western orthopaedic association news€¦ · and one involving a group outreach activity to benefit...

to explore downtown Aspen. Festivities con-clude Saturday night with a “Denim andDiamonds” party with live country musicand dancing. Plentiful family activities in-clude biking from the Maroon Bells, Jeeptours through the panoramic Roaring ForkValley and Aspen Mountain, fly-fishing onthe Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers, theAnnual Art Auction at Anderson Ranch, a“Get to know Aspen” tour, and of course theFriday golf tournament at the fantasticSnowmass Golf Course.

Mornings feature three unique family break-fasts: one featuring our Howard Steel speak-er, one introducing the Snowmass sled dogs,and one involving a group outreach activityto benefit the local community. Mornings

It is my honor as President ofthe Western OrthopaedicAssociation to invite you andyour family to the 82nd An-nual WOA Meeting, August1-4 at the Westin Snowmass

Resort in beautiful Snowmass, Colorado.

It’s with tremendous excitement that webring the WOA to the gorgeous Coloradomountains. The WOA is about family fun,and Snowmass is an incredible location forbiking, river rafting, sight-seeing and more.This year kicks off with a unique WelcomeReception at the Rodeo, featuring Colorado’sbest BBQ and a calf scramble for the kids.After Friday’s Exhibitor Reception, enjoydinner in Snowmass Village or take a shuttle

www.woa-assn.orgSummer 2018 Volume 20 Number 2

President’s MessageBrian A. Jewett, MD

NewsWestern Orthopaedic Association

will also offer activities like yoga, hikes andchildren’s programs while members partici-pate in the academic sessions.

The WOA stands for academic excellence.Our educational program, planned by Dr. JeffKrygier and the Program Committee, prom-ises stimulating and challenging expert sym-posia on Total Joints, Trauma, Foot/Ankleand Sports Medicine, and an all-new pro-gram called “Survive the Night,” focusing on

I N S I D E

Welcome New Members p. 3

Support the Western OrthopaedicFoundation p. 4

WOF Grant Recipients to Date p. 4

Program Chair’s Message p. 6

2018 Program Committee p. 6

Scientific Program Highlights p. 6

Presidential Guest Speaker p. 7

Howard Steel Lecturer p. 7

Upcoming WOA Meetings p. 7

Multimedia Education Sessions p. 7

Young Investigator Awards p. 8

Resident/Fellow Awards p. 8

WOF Named Travel Grants p. 8

Money Matters p. 10

The WOA Annual Meeting will be held Au-gust 1-4, 2018 at the Westin Snowmass Re-sort in beautiful Snowmass, CO. For moredetails, visit www.woa-assn.org to view thePreliminary Program.

Snowmass Village is in the center of it all!Surrounded by majestic peaks in a naturalplayground second to none, you’ll revel inthe beauty and active lifestyle at this world-class mountain destination. SnowmassMountain’s activities range from hot air bal-looning to mountain biking, and more. Besure to take advantage of fly fishing andwhitewater rafting, or soak in the slope-sidehot tubs, take a dip in the pool and take in thevista views. You are sure to find somethingthe whole family can enjoy during your stayin Snowmass.

Come Join the Fun at the 82nd Annual Meeting

August 1-4, 2018Westin Snowmass ResortSnowmass, CO

Western Orthopaedic Association News

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The WOA MissionThe Mission of the Western Orthopaedic Association is to promote high quality ethical care formusculoskeletal patients in the western region of the United States by providing educational programs,fostering collegiality and supporting professional development among its members and physicians-in-training, and by influencing health care policy.

WOA 2017-2018Board of Directors

Brian A. Jewett, MD

Omer A. Ilahi, MD

Milton L. “Chip” Routt, MD

Robert R. Slater, Jr., MD

Basil R. Besh, MD

Jay R. Lieberman, MD

Edward D. Arrington, MD

Nitin N. Bhatia, MD

Richard A. Marder, MD

Julius A. Bishop, MD

Meghan N. Imrie, MD

Conor P. Kleweno, MD

Kathryn L. Schabel, MD

William C. McMaster, MD

Bryan S. Moon, MD

Jeffrey E. Krygier, MD

common hand call problems. We’ll continueour tradition of Rapid -Fire symposia onoriginal research and look forward as alwaysto our Resident Research/Young InvestigatorAward winners’ presentations.

