During a recent webcast, From Income to Impact: Advanced Tax Strategies for the High-Net-Worth Investor, experts from LPL Financial and VettaFi unpacked the increasingly sophisticated strategies required to preserve and transition wealth in today’s complex tax environment. If the first half of the conversation focused on minimizing tax drag, the second half widened the lens.
See more: Tax Strategies Every High-Net-Worth Advisor Should Know
The panel, featuring Cody Parks, vice president of advanced planning at LPL Financial; Evan Wrinkle, senior analyst of tax planning at LPL Financial; and Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, highlighted a clear evolution in the advisory role. The discussion moved from preserving income to shaping impact — examining how high-net-worth families can align tax strategy with long-term legacy goals.
From Income Optimization to Intentional Impact
For clients who are already philanthropically inclined — or who simply prefer directing dollars to causes rather than the Treasury — Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have become a go-to tool.
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The "Bunching" Strategy: Clients can maximize itemized deductions by contributing several years of charitable gifts into a DAF during a single high-income year.
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Leveraging Appreciated Securities: By transferring stock held for over a year into a DAF, clients receive a deduction at fair market value while sidestepping capital gains tax.
For clients seeking a more engineered solution, the Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) offers a dual benefit. A CRT allows an individual to transfer highly appreciated assets, receive a partial upfront deduction, and defer capital gains when the trust sells those assets. The client receives an income stream for life, with the remainder passing to charity.
CRTs have taken on renewed relevance in the post-"stretch IRA" world. By naming a testamentary CRT as a retirement account beneficiary, families can recreate a lifetime income stream for heirs that would otherwise be subject to the 10-year distribution rule. When paired with life insurance, families can replace the charitable remainder with tax-free legacy wealth.
Roth Strategies and Mega Backdoor Planning
Retirement strategy more broadly remained central to the conversation — specifically, the benefit of Roth accounts for heirs.
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The "Mega Backdoor Roth": Within eligible 401(k) plans, clients can contribute after-tax dollars up to the total limit ($72,000 in 2026) and convert them to Roth assets.
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Long-term Framing: Roth conversions should be framed as a way to reduce lifetime tax exposure and eliminate future required minimum distributions (RMDs).
Qualified Opportunity Zones: Deferring Gains, Driving Growth
The panel also revisited Qualified Opportunity Zones, noting that the One Big Beautiful Bill revamped the program. These structures allow investors to defer capital gains by reinvesting them into designated funds tied to targeted development areas. Under updated rules beginning in 2027, new investments may qualify for rolling deferral periods, partial basis step-ups for long-term holds, and potentially tax-free appreciation on the opportunity zone investment itself after 10 years — subject to program limits. For clients navigating a liquidity event, the appeal lies in pairing tax deferral with long-term growth potential.
Planning for the Next Generation
Hovering over all of it is the Great Wealth Transfer. With trillions expected to move from baby boomers to heirs in the coming decades, advisors are increasingly balancing income tax efficiency with estate design. Decisions around generation-skipping trusts, estate inclusion for basis step-up purposes, and retirement account beneficiary structuring have taken on new urgency. While estate tax exemptions remain stable for now, the long-term policy landscape is anything but certain.
High-net-worth families don’t have to navigate these complex strategies alone. Financial advisors should leverage specialists — including CPAs, estate planning attorneys, and advanced planning teams — to provide comprehensive guidance on tax optimization, charitable structures, and wealth transfer. Coordinating across experts ensures that every piece is executed efficiently and in alignment with the client’s broader legacy goals.
Taken together, these strategies — DAF bunching, CRTs, Roth conversions, QOZ investments, and coordinated estate planning — show how high-net-worth families can move from merely preserving wealth to actively shaping impact. But as the panel made clear, those maneuvers are only the starting point.
A message from Advisor Perspectives and VettaFi: To learn more about this and other topics, check out some of our webcasts.
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