Subscribe to our Mailing List!

LEGACY INSIGHTS

Your trusted guide to a strong and secure retirement!

LBA Quarterly Newsletter - Summer Edition

2026 • Quarter 3 • Issue 19

Robert Dumais

Principal, LBA

THE BIG QUESTION FOR THIS QUARTER:

"What if one of the biggest threats to your retirement isn't the stock market... but taxes?"

After decades of carefully saving into your retirement accounts, many retirees discover an unexpected reality. You may have spent 40 years building your nest egg, only to discover you’ve been sharing it with a silent business partner the entire time. Now that partner would like to be paid. That partner, of course, is the IRS.

The good news? We’re talking about tax avoidance, not tax evasion. One is smart retirement planning. The other gets you three squares a day and a roommate in a gated community. Big difference!

This quarter, we’re diving into the surprisingly important and surprisingly overlooked topic of taxes in retirement. Retirement isn’t just about how much money you have. It’s about how much you actually get to keep.

Many retirees discover: Sometimes it’s not what you earn that hurts you. It’s how the income shows up on paper.

FROM THE DESK OF BOB DUMAIS:

Friends,

One of the biggest misconceptions about retirement is that taxes disappear once you stop working. If only that were true! Instead, retirement can feel like a financial game of whack-a-mole.

Withdraw too much money? Taxes go up.
Trigger higher income? Medicare costs go up.
Forget an RMD? Penalties show up.
Sell investments at the wrong time? Surprise tax bill.

It’s enough to make people want to hide cash in the freezer next to the frozen meatballs. (Please don’t do that!)

What surprises many is how much control they can have with proper planning. Retirement income isn’t just about withdrawing money randomly and hoping for the best.

There’s strategy involved:

Which account should you pull from first?
How much should you take?
When should you take it?
Can income be spread across years more efficiently?
Are there opportunities to stay in lower tax brackets?

These decisions can have long-term consequences not just for taxes, but for Medicare premiums, Social Security taxation and overall retirement longevity. At Legacy Benefit Advisors, we spend a lot of time helping clients understand how all these moving pieces work together. Sometimes a good retirement plan isn’t about making more money. Sometimes it’s about not unnecessarily giving too much of it away.

Warm regards,

Bob Dumais

Principal, Legacy Benefit Advisors

Your Retirement Accounts Have A Secret Co-Owner

For years, many people faithfully contributed to:

401(k)s
403(b)s
Traditional IRAs
457 plans
SEP IRAs
Annuities
Various other qualified retirement accounts

The tax deductions felt great at the time. Uncle Sam basically said, “Go ahead… put money away for retirement. We’ll wait.” Well… The waiting period is ending. Eventually, the IRS expects its share through taxable withdrawals and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

It’s kind of like having a business partner who never helped with the workload, never attended meetings, never contributed ideas, but suddenly appears at retirement with a calculator, saying:

“Congratulations on your savings. We’ll take our portion now.”

The Tax Bracket Trap

One of the sneakiest issues in retirement is accidentally creating “high-income years.”

Many retirees assume:

“I’m retired now, so I’ll obviously be in a lower tax bracket.”

Not always!

Here’s how things can unexpectedly stack up:

Pension income
Social Security
RMDs
Investment gains
Part-time work
Property sales
Large IRA and qualified account withdrawals

Suddenly, a retiree who thought they’d be in a modest tax bracket discovers they’ve drifted into a higher one. Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t hand out participation trophies for this achievement.

Medicare Has Opinions About Your Income Too

Just when you thought taxes were complicated enough, Medicare enters the conversation. Many retirees don’t realize that Medicare premiums can increase based on income. Higher income can trigger IRMAA surcharges (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts), which can increase the cost of Medicare Part B and Part D significantly.

Translation:

The government may look at your income and politely say, “Wonderful year financially - that’ll cost you extra.” This is why income planning matters. Spreading withdrawals strategically across years may help reduce unnecessary tax exposure and avoid triggering higher Medicare costs.