We’re honored to have Dr. Wayne Sotileaddress members and guests on Thursday asour Howard Steel Lecturer. Dr. Sotile is aworld-renowned researcher and speaker onphysician resilience, whose talks on topicslike preventing burnout, maintaining a hap-py marriage and work-life balance are enter-taining and informative.

My Presidential Guest Speaker is leadingorthopaedic and medical economist NathanS. Kaufmann. His provocative lecture willfocus on business strategies and succeedingin an ever-changing, post-ACA MACRA en-

vironment. We’re also honored to present aspecial symposium, hosted by Michael McCa-slin from The OrthoForum, that will expandour business knowledge and skills. To reviewall that our Snowmass Meeting has to offer foryou and your family, visit our website atwww.woa-assn.org.

My wife Debbie and I are honored to host thisyear’s Meeting, and hope to see you and yourfamily this summer enjoying a wonderfulvacation, great academics and the opportuni-ty to connect with colleagues in the greatwestern states. See you in Colorado!

Regards,

Brian Jewett, MDBrian A. Jewett, MDWOA President

President’s Message continued

Tours and activities being planned for all toenjoy at the meeting include daily yoga, Jeepand biking tours, fly-fishing, hiking, white-water rafting, tours of Aspen and activities atthe Anderson Ranch Arts Center. The meet-ing will kick off with a Welcome Dinner atthe Rodeo and end with the always enjoyableWOA Family Gala Dinner Dance. As usual,there will be a daily spouses/guest hospitalityarea and golf tournament. There will also bea children’s party Friday night, so parents canparticipate in the evening meeting events.

For everyone’s convenience, the WOA hasreserved a block of sleeping rooms. To makea reservation, call the Westin Snowmass Re-sort at 866-837-4246 and mention that youare with Western Orthopaedic Association toget the discounted rate. To register for themeeting, visit www.woa-assn.org.

Come Join in the Fun continued

w w w . w o a - a s s n . o r g / S u m m e r 2 0 1 8 / V o l u m e 2 0 / N u m b e r 2

Welcome New Members

Bryce Allen, MD - Temple, TXJustin Anderson, MD - Tacoma, WAEvalina Burger, MD - Aurora, COAlexandra Callan, MD - Dallas, TXSusan Cero, MD - Renton, WAWeiChin Chen, MD - Honolulu, HIRussell Cohen, MD - Tucson, AZJonathan Cohen, MD - Modesto, CAStephen Curtin, MD - Tucson, AZRobert D'Ambrosia, MD - Aurora, CORyan Davenport, BS - Aurora, COChase Dean, MD - Aurora, COJohn Desantis, DO - Rancho Mirage, CAChristopher Diefenbach, MD - Flagstaff, AZArati Dunbar, MD - Redwood City, CAJoseph Durso, MD - Joint Base Lewis-

McChord, WAGordon Engel, MD - Novato, CAJudd Fitzgerald, MD - Kennewick, WAAlexander Garber, MD - Honolulu, HIFrank Guellich, MD - Thousand Oaks, CARobert Hansen, MD - Caldwell, IDJonah Hebert-Davies, MD - Seattle, WAJohn Herr, MD - Las Vegas, NV

Darby Houck, BA - Boulder, COElizabeth Ignacio, MD - Honolulu, HIKirk Kaiser, MD - Reno, NVJason Kaneshige, MD - Honolulu, HIHarrison Kay, MD - Los Angeles, CANamdar Kazemi, MD - Aspen, COThomas Keller, MD - Kailua, HIChristian Kikuchi, MD - Honolulu, HIChristopher Kleck, MD - Aurora, COLorrin Lee, MD - Honolulu, HIMilton Little, MD - Los Angeles, CAJulie Long, MD - Pleasanton, CATaylor Mansfield, MD - Tacoma, WAJessica McBeth, MD - San Jose, CARobert Medoff, MD - Kailua, HIThomas Melton, MD - Tacoma, WAAmir Mostofi, MD - Pasadena, CAWilliam Muir, MD - Las Vegas, NVGeorge Nicola, MD - Caldwell, IDWilliam Payne, MD - Burien, WAAimee Perreira, MD - Honolulu, HISara Sakamoto, MD - Kailua, HIJames Sandberg, PA-C, MMS - Colorado

Springs, CO

We are pleased to welcome the following New Members to the Western Orthopaedic Association.

