When Jared Trexler founded his Registered Investment Advisor firm, Trexler Financial Advisors LLC, in 2018, he had spent nearly a decade at Trexler & Company, PC, the accounting firm that his father founded in 1978. Trexler Financial Advisors joined the Wealth Advisor Alliance in 2020.
In this Q&A, he considers the powerful one-two combination of the CPA financial planner and why comprehensive financial planning must also incorporate tax planning.
Why do small business owners need a financial advisor with extensive tax knowledge?
Accounting and tax matters are critical areas of focus for small business owners. They tend to have more complex estate planning and business planning needs. Particularly for these clients, financial planning has to be optimized with good tax planning.
You work with a variety of clients including agricultural businesses throughout central Illinois. How do you approach planning for this subset of small business owners?
Farm clients are vastly different from other small business owners because the tax code has many unique provisions for farmers. Just to name a few, farmers have different rules for making estimated tax payments, special rules for using income averaging to determine tax liability and have the ability to pay employees commodity wages instead of cash. Typically, farmers have more flexibility in controlling the timing of income and expenses than other businesses. Many farm clients have a substantial portion of their net worth tied up in farmland and farm equipment, which can affect retirement planning, investment planning and estate planning. I could probably expand on this topic all day.
Why did you want to become a financial advisor?
While I enjoy tax preparation, I prefer working with clients in a more comprehensive manner on their overall financial situation. I quickly realized that many clients were being underserved by the financial industry and should be working with an advisor who takes an integrated, tax-focused approach to financial planning and investment management.
When did you determine that your capacity to assist clients required backup and resources?
To be honest, I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to directly handle the investment management, trading and reporting on my own. I had support with all of the back-office tasks when I started as a Registered Representative and Investment Advisor Representative through a broker-dealer. When I formed my RIA, I left the broker-dealer. Working with this BackOffice team will allow me to spend more time with clients and continue focusing on my strengths and aspects of the business that I enjoy.
What is it like to work with family at Trexler?
Many of our small business clients are also family owned, so we can often relate to the benefits or challenges they face. Working with my father has been a great experience. We have similar values and a great amount of trust and respect for each other, which I would say is important for any successful business partnership.
Learn more about what makes WAA different from standard TAMPs and how we help advisors build a firm they have always imagined.
We help advisors establish and grow successful wealth management practices. To learn more about how we can help you amplify your life’s work, contact us at team@waalliance.com. You can follow us on Twitter@theWAAlliance and on LinkedIn.