The “One Big Beautiful Bill” and Your Financial Plan

The Stapp family on a trip to DC in 2025

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” and Your Financial Plan

I recently took my family to Washington, D.C. and we had a fantastic time. While we were there this bill was being passed and signed into law. Here’s my take on it.

President Trump has enacted comprehensive tax and spending legislation following Congressional approval, representing a substantial 900-page bill that significantly modifies the tax code.

Tax policy plays a crucial role in financial planning, making these legislative changes immediately relevant to household finances. From market and economic standpoints, investors often express concerns about government expenditures, rising national debt, and related factors that have influenced markets over recent decades.

Given the multiple perspectives on this budget legislation and its potentially controversial nature, focusing on practical implications remains essential.

Key Provisions of the New Tax Legislation

The administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” extends and enhances numerous provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that faced expiration. Notable modifications impacting Spokane, Deer Park, and Chewelah include:

Tax Structure Changes:

  • TCJA tax rates and brackets become permanent, eliminating previous year-end expiration concerns
  • Standard deduction rises to $15,750 for individual filers and $31,500 for joint filers
  • State and local tax deduction cap increases from $10,000 to $40,000, with annual 1% growth through 2029 before reverting to $10,000 in 2030
  • Senior taxpayers receive additional $6,000 deduction (income-limited) through 2028
  • Child tax credit grows from $2,000 to $2,200 per child with inflation adjustments

Additional Provisions:

  1. Workers earning under $150,000 can deduct up to $25,000 in tip income through 2028
  2. Alternative minimum tax exemption becomes permanent with elevated thresholds
  3. Certain green energy tax credits face elimination
  4. Federal estate tax exemptions remain elevated, reaching $15 million for individuals and $30 million for couples in 2026. We still have Washington State’s estate tax as a concern for many of us as well as our friends and family.

Financial Planning Implications

This legislation eliminates the “tax cliff” scenario where rates could have increased substantially upon previous provision expiration. This certainty enables more confident long-term financial planning for you and your family.

The bill preserves the relatively favorable tax environment experienced in recent decades. Historical context shows current rates remain significantly below 20th century peaks, when top rates occasionally exceeded 90% during wartime.

For estate planning purposes, higher exemption limits reduce federal estate tax exposure for most families. Nevertheless, comprehensive planning for asset transfer remains important, particularly given state-level estate taxes with lower thresholds (ie. Washington, Oregon, etc.).

Economic Context and Investment Strategy

While tax changes benefit many families, broader economic considerations exist. The Congressional Budget Office projects this bill will add over $3 trillion to national debt over ten years. Federal debt currently totals $36.2 trillion, approximately $106,000 per American.

This trend continues decades of consistent government borrowing, with the last balanced federal budgets occurring 25 years ago. Most spending supports programs like Social Security, Medicare, defense, and debt service payments, which face political resistance to reduction.

From investment perspectives, elevated debt levels may influence interest rates and inflation over time. However, many feared worst-case scenarios haven’t materialized. Maintaining diversified portfolios capable of performing across various economic environments remains key.

Tax policy changes typically have limited impact on long-term investment opportunities. Markets have historically grown regardless of tax policy shifts, and the economy has demonstrated resilience across different fiscal environments. This legislation extends the current low-tax environment while providing enhanced planning certainty.

We’ll continue monitoring these developments and their impact on your financial plan. Please reach out with any questions to Deep Creek Financial Planning at 509.241.8306 or www.DeepCreekFinancialPlanning.com. We help active retirees and successful business owners in Eastern Washington, from Spokane to Chewelah, live abundantly by connecting the dots between their family goals and strategic financial planning.

The bottom line? This tax legislation provides planning certainty by extending current favorable rates and eliminating potential tax increases. While government debt concerns exist, maintaining a well-diversified investment strategy remains the best approach for long-term wealth building.

Behind The Scenes: Your Meetings

BEHIND THE SCENES: Your Meetings

Ever wondered what happens before, during, and after a financial planning meeting? A lot goes on behind the scenes to ensure every conversation is meaningful, efficient, and tailored to your goals. Here’s a look at the process that helps you stay on track toward living abundantly.

Before

Long before our conversation begins, my team and I are hard at work. Scheduling, running reports, reviewing beneficiaries—it’s all part of the prep work. But the real deep dive happens when I update and analyze your financial plan, create your Tax Report and Tax Scenario Analysis (get your complimentary Tax Return Review HERE), and consider every opportunity to help you save money on taxes.

Because most of my clients are in Spokane, Deer Park, and Chewelah—areas without state income tax—certain planning strategies apply widely. However, I also serve clients across states like California, Texas, and North Carolina, where tax laws vary significantly. No matter where you live, our goal remains the same: to help you keep more of your hard-earned money through smart tax planning.

