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Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, and more. This show is an extension of the book How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.howtoretireontime.com.
This show is intended for those within 10 years of their target retirement date or for those are are currently retired and are concerned about their ability to stay retired.
Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income taxes, Social Security, health care, and more. This show is an extension of the book, How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.how to retire on time.com. My name is Mike Decker. I'm the author of the book, How to Retire on Time, but I'm also a licensed financial adviser, insurance agent, and tax professional, which means when it comes to financial topics, we can pretty much talk about it all. Now that said, please remember this is just a show.
Mike:Everything you hear should be considered informational as in not financial advice. If you want personalized financial advice, then request your wealth analysis from my team today by going to www.yourwealthanalysis.com. With me in this duty today is my esteemed colleague, mister David Fransen. David, thanks for being here today.
David:Yes. Hello, Mike.
Mike:David's gonna be reading your questions, and I'm gonna do my best to answer them. You can send your questions in right now to 913-363-1234. Once again, that's 913-363-1234. Or email them to heymike@howtoretymontime.com. Let's begin.
David:Hey, Mike. When does it make sense to file your taxes on your own versus having a professional file your taxes for you?
Mike:Yeah. This might come as off as a surprise, but I think most people who just have standard w two income or even maybe some 1099 income, it's perfectly reasonable to just do it yourself. Yeah. We file people's taxes, but I think that's the the most important thing to admit is DIY. And there's TurboTax, but there's also another program called TaxSlayer, which, there's a professional version, and then there's an individual version.
Mike:You can get the individual version, file it yourself. I kinda like TaxSlayer personally, but TurboTax is incredible as well. I think H and R Block also allows a a do it yourself Think so. Option. But Yeah.
Mike:These are great companies that enable you to do it. As long as you're okay putting in the time, Mhmm. You can do your own tax rate. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. The other two options, if I'm gonna categorize it, so there's the DIY, right, we just talked about.
Mike:There is the done for you. So you go through a tax preparer, a CPA, or an enrolled agent who just looks at what happened. It's nice. You're paying a premium, but they're doing it for you because, you know, maybe you hate doing taxes. Yeah.
Mike:I think my favorite CPA quote ever was I said, do you like doing this? He says, no. But I hate it less than most people, so I'm willing to get paid for it. Yeah. I love that.
Mike:And then there's there's another one that's the done for you comprehensive version. That's where you have a tax professional, so a tax preparer, CPA, or enrolled agent that does the return but works with a team. So a financial adviser and an insurance agent works holistically at your situation. So it's not just looking at what happened and, you know, this is how much you owe. You know, what's done is done, historically speaking, but proactively recommends what you can change now so that you're more efficient in the future.
Mike:Most people seem to fall into the DIY category, do it yourself, or the done for you with the limitations. Tax preparers, CPAs, and enrolled agents on their own are not supposed to give financial advice. I know some do, but they're not supposed to say buy these stocks or do this financial plan. They're they're supposed to be limited, but not everyone stays within the lines. That's fine.
Mike:Mhmm. Whatever. I'm not a regulator. But Mhmm. Now, but those are kind of your options.
Mike:In my opinion, I think for the DIY or the done for you, I think it's healthy once in a while to go to a done for you comprehensive shop, kinda like Kedrick over here, k e d r e c. That's our shop. You're gonna pay more for it, but you're gonna get a more comprehensive scope of how the return happened and and what else could be done to prepare for the future. And maybe you have someone like us do your taxes. We're not the only ones that do this, but Right.
Mike:A more comprehensive kind of check-in of here's where you are, here's where you're going, here's all the things, and then send you on your way. I think that's a very good check-in. How often do you check your health? Every day. You fill your body every day.
David:Yeah.
Mike:How often do you see the doctor? Hopefully, once a year for your check-in. If you're going more advanced, you're gonna go pay for, you know, these functional health doctors who run tons of blood work and tests and give you a more comprehensive view. I think that's it's good to do that every now and then to really dive into the details. Because here's the reality, is tax professionals on their own, many times won't really look at your 4 one k balance or how you're saving in your 4 one k, and that's between the pretax or the after tax.
Mike:Not many people are gonna really plan for your retirement income in the future. CPAs don't really dive into that. There may be a bias against active trading. Maybe you want to actively trade, maybe you don't. But maybe the capital gains, the CPA is gonna give you a bias against that.
Mike:Maybe they're not planning in preparation for your required minimum distributions. Maybe starting early with your IRA to Roth conversions is something you would you should do, but they don't your IRA assets don't show up on tax returns unless you spent from them.
David:Right.
Mike:So the younger people might not realize that they could be doing conversions and and how they could do it. It's just omitted from the whole process many times. Unrealized appreciated assets, they don't show up on tax returns. You know, if you've got some Microsoft stock or Boeing stock or whoever, stock that's appreciated for a long time, low basis there, that's a tax problem in the future that at some time you're gonna have to come to terms with. That's the benefit of going to a more comprehensive shop that can do your tax return and give you a better vision of what you could be doing so you're more proactive instead of just going through the motions.
Mike:That's all the time we've got for the show today. If you enjoyed the show, consider subscribing to it wherever you get your podcast. Just search for how to retire on time. Discover if your portfolio is built to weather flat market cycles or if you're missing tax minimization opportunities that you may not even know exist. Explore strategies that may be able to help you lower your overall risk while potentially increasing your overall growth and lifestyle flexibility.
Mike:This is not your ordinary financial analysis. Learn more about Your Wealth Analysis and what it could do for you regardless of your age, asset, or target retirement date. Go to www.yourwealthanalysis.com today to learn more and get started.