A deep dive into “no tax on tips” in the new 2025 Trump tax law, with a calculator to estimate tax savings. What qualifies and what doesn’t?
Calculator: How Much of My Social Security Benefits Is Taxable?
Use this online calculator to see how much of your Social Security benefits is taxable and how much of it is tax-free.
Is It Worth Moving to Lower Cost of Living After You Retire?
Use this calculator to quantify the higher cost of housing in a very high cost of living area to decide if it’s worth it to stay put after you retire.
Fidelity Retirement Planning Tool: High-Level Model, Not Tactical
Fidelity’s retirement planning tool shows how much leeway you have and what moves the needle. It isn’t designed to give year-by-year tactical guidance.
Roth Conversion and Capital Gains On ACA Health Insurance
Use this calculator to see the marginal tax rate on Roth conversions and long-term capital gains when you also receive a subsidy on ACA health insurance.
See Your Social Security Benefits Estimate In an Interactive Chart
Social Security Administration added an interactive chart in the online account but a third-party tool still does a much better job.
Social Security Claiming Strategy Calculators Compared
I compared two free calculators for the optimal Social Security claiming strategy with hypothetical test cases. They both do a good job.
CD Early Withdrawal Penalty Calculator: Extending the Term
Here’s a calculator to help you decide whether you should take an early withdrawal from an existing CD to buy a new longer-term CD.
Mega Backdoor Roth Without a Big Paycheck
You can still take advantage of non-Roth after-tax 401k or 403b contributions even if it will make your paycheck very small.
Mega Backdoor Roth Without In-Service Distribution
Even if your plan does not allow in-service distributions, chances are you should still make non-Roth after-tax contributions. Just wait until you change jobs and roll them into a Roth IRA.
When To Claim Social Security Calculators
These free and paid online calculators will help you figure out when and how you should claim your Social Security benefits.
Tax Cost Calculator
I usually include a spreadsheet when I post something about numbers and calculation. That way you can play with your own assumptions. I didn’t do one in my post last week Dividend Tax Going Up, Moving to Munis. My bad. Reader Random Poster asked: “If you did not hold any value stock funds in your […]