She wasn’t naïve, and she wasn’t winging it. She was intentionally trying to understand what her money would really look like when she stopped working.

Her biggest concern wasn’t the market. It wasn’t inflation. It wasn’t even running out of money.

It was taxes. Specifically the tax bomb scheduled to land at age 75, when Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) would force her to withdraw money whether she needed it or not. She joked about “spending it all” so her kids wouldn’t have to deal with anything complicated… but underneath the humor was seriousness.

“I just don’t want to be surprised.”

That one sentence captures a fear many retirees quietly carry...

What if doing everything “right” still leaves you exposed?

The Moment Everything Clicked

Barb wasn’t looking for products. She wasn’t chasing hot tips. She simply wanted to know what her smartest moves were while she still had runway - before age 75 forced her hand.

So when she learned about a tax-refundable asset, something clicked.

It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t a loophole. It was a strategy designed for one purpose: softening the tax hit of future RMDs.

Here’s how it works:

If you’re required to pull out $50,000 in RMDs… and $20,000 of that came from this special type of private asset… you still pay taxes on all $50K, but the taxes paid on the $20K get refunded back to you.

In practice, it can feel like being taxed on $30K instead of $50K.

For someone with most of their wealth trapped in pre-tax buckets, that’s not a small difference. It’s the difference between staying under an income threshold or accidentally pushing yourself into a higher bracket for reasons totally outside your control.

Why Barb Realized Her Biggest Tax Problem Wasn’t Today’s Income

The more Barb looked at her accounts, the more she realized something uncomfortable.

Her biggest tax burden wasn’t coming from spending - it was coming from saving in the wrong buckets for too long.

Left alone, her pre-tax balances would keep growing until the IRS forced large withdrawals later - withdrawals she wouldn’t be able to time, control, or delay.

But here’s the shift that changed everything...

Once she understood the problem, she finally understood her solution.

Designing a Tax-Smart Income Plan - Not a Guessing Game

Instead of reacting, Barb took control. She built a year-by-year plan:

- Adjust her portfolio allocation now as she transitions away from her 90/10 stock-heavy approach.

- Allocate part of her assets to the tax-refundable asset to offset future RMD pressure.

- Begin doing annual Roth conversions, but only up to the edge of the 12% tax bracket - never beyond it.

- Create a glide path designed to keep retirement income consistent and the IRS from taking the first bite.

These weren’t guesses. These weren’t gut feelings. These were intentional moves that gave her something retirees crave - clarity.

She wasn’t planning to leave a large inheritance, but she wanted to make sure her decisions were rooted in strategy and not default settings or outdated assumptions.

And for the first time, she felt genuinely equipped.

The Real Lesson From Barb’s Story

If you’ve ever looked at your statements and wondered, How do I turn this into tax-smart income? - you’re in good company.

Barb’s story is a reminder that retirement success isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing the right questions to ask:

- What will my taxes look like at 75?

- How much control do I want over my income?

- Am I relying too heavily on pre-tax accounts?

- Do I understand the consequences of doing nothing?

Most people don’t realize they’re heading toward a predictable tax problem until they run the numbers or see examples like Barb’s.

Clarity rarely comes from luck.

It comes from intention.

Take Your Next Step Toward a More Tax-Efficient Retirement

Even if you’re not fully ready to make changes yet, you can get ahead of the red flags before they show up in your mailbox.

That’s exactly why we created the Free Retirement Checklist, the same one Barb used to start identifying blind spots before they turned into costly surprises.