Tax planning covers three main areas.

   1) Understanding income taxes today. We need to have a firm handle on

       what income and other yearly investment taxes mean and how they

       can affect our long term goals.

   2) Understanding investment taxes in the future. It is extremely

       important to realize what the effect of our investment decisions today

       will be on our tax situation when those investments are ready to be

       used.

       Weather we are talking about capital gains, interest, business sales, 

       real estate transfers or estate taxes all will have significant impacts  

       on our goals.

   3) Understanding taxes within our investments. If we hold mutual funds,

       index funds, or any other investments in which other folks are

       managing our dollars, we need to know what tax liabilities they are

       generating annually