Joshua Schkrohowsky, MD - Chelan, WATrevor Shelton, MD - Sacramento, CAPaul Simic, MD - Van Nuys, CAAnn Stein, MD - Las Vegas, NVRussell Stitzlein, MD - Houston, TXMatthew Thompson, MD - Seattle, WASteven Thorpe, MD - Sacramento, CAGehron Treme, MD - Albuquerque, NMJustin Walker, MD - Reno, NVJory Wasserburger, MD - Albuquerque, NMJared White, DO - Thornton, COSuzanne Yandow, MD - Seattle, WAMelissa Zimel, MD - San Francisco, CA

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WOA Newsletter

WOA News encourages and welcomesall member input. If you have any in-formation you would like included inthe next issue, please email material [email protected].


Have you taken the Self-Assessment Exam yet?It’s free for members (a $95 savings) and provides 10 CMEs toward yourMaintenance of Certification requirements.

Register today at www.woa-assn.org/sae

4

Help support the Western OrthopaedicFoundation (WOF), a 501(C)3 tax exemptfund, with your charitable donation.WOF was established to provide educa-tional and research opportunities foryoung orthopaedists throughout the terri-tory.

WOA provides named and unnamed re-search grants for Residents at its AnnualMeeting. Contributions from members hashelped to make this possible. These resi-

dent research grants will continue to be afocus for WOA at its Annual Meeting.

Make your mark on the future and be apart of WOF. We encourage you to makea donation to help WOA achieve its goalsfor funding educational programs for Resi-dents. We appreciate your continued sup-port of WOF and would like to thank youfor your generosity this past year. If youare interested in donating just go towww.woa-assn.org/donate.

Support the Western Orthopaedic Foundation

University of California, San Francisco

Western Orthopaedic Foundation Grant Recipients to Date

University of California, San Diego University of New Mexico

Members - Get the Discounted JBJSBundle for $99!● 2 print issues of JBJS each month● A comprehensive online archive dating back to 1889● Portable access to JBJS / JBJS Reviews / JBJS Essential

Surgical Techniques / JBJS Case Connector, and more!

www.woa-assn.org/membership


2018 Program Chair’s MessageJeffrey Krygier, MD

The Western Ortho-paedic Association’s2018 Annual Meeting

Program Committee has been hard at workdeveloping what promises to be an intellec-tually stimulating Scientific Program, diversein both its content and format.

Symposia on tap for Snowmass includes TotalJoint Arthroplasty with an emphasis on whytotal knees fail in 2018, and apropos to ourmountain base setting (an outdoorsperson’sparadise), Foot and Ankle will focus on man-agement of ankle injuries. Both the Sportsand Trauma symposia will cover a diverserange of topics and share the commonality ofpeerless speakers eager to share their exper-tise with our attendees. The Hand sympo-sium will get away from the lecture-basedformat and be a case-based session on “Sur-viving Hand Call,” featuring a panel of handexperts reviewing and commenting on casesthat could land in anyone’s ED.

The Tumor symposium will be an app-basedquiz of unknowns. Clinical cases includinghistory, imaging and histology will be avail-able for attendees to review and render diag-

noses, and prizes will be awarded. Fornon-clinical education, a symposium dedi-cated to orthopaedic business will update theaudience on where things stand on the play-ing field in 2018… and dare to peer into thefuture.

The 340 abstracts submitted (while a moun-tain of work for the Program Committee toscore) have provided us with bountiful mate-rial to present to our attendees while high-lighting the accomplishments of ourMembers, particularly our medical students,residents and fellows. The selected abstractswill be presented in one of three formats:general session podium talks, Rapid Fires oras E-posters (those selected will be highlight-ed in a Friday afternoon tour). The WOF willbe awarding prizes and grants to the mostfortunate of many worthy recipients. Thetotal dollar amount to be awarded continuesto rise even as I write, so listen during themeeting for the final reward.

