The Tax Reduction Podcast

What if one of the best ways to lower your tax bill this year also happened to build wealth for your future? If you're a U.S. business owner paying serious money to the IRS every year, retirement planning is not just about someday. It can be one of the most powerful tax tools available to you right now.

In Episode 8 of The Tax Reduction Podcast, Chris Middleton from MakeTaxesFair.com breaks down the Retirement Planning pillar (the R in the CLEAR EDGE Framework) and reframes retirement from "a future problem" into "a current-year tax strategy."

You will learn:
  • Why retirement planning is a right-now planning lever, not a someday conversation.
  • The four ways a retirement contribution pays you: a current deduction, tax-deferred growth, tax-free growth in some situations, and better long-term positioning.
  • The real story of a client who passed on it for ten straight years and left $300,000 to $500,000 unfunded.
  • What actually lives inside this pillar: IRAs and Roths, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, employer-sponsored plans, profit-sharing features, defined benefit and cash balance concepts, and owner-only versus employee-inclusive designs.
  • Why "my business is my retirement plan" is the most expensive assumption in the pillar, and what happens when a health event forces the sale.
  • The five most common retirement-pillar mistakes, starting with the one that quietly limits your options before you ever ask the question.
  • A simple "tale of two owners" showing what waiting until tax time actually costs.
  • How this pillar connects to Legal Structure, Employees, Accumulation of Wealth, Deduction Optimization, and Exit Planning.
Make Taxes Fair are tax advisors, not financial planners. Our sandbox is tax savings. We don't manage portfolios or recommend specific investments. We work alongside licensed professionals so the tax side of your retirement decision is actually planned instead of discovered in April.

Stick to the end and download the free Retirement Planning guide at maketaxesfair.com/podcast.

Friends don't let friends overpay the government.

Creators and Guests

Host
Chris Middleton
Chris Middleton is the chief tax strategist behind Make Taxes Fair and host of The Tax Reduction Podcast. With a degree in accounting from Sacramento State and years of experience translating complex tax law into actionable strategies, Chris helps business owners stop overpaying the IRS and reclaim more of their earnings. He brings clarity, mission, and a no-nonsense approach to every episode.

What is The Tax Reduction Podcast?

If you paid more than fifty thousand dollars in taxes last year, this podcast is for you. Make Taxes Fair built this show to help business owners stop overpaying the IRS and start keeping more of what they earn. Hosted by tax strategist Chris Middleton, every episode is short, direct, and focused on one legal move you can immediately use to cut your tax bill.

Most accountants and CPAs focus on filing history. That work matters, but it rarely reduces your future taxes. This podcast gives you the strategies, tools, and plain-language insights most accountants never share. Sometimes Chris will break it down solo. Other times, he’ll bring on guests with practical ways to save. Either way, the mission is to make your taxes fair and put more money back into your business and your pocket.

Subscribe now to The Tax Reduction Podcast and learn how to keep more of your earnings.

Intro/Outro:

If you paid more than $50,000 in taxes last year, you are in the right place. This is the Tax Reduction Podcast powered by Make Taxes Fair. Hosted by tax tax strategist Chris Middleton, the show is designed for business owners who want to stop overpaying the IRS and keep more of their hard earned money. Every episode delivers targeted tax advice you can use to cut your tax bill and put more cash back into your business. No fluff, no gimmicks, just proven strategies most accountants never share.

Intro/Outro:

Now here's your host, Chris Middleton.

Chris Middleton:

What if one of the best ways to lower your tax bill this year also helped you build wealth for the future? If you're a US business owner paying serious money to the IRS every year, retirement planning is not just about someday. It can be one of the most powerful tax tools available to you right now. This show is where we legally shrink your tax bill and help you keep more cash in your business and your home. I am Chris Middleton from maketaxesfair.com.

Chris Middleton:

And today, we're breaking down the retirement planning pillar of the clear edge framework, How the right retirement strategy can help you reduce taxes today while helping to build financial strength for tomorrow. Stick with me to the end and you'll walk away with a high level understanding of how retirement planning fits into tax strategy, why so many business owners under use it, and what questions you should start asking now instead of waiting till the end of the year. Retirement planning is the R in the clear edge framework, and this pillar matters because it's one of clearest examples of tax strategy doing two jobs at the same time. Right? Done right, retirement planning can help you now.

Chris Middleton:

It can help reduce current year taxes and build long term wealth, create discipline around savings, and reward yourself sometimes your team. Moving money in the right places can be treated as more favorably from a tax standpoint. So most owners here retirement think, I'll deal with that later. Right? They make the mistake that their business is their retirement and that they should be able to retire someday off the sale of the business.

