Tax Planning Challenge

If I asked what tax bracket you’re in, you could probably tell me. If I asked what your next dollar of income would cost you in federal taxes, that’s a harder question.

The bracket is only part of the answer. Add a dollar of income in retirement, and the rest of the tax code can pile on. That dollar might make more of your Social Security taxable. It might push you past a Medicare threshold and raise your premiums for a full year. It might shrink a deduction you were counting on, like the new deduction for people 65 and older.

The combined effect is what I call your effective marginal tax rate. It’s the number that tells you whether a Roth conversion or harvesting capital gains makes sense for you this year.

That’s why we’re running the Tax Planning Challenge. Over three live sessions, you’ll use our Tax Map Calculator to plot your effective marginal tax rate from your own 2026 numbers, then see whether you have room for Roth conversions or gains harvesting before the tax year closes.