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A New META & Preparing For Tax Season

As the recent holiday season starts to become part of our long-term memories, we start to turn our attention to this upcoming year.  It is that wonderful (the level of sarcasm here is up to your discretion) time of year when we will need to focus on taxes.  There are some important dates and actions to keep in mind.  You will find all of that in the second half, or use the bullet links to skip directly to those sections.  I have also created a great cheat sheet for some of the most important financial planning metrics and numbers for this year.  


Finding Solid Ground: Redefining What It Means to Be Wealthy

At TerraFirma Wealth, new clients almost always start our initial conversations the exact same way: talking exclusively about money.

It makes sense. For decades, the financial services industry has trained us to believe that "wealth" is simply a number on a spreadsheet—and the bigger the number, the more successful you are.

But this singular focus creates a trap. We frequently meet people who have "won" the financial game according to the old rules, yet they feel like they are losing at life. They have filled their bank accounts but emptied their reserves of time, energy, and focus.

We believe that if planning is only about money, it misses the ultimate goal: living a meaningful life. Basing your life's worth solely on a traditional balance sheet is shaky ground.

To find real solid ground—your TerraFirma—we need a better definition of wealth.


The Four Sources of Capital (META)

We are inspired by a framework suggesting we manage four distinct types of capital, forming the acronym META (it has nothing to do with Facebook, quite the opposite!):

  • Money: Traditional financial resources.

  • Energy: Your physical and emotional vitality.

  • Time: Our most finite resource.

  • Attention: Your mental presence and focus.

If you have abundant money but lack time, energy, or focused attention, can you truly call yourself wealthy?


The New Definition of Financial Planning

Through the lens of META, financial planning shifts from chasing returns to finding alignment between two overlapping themes:

  1. Your Use of Capital: How you currently spend your Money, Energy, Time, and Attention.

  2. What is Important to You: Your deepest values and priorities.



Real financial planning is the never-ending process of overlapping these circles, ensuring your resources fund the life you want. This requires honesty about our "stated preferences" (what we say matters) versus "revealed preferences" (what our actions show). The checkbook and calendar rarely lie; we use that data for realignment, not judgment.


The Currency You Can't Earn Back

Money and Energy can often be replenished. Time is finite. But perhaps the most valuable modern capital is Attention.

We "pay attention" literally. It’s a non-refundable currency. In a hyper-connected world, countless algorithms and trillion dollar companies compete to harvest your focus. If you spend money and time on a family vacation, but your attention is hijacked by work emails on your phone or doom scrolling, the "return" on that investment is tragically low.  You didn’t work all of these years to then retire and just to be glued to cable news.  Protecting your attention is now critical to wealth management.


Redefining "Return on Investment" (ROI)

Managing four capitals means redefining success. Traditional ROI is calculated in dollars, but we also carry an "emotional balance sheet."

The best financial decision on paper isn't always best for your life. A family loan might offer poor financial returns but incalculable emotional returns. Taking that once-in-a-lifetime family trip might temporarily dip the spreadsheet, but the emotional return is incalculable. Furthermore, comprehensive planning offers peace of mind. If working with an advisor allows you to stop paying attention to market noise, you have gained a significant return of Attentional Capital.


Finding Your TerraFirma

At TerraFirma Wealth, our role goes beyond managing portfolios. We want to help you understand the full scope of your resources to ensure alignment with what matters most.  I find these to be the most fun and rewarding conversations.

Here’s to you finding your TerraFirma this year! Cheers! 🥂


Tax Documents Timeline 

 

Your tax forms are on the way. Here’s what to expect this year.

  • 1099-Consolidated Forms: These include 1099-DIV, 1099-B, 1099-INT, 1099-OID, and 1099-MISC. Forms will be released to your Altruist Client Portal in three waves based on the complexity of your financial portfolio: 

    • Wave 1: On January 31 

    • Wave 2: On February 16 

    • Wave 3: On March 16

  • Correction runs: Starting March 17, corrections will be processed bi-weekly as needed. Clients with Mutual Funds, REITs, REMIC securities, or WHFITs may experience income reclassification, which could result in amended forms. This could affect their tax filings and deadlines.


Helpful Tips for Tax Preparation

 

1. Client portal accessI encourage you to verify your Altruist Client Portal login credentials to ensure seamless access to your tax documents once they’re released. Tax forms can be found by selecting Documents from the menu in the top-right corner of the client portal. Within the document table, clients can use the Tax Documents Type filter to easily locate their forms.