A comprehensive review means analyzing 108 different factors that could impact your financial life. We’ll look at:

  • Age-based decisions (Social Security, Medicare, tax bracket shifts)
  • Pension claiming strategies
  • Backdoor Roth IRA eligibility
  • 401(k) maximization tactics

Every detail is captured in a personalized agenda, available digitally or in print, to guide our discussion.

During

When we meet, our conversation starts with what matters most to you. I want you to ask yourself:
“What does living an abundant life mean to me?”

Think about:

  • Any big life changes this year—family, health, career
  • Upcoming goals—major purchases, travel, charitable giving
  • New passions—pickleball, grandkids, dream family reunions

Every piece of your life story informs your financial plan. The more we know, the better we can tailor strategies that align with your vision.

From there, we’ll walk through your personalized financial plan, covering your investments, tax outlook, and long-term trajectory. Expect clarity, confidence, and practical steps to keep your wealth aligned with your values and aspirations.

After

Once our meeting wraps up, the work doesn’t stop. Here’s what happens next:

  • You’ll receive a summary email outlining key takeaways and action items.
  • A clear to-do list will highlight any steps you need to take.
  • I’ll complete a compliance review to ensure we’re meeting the highest standards of care for your finances.

Meanwhile, my team jumps into action again with another checklist (yes, we love checklists!) to confirm every detail is handled properly.

But it doesn’t end there. A week or two after our meeting, you’ll get a follow-up call to check in. If any questions or ideas have surfaced since our conversation, we’ll make sure they’re added to your next agenda.

Why This Matters

Financial planning isn’t just about numbers—it’s about building a life of abundance with confidence and intentionality. Every meeting is a chance to align your financial future with your dreams, ensuring your wealth works for you in the ways that matter most.

So, as you prepare for your next review, come ready to dream big. We’ll take care of the details – you focus on living abundantly.

New Year, New You? Nope

January is NOT the time to make a big change in your life. Not in Spokane, Deer Park, or Chewelah.

But March is… here’s why:

January tells us it’s time for big changes—but have you noticed how your body just wants to nap and eat carbs? That’s because winter is not the season for major life overhauls. Nature slows down, and so should we.

Instead of forcing yourself into ambitious resolutions when it’s 10 degrees in Eastern WA, embrace the season of rest, reflection, and maybe an extra blanket.

March, on the other hand? That’s go-time.

Spring isn’t just for cleaning out closets—it’s also the ideal time to refresh your finances and set yourself up for a successful year.

With new energy and motivation, here are a few key financial planning habits and projects to tackle this March:

✅ Max Out Retirement Contributions – There’s still time to make 2024 IRA contributions (deadline: April 15!), and you can also boost 2025 savings while you’re at it.

✅ Review Your Tax Return – Instead of just filing and forgetting, use your tax return to spot opportunities—are you missing deductions, need to adjust withholdings, or should you start planning a Roth conversion for 2025? Do you know how the changing tax laws at the end of 2025 will affect you in 2026? Find out here.

✅ Update Your Estate Plan – If it’s been a while since you reviewed your will, beneficiaries, or power of attorney documents, now is a great time to make sure everything is still aligned with your goals – are all those folks still alive and in your good graces?? 🙂 Also, did any of your key decision makers move to a different state? Wrapping up someone’s life long-distance is difficult. Stay local.

✅ Check In on Your Investments – Make sure your War Chest is filled back up if now’s a good time to make that move, give yourself a raise if your advisor gives you the OK, or get some education on which investments will actually help you and not just feel good because of a particular label (ie. conservative, aggressive, etc.).

✅ Refresh Your Budget & Savings Goals – With new energy (and maybe a few holiday spending regrets), spring is a great time to refocus on saving and making sure your money is going where it matters most. It doesn’t all have to be about finances, either. For me this is a great time to start looking for opportunities to play pickleball outdoors in Spokane and Chewelah.

It doesn’t all have to be about finances, either.
For me this is a great time to start looking for opportunities to play pickleball outdoors in Spokane and Chewelah.

Caleb

✅ Tackle Insurance Gaps – Do you have the right life and disability insurance in place? Is your coverage still sufficient? Spring is a great time to revisit these protections.

Winter was for resting. Now it’s time to take action! If you need help putting your financial goals into motion Schedule a Discovery Call right now.

February’s Insights: Taxes

February’s Insights: Taxes

Here’s a quick guide to make sure nothing gets forgotten this year.

