The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

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egghead
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The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by egghead »

Curious if any Bogleheads have read the recently published book "The Power of Zero: How to Get to the 0% Tax Bracket and Transform Your Retirement", by David McKnight. If so, any comments on the book?
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CyberBob
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by CyberBob »

I haven't read it either, but I found that he's got a website where you can preview chapter 1 of the book.
http://www.thepowerofzeropercent.com
I also noticed that the book was free for Kindle on February third. Dang, missed it by that much! :(
Bob
Last edited by CyberBob on Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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frugaltype
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by frugaltype »

The amazon reviews I read sound like sales pitches, and they're written by people with a total of 1 or 2 reviews only.
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runner9
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by runner9 »

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Zero-Tr ... 0989000192

A lot of the book is available on the "Look Inside" by clicking on the book cover.
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Sheepdog
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by Sheepdog »

Haven't read it, but will look into it to compare. I have been at the 0% tax bracket for 10 years thanks to lowered taxable investments, and conversion of a portion of our TIRAs to Roths in the early retirement years).
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runner9
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by runner9 »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ike-ikokw ... 84702.html

A whole chapter, very similar to this link, on Cash Value Life Insurance Policies.

I'm out...
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CyberBob
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by CyberBob »

LIRP=Life Insurance Retirement Plan :shock:

I'm out too.

Bob
manwithnoname
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by manwithnoname »

I have not read the book but do agree with the author's premise:

We Specialize in Developing Strategies that help you position assets in tax-advantaged accounts so that in retirement,

you pay as little tax as possible.

I don't need to have 0% tax because it would be too expensive to convert all taxable and tax deferred accounts to non taxable. I use tax efficient investment options such as Conversions to Roth IRAs, muni bonds, Cap gains/qual. dividends and MLPs combined with all of the deductions and exemptions available under the tax law to reduce my tax rate to 4% and provide for tax free accumulation of assets which will be distributed to my heirs with a stepped up basis (Cap gains), 0% tax (roth IRAs, Muni bond interest, MLP distributions) or either 0% or 15% (qualified dividends). I prefer to pay minimum taxes today to provide tax free income in the future. No brainer.
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cinghiale
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by cinghiale »

CyberBob wrote:
I haven't read it either, but I found that he's got a website where you can preview chapter 1 of the book.
Then, frugaltype wrote:
The amazon reviews I read sound like sales pitches, and they're written by people with a total of 1 or 2 reviews only.
Go to the book's website, and take a look at the four pages of blurbs-of-great-praise from friends and associates on the first four pages of the book that precede Chapter 1. Then, look at the Amazon reviews. Notice something? The blurbs are copied and pasted word for word. No changes. You will see that each of the blurb writers on the prefatory pages of the book are duplicated as "reviewers" of the book on Amazon.

Isn't that ever so slightly unethical? Or just smarmy?

This may be a useful and worthwhile read. But wow, what a transparent "loading" of artificial and compromised reviews.
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dad2000
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by dad2000 »

Yes, checked it out of the Amazon Prime Lending library. I got through it in about 20 minutes, skipping the content that is remedial for most of us.

To sum it up... at the time or retirement, they want you to have 6 months of expenses in taxable, IRA balances lowered such that RMDs will be less than your deductions+exemptions, and everything else in a LIRP.

The authors meet their goal of zero taxes, but that's not my goal.

I think using this tool is a better plan: http://www.i-orp.com/
gerntz
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by gerntz »

I think 0% tax is a worthy goal. You/me deciding what to do with our assets/gains rather than others deciding is true freedom.
555
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by 555 »

I've spent some time to understand the parts of the tax system that are relevant to my situation.

I expect that with prudent tax planning I will end up in the 15% tax bracket in retirement.

I could instead take actions to ensure that I instead end up in the 0% tax bracket in retirement.

But that would be incredibly foolish.
livesoft
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by livesoft »

Shameless plug for the "ZERO taxes in retirement" thread: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87471
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SC Hoosier
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by SC Hoosier »

Roth IRA = zero taxes in retirement. :D

Unless of course congress reneges.

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letsgobobby
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by letsgobobby »

dad2000 wrote:Yes, checked it out of the Amazon Prime Lending library. I got through it in about 20 minutes, skipping the content that is remedial for most of us.

To sum it up... at the time or retirement, they want you to have 6 months of expenses in taxable, IRA balances lowered such that RMDs will be less than your deductions+exemptions, and everything else in a LIRP.

The authors meet their goal of zero taxes, but that's not my goal.

I think using this tool is a better plan: http://www.i-orp.com/
what is an LIRP?
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runner9
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by runner9 »

dhodson
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by dhodson »

Unfortunately what isn't told is that you will have less money in retirement. The goal shouldn't be zero taxes. The goal is to have the most money when you consider taxes, that won't be with insurance.
dickenjb
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by dickenjb »

dhodson wrote:Unfortunately what isn't told is that you will have less money in retirement. The goal shouldn't be zero taxes. The goal is to have the most money when you consider taxes, that won't be with insurance.
+1

My goal is to pay a million dollars in Federal income tax some year.

Because that would mean I earned $2.5 million!

Seriously, the goal is not to minimize taxes, it is to maximize after tax wealth.
heyyou
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by heyyou »

Warning: Geezer with anecdote.

A remark about some tax shelters was "Some people with good incomes are so tax averse that they are paying a dollar for 50 cents of tax relief."
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White Coat Investor
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by White Coat Investor »

The author seems heavily involved in insurance as an investment. I agree the goal isn't to pay zero in tax. It's all about the after-tax return.
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freddie
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by freddie »

Well last election cycle there was one candidate in favor of a 9% national sales tax......

Life Insurance Retirement Plan are pretty much just whole/universal life with a different name and the money comes out tax free because it is either return of principal ore a loan right?
SC Hoosier wrote:Roth IRA = zero taxes in retirement. :D

Unless of course congress reneges.

Hoosier
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House Blend
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by House Blend »

dickenjb wrote:
dhodson wrote:Unfortunately what isn't told is that you will have less money in retirement. The goal shouldn't be zero taxes. The goal is to have the most money when you consider taxes, that won't be with insurance.
+1

My goal is to pay a million dollars in Federal income tax some year.
Nah.

Paying $1M in income tax *once* isn't a good goal IMO, because it could still be a result of doing something stupid, like converting all of your tax-deferred accounts to Roth and selling the ancestral home all in one swell foop.

Better to pay $100K in income tax every year for the rest of your life.
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BigFoot48
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Re: The Power of Zero (0% tax bracket in retirement) book

Post by BigFoot48 »

livesoft wrote:Shameless plug for the "ZERO taxes in retirement" thread: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87471
That thread in 2011, where I confessed to paying near 0% Fed taxes, lead me to create my Roth Conversion model to see if I was making a huge mistake. As it turned out, in our circumstances with no heirs to benefit from inheriting a Roth, there was little advantage to doing conversions so we have continued my 0% strategy. The model does a very good job of forecasting Federal taxes for retirees and testing Roth, SS benefit starting ages, and other variables. My shameless plug. Retiree Roth Conversion Decision Model
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