Ep 475: Adding Deeper Tax Planning Capabilities (And Generating More Google Reviews In The Process) To Grow To $600M Of AUM with Erik Brenner
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.7 • 719 Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tax planning has become an integral part of a comprehensive financial planning service offering and a way for advisors to offer hard-dollar value for their clients. In this episode, we explore how integrating tax preparation, proactive tax planning, and outside tax expertise can deepen client value, diversify revenue, and accelerate firm growth.
Erik Brenner is the CEO of Hilltop Wealth and Tax Solutions, an RIA based in Mishawaka, Indiana, overseeing approximately $600 million in AUM for 830 client households. Listen in as Erik shares how he doubled his firm's AUM in three years in part by building a comprehensive, three-pronged tax strategy that combines in-house tax preparation, advisor-led tax planning analysis, and outsourced expertise for complex cases. We also discuss why he chose to launch a separate but integrated tax business that is profitable in its own right rather than treating tax prep as a loss leader, how in-person dinner seminars focused on retirement tax strategies drive nearly half of the firm's new clients, and how taking a systematic approach has helped Erik's firm boost the number of Google and other online reviews it receives.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/475
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:28.9 | Welcome to the 475th episode of the Financial Advisor's Success Podcast. My guest on today's |
| 0:34.5 | podcast is Eric Brenner. Eric is the CEO of Hilltop Wealth and Tax Solutions, an RIA based in Mishawaka, Indiana, that oversees approximately $600 million in assets under management for 830 client households. |
| 0:46.4 | What's unique about Eric, though, is how he has doubled his AUM in the past three years, in part by offering a deeper level of tax-related services, including preparing client tax |
| 0:54.8 | returns through an associated business, and by working with an external firm for expertise |
| 0:59.2 | on more complicated client-tax situations. In this episode, we talk in depth about how Eric decided |
| 1:05.1 | to partner with a CPA, creating a separate tax business alongside his wealth management firm, with both under |
| 1:12.4 | one brand umbrella, how Eric takes a three-pronged approach to tax planning by having advisors |
| 1:17.7 | leverage tools such as Holista Plan and Income Lab on the wealth management side, using the |
| 1:22.6 | CPAs from the tax business to review proposed planning strategies and working with an outsource provider |
| 1:28.0 | for expertise on more complex tax planning issues and how Eric offers tax return preparation, |
| 1:33.3 | not as a loss leader for his wealth planning services, but rather as a profitable line of |
| 1:37.4 | business in its own right. |
| 1:39.1 | We also talk about how Eric's firm brings in almost half of its new clients through in-person |
| 1:43.4 | dinner seminars, |
| 1:48.4 | where the team demonstrates its expertise in the key issues facing their ideal clients, |
| 1:53.8 | such as reducing their tax bill in retirement, how Eric uses a service that sends sufficient mailings to ensure a full room at each seminar, saving his firm the time it would take to market |
| 1:58.3 | these events as well, and how Eric generates new client |
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