In the last year, have you…

📊 Sold or traded investments (in a non-retirement account)?
🏠 Made big moves in real estate?
🎓 Paid tuition or student loans?
💵 Made or received gifts above the annual limit ($18K per person)?
🎁 Donated to charity (cash or non-cash)?
👶 Expanded your family with a little one (hello, tax credits!)?
🧃 Gave your kid $10K to start a ‘business’? That counts.
🪂 Took up skydiving lessons? Ok, maybe not deductible—but memorable!

Here’s the good news: At Deep Creek Financial Planning, we’re testing* a brand-new tax summary letter to help our clients avoid the “Oops, I forgot!” moments. It’s a simple, organized way to remember all those taxable adventures.

We plan to roll out the tax summary letter for every client in 2026 since it takes all year to prepare for it.

Looking for something new we can offer you right now? 🎉

After you file your 2024 taxes, schedule your free Tax Return Review!

We’ll help you dive deeper into your return so you can gain a clearer understanding of your taxes—and where there’s understanding, there’s an opportunity to save. 💡

A Tax Return Review Includes:

  • A clear 2024 summary
  • A 2025-2026 estimate based on current tax law
  • Actionable tax saving strategies!

Your CPA + Deep Creek’s Tax Planning = AMAZING!

Schedule A Tax Return Review!

Behind The Scenes

I always like it when someone gives me the special tour or shares something not everyone knows. If you’re interested in a behind-the-scenes tour of a typical business day for me keep reading.

Here’s my day from Wednesday, Jan. 29th:

  • 6 AM: Wake up, read my Bible / devotional, use the Pause app, and read a chapter of non-fiction
  • 7 AM: Head out to meet Bryan from church for coffee in Spokane
  • 8:30 AM: Workout (and recover with a dip in the hot tub!) at the North Spokane YMCA
  • 9:30 AM:
    • Work from the Y’s co-working space
    • Meeting Prep
    • Edit a press release about WA Saves
    • Invite Christian business owners to join the new Faith Driven Entrepreneur group
    • Think through a client’s complex estate plan, prepare a brief for the estate attorney, and coordinate the implementation of wills, trusts, and business continuity plans
  • 1 PM: Meet Mark, a fellow business owner, for lunch so I can interview him about how his business might serve my clients
  • 2 PM: Head to my office in Deer Park
  • 2:30 PM Client Call: Discuss long-term care solutions with clients from Georgia
  • 4 PM Discovery Call: Get to know a young couple from Spokane and begin discussing their money goals and an inheritance
  • 4:30 PM Discovery Call: Get to know a Deer Park business owner and her husband to discuss their needs to save money on taxes, plan for retirement, and consolidate their investments
  • 5 PM: What I do almost every night (Video) followed by dinner with the family at our home in Deer Park
  • 6:30 PM: Head out to drop off a kid at youth group and then on to Pickleball in North Spokane!

What do all those activities add up to? Helping active retirees and successful business owners LIVE ABUNDANTLY by connecting the dots between family goals and strategic financial planning.

Happy February!

Investment Update – With Pet Photos!

Puppy Mary Sanderson by Hillary Adams

Every quarter we review our investment portfolios and make adjustments as needed. Ever wonder about the WHY behind the WHAT? Here’s how we think at Deep Creek.

Step 1: Invite Outside Perspectives

You see the value in gaining an independent perspective and have asked us to help you invest wisely. We follow our own advice and work to make informed decisions well.

This quarter we requested investment review meetings with two respected asset managers and met with each during the month of September. We reviewed each individual fund, how each fund fit into the broader portfolio, and looked for opportunities to increase the quality of your investments. We found several.

Step 2: Sleep On It

After taking in an outside perspective it’s important to return to the core principles we base our investment philosophy on. This helps us avoid being swayed by those outside perspectives and is similar to the practice we regularly encourage clients to follow: sleep on it.

We review the costs and benefits of each choice we’re considering making, we look for alternative ways to solve any perceived problems, and we take the time needed to make quality decisions.

A recent decision we made was to ask you for help finding a picture of your pet showing us all what it means to “Sleep On It”. Thank you for your help and for all 269 Comments across our page and two local discussion groups! We weren’t expecting to spend the weekend moderating a plethora of pet photos, but it sure was fun!

Zach Thomas from the Deer Park group came in 3rd.

Walter & Candi Kachnik from the Deer Park group came in 2nd. The cat really startled us!

And Hillary Adams from the Chewelah group came in 1st by introducing us to a very cute puppy, Mary Sanderson.

Step 3: Final Checks

Before making any actual changes to portfolios we look at how each change will impact each client. Our goal us to avoid unnecessary taxes and keep everyone’s retirement paychecks still heading their way on time.