Finally, I would like to thank the WOABoard of Directors, President Brian Jewett,the dedicated staff at Data Trace and theWOA Membership as a whole for entrusting

Scientific Program Highlights

– Sports – Focus on the Athlete’s Knee – Pediatrics, Upper

Extremity / Hand & Wrist, Total Hip and SportsMedicine

– Hand – Howard Steel Lecture –

Wayne M. Sotile, PhD – Surviving Hand Call for Non-Hand

Specialists – A Case-Based Session with Panel ofExperts

– OREF Update / WOF / OREFYoung Investigator Awards

– Trauma – Other, Upper Extremity,

Total Knee and Trauma/Hip Fractures

(Open daily to all participants before and after theScientific Program.)

(Following the Scientific Program)

– Adult Reconstruction: WhyKnees Fail – Tips and Tricks to Avoid and ManageComplications

– Pediatrics, Foot andAnkle/Ankle Injuries, Sports Medicine and Trauma

– Radiology – Presidential Guest Speaker –

Nathan S. Kaufman – Orthopaedic Business

– WOF Report and WesternOrthopaedic Foundation Named Grants

– Basic Science, SportsMedicine, Trauma and Total Joint

(Open daily to all participants before and after theScientific Program.)


– WOF Resident Awards – Trauma

– Tumor, UpperExtremity / Shoulder, Trauma and Sports Medicine

– Foot and Ankle – Acute Injuries tothe Foot and Ankle

– Own the Bone, BOC Reportand Presidential Address

– CaseReview

– Foot and Ankle, Spine,Trauma and Upper Extremity / Shoulder and Elbow

– Abstract Presentations

(Open daily to all participants before the ScientificProgram.)


me with the oversight of the 2018 ScientificProgram. Several years ago, I heard the WOAreferenced as a “one-trick pony… a groupthat puts on a good meeting.” Since then, theAssociation has developed a venerable stableof programs for its Members (creation of theWOF, JBJS discounts, enhanced advocacy,partnering with OREF to fund deservinggrants that would have otherwise gone un-funded, and the list goes on). That being said,I believe the Annual Meeting remains theWOA’s Clydesdale, and it has been an honorto serve as Program Chair. Thank you.

We look forward to seeing everyone inSnowmass.

2018 Program Committee

The Western Orthopaedic Association grate-fully acknowledges the following orthopaedicsurgeons for their contribution to the devel-opment of the scientific program.

Jeffrey E. Krygier, MD, ChairNitin N. Bhatia, MDJulius A. Bishop, MDRobin H. Dunn, MDOmer A. Ilahi, MDKathryn L. Schabel, MDJennifer M. van Warmerdam, MDDavid H. Chafey III, MDJonathan G. Eastman, MDMeghan N. Imrie, MDDavid J. Mansfield, MD

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Multimedia Education SessionsThe WOA will provide a multimedia education session following the Scientific Program on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, August 2-4. Acomprehensive selection of AAOS videos will be available for your review. These videos will highlight surgical procedures and current con-cepts in orthopaedics. Registered attendees should find these videos informative and helpful in their practice.

The WOA is pleased towelcome Wayne Sotile,PhD as its Howard SteelLecturer for our 82ndAnnual Meeting.

Dr. Sotile is the founderof the Sotile Center for

Resilience and the Center for Physician Resil-ience in Davidson, North Carolina. As an in-ternational thought leader on physicianbehavior and resilience for high performers,he consults widely with medical group prac-tices, healthcare systems, and corporations in-terested in learning evidence-based strategiesfor deepening collaboration and collegialityand promoting team engagement while cop-

2018 Howard Steel LecturerWayne Sotile, PhD

ing with change. He has authored or co-au-thored nine books, and has been publishedwidely in the peer-reviewed medical litera-ture.

Dr. Sotile has delivered more than 8,000 invit-ed addresses and workshops to corporate andmedical audiences, including invited presenta-tions to the VHA Chief Nurses’ Conference,the American Medical Association LeadershipConference, the International Conference onPhysician Wellness, the American Academyof Medical Administrators, and meetings fornumerous other medical and nursing specialtysocieties, hospital communities and corporateaudiences. He has served as the preferredspeaker for Studer Group since 2008.

2018 Presidential Guest SpeakerNathan Kaufman

The WOA is pleased towelcome Nathan Kauf-man, Managing Directorof Kaufman Strategic Ad-visors, as the 2018 Presi-dential Guest Speaker.

