We work with high-net-worth, accredited investors facing a significant capital event—the sale of an investment property, a business exit, or another large liquidity event. Many of our clients come to us through their CPA, attorney, or commercial real estate broker when a taxable event is on the horizon. Our focus is helping you keep more of what you’ve built and reposition it with a clear plan.

Before. Most of the strategies we use—particularly tax-deferred real estate exchanges and Opportunity Zone investments—must be set up before or shortly after a sale closes, and some involve steps that can’t be undone once the proceeds hit your account. The earlier we’re in the conversation, the more options stay open. A short call before you sign a purchase agreement often makes the biggest difference.

Most advisors focus on picking investments. We focus first on structure—how a sale is handled, how gains are deferred, and how a portfolio is built to stay tax-efficient over decades. Our work is organized around four areas: real estate exits, Opportunity Zones, evidence-based investing, and private capital and insurance. The structural and tax decisions often matter more to your long-term outcome than which fund you happen to own.

It depends on the type of work. Advisory accounts are generally billed as a fee based on assets under management, and certain investments involve commissions paid through the product sponsor. We’re a hybrid firm—securities are offered through DAI Securities, LLC (member FINRA/SIPC) and advisory services through DAI Wealth, LLC. We’ll always walk you through exactly how we’re compensated on any specific recommendation before you move forward.

Many of the strategies we use—DSTs, Opportunity Zone funds, and private placements—are available only to accredited investors under SEC rules. That said, we also work with principal-protection and insurance-based structures that don’t carry that requirement. If you’re not sure whether you qualify, we can walk through it with you.

Yes—that’s how we prefer to work. Most of our relationships begin as a referral from a trusted CPA, estate attorney, or real estate attorney, and we keep those professionals involved throughout. We see ourselves as one part of your advisory team, not a replacement for the people who already know your situation.

Depending on your situation, you may be able to defer the capital gains and depreciation recapture tax using a 1031 exchange—often into a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) so you’re no longer managing property directly. From there, some investors later move into a 721 exchange (UPREIT) structure for diversification and estate planning. These strategies are time-sensitive, so the best results come from planning before the sale closes.

A DST is a legal structure that lets you own a fractional, passive interest in institutional-grade real estate, and it qualifies as “like-kind” property for a 1031 exchange (under IRS Rev. Rul. 2004-86). It’s a way to defer the tax on a property sale without continuing to be a hands-on landlord. Like any real estate investment, DSTs carry risk, are illiquid, and are available only to accredited investors.

A 1031 exchange lets you defer capital gains tax by reinvesting the proceeds from one investment property into another “like-kind” property. The timing rules are strict: you generally have 45 days from the sale to identify replacement property and 180 days to close. Missing those windows can mean losing the deferral entirely, which is why timing matters so much.

This is one of the most common situations we see. A 1031 exchange into a DST can let you step out of active management—no more tenants, repairs, or late-night calls—while still deferring the tax you’d owe from selling outright. You trade the operational headaches for a passive, professionally managed position.

A 721 exchange (named for IRC Section 721) lets you contribute real estate into a real estate investment trust’s operating partnership in exchange for partnership units, on a tax-deferred basis. It’s often used after a DST to gain broader diversification and simplify estate planning. There are trade-offs to weigh—including reduced control and how future REIT distributions are treated—which we’d review with you in detail.

Under current law, assets generally receive a “step-up” in cost basis at death (IRC Section 1014), which can eliminate the deferred capital gains tax for your heirs. This is why many investors view 1031 and 721 strategies as a long-term “defer, defer, step-up” approach. Tax law can change and every situation is different, so this should be coordinated with your estate attorney and CPA.

A QOZ fund invests in designated economically distressed communities, and the program (created under IRC Sections 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2) offers tax incentives for reinvesting capital gains. In general, you can defer tax on the gain you roll in, and if you hold the investment long enough, future appreciation on the fund itself may be free of capital gains tax. These are long-term, illiquid investments available to accredited investors.

Yes. Unlike a 1031 exchange, which applies only to real estate, Opportunity Zones can accept capital gains from almost any source—the sale of a business, stock, crypto, or other appreciated assets. That makes them one of the few tax-deferral tools available after a business exit or a large portfolio sale.

Both defer capital gains, but they work differently. A 1031 exchange applies only to real estate and defers the full gain indefinitely (with a potential step-up at death), while an Opportunity Zone accepts gains from any asset type and offers the possibility of tax-free growth on the new investment if held long enough. They solve different problems, and we sometimes use them together.

Yes. Legislation signed in July 2025—often called “OZ 2.0″—made the Opportunity Zone program permanent and updated several of its rules and timelines. Because the details continue to evolve, it’s worth a current conversation rather than relying on older summaries.

It’s an approach built on decades of academic research about how markets actually behave, rather than on forecasting or stock-picking. The emphasis is on broad diversification, disciplined structure, and minimizing the costs and taxes that quietly erode returns over time. The aim is a portfolio you can hold with confidence through full market cycles.

It’s how we describe a well-documented finding from the research of finance professor Hendrik Bessembinder: over the long run, a very small fraction of stocks—roughly 4%—has accounted for essentially all of the net wealth created by the stock market, while more than half of individual stocks have produced negative lifetime returns. The lesson isn’t to hunt for those few winners; it’s that broad ownership and discipline tend to matter more than selection. It’s part of why we take an evidence-based approach to building liquid portfolios.

Many advisors concentrate on selecting investments they believe will outperform. We concentrate on structure and tax-efficiency—owning the market broadly, keeping costs low, and coordinating taxes across your accounts. The difference often shows up not in a single year, but in what you actually keep after decades of fees and taxes.

Tax drag is the return you quietly lose each year to taxes inside a portfolio—from distributions, turnover, and realized gains. Research by Andrew Ang and colleagues estimated this can cost high-bracket investors a meaningful amount annually at the federal level alone. For Georgia residents, state tax adds further drag beyond those figures. Managing it is one of the most controllable parts of long-term performance.

These are investments not traded on public exchanges—such as private equity, private real estate, private credit, or other private placements—typically available to accredited investors. They can offer diversification away from public markets, but they’re illiquid and carry their own risks. We use them selectively, where they fit a specific role in your overall plan.

For investors who want market participation with a measure of downside protection, certain insurance-based structures—such as fixed indexed annuities—can offer growth potential tied to an index while protecting principal from market losses, in exchange for caps or other limits on the upside. These involve trade-offs and aren’t right for everyone, so we’d model how one fits before recommending it. Any guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

Several of the strategies we use—including insurance-based and principal-protection structures—don’t require accredited status. We can still help you build a plan around a capital event, focusing on the tools available to your specific situation.

Collaboratively, and with your client relationship treated as yours. We bring specialized solutions—tax-deferred exits, Opportunity Zones, and evidence-based portfolios—to situations where they fit, keep you informed throughout, and hand the relationship back to you. Most of our practice is built on these referral relationships, so protecting them is in everyone’s interest.

No. Our model depends on professionals trusting us with their best clients, which only works if we stay in our lane. You remain the primary relationship; we’re the specialist you call in for a specific capital event or structure.