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The Talley Perspective
Straightforward thinking on taxes, retirement, investment decisions, and building a financial life that actually works.
Featured / Tax Planning
Year-Round Tax Planning in Johnson City
Filing records decisions after they are final. Planning happens while you can still change them. Who around here actually needs the second service, and what it looks like in practice.
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Use these as decision support, not market noise.
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Retirement decisions
Income, timing, taxes, healthcare, and market risk near retirement.
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Tax-aware planning
Roth conversions, RMDs, entity choices, and tax timing questions.
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Investment questions
Portfolio decisions connected to actual goals rather than market noise.
Tax Planning
Do I Pay State Taxes on Retirement Income in Tennessee?
The short answer is no. The useful answer is knowing where taxes still show up for a Tennessee retiree, and why the missing state layer makes the remaining planning even more valuable.
Retirement Planning
Turning Your Savings Into a Retirement Paycheck: A Simple Way to Think About Running Out
The question we hear most is "will I run out of money?" Here is a plain-English way we help people turn a lifetime of savings into a paycheck that can weather a bad market.
Tax Planning
The Widow's Tax: Why Couples Plan Together for the Day Only One of Them Is Here
After the first spouse passes, the survivor is often pushed onto higher single-filer brackets on nearly the same income. Here is what that is, why it happens, and why couples tend to plan for it now, together, with more warmth than worry.
Retirement Planning
Health Insurance If You Retire Before 65: The Bridge to Medicare and the Subsidy Cliff
For a lot of people the real thing standing between them and retiring is not the portfolio. It is health insurance before Medicare kicks in. Here is how that gap works, and why the premium is partly a planning decision.
Retirement Planning
Which Account Do I Spend First in Retirement? Withdrawal Order in Plain English
There is a famous rule of thumb for which account to draw from first. It is a fine starting point and a poor finish line. Here is why the order depends on you, and the house rules worth knowing.
Estate and Legacy
Inherited an IRA? The 10-Year Rule and the Beneficiary-Designation Trap
An inherited IRA is a tax bill on a timer. Here is why planning unequal withdrawals around your own higher and lower income years usually beats both a lump in year ten and ten equal installments, and the quiet trap that a beneficiary form can override your will.
Tax Planning
Moving to Tennessee for the Taxes: What a Retiree Actually Saves
Everyone moving here has heard that Tennessee has no income tax. That part is true. Counting what it is actually worth means looking at what your old state was already doing, and at one year that matters more than the rate.
Retirement Planning
Health Insurance Options Before Age 65
If you want to retire before Medicare, health insurance is usually the first real obstacle. Here are the main options and the planning traps that matter.
Tax Planning
Should I Elect S-Corp Status?
The S-Corp question is not just entity trivia. It is a question about owner pay, payroll taxes, Tennessee rules, cash flow, and whether the added complexity is actually worth it.
Tax Planning
The Roth Conversion Checkbox Problem
Most people doing Roth conversions are barely doing them. The box feels checked. The lifetime math says otherwise.
Tax Planning
The Tax Strategy Gap
Many people with meaningful tax bills cannot name the strategy behind them. Here is what that gap looks like and why closing it matters.
Retirement Planning
What's Your Retirement Number Based On?
Most people approaching retirement have a number in mind. Almost none of them have a plan that produced it.
Retirement Planning
The Retirement Risk Nobody Talks About
Retirement risk is not only market decline. Sequence, timing, withdrawals, and tax decisions can reshape the plan just as much.
Tax Planning
What Real Tax Planning Looks Like
Tax planning is not just March paperwork. Real planning coordinates income, investments, Roth conversions, and timing before the tax year is over.
Retirement Planning
What Changes as Financial Independence Gets Closer
As financial independence gets closer, growth stops being the only goal. Coordination, tax timing, and risk control start to matter more.
Tax Planning
Tax Planning for High-Income W-2 Earners
High-income W-2 earners still have meaningful tax-planning options. Here are the moves most worth reviewing before year-end.
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