Chris Middleton:

But for many business owners paying real tax, retirement planning isn't just a future issue. It's a right now planning lever. And if you ignore it, you could be ignoring one of the most valuable and powerful tools in the toolbox. Here's the big idea. Retirement planning is not just about stopping work someday.

Chris Middleton:

It's about using the tax code intentionally while you're still building. Yes. Retirement accounts are savings vehicles, but they're also planning tools. And the right retirement account can help you move your money out of the current tax environment into a more strategic vehicle. It can mean a current deduction now, tax deferred growth, tax free growth in some situations, and better long term positioning.

Chris Middleton:

If you're already earning well and paying a lot in taxes, under using retirement options mean you're leaving money both at current tax savings and future wealth on the table. And similar to the accumulation of wealth pillar and episode where we did that for that pillar, now is probably time the right time to state, we are not financial planners at Make Taxes Fair. Our sandbox is tax savings in saving money in that proverbial sandbox. But like many things that have strong crossover, retirement planning and future planning have implications for the future. So while we are not financial advisers, we do work well with licensed professionals and have a strong network of financial advisors that we have referred and shared clients with in the past.

Chris Middleton:

This pillar really hits home to me because I have never heard the words come from somebody's mouth. Oh, man. I saved too much for my retirement. Right? The whole tax deferred conversation and, you know, hey, I could be pulling money out at higher tax rates in the future.

Chris Middleton:

Yes. That's legitimate. And yes, you should be looking at buckets or boxes to put money into that are tax deferred, tax free, all of that. But the bottom line is having the retirement planning conversation now while you're in your business, growing your business, building your business is vitally important rather than just saying, I'll handle that next year. I worked with a client once for ten years.

Chris Middleton:

Ten years. And every year, was like, dude, you should be putting money into, you know, these types of retirement accounts. It's gonna help you now. We can balance that out with some Roth contributions. And he's like, oh, no.

Chris Middleton:

I just I'm not gonna do it. A decade went by. He could have been putting away 30 to $50,000 a year. So that was over almost 300 to $500,000 of just money that he did not put away because he's like, I'll deal with this later. That's the time the time slipping away from you that they can get out of control.

Chris Middleton:

So again, I've never saved I've never heard anybody say the words, I save too much for retirement. Not a thing, and future planning is vitally important. So the bottom line is that saving for the future is never a bad idea, and often a highly neglected area of business owners when it comes to their planning. And the retirement planning pillar includes strategies and questions around things like IRA, Roth, SEP IRA, simple IRA, solo four zero one k's, employee sponsored plan, profit sharing features, defined benefit, cash balance concept, owner only plans versus plans that include employees, and how do you not discriminate, and coordination between contributions, entity structure, and total compensation. Today's episode is not a technical breakdown of every plan or tool and type in detail.

Chris Middleton:

The goal today is to help you see this category clearly so you stop under using it, take action, and start to think about, hey, I'm doing this now instead of I'll deal with this in the future. We will deep dive into specific strategies and tools in future episodes that are dedicated to this pillar, But the retirement planning pillar is neglected. And here's why. Retirement and thoughts of the future is less urgent than, hey, payroll, sales, serving customers, tax bill, do right now. Many business owners assume retirement planning is only for people that are, hey, I'm making lots more money than me, or making a mistake again that your business is your retirement plan.

Chris Middleton:

That's a trap that I'll talk about a little bit later, but just know that experience shows that this trap is a trap, and you should not underestimate the value of putting money to work in other buckets. Another trap that business owners casually open up is, you know, say, hey, is I'm gonna open up a plan because somebody else said to do that. And they don't consider their own profit level, the number of employees they have, their age, their cash flow, their entity structure, and their long term goals. Just because it worked for them doesn't mean it's the right thing for you. Retirement conversations are disconnected from tax strategy instead of being part of it, and they really shouldn't be.

Chris Middleton:

Retirement planning should not live in an island by itself, but should plug directly into your overall tax and wealth strategy. And here's the practical side of it. The right retirement contributions, again, can reduce your taxable income today, grow in a more favorable tax environment for capital gains and such, and help build you pools of money over time. That money isn't disappearing. It's being directed to a purpose.

Chris Middleton:

Sometimes the value is the current deduction. Sometimes the value is tax deferred or tax free growth. Right? Sometimes the value is building a protected or intentionally allocated pool outside of the business operating business. And for a lot of owners who are great at making money but weaker at consistently moving money into the right buckets, addressing this pillar will create a system for getting money out of the cycle as, oh, I'll just leave in the business and figure it out later.

Chris Middleton:

Retirement planning isn't just about the age of 65 or whatever age you want to think of, hey, it's time to hang it up. It's about giving yourself options. And it reduces your dependence on, I'll just sell the business one day, and that will fund everything. Because sometimes that works. Sometimes that doesn't work.

