When a Tax Calculator Isn’t Enough
Catalyst lets you model the tax impact of different “what if” decisions before you make them.
Since we’ve been on the theme of tools, I wanted to talk about estimating taxes.
You can estimate taxes online pretty easily; there are plenty of free calculators. But sometimes the question you’re asking is a little more complicated than, “What tax bracket am I in?”
Maybe you’re asking:
What if I realize this much in capital gains?
What if I do a Roth conversion?
What if our income changes?
What if I sell property?
What if I make a larger retirement contribution?
What happens to the tax picture if I change one of those numbers?
That’s where those basic calculators can start to feel pretty limited.
I recently had a personal demonstration of Catalyst Tax Insights, which was created specifically around comparing tax “what if” scenarios. Catalyst Personal is free and lets you run as many tax projections and scenarios as you’d like. Its paid Plus version (annual cost $49) adds planning tools for things like real estate, education costs, and self-employment.
I’m still really new to it, and I definitely don’t know all the features yet. But for the questions I’ve been working through personally, I’ve already found it more helpful than the standard ones online.
It feels like something between a standard online tax calculator and calling my CPA.
And here’s how I think it connects with the other tools I’ve been talking about:
Boldin helps me look at the long-term picture.
Monarch helps me understand what’s happening right now.
Catalyst helps me zoom in on the tax impact of a particular decision.
Know this—Catalyst isn’t tax advice, and it doesn’t replace a CPA. It’s a planning tool that can help you ask better questions and understand the possible tax impact before you make a decision.
If you’re interested in checking it out, Catalyst gave me a personalized link so they can see that you came through me. But this is not a paid referral arrangement.
And if you try it, let me know what you think! I like finding and recommending good tools to my audience, especially ones that can make financial decisions a little easier to understand.
P.S. As always, if you and your partner are trying to figure out how to address some of the challenges in your money world, I offer a free consultation to talk through what’s going on. You can schedule it here.
