About Retirement Tax Matters
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The idea for Retirement Tax Matters came directly from our conversations with new and prospective clients. One of the first questions we often get is, "Why do you need our tax return?"
We launched this podcast because we believe that providing effective financial guidance for retirees is impossible without a clear understanding of what’s happening on their tax return. We saw so many diligent savers who weren't fully aware of the opportunities and risks hidden in their own tax documents.
Our goal is to share the insights we've gained from years of practice—to have a down-to-earth conversation that simplifies these complex topics and empowers you to make more informed decisions for your retirement.
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While the term "High-Net-Worth" or HNW can sound formal, we're simply talking about retirees and their families who have been successful in accumulating (or are on track to accumulate) between $2 million and $8 million.
This is the range where retirement planning becomes truly multi-dimensional. It's no longer just about saving; it's about navigating a more complex financial landscape. The content on Retirement Tax Matters is specifically designed to address the unique questions that arise at this level of wealth.
This is the stage where proactive strategies around tax-efficient distributions, Roth conversions, and smart charitable giving can make a profound difference—not just for a future legacy, but for enhancing your own retirement and empowering you to give generously during your lifetime. Our goal is to provide clarity on these advanced topics for anyone navigating this exciting and complex chapter of life.
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This question gets to the very reason we created Retirement Tax Matters. We’ve often been in situations where we’re speaking to a general audience of retirees, and it's difficult to use an example like: a married couple with a $5 million IRA, multiple rental properties, and a $500k 529 plan for their 10 grandchildren —because it simply doesn't apply to most people in the room.
We made a specific decision that this podcast and website would be different. We are intentionally niching down to focus on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by retirees between $2 million to $8 million net worth range. This focus allows us to have a more targeted content and conversations for retirees in this demographic.
It also means we aren't concentrating on the financial planning issues of the Ultra-High-Net-Worth, who might have annual income over a million dollars estates and require complex estate tax strategies that are a world away from the concerns of most successful HNW retirees.
Instead, we can use real-world (though anonymized) examples that reflect the complexity HNW retirees are actually dealing with. We can explore how to coordinate various income sources, manage large pre-tax balances, and implement tailored tax planning, because we know this content is for an audience that will find it directly applicable to their own financial lives.
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Our primary goal with Retirement Tax Matters is to educate you. By focusing specifically on the challenges faced by HNW retirees between $2-8M, our content provides a level of detail and uses relevant examples that you we don’t think you’ll find too many places elsewhere.
The best way to stay in touch and benefit from our ongoing conversations is by subscribing to our newsletter. By doing so, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the critical questions you should be asking and the opportunities you should be exploring.
This podcast is designed to be a valuable educational resource that helps you become a more informed and engaged participant in your own financial future, whether you manage things yourself, want to work with us or already have another trusted professional.
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Providence Wealth Management, LLC is the independent, fee-based SEC-registered independent investment advisory firm where Garrett Crawford, CFP®, and Adam Reed work. Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, it serves as the professional practice behind the educational content you see on Retirement Tax Matters.
Think of it this way: Retirement Tax Matters is the educational platform and video podcast created specifically to provide advanced tax planning insights for high-net-worth retirees with between $2 million and $8 million in assets. Providence Wealth Management, LLC is the firm through which Garrett and Adam provide the direct, personalized financial planning and investment management services to their clients.
While the firm is physically located in Tennessee, Garrett and Adam use modern technology to work with their retired clients remotely across the United States, making it easy to connect regardless of location.
If you are interested in learning more about becoming a client and believe their integrated approach may be a good fit for your family, you can schedule a complimentary discovery call to speak with them directly.
About Garrett Crawford, CFP®
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I'm a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) professional with Providence Wealth Management, LLC - an independent firm based in Knoxville, TN. My focus has always been on the unique challenges retirees face. I started my career here in 2013 by specializing in Social Security planning, which quickly revealed how deeply intertwined tax strategy is with a secure retirement. This conviction drove me to earn my CFP® certification in 2019 to provide more comprehensive advice.
