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Massachusetts planning for estates over $2 million.

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Since 1997~$1.5B AUM as of 8/12/2026SEC-Registered RIACFP® Fiduciary7 Advisors

Six Coordination Gaps

The six places where Massachusetts estate plans often fall short

Common gaps we often find in existing Massachusetts estate plans. They're investment problems as much as legal ones.

01

The Unfunded Trust

Trusts that were never properly funded may not accomplish their intended goals.

#1Trust funding gaps are among the most frequently identified issues in Massachusetts estate plan reviews.
02

No Massachusetts Portability

A surviving spouse cannot inherit your Massachusetts exemption.

$0Massachusetts portability benefit, unlike the $15M+ federal unified exemption.
03

The RMD Timing Problem

Required Minimum Distributions can force income into the highest brackets at the worst time.

~$56,604Estimated first RMD on a $1.5M IRA at age 73 (IRS Uniform Lifetime Table).
04

Massachusetts Estate Tax Exposure

The 2023 reform changed the structure, but not the exposure.

$82,400Estimated MA estate tax on a $3M estate before planning (illustrative).
05

The Millionaire Surtax

A 4% surtax applies above the 2026 threshold of $1,107,750, stacked on top of existing rates.

~33%Combined capital-gains rate above the surtax threshold (federal + NIIT + MA + 4%).
06

Disconnected Professionals

Your attorney, CPA, and advisor each do their part, in isolation.

3Separate professionals who rarely coordinate, and one CFP® whose job is connecting them.

The Number That Changes the Conversation

What would Massachusetts take? Get the number in 60 seconds.

Set your estate's approximate value (home, retirement accounts, investments, life insurance) and see your estimated Massachusetts estate tax under 2026 law.

See the Full Breakdown →
Estimated MA estate tax, before planning$82,400

Educational estimate under M.G.L. c. 65C (2026). Results are estimates only and are not guaranteed. Not tax advice. The full calculator models married-couple planning.

How the Gaps Get Closed

Six gaps. One planning hub.

Every service runs through one CFP® who also manages the portfolio. Your attorney and CPA stay yours; Michael helps coordinate the three plans.

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Fiduciary · Fee-Based · One Coordinated Plan
1
Discovery

Estate & Tax Diagnostic

Where your estate plan, investment strategy, and tax position stand today, and where they quietly disagree.

2
Strategy

One Written Plan

Your estate structure, Roth conversion targets, capital-gains plan, and portfolio positioning as one set of decisions.

3
Execution

Implementation & Introductions

Direct introductions to independent Massachusetts estate attorneys and CPAs, with timing and follow-through coordinated.

4
Ongoing

Monitoring & Maintenance

Estate plans erode and tax law changes. We aim to keep everything current with regular reviews.

Tax-Efficient Wealth Management

Investment management with the estate and tax picture built in, not bolted on

Investment performance matters. After-tax and after-estate-tax results are what we optimize for.

  • Asset Location Strategy

    Tax-inefficient assets in tax-deferred accounts; tax-efficient assets in taxable accounts: a 2–8 percentage point difference in effective tax rate, compounding every year.

  • Roth Conversion Calibration

    The optimal conversion amount each year: above your current bracket floor, below the next bracket, IRMAA tier, and surtax threshold.

  • Capital Gains Management

    Multi-year gain recognition, tax-loss harvesting, specific-lot identification, and step-up-in-basis awareness, with the goal of recognizing gains in more favorable tax years.

  • Appreciated Asset Strategy

    Donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and ILIT funding with appreciated securities may reduce income and estate tax in a single strategy.

0%Combined federal + MA + NIIT rate on capital gains for high-income earners
0%Combined marginal rate on RMD income (37% federal + 5% MA), higher above the surtax line

Individual situations vary. These figures are educational, reflect 2026 Massachusetts and federal law, and do not constitute tax advice. The ~$200K figure is simple arithmetic: 50 bps × $2 million × 20 years, using a midpoint inside Vanguard's 0–75 bps asset-location range (Kinniry et al., Putting a value on your value: Quantifying Vanguard Advisor's Alpha). It is not compounded, not MSA performance, and not a guarantee. Consult your CPA regarding your specific circumstances.

