Speaking Engagements
Award-winning insights on tax planning and practice management, customized for your audience.
Debra Taylor, CPA/PFS™, JD, CDFA®, is Managing Partner & Chief Tax Strategist at Carson Wealth. She speaks to financial professionals and client audiences on advanced tax planning, wealth transfer, practice growth, retirement, and women and wealth.
- CPA/PFS™
- JD, Cornell Law School
- Certified Divorce Financial Analyst CDFA®
- Nearly 30 years in financial services
- Featured in Bloomberg, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, and more
On Stage
Speaking to financial professionals and client audiences nationwide.
About Debra
Debra Taylor brings decades of advanced tax planning expertise to the stage with an approachable, entertaining style. She is known for translating complex tax and wealth planning topics into practical strategies that financial professionals, investors, and families can use.
As Managing Partner & Chief Tax Strategist at Carson Wealth, Debra works with high-net-worth individuals and families on complex tax, retirement, estate, and wealth-transfer decisions. She also educates advisors on how to integrate tax strategy into the client experience.
Expertise Built in Practice
Debra built her expertise from the ground up. She founded Taylor Financial Group in Franklin Lakes and spent more than two decades building a wealth management practice focused on advanced tax planning, retirement income, and estate and legacy planning for high-net-worth clients.
She later sold Taylor Financial Group to Carson Wealth, and the firm became Carson Wealth’s Franklin Lakes office, where she now serves as Managing Partner. As Chief Tax Strategist for all of Carson Group, she has brought the tax-focused approach she developed through her own practice to a broader platform, while continuing to advise high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families. Her work also extends across the industry through advisor education, tax-planning programs, and practice management.
Debra's combination of legal, tax, and financial planning expertise is central to her work. She earned her JD from Cornell Law School and holds the CPA/PFS™ and CDFA® designations. For the past five years, she has lectured for Holistiplan on tax planning and works with the firm throughout the year. She also serves as Director of Practice Management for Horsesmouth, where she co-created the Savvy Tax Planning program and co-leads the Savvy Tax School for Advisors, and has lectured for Kitces.com and the AICPA.
Her work has earned recognition across the financial services industry, including the Five Star Wealth Manager Award for 14 years, the Women's Choice Award for 13 years, and Carson Group's Women in Wealth Management Award.
She is also a prolific industry author, with more than 500 articles on financial and tax planning, and her expertise has been featured and quoted in Bloomberg, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, InvestmentNews, ThinkAdvisor, WealthManagement.com, Kitces.com, and other financial media. She also focuses on the financial needs of women and their families, a passion shaped in part by growing up with a widowed mother, a story she has written about.
Speaking Topics
What she speaks about
The Rise of the Everywhere Millionaire: Changing the Rules for Spending, Living and Giving
A talk on how today’s wealthy baby boomers can spend, give, and transfer wealth strategically throughout retirement while managing taxes.
Why Tax Planning Is a Must for Every Growing Firm
A practice management talk for advisory firms on building tax planning into the client experience.
It's Not Just What You Make, It's What You Keep
Tax planning strategies for clients in or approaching retirement, focused on the decisions that affect what they actually keep.
Ten Powerful Planning Techniques for High-Net-Worth Clients
Planning techniques for advisors working with high-net-worth clients on retirement, legacy, and complex tax questions.
Women and Wealth: The Time Is Now
A session on the issues that matter most to women investors, drawn from Debra's ongoing work with women and their families.
On the Circuit
Speaking for financial professionals and client audiences
Debra speaks to financial professionals through Holistiplan, Horsesmouth, and industry conferences, and directly to clients and prospects through advisor-hosted events. Each session is adapted to the audience, from technical tax strategy and practice management to retirement, wealth, and legacy planning.
Who She Speaks To
Financial advisors and individual investors
Financial Advisors & Wealth Management Firms
Practice management and tax planning content for advisor teams and RIA firms
CPA & Tax Professional Firms
Sessions built for tax professionals integrating tax planning into their practice.
Industry Associations & Conferences
Keynote and breakout content for financial services associations and conference programming.
Client & Prospect Events
Client and prospect audiences, including a documented focus on tax planning and women investors.
Why Book Debra
An undisputed expert who brings real-world experience and humor to the stage, demystifying even the most complex topics.
Debra combines tax, legal, and wealth management expertise with an approachable, entertaining speaking style. Her presentations draw from real client experiences, advanced tax planning, and the systems she has built inside a high-net-worth wealth management practice. She brings that perspective to advisor teams, industry audiences, and client events, with practical frameworks and ideas audiences can use after the session.
Partner Testimonial
“Tax planning isn't supposed to be fun. Debbie makes it fun anyway — and, more to the point, makes it clear. I've worked with her since 2002, most recently as a lead instructor in Horsesmouth's Savvy Tax School for Advisors, and she's never given a session that didn't hold the room. She pairs deep technical command of the tax code with the instincts of a natural performer: she reads an audience, keeps it moving, and sends people home with ideas they'll actually implement.” — Sean Bailey, Editor-in-Chief, Horsesmouth
Client Testimonials
"The team, led by the insightful Debbie Taylor, exudes authenticity and dedication in their work. Their analytical approach to wealth management, paired with their intense passion for the field, is truly unprecedented. They not only safeguard my financial interests but also work transparently to maximize my investment returns.” - Maria G (client)
“Carson Wealth made an immediate impact on my life. They are true partners that want the best for me and their clients. I know I can always go to them for financial advice and tax planning questions.” - Justin L (Client)
"We have over 30 years of experience with Debbie Taylor and her firm. We trust and appreciate all of the big things and all of the little things her company has done for us. Money is always important but so is the trust and faith we have in her business and the confidence we have in her to help with life decision making.” - Eleanor D (Client)
Media & Insights
Debra has been featured in InvestmentNews, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Horsesmouth, ThinkAdvisor, and WealthManagement.com, and has lectured for Holistiplan, Kitces.com, and the AICPA.
Bring Debra to your next event.
Share your event details and Debra's team will follow up on topics, availability, and logistics.