesn’t sell me any crap.

I have met with a financial advisor but I feel like these people are always trying to just sell you stuff, so I don’t buy any of it because I don’t trust them. Also, if these people were so good with money why don’t they all drive lambos and own yachts? I’d recommend joining the white coat investor Facebook group if you have not yet done so. Lots of good info there.

 

[southerndoc]

I do everything myself. 1099-MISC's, stock options, K-1's, various deductions for business expenses, etc. and still do it myself with TurboTax Premium, Premier, or whatever it's called.

Your accountant will screw you if you get audited. You'll get charged by the hour if your CPA decides to stick around. Many will turn you over to a tax attorney and wash their hands of their own mistakes.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I do everything myself. 1099-MISC's, stock options, K-1's, various deductions for business expenses, etc. and still do it myself with TurboTax Premium, Premier, or whatever it's called.

Your accountant will screw you if you get audited. You'll get charged by the hour if your CPA decides to stick around. Many will turn you over to a tax attorney and wash their hands of their own mistakes.

If that's your experience it's more than you had ****ty accountants.

The contract I sign with my taxes says that representation in the event of an audit is included.

 

[Vandalia]

I have had a CPA do my taxes for a number of years. One of the benefits of being an EM physician is that I no longer have to worry about such things, I can pay other people to do them.

Sure, I could do it myself. But if I multiply the time it takes me, by my EM hourly rate, that is far more than the cost of a professional doing the taxes.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

One of our docs brothers is a tax guy. Excellent and charges a reasonable amount. There is zero reason for me to spend hours trying to do this myself. Its just not worth the time or effort it would take me for what amounts to 1-2 hours of work at my hourly rate.

 

[Groove]

I have had a CPA do my taxes for a number of years. One of the benefits of being an EM physician is that I no longer have to worry about such things, I can pay other people to do them.

Sure, I could do it myself. But if I multiply the time it takes me, by my EM hourly rate, that is far more than the cost of a professional doing the taxes.

Couldn't agree more. I've had a variety of unexpected tax issues over the years after practicing in multiple states and after finding my current local tax firm, my CPA has been a Godsend. Sure, I pay 2-3K a year but it's money extremely well spent. I don't have to worry about anything and if I receive a letter or any other tax related correspondence, I simply scan it, send it to him and it's his problem. So far, they've worked out everything with efficiency and finesse. The cost is including a few meetings, calls and correspondences I have with him every year. I'd give up cable before I'd give up my CPA. You guys with sophisticated tax structuring are nuts doing it yourselves. Why on earth bother with the headache and take the risk of filing incorrectly and getting audited? I sleep much better at night and have complete peace of mind.

 

[southerndoc]

Maybe I did have a crappy accountant (went through two actually). Both made me fill out this "prelim" paperwork for deductions and such. Ended up I was spending more time filling that out by hand than doing it myself in TurboTax.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

So my financial life is getting a lot more complicated with traditional to roth conversions, 2 w2 income, 2 or 3 1099 incomes, schedule C deductions for my sole proprietor llc, 3 broker accounts with trading activity. Plan of switching taxation status to S corp in 2020 instead of sole proprietor.

So far I've done everything myself. I can still probably pull off 2019 tax year with turbo tax. I didn't have any issues last year with schedule C deductions. But it will take me 6 or so hours to do all of that, if not more. And it's a lot of tedious data entry -_-

At what point of your financial lives did you folks get a financial advisor and/or an accountant/cpa/ea for taxes.

At what complexity of finances did you feel that an advisor and/or accountant were "worth it"? How much are they charging you?

I have a CPA/Tax Attorney and a financial advisor. I manage about 75% of our finances. Advisor manages mutual funds and stocks for commission and CPA charges flat rate for tax returns for my wife and I and on our properties. So its not terribly expensive. I got involved with them many yrs ago even before things got more complex. They are definitely worth it.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I've had a CPA for the last several years because I had a lot of 1099 income and an S-corp. That went away this year, so I'm going to save about $3000 in tax prep just doing it myself. As has been stated above, filling out the prep form takes almost as long as just entering the info into turbotax. If you are on a W2 income with standard deductions, then there's no reason not to do it yourself. The odds of getting audited aren't high enough to worry about.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Once my .life got complicated I outsourced. Of course it came along with more wealth. I actually used to enjoy doing my taxes. Then I had a slew of kids, a side gig etc. Now I find there are other ways for me to enjoy my free time.

IMO once you can afford it it is time unless you enjoy doing it. I consider myself a "numbers" guy so it was fun. I just cant justify the time.