Chris Middleton:

And valuations change. Markets change. Life events change, and circumstances change. And more often than not, unfortunately, health events or events out of our control cause business owners to be in a position where they need to do that. They need to sell.

Chris Middleton:

And I've seen this personally multiple times over my career. And those situations create panic where the business owner feels like they have to sell rather than taking their time and being intentional. They have to cover medical expenses. They have to cover, you know, life events. I hope that's not your case, and I hope you've never witnessed that.

Chris Middleton:

But I can tell you from experience, that's been what I've observed multiple times over my career. That's how life works sometimes. So thoughtful retirement planning helps you build another lane of wealth or another pool of money to give you more flexibility, more resilience, and more control. That's really why it matters. And frankly, the reality of this topic is it's not discussed nearly often enough in my humble opinion.

Chris Middleton:

So thank you for being here and listening to me on my soapbox. The retirement planning pillar connects closely with other strategies in the ClearEdge framework, the legal structure, employees, accumulation of wealth, deduction optimization, exit planning. Your entire system and business is affected by what plans make sense. Your employee count affect what designs are practical. Your accumulation goals influence where savings should go.

Chris Middleton:

Your deductions are shaped by how contributions are made. Your exit plan is stronger when you're not relying on the business alone. And retirement planning is part of that connected system, not just a side conversation. Again, some of the biggest mistakes I see when it comes to this pillar are waiting till the year end to think about retirement and conversations, limits your options. Choosing a plan because somebody else said that it was good, hey, you should do this, without checking to see if it's the right fit for you.

Chris Middleton:

Treating retirement as only a future problem, not a current year tax tool. And failing to coordinate retirement planning with entity structure, owner's compensation, and your overall plan. Treating contributions like an afterthought instead of a plan priority. And when retirement is whatever's left over, it usually doesn't happen. Here's a simple example.

Chris Middleton:

Two owners, similar profits. Owner A waits until tax time and says, hey, is there anything that can be done and discovers that the best options are limited? Oh, we can't do a four zero one ks plan. You didn't implement it soon enough. Owner B plans early.

Chris Middleton:

They choose the right vehicle for their retirement plan intentionally. They coordinate structure, compensation, all of that throughout the year, and are able to fully maximize the deduction. Same scenario, different results. Right? Nothing's exotic.

Chris Middleton:

Just the second business owner is planning ahead. And it's those consistent actions of contributing and being thoughtful and intentional over years that maximize your results. That's retirement planning, the pillar in action. And it requires that mindset shift. Right?

Chris Middleton:

Instead of think saying, ah, I'll think about this later. You start to think, how can retirement planning help me reduce my taxes now and build wealth now. And when you think that way, retirement or future planning stops feeling like a burden and starts to feel like a strategic move. Those compound effects helps you really see how you can keep more, build more, and create real value and options over time. It's not just a future issue.

Chris Middleton:

It's a current year tax strategy issue. And the right plan can help you reduce your taxes, build your wealth, create discipline that will translate to other areas of your business, and give you options beyond just hoping that the business sale works out okay. There is no perfect retirement plan for everyone, but every business owner should ask, am I using retirement planning as a real part of my tax strategy or am I treating it like something I'll figure out later? The goal is not to just make money. The goal is to keep more, deploy it intentionally, and build a future that doesn't depend on guesswork.

Chris Middleton:

That's the value of the retirement planning pillar of the ClearEdge framework, and that's what it's all about. So next time you think about taxes, don't just ask out what am I gonna owe? Ask yourself, okay, how could the retirement planning have helped me lower that bill while building something more meaningful for the future than just giving it to the government? That's where better planning starts. That were that's where better wealth building starts.

Chris Middleton:

And that's how you start making long term strategic moves. If this episode helped you even in one way to view how retirement planning could be a more powerful part of your tax strategy. Don't just nod and move on. That's how opportunities get slipped through your fingers year after year, and you end up like my client that over ten years could have put 300 to $500,000 away. Go to maketexasfair.com/podcast to get the show notes and the free resource that we put together for this episode.

Chris Middleton:

We put together a guide to help you think through key retirement plan selection questions, common business owner mistakes, and what factors matter when choosing the right type of plan for your business. Again, that's at maketaxesfair.com/podcast. Folks, friends don't let friends overpay the government. So if you found today's episode helpful, please share with a friend. I'm Chris Middleton.

Chris Middleton:

Thanks for being here, and I'll see you in

Intro/Outro:

the next episode. That was today's play on the Tax Reduction Podcast with Chris Middleton. For step by step checklists, examples, and access to the tax savings communities, visit www.thetaxreductionpodcast.com. Remember, if you found this helpful, share this with a friend. Because friends don't let friends overpay the government.

Intro/Outro:

Don't give a massive tip to the IRS every year. Keep more of what you earn and join us next time on the Tax Reduction Podcast.