Retirement income planning isn’t just math:

It’s timing.
It’s coordination.
It’s strategy.
Occasionally, it’s trying to avoid receiving letters from government agencies that begin with: “Based on your reported income…” Nobody enjoys those letters.

Required Minimum Distributions:

The Government’s Version of “You’ve Waited Long Enough”

At a certain age, the IRS no longer politely suggests withdrawals. They require them.

Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) are mandatory withdrawals from many qualified retirement accounts. The government essentially says: “You’ve had decades of tax deferral. The buffet is closing. Start taking money out.”

Failing to handle RMDs properly can create costly penalties. That’s why retirement planning shouldn’t happen in isolation. Investments, taxes, healthcare costs, Social Security, and income strategies all interact with one another.

It’s less like balancing a checkbook… and more like conducting an orchestra where everyone is slightly out of tune.

A Good Retirement Plan Isn't Just About Growth

During your working years, the focus is often, “How much can I accumulate?”

But retirement shifts the conversation toward, “How efficiently can I distribute income?” That’s a completely different challenge.

A successful retirement strategy may involve:

Managing taxable income
Coordinating withdrawals
Monitoring Medicare thresholds
Understanding tax diversification
Planning for RMDs
Preserving long-term income stability

In other words, retirement isn’t simply about crossing the finish line. It’s about making sure the money lasts after you get there.

The good news?

You do not have to figure all of this out alone.

One Important Disclaimer (Before the IRS starts reading this...)

While the team at Legacy Benefit Advisors is highly knowledgeable about retirement income strategies and tax-efficient planning concepts, we are not official tax advisors or CPAs. However, we work closely with these topics every day and can help guide clients in the right direction while coordinating with qualified tax professionals when appropriate.

Think of us as experienced retirement tour guides: We may not prepare the tax return itself, but we certainly know where many of the financial potholes are located.

Final Thoughts

Retirement planning isn’t only about growing wealth. It’s about protecting it intelligently. After decades of hard work, saving, investing, and sacrificing, most people would prefer their retirement money go toward:

Family
Travel
Hobbies
Grandchildren
Enjoying life

…rather than unintentionally overpaying taxes because nobody helped them build a strategy.

At Legacy Benefit Advisors, we believe retirement is a process, not an event. Sometimes the smartest retirement move isn’t chasing higher returns. Sometimes it’s simply making fewer expensive mistakes.

Whether walking or running, athletes always stretch before they compete. Retirement deserves the same kind of preparation. Before you make the leap, get organized and build a strategy designed for success. Start strong with our free Passport to Retirement Guidebook.

Passport to Retirement Guidebook

Remember: Retirement is a process not an event.

LBA can help with a no-cost consultation!

What are YOU stressed about? (We can help.)

☐ Running out of Money
☐ Rising Inflation
☐ Healthcare and Long-Term Care Expenses

☐ Minimizing taxes

☐ Having a Steady Income Stream

☐ Stock Market Volatility

☐ Making Social Security and Pension Decisions
☐ Choosing the Right Medicare Coverage
☐ Managing RMDs, Avoiding Costly Mistakes
☐ Managing 401k, 403b, 457, IRA, Rollovers, etc. Without Penalty

☐ Leaving a Legacy for my Family

One of the more valuable tools we offer is our Passport to Retirement Guidebook. It is a practical, easy-to-follow companion for planning retirement.

It helps you:

• Clarify what retirement looks like for you

• See if you’re financially ready

• Understand healthcare choices

• Organize legal and legacy plans

We encourage you to complete it at your own pace, then schedule a complimentary consultation. Together, we’ll turn it into a personalized retirement plan.

Click Here to download the Passport to Retirement Guidebook PDF

Client Testimonial: "The Passport to Retirement helped us see everything in one place. It made retirement feel real — and manageable."

LBA Newsletter Library - A Great Resource

We have covered so many critical topics in our many quarterly newsletters over the past few years. We've created a simple roadmap to all of these great articles for your benefit.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OUR RETIREMENT ARTICLES