Once I had a decent amount of money in non tax deferred accounts I decided to get a financial advisor. I pay under 50 bps.I keep some money that they dont manage. It gives me the luxury of knowing someone else is managing my money so I dont have to worry. My time is better spent making more money than deciding how to invest. I have no issue with someone not using an FA. that being said my buddy took a bunch of money out of the market around the last presidential election.

He missed a huge run up in the market.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Looks like everyone except southerndoc has a guy

Guess it's time to embrace the attending life and the fact that my time is more valuable now.

 

[CajunMedic]

Looking for one now, got recommendations from a couple of my attendings. Between my W-2 and 1099 income, 3 states worth of taxes, wife’s W-2 income, PAYE, and both of our retirement rollovers, etc, I figured it was getting to the point an hour and TurboTax wasn’t going to cut it anymore.


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[Porfirio]

I have a CPA. Best money I ever spent. 1) they fill out all the forms and setup all the tax accounts, 2) they answer all my questions and tell me if my “good ideas” are bad, 3) they keep me honest - or I would have written off way more expenses then probably gotten audited, 4) save me time (1 shift > their yearly cost)

Financial advisors are a waste for me. I put everything in Vanguard mutual funds. It took me a few weeks to setup all the accounts (i401k, trad IRA, Roth IRA, HSA, 529) but now all I have to do is log in, click a few buttons, enter some numbers, and hit submit. Why pay someone to do that?

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Our taxes took me 2-3 hours last year. If they get significantly more complicated, I might hire it out.

Ew, why would I need a financial leach, er, advisor?

 

[cyanide12345678]

Our taxes took me 2-3 hours last year. If they get significantly more complicated, I might hire it out.

Ew, why would I need a financial leach, er, advisor?

I always thought i was never going to get a financial advisor. I've read a decent number of books now and really believe in a boring 3 fund portfolio which a high schooler could manage without an issue. But recently came across Mark Zorill (plan vision) who basically charges 99 a year. He just gives advice, doesn't manage anything, you do it all on your own, he believes in very simple boring investments like Target funds. The Emoney software he hooks you up with as a client is itself worth the 99 dollars. And he's accessible by email at all times and meetings can be set up as needed online.

For 99 dollars annually, i honestly thought, why not have someone to bounce ideas off of

 

[RuralEDDoc]

Yes to CPA. 1099/W2/tax law changes... hedging bets. Really not too expensive.
No to financial advisor. Don’t need a urologist to tell you how to piss straight.

 

[DeadCactus]

Tangential question: Does anyone use an umbrella corporation for things like buying your home, "owning" the LLC for your 1099 income, etc in order to add a layer of anonymity to public records?

 

[GonnaBeADoc2222]

Yes CPA. Don't really feel like doing my own 1099 return (schedule C, pass through deduction, multiple states). I think I'll be W2 again soon though in which case I'll just do it myself. Time saved just on the return alone is worth it. Plus he's available for questions throughout the year.

Financial planner nah. I use 3 fund portfolio philosophy. Backdoor Roth, solo 401k, 529 for kid. If you spend some time on WCI you can get a pretty solid handle on the basics, which is all I need.



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[TooMuchResearch]

For $96, even I might be willing to have another set of eyes make sure my eggs are in the right baskets.

I always thought i was never going to get a financial advisor. I've read a decent number of books now and really believe in a boring 3 fund portfolio which a high schooler could manage without an issue. But recently came across Mark Zorill (plan vision) who basically charges 99 a year. He just gives advice, doesn't manage anything, you do it all on your own, he believes in very simple boring investments like Target funds. The Emoney software he hooks you up with as a client is itself worth the 99 dollars. And he's accessible by email at all times and meetings can be set up as needed online.

For 99 dollars annually, i honestly thought, why not have someone to bounce ideas off of

 

[GeneralVeers]

Yes CPA. Don't really feel like doing my own 1099 return (schedule C, pass through deduction, multiple states). I think I'll be W2 again soon though in which case I'll just do it myself. Time saved just on the return alone is worth it. Plus he's available for questions throughout the year.

Financial planner nah. I use 3 fund portfolio philosophy. Backdoor Roth, solo 401k, 529 for kid. If you spend some time on WCI you can get a pretty solid handle on the basics, which is all I need.



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I've learned a lot through the years (don't buy individual stocks) and index funds are the way to go. They take no micro-management, and historically averaged you should manage 3-5% annual return. I'm not sure any financial advisor can consistently beat this, and the 1% management fee they charge is egregious in my opinion. That's basically a guaranteed negative 1% return on investment for using them! Almost as stupid as wealth tax......