Here’s a video to show you how to access those documents. 2. Update contact informationEnsure all contact email and mailing addresses are current by January 20. You can update delivery preferences for various documents, including tax forms this year. You can navigate to Clients > Households > Select the specific household from the table > Select the account > Click on Details > Scroll down to Document delivery preferences, and click on “Edit”. 


Feel free to contact Kimberly if you need help updating anything.

 3. TurboTax integrationYou can seamlessly import their Consolidated 1099 information into TurboTax by using the docID on the tax forms. 4. Email notificationsTax documents for electronic delivery will be sent from AltruistFinancialLLC@investordocuments.com. I encourage you to whitelist this email address to avoid missing notifications.

 

Tax Letters from Kimberly


If you performed any of the following activities in 2025, you will receive a special letter from Kimberly. There are a few items that don’t get captured on the 1099 forms issued by custodians like Schwab, Altruist, or Fidelity. These letters aren’t meant to be filed with your taxes but do help remind you of the items that aren’t usually notated by the custodians.  To make sure nothing gets missed, we’ve compiled the relevant data for you to share with your accountant—or to report yourself if you’re the one filing. Some of these items could even lower your taxes, so they’re definitely worth paying attention to!


Here are some of the types of transactions we’ll point out for you:

  • Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): Donations made directly from a retirement account to a charity.

  • Charitable Contributions from Taxable Accounts: Gifts of shares or funds from non-retirement accounts directly to charitable organizations.

  • IRA/Roth Contributions: Contributions you’ve made to your IRA or Roth IRA.

  • Roth Conversions: Converting funds from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

  • 60-Day Rollovers: Rolling over retirement account funds within the 60-day window.


Remember to do your IRA contributions for 2025

Your Traditional, Roth and SEP IRA contributions are due by tax day, Wednesday, April 15th. The Traditional and Roth IRA contribution limit for 2025 is $7,000, and it is $1,000 for the catch-up contribution for those who are age 50 and over.



The Cheat Sheet: 2026 Annual Financial Planning Key Figures

Here is a helpful resource that you can refer to if you need to understand any of the financial planning limits for this year.  You will find the income tax brackets, capital gains tax brackets, Medicare premium brackets, retirement contribution limits and much more. Please download this, save it, and feel free to pass it along to your friends and family.





Giving Smarter: The "Secret Weapon" for Your RMDs 

If you are currently subject to Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) and charitably inclined, the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) remains one of the most tax-efficient tools in your arsenal for 2026. By transferring funds directly from your IRA to a qualified charity, you can satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) reduce your taxable income. 


Unlike a standard charitable deduction, a QCD reduces your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) right off the top. This is a crucial distinction: a lower AGI can help you avoid higher Medicare premiums and keep you below the thresholds for other investment income surtaxes. It’s a classic "win-win"—your favorite cause gets the full benefit, and you keep your taxable income as lean as possible.  Let us know if you’d like to incorporate this into your strategy for the year if we haven’t already discussed it.



Whew!  That’s it for now.  Go out there and find your TerraFirma!


The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice and it should not be relied on as such. It should not be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell a security. It does not take into account any investor's particular investment objectives, strategies, tax status or investment horizon. You should consult your attorney or tax advisor.

 

All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such.

 

TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC (“TerraFirma”) is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where TerraFirma and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.

​

No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee returns or eliminate risk in any market environment.

 

All investments include a risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear. The principal risks of Terrafirma’s strategies are disclosed in the publicly available Form ADV Part 2A. Asset Allocation may be used in an effort to manage risk and enhance returns. It does not, however, guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss. For additional information, please visit our website at https://terrafirmawealth.com.

 

TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC is a registered investment advisor. Information in this message is for the intended recipient[s] only. TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC often communicates with its clients and prospective clients through email and other electronic means. Your privacy and security are very important to us. TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC makes every effort to ensure that email communications do not contain sensitive information. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, please delete and destroy all copies in your possession, notify the sender that you have received this communication in error, and note that any review or dissemination of, or the taking of any action in reliance on, this communication is expressly prohibited. We remind our clients and others not to send TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC private information over email. If you have sensitive data to deliver, we can provide secure means for such delivery. Please note TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC does not accept trading or money movement instructions via email. Please visit our website https://terrafirmawealth.com/ for important disclosures.

Disclosures | Form CRS

TerraFirma Wealth Partners LLC is a registered investment advisor.

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