It’s important to understand what that mark means. The financial industry has many credentials, but the CFP® certification is widely considered the benchmark. To earn it, a planner must meet rigorous requirements in four areas: Education, Examination, Experience, and Ethics.
A central part of the ethical requirement is a commitment to act as a fiduciary, which means I'm legally and ethically bound to always act in my clients' best interests.
In my opinion, having the CFP® mark doesn't automatically guarantee someone is a great financial planner, but I do believe it's a fantastic place to start. It ensures you're working with a professional who has demonstrated a high level of competency and has formally pledged to put your interests first.
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I graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. While in college, I started dating a girl who became my wife. As it turned out, her father was the owner of Providence and he offered me my first job right out of engineering school.
It was a valuable and fairly uncommon start in this profession, especially back in 2013. My role was focused entirely on learning the craft of financial planning, not on sales. The ability to sit in on client meetings from day one created an ideal foundation. It allowed me to apply my engineering background—analyzing complex systems and finding practical solutions—directly to the real-world financial challenges our clients face.
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As a financial planner, I believe most High-Net-Worth Retirees would do well to have a bigger view of tax planning. While the goal isn't always to minimize taxes in a single year, the focus should be on lowering the aggregate amount of taxes you pay over your lifetime. Sometimes it makes sense to strategically pay more tax today if it results in significant savings down the road. This is especially critical for those of you who have saved between $2 million and $8 million.
In this range, your financial life becomes incredibly dynamic. It’s crucial that your (1) tax return, your (2) investment plan, and your (3) long-term financial plan are better aligned. I often find that the income families in this range live on is less than what their portfolios actually generate, which creates significant opportunities for proactive planning. This is why I believe Roth Conversions are such a powerful strategic tool. It's one of the best ways to accelerate or defer income, allowing you to leverage what you know about your financial situation today to position yourself better for the future.
A major focus of your planning should be on future Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). For HNW retirees, RMDs can grow to be much larger than your actual spending needs, forcing a significant amount of taxable income each year. This can easily push you into a higher tax bracket. The challenge is often compounded when one spouse passes away, as the surviving spouse must then file using the much higher single tax bracket rates. It's important to think critically about how to structure these funds for your beneficiaries, ensuring the plan is tax-efficient for the next generation while keeping assets liquid in case they are needed for unexpected events.
Ultimately, all of these technical strategies serve a much greater purpose. I find that life is more than just maximizing money. Many successful retirees don't strive to end up with the biggest pile of money at the end of their life. The goal is to understand your money better so you can deploy it more confidently—helping your kids sooner, giving more generously, and enabling the people and organizations around you to be more impactful.
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What drew me to financial planning is the immediate human connection. In this profession, the challenges are not just technical; they are deeply personal.
The most fulfilling part of my work is being invited into a family's life to help them navigate a significant challenge. It might be the anxiety of an unexpected tax bill or the complexity of managing a large inheritance. Often, our office is the one place a couple feels comfortable having a real, out-loud conversation about the unique responsibilities that come with the wealth they've built. Your friends might think have $8M IRA is all fun and games, but the reality is having a lot of money is in its own way very challenging and can also bring about sleepless nights knowing how best to manage it.
I love that being a CFP® professional requires me to uphold the fiduciary standard, grounding my work in a commitment to ongoing education, rigorous experience, and requiring integrity in all I do. Being able to use those skills to help a family find clarity and peace of mind is a profound privilege. When you see them move from a place of uncertainty to a place of confidence, able to enjoy their retirement and be more generous, it's incredibly fulfilling.
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As a practicing financial planner in Knoxville, Tennessee, my primary goal with this Retirement Tax Matters podcast and website is to provide highly targeted, valuable resources for High-Net-Worth retirees in the $2 million to $8 million range. Adam and I are passionate about education and believe that a more informed person is empowered to make better financial decisions.
We realize that by sharing our specific approach to planning, some listeners may find that our philosophy deeply resonates with them and might want to see if we're a good fit to work together professionally.
If that's you, and you feel that a deeper, one-on-one conversation would be helpful, please feel free to use the link below to schedule a quick, 30-minute introductory phone call with me. There is no cost or obligation for this call.