Why Fourth Quarter Feels Different This Year

It’s October, and I haven’t written a blog post since August. Not because there hasn’t been anything to say, but because we’ve been deep in fourth quarter planning with our CPA partners and that kind of work demands full attention.

But something’s been happening that’s worth pausing to acknowledge: the market is finally rewarding the right approach.

For years, our profession has been driven by a sales mentality. Push products, pitch strategies, close before December 31. It’s exhausting for advisors and it leaves clients underserved.

This year feels different.

Clients aren’t looking for someone to sell them a strategy before year-end. They’re looking for someone who understands them. They want to be educated, guided, and supported by people who can connect the dots across their full financial picture, not just a single tactic.

The advisors who have always operated that way are the ones winning right now.

When “Help” Creates More Problems

A client came to us recently after working with a nationally recognized tax planning firm with a big marketing presence, strong personalities, and a promise of major tax savings.

On paper, it looked impressive. In practice, it wasn’t the right fit.

The strategy they were sold was positioned as aggressive tax reduction, but when we looked at their full situation—business structure, cash flow, and long-term goals—we saw what it really was: a complex risk mitigation structure, not a true tax-savings plan.

It wasn’t wrong. It just wasn’t right for them.

When we slowed down and took the time to really understand their situation, we found several strategies that were simpler, more effective, and aligned with their objectives. Not flashier or more complex, just more suitable.

This happens all the time. People get sold expensive, impressive-sounding strategies that don’t match their goals because the focus was on the transaction, not the person.

The CPAs we work with see this constantly, and they’re the ones clients are turning to now because clients are done being sold.

Why Q4 Belongs to Proactive Advisors

If you’re rushing to implement tax strategies in December, you’ve already lost the game.

Proactive planning happens now, in October and November, when there’s still time to evaluate options, implement deliberately, and set clients up for both immediate and long-term success.

This year there’s more anxiety than usual. Market uncertainty, business transitions, political tension—clients are trying to make decisions in a fog of unpredictability.

What they need right now isn’t a sales pitch. They need clarity and confidence. They need to know someone is looking at their whole picture—taxes, business, wealth, and estate—and helping them make coordinated decisions.

The CPAs we partner with aren’t scrambling right now. They’re executing. They’ve been having proactive conversations all year, and now they’re implementing strategies that were built with intention instead of desperation.

That’s what Q4 looks like when you lead instead of react.

The Brain Trust Advantage

Here’s what makes the Collective VFO model powerful for our CPA partners: we don’t take clients away from you, we strengthen the relationship you already have.

When a CPA brings a client into our process, they’re not outsourcing the work, they’re elevating it.

That client gains access to a coordinated brain trust—specialists across tax, legal, financial, and estate planning—all working together instead of in silos. The CPA remains at the center, guiding strategy with a team that brings depth and coordination behind them.

It changes how clients see their advisor. They start recognizing the value of true integration and trust their CPA even more for facilitating it. That’s what builds loyalty, referrals, and long-term value.

What’s Actually Shifting

The shift we’re seeing isn’t about new tactics. It’s about clients recognizing the difference between being sold and being served.

They’ve been burned by overhyped strategies that didn’t deliver. They’ve experienced the frustration of working with professionals who never communicate with each other. They’re done with that.

The advisors who’ve stayed true to integrity-first planning—those who lead with education, collaboration, and suitability—are finally being rewarded.

Not through louder marketing or better funnels, but through attraction. The right clients, the right partnerships, and the right opportunities are naturally finding advisors who deliver real substance.

The Bottom Line

Your clients need strategic conversations now, not in December.

The ones who get proactive guidance this month will head into 2026 positioned, confident, and prepared. The ones who wait will start the year scrambling to catch up.

The market is rewarding the right approach. The only question is whether you’re positioned to capitalize on that shift.

Sterling Hirsch is the founder of Collective VFO, a strategic advisory firm specializing in proactive tax planning and wealth management for high-net-worth clients and business owners.