And while you may never meet him this is Ryan Z’s time to shine. Ryan is the trading specialist on the Deep Creek team and works remotely from Western Washington. To make sure that Caleb stays focused on your top priorities Ryan steps in to handle all the portfolio rebalancing. Ryan has been in his role for 3 years and helps run a local children’s community theater in his free time since he enjoyed participating in it so many years ago.

October’s Results

With that in-depth and month-long process in mind, what changes are we making?

  1. We are swapping our International Debt ETF out for a Mutual Fund focused on investing in the same regions and areas of the market. Our goals are to increase the quality and lower the risk we’re taking in this area of the portfolio using the differences between these two investment products.
  2. Given the changes in Fixed Income these last 2 years we’re adding an ETF designed to add diversification and move part of each portfolio from Corporate Bonds to Mortgage-Backed Securities.
  3. We lowered the Cash holding of each portfolio from 2% to 1% as this still allows for plenty of liquidity while ever-so-slightly increasing the opportunity for growth.

These are the updates we’ve made to the investment portfolios most of our clients use, but what about our faith-based investors? We follow a similar process for their Biblically Responsible Investment portfolios. No changes were needed this quarter. We do invite you to join us on October 30th for a webinar where we hear directly from Colby Smidt at Eventide Funds on their process for Values-Based Investing.

The Deep Creek Difference

We believe that implementing strategies to grow your wealth create more opportunities for you and your family to make a meaningful impact on the world. Wealth comes from owning businesses and making informed, long-term investments.

Our approach is simple yet powerful: diversify wisely, minimize costs, and always think ahead.

We guide you through the accumulation and distribution phases with tailored strategies that keep your goals in focus—whether it’s building wealth or living with the confidence of a well-stocked War Chest. By avoiding unnecessary taxes, and aligning your investments with your values, we strive to help you grow your financial future without the confusing jargon (except for the confusing jargon we put in these investment updates ABOVE which we give you full permission to ignore completely and the legally required jargon below).

Investing in mutual funds involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Fund value will fluctuate with market conditions, and it may not achieve its investment objective. Rebalancing a portfolio may cause investors to incur tax liabilities and/or transaction costs and does not assure a profit or protect against a loss. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk. ETFs trade like stocks, are subject to investment risk, fluctuate in market value, and may trade at prices above or below the ETF’s net asset value (NAV). Upon redemption, the value of fund shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. ETFs carry additional risks such as not being diversified, possible trading halts, and index tracking errors. Mortgage-backed securities are subject to credit, default, prepayment, extension, market and interest rate risk.

Winning The Tax Game

What’s certain? Death and taxes. What’s up to you to control (to some degree)? When you die and how much you pay in taxes. Tax planning is crucial for your financial independence and is how you go from losing to winning the tax game.

Tax planning isn’t just about looking through the rear window and writing down what happened (many tax preparers focus solely on the past); it’s about strategically managing your finances to reduce tax liabilities and increase your savings as you look forward through the windshield to where you want to be five, ten, or forty years into the future.

Here are a few times tax planning is essential:

Legacy Planning:

  • Thinking about your family’s tax burden over multiple generations helps clarify which strategies to pursue – and when. Do you have kids or grandkids? How will this legacy impact their taxes?
  • If you have room in your tax bracket (your financial advisor can help you know) then consider Roth conversions* to help your heirs receive a blessing, not a tax burden.
  • Have you moved across state lines since you last created or updated your will or trust? If you’ve moved across state lines, or plan to, make sure your financial advisor reads through your estate documents.

Just last year I spotted a $300,000+ tax time bomb for someone who moved but didn’t update their estate plan. Their estate attorney didn’t catch that – they didn’t have the tax training.  The CPA didn’t catch that – they didn’t even ask to look at the estate documents.

Investment Strategies:

Tax-efficient investment strategies can help you grow your wealth faster by reducing the taxes you pay on investment gains. High interest rates means you’re likely collecting more taxable interest on your savings. Have you asked about options for tax-free interest? Do you need to?

Retirement Planning:

Don’t just diversify your investments, diversify your taxes. Retirees who have choices on which kind of account to pull distributions from appreciate the flexibility to monitor their taxes year by year. But this doesn’t happen by accident – plan now to diversify your taxes in the future.

A few weeks ago I suggested someone tweak their savings strategy. By adjusting which account their savings are going into they’ll save over $20,000 in taxes during the next several years.

This August take a step towards preserving your financial future by considering your tax planning strategies. Here’s to winning the tax game and your financial independence!

*Roth Conversions Disclosure: Traditional IRA account owners have considerations to make before performing a Roth IRA conversion. These primarily include income tax consequences on the converted amount in the year of conversion, withdrawal limitations from a Roth IRA, and income limitations for future contributions to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you are required to take a required minimum distribution (RMD) in the year you convert, you must do so before converting to a Roth IRA.