With more than 40 years of experience as astrategist, Executive and negotiator, Mr. Kauf-man is considered one of the nation’s health-care industry experts. He is a strategic advisorto healthcare executives, boards, physiciangroups and other healthcare companies, and isknown for his practical advice focusing onsucceeding in the new post-ACA MACRA,value-based- risk environment.

Mr. Kaufman is frequently a keynote speakerand often facilitates board and managementretreats. Given his vast experience with healthsystems, he will challenge the industry’s con-ventional wisdom when he believes that it isnot supported by evidence or that it will notprovide desirable results. While his clientsmay not always agree with his perspective,they appreciate that he challenges them toconsider different points of view.

Mr. Kaufman is a noted author, and has con-tributed over 75 articles to healthcare litera-ture. His education credentials include an MSin Health Systems from the Georgia Instituteof Technology and a BS in Psychology fromEmory University.

Upcoming WOA Meetings

82nd Annual MeetingAugust 1-4, 2018

Westin Snowmass ResortSnowmass, CO

83rd Annual MeetingJuly 31 - August 3, 2019Grand Hyatt Monterey

Monterey, CA

Connect with Us

@WesternOrthopaedic

@WesternOrtho


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Congratulations to the following 2018 Western Orthopaedic Foundation Named GrantsResident/Fellow Award Recipients. These awards were made possible by generous donationsthrough the Western Orthopaedic Foundation. The award papers will be presented during theScientific Program on Friday from 12:15 pm to 1:20 pm.

Abiram Bala, MD, Stanford University

Gideon Blumstein, MD, MS, University of California Los Angeles

Eytan Debbi, MD, PhD, Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Joseph Patterson, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Blake Montgomery, MD, Stanford University

Jesse Roberts, MD, University of Colorado

Allison Roe, MD, Stanford University

Alvin Shieh, MD, University of California Davis

2018 WOFResident/Fellow

Award Recipients

Congratulations to the following 2018WOF Resident/Fellow Award Recipients.The award papers will be presented dur-ing the Scientific Program on Saturdayfrom 7:00 am to 7:50 am.

The Lloyd Taylor, Vernon Thompson,Harold and Nancy Willingham, Sanfordand Darlene Anzel and Resident Awardwinners will be announced Saturdayevening at the Family Gala DinnerDance.

Steven Donohoe, MD, Keck School ofMedicine of the University of SouthernCaliforniaComparing AHD between MRI and X-Rayin Massive Cuff Tears

Garin Hecht, MD, Harborview MedicalCenterPre-Operative CT Can Predict Post-Oper-ative Shortening of Extra-Capsular HipFractures

Adam Johannsen, MD, Stanford Univer-sityInfluence of Capsular Laxity and LabralIntegrity on Hip Stability

Young Lu, MD, University of California,IrvineC1-C3 Construct with Short C2 PedicleScrews versus Goel-Harms Fixation

Brian Sager, MD, University of TexasSouthwesternInnervation of the Subscapularis: An Ana-tomical Study

Trevor Barronian, MD, Oregon Healthand Science UniversityWhen is an Orthopaedic Intern Ready toTake Call?

K. Chandra Vemulapalli, MD, Universityof Texas Health McGovern MedicalSchoolIntramedullary Nailing versus LateralLocked Plating for Distal Femur Fractures

Congratulations to the following 2018 WOF Young Investigator Award recipients. The Awardswill be presented during the Scientific Program on Thursday, 12:00 pm – 12:35 pm.

Biomarkers of Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation (NETosis) and their Relationshipto Wound Healing in Ankle Fracture Surgery

3-Dimensional Virtual Reality for Pain Control in Orthopaedic Patients: A ProspectiveRandomized Control Study

Correlation of Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Changes with PostoperativeNeurologic Deficits

WOF Young Investigator Awards

2018 WOF Named Travel Grant Recipients


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Individuals in the highest income tax brack-ets may have been presented with an un-pleasant surprise in the last few years whenthey learned of their investment tax liability.A prolonged period of strong domestic stockperformance from 2009 to today, combinedwith the implementation of The AmericanTaxpayer Relief Act of 2012 may have result-ed in significantly higher taxes for you. Thetop ordinary income tax rates were raised,while the top capital gains rate was increasedby more than 58 percent. While the 2017Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the top mar-ginal rate from 39.6 to 37 percent, capitalgains rates were not changed and severalitemized deductions were either capped oreliminated. Writing a large check to theInternal Revenue Service serves as a harshreminder that tax planning requires atten-tion throughout the year, and is not a tech-nique you can properly manage one week outof the year.

