Pinballing due dates, ever-changing tax laws and befuddled, disorganized clients: Was last season the last straw for preparers who’ve long dreamed of retiring early?
Gail Rosen, a CPA in Martinsville, New Jersey, said her firm has received many calls from prospects looking for new tax professionals because their former ones suddenly retired or became unreachable. Peers are also reportedly telling Rosen they’re retiring “due to the craziness of this tax season.”
“The IRS gave little regard for tax professionals this year with the law changes, lack of guidance and deadlines,” she said. “I’m sad for our profession.”
Studies maintain that the number of Americans retiring daily has nearly doubled since 2000. Some 10,000 people turn 65 every day. According to cited statistics from the Life Insurance and Market Research Association, 69 percent of Americans retire by age 66. Roughly 51 percent retire between the ages of 61 and 65.
Some aren’t on the fence at all. “Not at all thinking of early retirement,” said Manasa Nadig, an Enrolled Agent and owner at MN Tax and Business Services and a partner at Harris Nadig in Canton, Michigan. “In fact, I’m excited to be able to take on more work as senior EAs and CPAs are looking to retire.”
“I’m past the age of early retirement, but the last two years have been stressful when I look at the advisory and tax sides of the practice,” said Morris Armstrong, an EA and registered investment advisor at Armstrong Financial Strategies in Cheshire, Connecticut. “All my work life, since 1972, I have been involved in jobs that entailed stress. I used to think that trading currencies and bonds was stressful, and it was, but it was a different kind of stress. Here, if I let stress get in charge, it would be the clients that suffer, not some global bank. That keeps me focused.”
“Anytime I think about taking down the shingle,” he added, “I ask myself, ‘What would I do?’”
Pandemic’s effect
Work during COVID-19 drove some tax preparers frantic but did also show others how to streamline their practice.
“It has accelerated my timeline to retire or reduce my practice. We had a hard push to change the paradigm from face-to-face to a more virtual office, and this will allow for an easier transition,” said Kerry Freeman, an EA at Freeman Income Tax Service, in Anthem, Arizona. “I don’t plan to leave tomorrow, [but] I do have a three-year timeline to sell a large portion of the practice and carry away the cream [clients] that were able to transition into the new virtual format.”
If retirement can loom like an irreversible light switch, now may be a good time to tinker with the current details of a practice. “I’m more willing to discharge clients that add to the stress,” Armstrong said, “those clients who cannot follow simple instructions or where everything is a crisis and disrupt the flow.”
‘All the fun’
The financial questions of retiring early are concrete and familiar: accessible and ample savings, no or little debt, a clear budget, and a grip on health insurance. (Many advise that even money pros like tax preparers should meet with a financial planner before deciding to retire early, if for no other reason than to hear questions from an impartial outsider.) Closely related to these considerations are familiar visions of travel and time with family while still healthy.
Beyond a plan for other ways to fill time — mentoring, professional organizations, working part-time — some subjective questions of early retirement can seem foggier. According to “
And, especially apt for preparers, “You keep telling yourself, ‘Just one more year.’”
“Early retirement? Are you kidding? And miss all this fun?” asked Lawrence Pon, a CPA in Redwood City, California. “From what we are hearing from Congress, there are going to be some significant tax changes. Who better than seasoned professionals to serve our clients and help our colleagues get through this?”