 

[dchristismi]

I do my own taxes, which are complicated, with W2, 1099, rental properties, i401k, backdoor Roth and the 20% pass through this last year. I embraced WCI's wisdom that if I could figure out renal physiology I could certainly read the tax code. It's boring, but it's intriguing at the same time. And it's great if I can't get to sleep. The IRS has all their documents online, and with the (significant) assistance of TurboTax, I'd rather do it myself. Perhaps I even look forward to it. But then again, I've always been very particular about money and keep immaculate records. I love my spreadsheets.

I also love index funds, especially Vanguard's very low fee funds. One of Dad's hobbies is investing and my sister is an MBA, so I bounce things off them when I'm not completely sure, but don't mind spending the time doing the homework. Sis is a fan of VTSAX. I now prefer the somewhat more conservative VBIAX, but I'm also semi retired. I also tend to put the money in and leave it the hell alone, which also cuts down on fees.

One of my accounts, a 457 from first job, has been just sitting there growing. Every year the "guy" calls me to "touch base" and make sure I'm "on track," which I think is hilarious, as I tell him every year that I left that job several years ago, can't put any money into it, but won't be rolling it into anything else. He also gets my first name wrong about half the time, so there's that...

 

[deleted547339]

I’m in my second year out. I do my own taxes, but they’re pretty simple. W2. All moonlighting is internal so it’s the same W2. No taxable accounts. No student loans or pslf. Tithe plus other deductions which are all legit and would hold up in an audit.

I kind of enjoy it, plus I’m cheap. Yes, I could work an extra day to do that, but I could also work a couple extra days and give up lawn care, or grocery shopping, or whatever. I don’t want to work too much and it’s not a terrible ROI. I feel like some of those things make me human.

 

[GeneralVeers]

It's interesting that we don't NEED to do taxes. The U.S. government already has all your income on file, and knows how much you owe. The only reason we are required to duplicate this work is that the tax preparation lobby forces it upon us. What a wasteful industry. Want to save most Americans money? Then get rid of tax preparation.

 

[cyanide12345678]

It's interesting that we don't NEED to do taxes. The U.S. government already has all your income on file, and knows how much you owe. The only reason we are required to duplicate this work is that the tax preparation lobby forces it upon us. What a wasteful industry. Want to save most Americans money? Then get rid of tax preparation.

For simple w2 workers, it's likely just a waste. But the government doesn't necessarily know how much was spent on the expenses of a business though or how many miles my car was driven while doing something business related

 

[GeneralVeers]

For simple w2 workers, it's likely just a waste. But the government doesn't necessarily know how much was spent on the expenses of a business though or how many miles my car was driven while doing something business related

Correct, but most other countries don't require people to file taxes like here. A sane system would have the government send you a form stating your W2 wages, how much tax you paid, and if you are getting a refund. There could be a simple form for any deductions. That's what it should be. Instead we are supporting a $40 billion tax preparation industry.

 

[southerndoc]

Personally, I wish we would move to a FairTax system and eliminate income taxes.

 

[EM Junkie]

Maybe I did have a crappy accountant (went through two actually). Both made me fill out this "prelim" paperwork for deductions and such. Ended up I was spending more time filling that out by hand than doing it myself in TurboTax.

This was my experience as well. By the time I’d gathered all of the “prelim” information, any idiot can put that into TurboTax.

 

[USCDiver]

I have used a CPA since my intern year when I rented out a room in my house to another intern and had no idea how to handle that kind of situation. I've also plugged all my numbers into TurboTax every year just to see what I get. Without fail, my CPA has gotten a larger refund (or less payment due) than his fee when compared to TurboTax. So in addition to making my life easier, he's more than made up his costs over the alternative.

 

[EctopicFetus]

It's interesting that we don't NEED to do taxes. The U.S. government already has all your income on file, and knows how much you owe. The only reason we are required to duplicate this work is that the tax preparation lobby forces it upon us. What a wasteful industry. Want to save most Americans money? Then get rid of tax preparation.

Write offs. The government doesn't know how I do on my rental real estate and most small businesses all they know are the revenues and not expenses.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I have used a CPA since my intern year when I rented out a room in my house to another intern and had no idea how to handle that kind of situation. I've also plugged all my numbers into TurboTax every year just to see what I get. Without fail, my CPA has gotten a larger refund (or less payment due) than his fee when compared to TurboTax. So in addition to making my life easier, he's more than made up his costs over the alternative.

That's how the system is intended to work so we have to keep hiring these leeches.