The U.S. stock market is in the midst one ofthe longest bull markets in the history of ourcountry, however investors have been pro-vided numerous tax loss harvesting opportu-nities during this period. In 2015, oil pricesdeclined more than 75 percent from peak tobottom. The pricing pressure experienced byenergy companies impacted multiple indus-tries and contributed to an equity sell-off forthe first time in years. Health care stocksexperienced a sharp decline in January of2016. The Dow Jones Industrial Averagedeclined more than 1,800 points over twotrading days in February of 2018.

Proper tax planning becomes more critical inan era of higher taxes. Nine years of a risingstock market resulted in many traditionalinvestment vehicles holding large amounts ofunrealized gains that can become realizedgains if you are not careful. Short term in-vestment losses may be frustrating; however,

municipal bond yielding 3 percent willprovide a superior after-tax return incomparison to a corporate bond yieldingas high as 5 percent in an individual orjoint registration, a pass-through LLC, orin many trust accounts. Therefore, it isimportant in many circumstances, tomake certain your long-term plan utilizesthe advantages of owning certain munici-pal bonds in taxable accounts.

Long-term capital gains rates are much morefavorable than short-term rates. Holdinga security for a period of 12 months pres-ents an opportunity to save nearly 20 per-cent on the taxation of your appreciatedposition. For example, an initial invest-ment of $50,000 which grows to $100,000,represents a $50,000 unrealized gain. Ifan investor in the highest tax bracket,simply delays liquidation of the position(assuming the security price does notchange) the tax savings in this scenariowould be $8,500. Although an awarenessof the holding period of a security wouldappear to be a basic principal of investing,many mutual funds and managed ac-counts are not designed for tax sensitivity.High income investors should be awarethat the average client of most advisors isnot in the highest federal tax bracket.Therefore, it is generally advantageous toseek the advice of a financial professionalwith experience executing an appropriateexit strategy that is aware of holding peri-ods.

As mentioned in the opening para-graphs of the article, the last several quar-ters presented investors with anopportunity to realize losses in domesticstocks for the first time in four years.

Statements and opinions expressed in the advertisements and information regarding products or services herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflectthose of the Publisher or the Association. The Publisher and the Association do not assume any responsibility or liability for such material and do not endorse,guarantee or warrant any product or service advertised in this newsletter.

Six Tax Reduction Strategies to EnhancePortfolio Performance

Carole Foos, CPA & Andrew Taylor, CFP®

volatility does create a planning opportunityfor astute investors and their advisors. In thisarticle, we will provide you with six sugges-tions that could save you thousands of dollarsin investment taxes over the next severalyears.

If youare reading this article you likely have areasonable amount of investment experi-ence and have become familiar with thebenefits of security diversification in yourportfolio. However, a common mistakemade by investors is failure to implementa tax diversification strategy. Brokerageaccounts, Roth IRAs, and qualified plansare subject to various forms of taxation. Itis important to utilize the tax advantagesof these tools to ensure they work for youin the most productive manner possible.A properly integrated approach is criticalduring your accumulation phase. Further,it is just as important when you enter thedistribution period of your investmentlife cycle. Investment vehicles payingqualified dividends are preferred in a bro-kerage account, while it is generally pref-erable for qualified accounts to own highyield bonds and corporate debt taxed atordinary income rates. There are count-less additional examples we could discuss,but the lesson is it is important to reviewthe pieces of your plan with an advisorwho will consider both tax diversificationand security diversification as they relateto your specific circumstances.

Most municipal bondsare exempt from federal taxation. Certainissues may also be exempt from state andlocal taxes. If you are in the highest fed-eral tax bracket, you may be paying tax oninvestment income at a 2018 rate of 40.8percent. Under these circumstances, a


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Clients with a diversified portfolio likelyhad this opportunity in prior years. Onebenefit of diversifying across asset classesis that, if the portfolio is structured prop-erly, the securities typically will not movein tandem. This divergence of returnsamong asset classes not only reduces port-folio volatility, it creates a tax planningopportunity. Domestic equities have ex-perienced a consistent upward trend fromthe depths of the financial crisis in March2009; however international stocks, com-modities, and multiple fixed income in-vestments experienced down years.Astute advisors were presented with theopportunity to save clients thousands ofdollars in taxes by performing strategictax swaps prior to yearend. It is impor-tant to understand the rules relating towash sales when executing such tactics.The laws are confusing, and if a mistake ismade your loss could be disallowed. Makecertain your advisor is well versed in uti-lizing tax offsets.