The long-horizon value of asset location

Placing the right assets in the right account type reduces your effective tax rate by an estimated 2–8 percentage points a year: small and quiet, but compounding every year you hold.

~$200KIllustrative 20-year total of 50 bps a year on a $2 million portfolio, before compounding. 50 bps sits inside Vanguard's 0–75 bps asset-location range. Hypothetical arithmetic, not a prediction of client results.

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About Michael

See the entire financial picture. Keep every part working together.

Michael Cammarata is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® practitioner and an owner and Managing Partner of MSA Financial, LLC. For more than two decades, he has helped families, business owners, and executives make informed decisions about their wealth—particularly when investment management, retirement, taxes, and estate planning intersect.

For many clients, the relationship begins with a specific concern: Massachusetts estate-tax exposure, an outdated or unfunded trust, a business transition, a concentrated investment position, or uncertainty about generating dependable retirement income. Michael's goal is to look beyond the immediate question and determine how each decision affects the client's complete financial picture.

Preserve Your Estate reflects an important part of Michael's practice, but not its full scope. His work includes comprehensive financial planning, investment management, retirement-income planning, Roth-conversion and RMD strategies, capital-gains management, charitable planning, trust-funding and beneficiary reviews, business-owner succession planning, and executive compensation strategies.

Michael believes affluent families rarely suffer from a lack of professional advice. The more common problem is that their financial advisor, estate attorney, and CPA are working independently—with no one responsible for connecting their recommendations or ensuring that the plan is implemented.

Michael is not an estate attorney or CPA. He serves as the central point of coordination, working alongside each client's existing professionals—or helping identify qualified independent professionals when needed—to align the estate documents, tax strategy, investment portfolio, and retirement plan around the same objectives. He does not draft legal documents or prepare tax returns.

As both a financial advisor and an owner of his own business, Michael understands that financial decisions affect more than an account balance. They influence a family's lifestyle, employees, business partners, future opportunities, and the legacy an owner ultimately wants to leave.

Michael's clients receive the personal attention of a boutique advisory relationship backed by the strength and resources of MSA Financial—the independent advisory firm he owns and leads alongside his partners. Established in 1997, MSA Financial is an SEC-registered investment adviser managing approximately $1.5 billion in client assets as of August 12, 2026.

Michael's objective is straightforward: help clients see the entire financial picture, make thoughtful decisions, and keep every part of their financial lives working together over time.

CFP®Managing Partner and OwnerFiduciaryFee-BasedRIA · MSA Financial, LLC
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Michael Cammarata, CFP®

Managing Partner and Owner · MSA Financial, LLC

Michael coordinates closely with clients' CPAs and estate attorneys. When a client needs a professional, he can help identify qualified independent advisors; clients choose and engage those professionals directly.

Learn

Deep-dive guides and current thinking on Massachusetts estate & tax planning

Expert-level guides. No jargon. No pitch.

Estate Structure

The Marital Deduction Trust & A/B Trust Planning

How Credit Shelter Trusts and QTIP structures preserve both spouses' exemptions, with a worked example for an $8M estate.

12 min readRead Guide →Estate Execution

Trust Funding & Asset Titling: The Step Most Families Skip

A trust that isn't properly funded is a trust that doesn't work. The asset-by-asset process for making yours real.

Free PDF guideGet the Guide →Retirement Income

The Roth Conversion Window: Your Last Decade of Tax Flexibility

The years between retirement and RMDs are a narrow, irreversible opportunity to reduce lifetime taxes. How to use them.

Free PDF guideGet the Guide →

Serving Massachusetts

Three locations. One cohesive planning team.

Offices in Braintree (South Shore headquarters), Sandwich (Cape Cod & the Islands), and Framingham (MetroWest), serving families across Massachusetts.

  • Braintree25 Braintree Hill Park, Suite 303, Braintree, MA 02184(781) 843-3500 · Main-office receptionist
  • Sandwich90 Route 6A, Unit 4A, Sandwich, MA 02563(781) 843-3500 · Main-office receptionist
  • FraminghamBy appointment, Framingham, MA 01701(781) 843-3500 · Main-office receptionist

Is This the Right Fit?

This practice is built for a specific client, and it's not for everyone

A boutique practice by design: a small number of complex Massachusetts estates, handled in depth.

