Sean Mullaney's Blog, page 3

2024 Year-End Tax Planning

It’s that time of year again. The air is cool and the Election is in the rear-view mirror. That can only mean one thing when it comes to personal finance: time to start thinking about year-end tax planning. I’ll provide some commentary about year-end tax planning to consider, with headings corresponding to the timeframe required […]

Thoughts on Trump and Taxes

It happened. The frontrunner for the Presidency said “Sure, . . . why not?” when asked if he would eliminate the income tax on the Joe Rogan podcast. Whoa!!! Okay, let’s calm down. Let’s not plan on never filing a tax return again just yet. Tax planning is all about probabilities. Over the 2024 presidential […]

Using IRAs to Pay Income Taxes In Retirement

It’s the fourth quarter. Now is a great time to check and see if you are on pace to have enough federal and state income tax paid in for 2024. It happens: people get to the end of the year and see they are severely underwithheld. What do you do in such a situation? This […]

Inherited Retirement Account Rules Need Radical Reform

My hope is that 2025 ushers in an era of simplification when it comes to all federal laws. Justice Neil Gorsuch co-wrote a book arguing we have far too many laws, and I agree with him. The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the state. One area that is insanely and needlessly complicated is […]

72(t) Payment Plan With a 401(k)

I’ve talked about what I refer to as a “72(t) IRA” both here on the blog and on my YouTube channel. What I haven’t talked much about, until now, is a 72(t) payment plan coming out of a 401(k). Is it possible? Does it make sense?  Inspired by a comment on a recent video, I’m […]

The Church IRA

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” – Matthew 22:21 What happens with our IRAs and other retirement accounts when we die? Early in our financial journeys, it is incredibly important to plan for our retirement accounts to take care of our loved ones, particularly spouses and younger […]

SECURE 2.0 and Section 72(t) Comment Letter

Recently, the IRS and Treasury issued Notice 2024-55. This notice provided initial rules for SECURE 2.0 emergency personal expense distributions (“EPEDs”), domestic abuse victim distributions, and repayments into retirement accounts. The Notice also asked for comments on the above and on Section 72(t) in general. I wrote a comment letter (which you can read here) […]

Roth 401(k)s and the Rule of 55

We live in a world where two things are true. First, more investors are using the Roth 401(k) to save and invest for retirement. Second, as demonstrated by the strength of the financial independence movement, many are interested in retiring early by conventional standards.  Some potential “early” retirees are thinking about the so-called “Rule of […]

New to Financial Independence? Start Here!

Financial independence is great. But sometimes it can be daunting. Personal finance itself can be daunting, and now we’re adding something called financial independence or “FIRE” to it? I decided it was time to come up with an approachable, understandable, and cost free entry point into financial independence. With the four resources listed below, I […]

FI Tax Strategies For Beginners

New to financial independence (FI or FIRE)? Are you steeped in financial independence, but confused about tax optimization? If so, this is the post for you. It’s not “comprehensive tax planning for FI” but rather an initial primer on some basic financial independence tax planning tactics.  But first, a caveat: none of this is advice […]