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There is significant risk in hiring an advisor who does not coordinate. That risk shows up as underperformance, leakage through fees, overpaying on taxes, and, worst of all, stress.
At Perspective, coordination means we take the initiative to get everyone on the same page. What we often find instead is that clients are forced to play that role themselves, acting as the middleman between advisors who never speak to one another.
The best metaphor for this breakdown is a phrase everyone has heard: talk to your CPA.
Clients cringe when they hear it. From our perspective, that response is a failure of coordination. It pushes responsibility back onto the client and lets the advisor off the hook.
A better response is: let’s talk to your CPA.
The best response is: let’s talk to your CPA. I’ll email them and copy you.
Clients appreciate this because a good advisor can speak the language of CPAs and attorneys. More importantly, there are times when an idea needs to be explained or defended, and clients should not be the ones doing that work.
Coordination should be proactive, not reactive.
Here are the six major domains where coordination actually matters and what it looks like in practice.
1. Whole picture wealth comes first.
By building a full balance sheet, you can finally see the complete picture. Once that is clear, coordination naturally follows. The remaining domains tend to waterfall from here.
At the wealth level, this may mean revisiting debt strategies that are no longer optimized. It may involve coordinating with a lender or realtor around real estate decisions. For business owners, it could mean looping in a CFO or bookkeeper so planning decisions reflect reality, not assumptions.
2. Tax planning is the most obvious and the most mishandled.
This is where talk to your CPA shows up the most, and where coordination matters the most. At Perspective, we consistently review tax returns and tax strategies to identify missed deductions or planning opportunities.
But identifying an opportunity is not enough. The CPA, and sometimes a tax attorney, must be brought into the conversation. We lead that coordination so ideas do not stall, get misunderstood, or disappear into the abyss.
3. Business coordination is magnified tenfold.
Most business owners have never shared their profit and loss statement or business tax return with their advisor. Even fewer have their CFO, bookkeeper, or HR team connected to their planning.
The result is missed opportunities everywhere. From compensation planning to entity structure to cash flow decisions, coordination at the business level can materially change outcomes. The list of opportunities here is enormous.
4. Estate planning and legal documents should not be painful.
This one should be a layup, but rarely is. Attorneys are often slow to respond and quick to bill. Without coordination, documents come back incomplete, outdated, or misaligned with the rest of the plan.
By coordinating on the client’s behalf, we believe both cost and turnaround time can drop significantly. We also catch issues early, so clients are not left raising their hand later to ask for revisions.
5. 401k and benefits planning is often an afterthought.
Many advisors ignore this area entirely. Helping a client understand how to contribute or invest in their 401k is table stakes. Helping them actually execute those decisions is what great coordination looks like.
In many cases, that means speaking directly with HR to understand equity compensation, retirement plans, and even health insurance options. The client’s job is to build their career. Our job is to make sure the benefits surrounding it are optimized.
6. Finally, there are the kids.
Clients love their kids and want them taken care of. Coordinating when and how children are brought into planning matters. Sometimes that means helping adult children with their own planning. Other times, it means facilitating family meetings to align expectations and avoid future issues.
That kind of coordination creates clarity today and fewer problems tomorrow.