40: What Women Need to Know About Income Tax

<p class="p1">In episode 33, Stephanie and Kevin gave us a broad overview of the <em>estate and gift tax</em> system. Now that we<span class="s1">’</span>ve reached the tail-end of tax season, our hosts sit down to do a timely deep dive on what women need to know about <em>income tax</em>—a subject that, unfortunately, isn<span class="s1">’</span>t as simple as all of us would love to believe it is.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">While state taxes are obviously important to consider when planning out your strategy, in this conversation, Stephanie and Kevin focus primarily on federal income taxes since these are the rates we<span class="s1">’</span>re all faced with year after year.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">Today<span class="s1">’</span>s discussion centers around how the federal government aims to incentivize certain behaviors from citizens via the tax code, and how our tax bracket dictates the types of choices we need to consider when it comes to all of our major financial decisions.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1"><strong>Key Topics:</strong></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li1"><span class="s2">“</span>How do taxes and financial planning come together?” (2:44)</li> <li class="li1">Our ever-changing federal tax rates (6:31)</li> <li class="li1">Why being at the 32% tax bracket <em>doesn</em><span class="s2">’</span><em>t</em> actually mean you have to pay 32% of your income in taxes (12:38)</li> <li class="li1"><span class="s2">“</span>What the heck is a <span class="s2">‘</span>deduction<span class="s2">’</span>?” (16:13)</li> <li class="li1">How your tax rate impacts what you can do with your retirement savings vehicles (20:50)</li> <li class="li1">Required minimum distributions (26:56)</li> <li class="li1">The pitfalls of planning <em>too</em> well (29:55)</li> <li class="li1">What happens to your wealth when you pass away, depending on your tax bracket (34:05)</li> <li class="li1">Why a health savings account (HSA) is the perfect savings vehicle (35:31)</li> </ul> <p class="p2"> </