Thisis not to discourage your charitable inten-tions. Quite the opposite is true. Howev-er, a successful investor can occasionallyfind themselves in a precarious position.You may have allocated 5 percent of yourportfolio to a growth stock with signifi-cant upside. Several years have passed,the security has experienced explosivegrowth, and it now represents 15 percentof your investable assets. Suddenly yourportfolio has a concentrated position withsignificant gains, and the level of risk is nolonger consistent with your long-termobjectives. The sound practice of rebal-ancing your portfolio then becomes verycostly, because liquidation of the stockcould create a taxable event that maynegatively impact your net return.

By planning ahead, you may be able togift a portion of the appreciated securityto a charitable organization able to acceptthis type of donation. The value of yourgift can be replaced with the cash youoriginally intended to donate to the char-itable organization; and, in this scenario,your cash will create a new cost basis.

The charity has the ability to liquidate thestock without paying tax, and you haveremoved a future tax liability from yourportfolio. Implementing the aforemen-tioned gifting strategy offers the potentialto save thousands of dollars in taxes overthe life of your portfolio.

The technical detail behind amutual fund’s tax cost ratio is beyond thescope of this article. Our intent is tosimply bring this topic to your attention.Tax cost ratio represents the percentage ofan investor’s assets that are lost to taxes.Mutual funds avoid double taxation, pro-vided they pay at least 90 percent of netinvestment income and realized capitalgains to shareholders at the end of thecalendar year. But, all mutual funds arenot created equally, and proper researchwill allow you to identify funds that aretax efficient.

A well-managed mutual fund will adddiversification to a portfolio while creat-ing the opportunity to outperform assetclasses with inefficient markets. You doneed to be aware of funds with excessiveturnover. An understanding of when afund pays its capital gains distributions isa critical component of successful invest-ing. A poorly timed fund purchase canresult in acquiring another investor’s taxliability. It is not unusual for an investorto experience a negative return in a calen-dar year, yet find himself on the receivingend of a capital gains distribution. Under-standing the tax cost ratios of the fundsthat make up portions of your investmentplan will enable you to take advantage ofthe many benefits of owning mutualfunds.

The above steps are by no means the only taxstrategies experienced advisors can executeon behalf of their clients. This article high-lights several strategies you should discusswith your advisor to determine if implemen-tation is appropriate for your unique portfo-lio and overall financial situation. Successfulinvesting requires discipline that extends be-yond proper security selection. While gross

returns are important and should not be ig-nored, the percentage return you see on yourstatements does not tell the full story.In today’s tax environment, successful inves-tors must choose an advisor who will helpthem look beyond portfolio earnings and fo-cus on strategic after-tax asset growth.

Money Matters continued

110 West Rd, Suite 227Towson, MD 21204E-mail: [email protected]: www.woa-assn.org

Do You Know a Qualified MD or DOOrthopaedic Colleague Who Is Not a WOA Member?

Apply formembership

online at

or call

and ask foran application.

The Benefits of Being a Member:

1. Self-Assessment Exam worth 10 CME creditstoward your Maintenance of Certification(MOC) requirements

2. 24 FREE CME credits through the

3. Eligibility to participate in Ortho–Preferred®, aprofessional liability insurance programexclusively for orthopaedic surgeons

4. Meeting registration fee waived for new mem-bers’ first year

5. Free subscription to the

6. Annual meeting discount for members7. Substantial discounts to other regional society

meetings8. Diverse annual meeting content9. Awards and scientific recognition

10. WOA newsletter

Member Incentive

Refer and sponsor new memberand receive 1/2 off the registration

fee for the next annual meeting.

Refer and sponsor new mem-bers and the registration fee for the

next meeting is waived.

Completion of an accredited residency program and privileges topractice as an orthopaedist in a local hospital are the

requirements for both MD and DO candidates.

@WesternOrthopaedic @WesternOrtho

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