If you already have a CPA who files but doesn't plan, and an attorney whose documents no one keeps in sync, this is the seat that holds them together. No pitch, no philosophy — just the real sequence: how a Driftwood engagement runs, from the first month through every year after.
Nothing starts with a sales call. You run the Tax Diagnostic yourself — your state, your bracket — and see what a coordinated approach could be worth on a portfolio like yours. If there's nothing there, you'll know, and you owe us nothing.
We take inventory of every part: your accounts, the last tax return, the estate documents, your cash-flow needs, and the professionals already in your life — your CPA and attorney. We're looking for the places value quietly leaks and the decisions that aren't talking to each other.
One plan, written down: asset location (which account holds what), the order gains are realized and accounts are drawn, loss-harvesting rules, and the specific hand-offs to your CPA and attorney. Every piece is chosen with the others in view. You sign off before a single trade happens.
Everything in the plan gets set in motion: the portfolio built to fit — a diversified, low-turnover core placed by tax, a focused complement in tax-advantaged accounts — existing positions transitioned on purpose to control the tax cost of getting there, and cash put where it belongs. Nothing sold all at once, nothing by accident.
The plan isn't a document that goes in a drawer. It runs on a cadence, some of it continuous, some triggered by what happens in your life:
You keep the CPA and attorney you trust. Driftwood is the one seat whose job is the whole picture — keeping their work, and your portfolio, consistent as one plan.
| Driftwood | Builds and places the portfolio, holds the plan, and coordinates every moving part — the standing seat at the table. |
| Your CPA | Files the return. We bring the working paper and the realized-gain picture; same numbers, one direction. |
| Your attorney | Drafts the documents. We keep titling, beneficiaries, and asset location consistent with them. |
| You | Make the decisions — with the consequence modeled in front of you, before each one. |
Coordination isn't an org chart — it's what happens when something changes. These are the moments where the pieces have to move together, and who Driftwood pulls into the room:
| When this happens… | Driftwood coordinates… | So the outcome is… |
|---|---|---|
| Annual tax planning | Portfolio + your CPA | Fewer unnecessary realized gains — harvesting and bracket-fill decided before year-end, not after. |
| A business sale | CPA + attorney + portfolio | Liquidity without avoidable tax drag — the sale, the proceeds, and where they land, planned as one move. |
| Equity compensation | Employer + CPA + investment plan | Concentration reduced over time, deliberately — not all at once, and not by accident. |
| Retirement withdrawals | Asset location + taxes | A lower lifetime tax burden — which account funds which year, sequenced for what you keep. |
| Estate changes | Attorney + portfolio | Estate documents and investments stay aligned — titling and beneficiaries never drift from the plan. |
Want to see it in dollars? Walk one household across two state lines in What Coordination Is Worth, a full worked example.
You don't have to bring a crisis. Mention one ordinary intention and the whole team moves around it, before anything is done.
An ordinary intention — you mention helping with a grandchild's tuition.
The everyday shape of coordination — the same discipline the Coordination Library shows on the big decisions.