Episode Title: Avoiding the Retirement Tax Trap

How much control do you really have over the taxes you’ll pay in retirement? This episode focuses on the retirement tax trap: the risk of building substantial savings in tax-deferred accounts without a clear plan for how those dollars will be taxed later. Mark Falter explains how legislative risk, changing deductions, Social Security taxation, Medicare-related surcharges and required minimum distributions can all affect retirement income, even without an obvious change in tax brackets. The conversation also highlights practical planning themes such as creating flexibility across taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free accounts, being intentional about Roth strategies and understanding how the surviving spouse may face a higher tax burden after a loss. The sooner tax strategy is built into retirement planning, the more flexibility you may have later.