It’s been a fun ride so far… we’ve seen a large swathe of the world, birthed a baby, and experienced 5 or 6 minutes of fame.
But how effective have these 4 years been in terms of implementing our tax minimization strategies? Are Roth IRA Conversions and Capital Gain Harvesting just fantasies we keep while working, or do they actually produce results in the real world?
Let’s do a financial check-up and see how we are doing.
Over the past few years, taxes have become a bit of a passion obsession.
I had always assumed our tax rate would be lower in retirement, and therefore followed the mainstream advice to max out my 401k each year. This definitely helped to Turbocharge our Savings, and saved a ton in taxes during the accumulation phase
Then in our first years of early retirement, it became clear just how low our taxes could be. Infinitesimally low. Completely non existent. Zero
Now I’m on a mission to Never Pay Taxes Again, not for any politically or financially motivated reason… but just because we can
Some time ago I received an email from one of the big brokerage firms, titled “Savvy Year-End Tax Strategies.” It contained much advice on how to minimize taxes and how to reduce taxable income, such as “Consider contributing as much as you can to a 401(k)” and “Be careful when selling highly appreciated assets, such as stocks, land, fine art, precious metals, or antiques.”
This might be considered good advice by some, but I just call it, “Boring!”
Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing is certain except death and taxes. I beg to differ. I personally expect to never pay taxes again, legally and respectfully.
