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The Transformative Insights Newsletter – April 2026

Welcome to this month’s edition of The Transformative Insights Newsletter by AMG Wealth Management. This month we will discuss why year-round tax planning is so important as well as the various way it helps you proactively lower your lifetime tax liability with diligent planning.

What’s All This Talk About Tax Planning?

The federal income tax officially started in 1913 with the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution. Although few people were impacted by the filing requirements in the early days, the impact grew wider after WWII.  The Internal Revenue Code established what constitutes income and what income is excluded.  From there the code specifies what deductions are allowed and where credits against your tax liability can be recognized. Tax planning from the start of the code through the 1990s focused on deferring taxable income until later years and accelerating deductions and credits into the current year’s tax liability.  Is your head spinning yet?

Throughout this period, congress never missed a chance to influence their favorite pet projects by creating opportunities to accelerate more deductions and allowing more exclusions or deferments of income.  Again, most of these changes were focused on the current year’s tax return.  However, by the 1990s and especially after 2010, the Code was super-ladened with qualifications, phase outs and exclusions of opportunities for people with adjustable gross incomes above various thresh-holds.  Even the term ‘adjusted gross income’ has multiple definitions for various scenarios. Being able to calculate your tax liability on the back of an envelope while talking to your mother on a Sunday afternoon was no longer possible.

Both calculating your current year’s tax liability and tax planning now requires the use of advance tax software to spell out the best options.  It is no longer something to be done in November to make last-minute changes, but it is a year-round task involving projecting current Code rules into the future to minimize future tax liabilities by taking action today. Yes, the tax Code changes almost every year.  That’s why your tax planning needs to be updated every year.

What are examples of tax planning:

1. Calculating your required distributions from deferred retirement accounts, based on various beginning dates and your expected longevity and deciding how much of those required distributions should be qualified charitable distributions early in the year.

2. Calculating how much, if any, Roth conversions from your traditional IRA should be made this year without kicking you into higher tax brackets, higher capital gains rates, higher IRMAA, (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) for your ‘fair share’ contribution to Medicare, higher taxation of social security benefits and other limits on deductions. This should be calculated early in the tax year so if the market goes down, you can quickly execute it, to convert at a lower amount. This is so popular as Roth account funds are not taxed upon distribution or for your heirs upon your death.

3. Maximizing your charitable donations by being proactive and forward-looking into the many ways to make these donations within the limits prescribed each year.
4. Managing capital gains each year to stay within the brackets for your income level and to ensure gains minus losses keep you in the zone that you desire. Don’t forget, your capital gains income sits on top of all your other income to determine the rate of capital gains you pay.
5. Playing the long game: estimating your income in future years versus the current year is a winning strategy. If you expect to have higher income in future years versus this year, it may make sense to harvest capital gains, perform a Roth conversion, exercise stock options, accelerate payouts from a business (if you’re a partner/owner and can control timing of payouts) and/or defer charitable contributions in the current lower income year. Conversely, if you expect to have lower income in future years compared to the current year, it may make sense to maximize your pre-tax 401(k) contributions, maximize HSA contributions, accelerate depreciation, sell assets that have a loss (harvest tax losses), defer exercising options, defer payouts from a business (again, if you can control the timing of payouts) and/or lump charitable contributions together/start a donor-advised fund. Timing the recognition of income is crucial to lowering your lifetime tax liability- but it requires diligent, proactive planning to gain the benefits.

In summary, there are many options to lower your taxes over your lifetime that depend on the options you choose today.  Advanced tax planning software allows you to examine your current tax situation and calculates the value of various proposed tax scenarios over the next 10-15 years, then discounts those tax savings back to their present value today.  That’s a big deal and why everyone is talking about tax planning.

Sincerely,

Tom Gruber

401(k)s alterative asset rule proposed by Labor Department - CNBC

Last week, private credit firm Apollo Global denied its investors request to redeem 12% of their assets. Apollo Global only granted 5% of the requested liquidations meaning investors only received 40% of the funds they requested. So, if you requested $1,000,000 be withdrawn from the fund, you only received $400,000 meaning you didn’t have access to the other $600,000. This lack of liquidity in down markets is the major risk of investing in private credit and private equity funds. Despite having high yields and their potential for diversifying a portfolio, being denied access to your money when you want it is less than ideal.

 With this backdrop, the Department of Labor just issued a ruling making it easier for 401(k) plans to invest in these private credit funds (as well as cryptocurrency and real estate). At a time when wealthy investors in private credit funds are rushing to get their money out, 401(k)s are now allowed greater access to these investments. As 401(k) participants, you can and should bring up this conlfict of interest if your company’s plan is considering adding access to these investment. Why should you buy the assets that the wealthiest investors are trying so hard to get rid of?

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Creating a Realistic Budget

But what kind of expedient is the greater distinction that he seeks with pleasure. The times are more severe than the pains themselves, but the pleasure is free. It’s a pain in the times of truth to do who seeks or

Review your discretionary spending and look for areas where you can cut back. Small changes, like reducing dining out or canceling unused subscriptions, can add up over time.

An emergency fund is your safety net. Aim to save at least three to six months’ worth of living expenses in case of unexpected events like medical bills or job loss.
Whether you work in marketing, sales, or product design, you understand the importance of a quality landing page. Landing pages are standalone websites used to generate leads or sales—in other words they help you increase your revenue. Unlike typical web pages, landing pages only have one call to action, or CTA, and they are usually tied to a specific marketing or advertising campaign. The hyper-focused nature of landing pages means they come with a pretty standard set of best practices.
What makes an easy-to-use landing page? Overall it’s clear, concise, and doesn’t give users any options except for the main CTA.In terms of copy, your landing page should have one clear message. The header of your page should promote the desired action you want visitors to take. And additionally it should explain the benefits of performing this action.
The visual design of your page should be very simple. Unlike your front page, this is not the place to go crazy with brand personality—so no wild animations or complex design elements. You wouldn’t want to distract visitors from performing the main action of your page.
Landing page CTA’s are typically buttons, sometimes accompanied by an input field if you need to collect user information. To ensure your buttons are clicked, make sure they stand out visually. This can be done with contrasting the button color with your page background and clear copy on the button itself. For example, if you are asking visitors to book a demo, write“Book a demo” clearly on the CTA button.