Clients don’t talk about performance… they talk about tax savings

I get questions from advisors all the time about how to “differentiate” themselves.

They’ll ask about branding, fancy planning software, new investment models… and all of that has its place. But when I talk to clients about what actually feels valuable to them, they rarely bring up Monte Carlo results or pie charts.

They talk about taxes.

They share with friends the year they didn’t owe as much as they expected.
They mention deductions nobody had pointed out before.
They tell others about the conversation where their advisor helped them keep more of their own money.

That’s the kind of impact that sticks.

The interesting part? Most advisors are still hesitant to lean into taxes. They worry about not knowing enough, or saying the wrong thing, or not having the entire tax code memorized. Meanwhile, the advisors who are growing the fastest are the ones willing to roll up their sleeves, look at tax returns, and start asking better questions.

You don’t need to be a walking IRS manual.
But you do need to be willing to engage.

If you can help a client understand even one tax opportunity they were missing, your value becomes tangible immediately. You move from “nice person I meet with once a year” to “the advisor who helps me not overpay the IRS.” And that shift changes everything – retention, referrals, and yes, revenue.

Next week, I’m hosting a live session where I’m going to walk into exactly how advisors are doing this in the real world, not theory, not internet tax myths, but practical strategies that actually get implemented.

It’s called The Financial Advisor’s Silver Bullet: Taxes, and it’s happening on January 21, 2026, at 9 AM PST.

If you want to see how advisors are using tax planning to create visible, repeatable value (without memorizing the tax code), you should be there.

Click here to save your seat (it’s free).

And whether you join us or not, here’s my challenge for the week: Look at one client’s tax return and ask, “Where is there an opportunity hiding in plain sight?”

You might be surprised by what you find, and your client definitely will be.

Happy Tax Planning,

Steven Jarvis, CPA