Meet the First Tax Planning Certified Professionals

“I had already had a positive experience studying at the College in earning the RICP, so when the TPCP came out and I saw the quality of the experts involved in designing and teaching the course, I immediately jumped on board,” Pistole said. “Throughout the process, I was very impressed by the TPCP materials.”

What makes the program stand out, Pistole offered, is its dual focus on “learning the tax code and applying the tax code.” Clark Randall, director of financial planning at Creekmur Wealth Advisors and another of the first TPCP graduates, also appreciated that foundation.

“TPCP certification teaches the tax code, yes, but the real value is learning all the nuanced applications of the tax code in a wide variety of financial planning situations that our clients will face,” Randall said. “I learned so many new things about topics I felt I was already knowledgeable on, from efficiently using health savings accounts to organizing required minimum distributions.”

Pistole and Randall described the program as demanding but well worth the time and effort. Both also identified themselves as “lifelong learners” with an affinity for challenging coursework.

“I would definitely recommend the course,” Pistole said. “But be aware, it is not easy. We covered something like 477 topics. I logged into the portal over 1,000 times. You have to take 30 quizzes and three proctored exams. It’s time consuming, but you learn so much that you didn’t know before.”

Useful 'From Day One’  

Pistole said he was able to put the knowledge he gained in earning the certification to work “from day one.”

“No exaggeration, I found myself applying some of the learnings the very first day after passing the exam and adding the designation on my LinkedIn page,” Pistole said. “I got back to my office and a client from Texas called me up and said, ‘Hey, we’re selling this highly appreciated business that we’ve been working on growing for so long. Can you help us put a plan together?’”

In doing so, Pistole said, he drew on topics ranging from business valuations and transaction efficiency to assessing ownership structure options such as C corps versus S corps.

Pistole was also able to apply teachings about special client circumstances, including coaching a widowed client through a difficult period following the death of a spouse by suicide.

“Some of the things we learned about nuanced situations including divorce, suicide or accidents is so important as clients face these challenges,” Pistole said. “We don’t plan or hope for these things to happen, but the reality is that they do, and we need to be prepared to deal with them. I expect I’ll be able to apply the lessons learned in hundreds of different situations over the course of my career.”

Specific Lessons Learned

Randall highlighted a few specific lessons learned, including delayed reimbursement from health savings accounts.

“This is a strategy where you pay for eligible medical expenses out-of-pocket and then save the receipts instead of immediately withdrawing funds from your HSA,” Randall explained. “This allows your HSA funds to potentially grow through investments and interest earnings. Later, you can reimburse yourself from the HSA for those past expenses.”

As Randall learned, clients can delay reimbursement for as long as they see fit — meaning that HSA assets can grow steadily over time.

“By letting the money stay and grow in your HSA, you can potentially maximize tax-free investment gains,” he noted. “You can choose to reimburse yourself at any time, even years later, as long as the expense was incurred after establishing your HSA. It’s really a potentially powerful strategy, but you must keep detailed records of all eligible medical expenses you paid out-of-pocket — and the receipts.”

Another eye-opener, Randall recounted, was an intricate examination of required minimum distribution planning.

“We all know what RMDs are, but we dove into very specific planning topics,” Randall said. “For example, what if a married couple with a big age gap has two different IRAs, one in the name of each member of the couple? What kind of moves can we make to help reduce RMDs overall while also ensuring we are meeting the current and future income needs of the couple as a whole?”

In many cases, Randall learned, it will make more financial sense for the couple to draw income from the older spouse’s IRA (which will presumably have more assets) before RMDs kick in. This can allow assets in the smaller IRA to grow while also helping to offset tax consequences of bigger RMDs down the road from the older spouse's IRA.

“There’s just a lot of planning nuance around these topics,” Randall concluded. “The coursework allows you to go so much further than general rules-of-thumb pieces of conventional wisdom.”

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