Chris Urban, CFP®, RICP® | Source | Founder at Discovery Wealth Planning

Tax deferrals on income matter in particular for high-earning individuals/households that may be in one of the top U.S. Federal Marginal tax brackets. For these folks, contributing to such accounts as 401(k), 403(b) and/or IRA's would allow for a tax deduction as well as give your investments a chance to grow tax-deferred over many years (perhaps decades). Of course, withdrawals are subject to the tax code when distributed from these accounts and likely would face ordinary income taxes on amounts withdrawn in the future. However, the thought for many high-earning individuals though is that perhaps later in life there will be opportunities to pull from these accounts in year(s) when their effective tax rates are lower, perhaps due to less income from full-time employment.

For those couples that manage their own finances, there are some digital estate planning tools that couples could set up so that at least the other spouse/partner would know where all of the accounts are, who to contact, what information is important, etc. I do not have any affiliation with them but Everplans is one such tool that could be a valuable starting point for getting the "less-involved" spouse/partner more involved in the process.

Often, I find that this is a key factor for couples when deciding to work with a financial professional. It's important to find someone that you know, like and trust so that if something does happen to the spouse/partner that is more familiar with the family finances that the other spouse/partner will feel comfortable contacting the financial professional for trusted help and guidance.

The best suggestion I could offer would be to do pro-active tax planning as early as possible. Everyone should be interested in legally reducing the amount of taxes they are expected to pay over their lifetime. Develop a plan for what your assets and liabilities, income and expenses might be throughout various stages of your retirement. As you think about collecting a pension and/or Social Security benefits, you absolutely need to be considering the effect that taxes will have on your benefit(s). This surprises some people but up to 85% of your Social Security benefit could be taxable depending on a household's combined income (as defined by the Social Security Administration). Furthermore, think carefully about how these forms of guaranteed income will interact with withdrawals from your various retirement and investment accounts, which will also likely have various tax implications. The sooner you get started developing a plan the longer the time horizon you have to reduce your lifetime tax burden.