As CPAs, how does your experience differ from other investment advisors?

Our firm originated as a CPA practice and is still heavily involved in providing accounting and auditing services, tax preparation, and tax planning.  We entered the financial advisory business because we were tired of seeing our clients overpaying for financial services with poor investment results.  As such, how we work as CPAs affects how we provide services as financial advisors. 

First, being CPAs gave us insight into and pushed us toward the fee-only model. 

Second, having a background in tax planning, we know the value of mitigating our clients' tax liabilities.  As such, the overall investment strategy is heavily geared toward incurring lower taxes.  In the great debate between active vs. passive investing, it is passive investing that incurs a lower tax liability - fewer trades means fewer capital gains.

Third, we remain cognizant of and constantly employ the numerous other tactics available to reduce taxes - harvesting capital losses, taking capital gains only when lower rates are available (long-term vs. short-term), and placing tax-efficient investments in taxable accounts and tax-inefficient investments in tax-deferred or tax-exempt accounts.