A big problem with going with a CPA or a lawyer to do your family’s tax-planning for retirement is they will do the bare minimum, often. A CPA will do it to their standards, but they’re not always in the business of fully advising you on how to save money.
It’s kind of tough. You trust a professional to do the work well, but if you’re not super knowledgeable in the field, it’s hard to judge their quality.
For those based in San Diego, you may be close to retirement age and wondering how to plan things out. You may need to roll over a 401k or 403b to a Roth IRA conversion. That could save you hundreds of thousands or even millions throughout your retirement. But not everyone does it.
San Diego is a destination for retirement and the wealthy, but not everyone has a great plan or knows where to start. Typically when you’re working with wealth management firms they may specialize in a few areas, but won’t always cover everything.
Tax planning and wealth management are different practices. They roll up under the umbrella of financial services, but more specifically wealth management. There are different types of wealth management firms – you should shop around and find your favorite style. Some are small one-man shops, others are specialty boutiques, and then you have the bigger guys – the regional and national firms.
Here’s some early research on local wealth management firms that also offer tax planning. We recommend you reach out to each of them and set up an appointment.
Let’s start with the local firms with San Diego roots:
| Firm | Snapshot | Mission statement | Why it ranks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dowling & Yahnke | ≈ $5 B AUM, founded 1991 | “Provide comprehensive investment management and financial planning services tailored to clients’ individual life and legacy goals.” (businesswire.com) | Deep CFP®/CPA bench; publishes annual capital-gain-budget worksheets and “Tax Alpha” white paper |
| Platt Wealth Management | Boutique La Jolla firm | “Inspire and empower clients by providing custom financial planning and personalized investment management.” (plattwealthmanagement.com) | Runs tax-strategy-first sessions that map NIIT, AMT and estate exposures |
| Pure Financial Advisors | ≈ $8 B AUM, 8 CFPs + in-house CPAs | “Provide fee-only, credentialed financial education, planning and investment advice to anyone who needs it.” (purefinancial.com) | Weekly Your Money, Your Wealth show is 90 % tax talk; models Roth conversions, QSBS, NUA, etc. |
| Tushaus Wealth Management | Family-run; Point Loma & Scottsdale | “Help families secure their legacy through fiduciary tax, estate and wealth planning—treating every client like family.” (healthharborfinancial.com) | In-house return prep plus cash-balance-plan design for business owners; “Haus of Wealth” podcast |
| HealthHarbor Financial Planning | New Point Loma RIA focused on healthcare workers | “Specialize in helping nurses, doctors and allied-health pros plan for retirement, taxes and more.” (healthharborfinancial.com) | Niche tax-planning play for healthcare professionals; offers free retirement checklist and quiz |
| WorthPointe | Multi-office but SD-rooted | “Empower people to make wise money decisions and design a life vision aligned with their values.” (worthpointeinvest.com) | Couples tax projections with real-time rebalancing—useful for entrepreneurs with K-1 income |
National firms with a San Diego desk:
| Firm | Snapshot | Mission statement | Why it ranks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mariner Wealth Advisors | 100 + CPAs nationwide; UTC office | “Keep the client at the center of everything we do.” (marinerwealthadvisors.com) | Folds full tax prep into the advisory fee—one team handles strategy and filing |
| EP Wealth Advisors | ≈ $31 B AUM, 500 + staff | “Put clients’ interests first through a planning-first approach.” (epwealth.com) | Dedicated tax group tackles stock-option modeling, residency moves, QSBS planning |
| Aspiriant | $15 B AUM; High Bluff Dr. office | “Empower families to live their dreams and create their legacy.” (aspiriant.com) | Family-office DNA; combines planning, investments and 1040 prep under one flat retainer |
A guide to choosing the right tax-savvy advisor in San Diego
You’re in San Diego, a city full of RIAs that promise tax alpha. Sorting them feels like studying for boards while juggling night shifts—doable, but only with a plan. Use the steps below to move from maybe to yes with confidence.
1. Map your own complexity first.
Write down each moving part of your financial life: single-income W-2, RSUs vesting quarterly, K-1 from the side LLC, rental in Phoenix, inherited IRA, whatever. Rank them by tax pain (high-bracket RSUs usually top the list, passive rentals often fall in the middle). This list becomes your litmus test; the firm that spots the biggest tax pinch in the first call deserves a second meeting.
2. Decide whether you want integrated tax filing or coordination.
Filing in-house is convenient—no Dropbox shuffle—but comes with an implicit “all eggs in one basket.” Mariner, EP, Aspiriant and HealthHarbor file returns themselves. Pure, Dowling & Yahnke, Platt, Tushaus and WorthPointe prefer to quarterback strategy and let your CPA sign the 1040. If you already love your accountant, choose a coordination model; if you dread April, pay for the all-in package.
3. Measure tax depth, not marketing gloss.
Ask each firm to walk you through an anonymized case study that saved a client at least five figures in tax. Look for specifics—Roth conversion timing, donor-advised-fund bunching, QSBS stacking—not vague “optimization.” If the advisor can’t sketch the numbers on a whiteboard in under five minutes, move on.
4. Scrutinize staffing ratios.
A fancy mission statement is useless if one advisor juggles 150 households. Pure caps at roughly 80 per lead advisor thanks to its planning department; Tushaus and HealthHarbor run even leaner. Ask: “How many clients does my primary CFP support?” Anything above 100 means your file gets attention only at review time, not when Congress rewrites the tax code at midnight.
5. Understand the fee trade-offs.
Flat retainers (Aspiriant, sometimes Platt) scale poorly if your portfolio balloons, but they put a ceiling on cost. Tiered AUM (Pure, D&Y) can be cheaper under $5 M but climbs quickly. Hybrid hourly/AUM (WorthPointe) suits founders in liquidity events who need bursts of modeling. Always convert quotes to a dollar figure and compare it to your projected tax savings—if fees eat 80 % of the benefit, keep shopping.
6. Check cultural fit in the first five minutes.
If you’re a nurse juggling double shifts, HealthHarbor’s bedside-manner metaphors will click. An engineer might prefer Pure’s evidence-based spiel. Founders used to boardrooms often gravitate to Aspiriant’s family-office tone. Chemistry matters; you’ll be sharing Form 8960 headaches and estate documents.
7. Verify fiduciary posture and ADV disclosures.
All firms listed here are fee-only RIAs, but don’t take my word. Pull their ADV Part 2A from the SEC, scan Item 5 for fee structure and Item 9 for disciplinary history. One red flag—walk.
8. Stress-test their process timeline.
A disciplined firm delivers: (1) data-gathering checklist, (2) draft plan in 30 days, (3) tax-action schedule before year-end. Ask each candidate to outline deadlines in writing. Slippage here predicts future procrastination on Roth conversions.
9. Demand visibility into ongoing tax monitoring.
Quarterly tax-loss harvesting alone is table stakes. Leading shops run mid-year projection meetings, track estimated payments, and maintain running capital-gain budgets. If the firm can’t show you the dashboard they use internally, assume it doesn’t exist.
10. Sleep on it, then run a back-of-napkin ROI.
Multiply the advisor’s proposed tax savings by your marginal rate, subtract the fee. Positive number plus peace of mind? Sign. Negative number? Keep interviewing.
Follow these steps and the fog will lift. You’ll land on the advisor who not only files or coordinates your return but also keeps more dollars compounding under your own roof—exactly where they belong.
We did some research in 2022 on Scottsdale firms – take a look at that one too!
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