Schedule a Review →Get the Free Guide

$2M+ in net investable assets

Planning above the Massachusetts estate tax threshold is what this practice is built for. It's where coordination may pay for itself many times over.

Massachusetts resident or estate owner

State-specific expertise in Massachusetts estate tax law, M.G.L. c. 65C, and local trust planning is the core of the work.

In or approaching the decade before retirement

The decade before retirement is often when estate and tax decisions become harder to unwind. That's usually when planning matters most.

Seeking an integrated, coordinated approach

If you're looking for someone to manage investments in isolation, this is probably not the right practice. And that's fine.

Comfortable with a boutique, high-touch firm

A limited number of clients, by design: depth over volume.

Ready for a fiduciary conversation

No products to sell, no commissions at stake. A CFP® whose job is making your estate plan, tax return, and portfolio agree.

Your Planning Readiness

How coordinated is your current estate plan?

Check each item that's confirmed and in place. Your score updates as you go.

0of 10

Start checking the boxes

As you check each item, you'll see where your plan is solid, and where the coordination gaps may be hiding.

Review My Gaps: 45 Minutes

The Complimentary Review

Already have an advisor, an attorney, a CPA? Good. The question is whether they're talking to each other.

A focused 45 minutes, no cost and no obligation. Here's exactly what you'll walk away with.

  1. Your estate tax exposure, in dollars.

    What your estate would owe under Massachusetts law today, and what it could owe with coordinated planning in place.

  2. Whether your trust is actually working.

    Whether your assets (deeds, accounts, beneficiaries) are actually titled into the trust, not just whether the documents are current.

  3. Where your Roth conversion window stands.

    Whether the opportunity is still open and how it interacts with IRMAA surcharges and the Massachusetts surtax.

  4. Any gaps, named in writing. Or confirmation there are none.

    You get that in writing from a fiduciary with no product to sell, whether or not we ever work together.

Michael Cammarata, CFP®, is an Investment Adviser Representative of MSA Financial, LLC (CRD #107768), a Registered Investment Adviser. This is a complimentary educational conversation, not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Request a Complimentary Review

For Massachusetts families with $2M+ in investable assets.

By submitting this form, you agree to be contacted by Michael Cammarata, CFP®, at MSA Financial, LLC. Your information is never sold or shared.

Common Questions

Massachusetts estate & tax planning, answered plainly

Yes. Massachusetts taxes estates valued over $2 million, one of the lowest thresholds in the country. Rates are graduated up to 16%, applied after a $99,600 credit that shelters the first $2 million. Families who owe nothing federally may still owe six figures to Massachusetts. (M.G.L. c. 65C, 2026.)

Approximately $82,400 before planning, under 2026 law (illustrative). The tax is computed on a graduated scale after the $99,600 credit. Coordinated trust planning can reduce this substantially. Model your own estate here.

Often, largely yes, with planning. Massachusetts has no portability, so a surviving spouse cannot inherit the deceased spouse's $2 million exemption. A credit shelter (A/B) trust preserves both exemptions, shielding roughly $4 million for a couple, but only if the trust is properly drafted and funded.

Generally yes, if you own the policy, death benefits are included in your taxable estate even though they pass income-tax-free to beneficiaries. An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT), properly structured and funded, can remove the proceeds from the estate.

No. Michael Cammarata is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Managing Partner at MSA Financial, LLC. He does not draft legal documents or provide legal advice. His role is coordination: aligning your portfolio, tax strategy, and estate structure, working alongside independent Massachusetts estate attorneys and CPAs.

A 4% surtax on annual income above an inflation-indexed threshold ($1,107,750 for tax year 2026), approved by voters effective 2023. It stacks on top of the standard 5% rate and can be triggered by a single event: a business sale, a large capital gain, or an aggressive Roth conversion.

The practice is built for Massachusetts households with $2 million or more in investable assets. That's where estate-tax coordination pays for itself many times over. If you're close to that line, it's still worth a conversation: the years before you cross it are often the best planning window.

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The 2026 Massachusetts Pre-Retiree's Guide to Estate & Tax Planning

Twelve pages covering the six decisions Massachusetts families most often get wrong, explained plainly. Free, by email.

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