This "Boring" Tax Strategy Could Make You Rich in Retirement

Want to pay less in taxes? Smart tax planning isn't just about filing - it's about strategically timing your income and investments to keep more money in your pocket, especially with Social Security changes on the horizon and Medicare premiums to think about.

Chapters🕓
00:00 - Intro
00:13 - Tax Planning
02:54 - Importance of Tax Planning
03:46 - Sponsor
04:49 - How To Tax Plan
06:56 - Conclusion
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Transcript

>> Wes Cuprill: 0:00

How do we start planning now to ensure that your tax liability, as you're nearing or in retirement, is as low as possible? Hello there, and welcome to another episode of the WWW Podcast. My name is Wes Cuprill, and in this week's episode, I want to talk about the topic of tax planning. I know, snoozefest, but please forgive me, because tax planning is actually incredibly important. Now, I'm not talking about tax filing. that is coming up and is obviously very, very important. But that is a separate issue. When I talk about tax planning, what I'm really discussing is how your investments. And income sources are structured and timed to ensure you pay the lowest taxes possible. Because in today's day and age, it's. All about reducing our overall tax liability. I mean, heck, it seems that every single day, taxes are going up and up. And in light of the Social Security Fairness act being signed into law, I. Can'T help but be reminded of the. Fact that Social Security as a whole is facing a huge dilemma on the horizon, and that is the fact that the Social Security trust fund, which is the reserves of Social Security, are scheduled to run out in less than 10 years, I believe early 2030s. And what this means is, unless drastic changes are made, many people who are. Collecting Social Security are going to see their benefits potentially be reduced. There's not enough money in the system anymore. Now, hopefully, our, politicians will get their heads out of there, you know, what's. And start doing something to fix this impending disaster. But unfortunately, I only see one solution to the problem. Well, there's two. The first one is just blowing up the whole thing. Now, I think somebody who's in my generation, in their 30s, 20s, etcetera, I'm skeptical that we're going to collect on Social Security, but that's a whole nother topic. But for those of you who are collecting Social Security, the only way that this is going to get fixed is by raising taxes. And there's many different ways that they can do that, but ultimately, taxes are going to go up. And so how do we start planning now to ensure that your tax liability. As you're nearing or in retirement, is. As low as possible? And this is where tax planning comes into play. It's all about taking a look at. Everything that you have and ensuring you have a plan put into place and you stick to that plan to ensure that your overall liability stays low. First and foremost, this is important because nobody likes to pay taxes. We obviously want to pay Uncle Sam as little as possible, at least that's my viewpoint. Maybe there are some of you who don't mind paying taxes, but I believe in trying to pay as little as possible. But there's also a big consideration that we have to make when it comes to tax planning, especially if you are. 65 or older Medicare. Your Medicare premiums are greatly affected by. How much you make and how much you're paying in taxes. And if there's various strategies that you want to employ when it comes to all of your investments, you need to. Be very, very careful of the timing. Of those things because it can have. An impact on your Medicare premiums. There are cases of people not realizing. That, oh, my Medicare par premiums just went through the roof because of a certain decision that they made with. Their investments and income. This episode of the Wealthwise Women podcast is brought to you by Money and Clarity. Wall street likes to make personal finance and investing complicated, but we are here. To tell you that it isn't. But saving and investing for your future can bring with it stress, emotions and uncertainty, as well as many questions like how much do I need to have saved for retirement? What happens if the market declines? And probably the most important question of. All, will I be okay? That's where we come in. Not only can we help simplify the. Financial planning process, we can also help guide you through all the emotions and uncertainty that come with planning for your future. So give us a call today at 513-563-7526 or go to visitwithm.com to schedule a free no obligation consultation. We'll discuss how we might be able to help you achieve your financial goals and provide you peace of mind, knowing that you will be okay. How do you play this tax planning game? Obviously, the first thought is to seek out a cpa. However, not every accountant out there does tax planning. Most of them are specialists in helping you file your taxes and pay your taxes. You need to find somebody who is a tax planning Expert. And while CPAs can do that, that's also something that financial advisors specialize in. That's something that we do, quite. Often with a lot of ourients. We're always looking for ways that we. Can reduce their future tax liability. Now, one of the easiest strategies for this is called a Roth conversion. Taking a look at all of your current qualified accounts and saying, you know. What, why don't we convert some of that money now, put it into a. Roth ira, we'll pay the tax now. When we're in a lower income tax bracket, and then move that money into a Roth and it grows over time, tax free. There's other strategies that you can employ as well. I won't get into the nitty gritty of those here, but these are worthwhile exercises to go through as taxes become more and more complex. I mean, just go to the IRS s.gov website and look at all the various things that they talk about. Even when they pass new laws, the IR's needs time to figure out how to interpret those laws. That's how convoluted and complex it has all become. And there is no way that it's going to become simpler over time. And especially now with all the back and forth in Washington. You got one administration doing things this way and then four years later it could be another administration doing things, ah, a different way, and they cancel each other out and do all these various things and it just becomes more and more complicated. You shouldn't have to worry about that when you are in retirement. You should just be thinking about one thing, enjoying the rest of your life, not thinking about the various taxes that you need to be worried about paying for. That's where the experts come into play. And that is one of the things that we take pride in providing to our clients is saying, yeah, we got you covered. Let's take a look at everything, put a plan into place and ensure that is the most efficient tax plan possible. So that is just one of the things that I wanted to discuss in this week's episode. Make sure that tax planning is also at the top of your financial to do list in 2025. Yes, have an investment plan in place, have a savings plan in place, but also make sure you have a tax plan in place. This is what I talk about when I refer to a holistic planning. You need to take a look at your entire financial picture because if you don't, something that you do on one side could have an adverse effect on something else that you completely didn't consider. For example, timing certain income. If you didn't understand the tax implications of it, it could affect, say, your Medicare premiums. So just keep that in mind. If you'd like to discuss how we can help you with tax planning, simply go to visit withmc.m.com and pick a day and time that works best for you. I'd love to sit down and discuss how we might be able to help you with your tax planning or any other aspects of your financial plan. That being said, I hope you enjoyed this episode and I'll see you next week.