Greetings! I trust that this will find you well and enjoying life.
Here we are once again, income tax filing deadline time of the year unless of course you file an extension. I want to challenge you to ask yourself if you are doing everything that you can to minimize your tax liability. Are you paying taxes needlessly? Are you paying tax on your social security benefits needlessly? Medicare premiums are “means based”, which implies that if you have the means to pay a higher premium you do so. Are you paying a higher Medicare premium needlessly?
Often I meet people who are paying taxes and increased Medicare premiums needlessly. The problem is that they receive “provisional” income from sources that they really don’t need to support their lifestyle and therefore pay tax needlessly. You will want to be careful to examine and understand this early in retirement and create a strategy to avoid the tax, particularly before you are forced to begin taking required minimum distributions at age seventy-two. At that time your income will increase and tax liability increase whether you want it or like it. In other words, you need to be deliberate in creating your retirement income plan and structuring your assets to minimize income tax, taxation of your social security benefit, and higher Medicare premiums. The methods to achieve this vary based on your particular circumstances.
If you feel that you need to know more about these concepts call us and schedule a time to examine your retirement plan. It’s your right as an American to do all that you can legally to minimize tax and maximize your social security and Medicare benefits. After all, you paid for them in your working years.
Best regards,
Jeff Christian CFP, CRPC
If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.
Vince Lombardi