Permanent operating record · the reserved tier

The Household Operating Manual.

A report is read once and filed. This is the other thing — the record a report becomes. Every decision, its reason, and what it touched, kept in one place and never deleted, so the plan is something that accumulates rather than something that resets each year.

Confidential
Prepared for the Harris household
Household
The Harris household
Adviser of record
Driftwood
Established
February 2026
Revision
rev. 06 · current
Status
Current · append-only
Authority
Operational guidance
As of
9 July 2026
Next standing review
September 2026

This is the record tier, held apart on purpose. Ordinary pages inherit its type and its rules; only the standing record is framed as the manual — the device keeps its meaning by staying rare.

§ AHousehold Decision Ledger

Every decision, dated, with the reason it was made and the parts of the system it touched. Nothing is removed; the ledger only grows. This is the thing a family office keeps — and the thing an annual statement is not.

Date
Decision & reason
Affected
Reference
Status
20261 entry
Mar 2026
Relocated municipal bonds to the taxable account.
Tax-exempt coupons are wasted inside a tax-deferred account; the taxable book is their right home.
Portfolio · Taxes
Implemented
2026the first year · 6 entries
Jul 2026
Sequenced the first Roth conversion rung to fill the 24% bracket.
A low-income year before RMDs begin — bracket space that will not return.
Taxes · Estate
Implemented
Jun 2026
Established a 529 for the first grandchild.
Five years of the annual exclusion, front-loaded, funded from the taxable book.
Liquidity · Estate
Implemented
May 2026
Opened the Texas residency sequence — residency before the business sale.
Retire the 4.95% Illinois tax on the coming sale before it is realized; the order, not the components, decides the outcome.
Taxes · Liquidity · Estate
In progress
Apr 2026
Moved the life policy into an ILIT.
Remove the death benefit from the taxable estate; let it fund the tax it once inflated.
Estate
Implemented
Mar 2026
Began a three-year exit from the concentrated position.
Reduce single-stock risk on a schedule, at a tax cost agreed in advance.
Portfolio · Taxes
In progress
Feb 2026
Set the household asset-location map.
Place each asset class in the account where it is taxed least.
Portfolio · Taxes
Implemented
Feb 2026
Opened the household book.
Inventoried the accounts, the return, and the estate documents — one coordinated starting point.
Portfolio · Taxes · Estate · Liquidity
Baseline
§ BCoordination Register

The matters currently in motion — what is open, whom it waits on, and who owns the next move. A dependency is closed only when its professional has signed off.

Matter
Dependencies
Owner
Status
Sale of the operating business
Opened Jan 2026
CPA Attorney Insurance Portfolio
Driftwood
Awaiting valuation
2026 Roth conversion
Opened Feb 2026
CPA Portfolio
Driftwood
Modeling bracket
Second-home purchase
Opened Jun 2026
Attorney Portfolio
You
Funding source open
Year-end gifting
Opened Jun 2026
CPA Attorney
Driftwood
Scheduled December
§ CHousehold Change Log

The revision history of the plan itself — what changed at each version, and by whose hand. The manual is a versioned instrument, not a live dashboard that forgets its own past.

Rev.
Date
Change
By
rev. 06
Jul 2026
Roth conversion recorded; estimated tax adjusted.
Driftwood
rev. 05
Jun 2026
529 established; annual gift logged.
Driftwood
rev. 04
May 2026
Texas residency sequence opened; estate plan review scheduled.
Driftwood · Attorney
rev. 03
Apr 2026
Trust amended; life policy assigned to the ILIT.
Attorney
rev. 02
Mar 2026
Concentration transition begun.
Driftwood
rev. 01
Feb 2026
Book opened; beneficiaries updated; municipal bonds relocated to taxable.
Driftwood
Draws on

The Constitution (amend. 3) — the instrument this book operates under.

The Capital Allocation Policy (Rev. 2) — the bands the ledger deploys against.

Related

The Decision Register — the upstream record; each ledger entry above carries its rationale there.

The Opportunity Register — the open matters this book tracks as dependencies.

Referenced by

The Annual Review — the year's reading of this book.

The point

A report is read once. A record is kept.

Polish is easy to copy; continuity is not. The manual's advantage is that it remembers — across decades, decisions, and the people who made them. That is the difference between a firm that reports to you and one that keeps your household's book.

§ Operating Manual · rev. 06 · fol. 1 The Harris household · est. 2026
Set in Satoshi & Erode · a concept for a living operating record · illustrative household, not a real client
Illustrative and educational — not investment, tax, or legal advice. The household, decisions, and figures above are hypothetical, drawn to show the form of the record. Driftwood coordinates with your CPA and attorney; it does not provide tax or legal advice. Driftwood Wealth is a registered investment adviser; Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS are available directly; the firm’s public record is at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use.