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MDRN Wealth

Fee-Only Fiduciary Financial Planner, Tax Advisor & Investment Advisor Specializing in Retirement & Early Retirement Planning

09/05/2026

Most retirees pay 15% on stock sales. Some pay 0%. 👀

There's a long-term capital gains bracket that most people don't even know exists, and early retirement may be the ideal window to use it.

When your taxable income drops in those early retirement years, before Social Security and before required distributions begin, you may qualify for a 0% rate on stock sales.

That means selling appreciated positions in your brokerage account without owing a cent in capital gains tax.

The catch? That window is narrow, and the income threshold matters more than most people realize.

Knowing how much to sell, and when, can make a meaningful difference in how far your portfolio stretches.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

MDRN Wealth is a financial advisor.

09/04/2026

Your retirement plan might be failing you 👀

If you've ever seen a success rate at the end of a retirement projection, like 80% or 90%, you were looking at a Monte Carlo analysis.

And while it sounds like a sophisticated, reliable approach, research suggests it has a significant blind spot: it quietly leads people to underspend in retirement.

Here's why that happens.

Monte Carlo simulations are built to optimize for the largest possible balance at the end of your retirement. But how many people actually list "die with the most money" as their retirement goal?

Most people want to spend more during the years they're healthy and active, not hold back and leave a large balance behind.

A guardrails plan works differently. It gives you a realistic spending ceiling and clear signals for when you can increase spending or pull back based on how markets are performing.

The result is that people naturally spend more during their active years and scale back gradually over time, which is actually how spending in retirement tends to work in real life.

If you want a retirement plan that works for your life, not just a spreadsheet, it might be time to ask about a guardrails approach.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

John Damion Boyd is a financial advisor.

09/03/2026

Your Rule of 55 plan might have a flaw 🚨

A lot of early retirees assume the Rule of 55 automatically applies to their 401k.

It doesn't.

While the rule is a legitimate part of the tax code, individual 401k plans are not required to offer it. And some simply don't.

That means you could be planning your entire early retirement around penalty-free withdrawals from an account that was never set up to allow them.

The fix is surprisingly simple, but most people never do it before they retire.

Watch to find out the one step that could protect your entire early retirement strategy.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

John Damion Boyd is a financial advisor.

08/29/2026

The 3-6 month rule breaks in early retirement 👀

Most people spend decades following the same emergency fund advice, and it works great while you have a paycheck.

But the moment you retire early, the rules change completely.

Here's the problem: your portfolio becomes your income in retirement. Stocks will be part of that mix, and at some point, markets will drop. If you're forced to sell those investments just to cover monthly expenses during a downturn, you're locking in permanent losses.

That's the sequence of returns risk that quietly wrecks early retirement plans.

The solution is a much larger cash cushion than most people expect. Holding 24 to 36 months of living expenses in cash gives you the ability to ride out a market decline without touching your investments at the worst possible time.

It's not about hoarding cash. It's about protecting the rest of your portfolio so it has time to recover.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

John Damion Boyd is a financial advisor.

08/28/2026

Retiring before 59½? The IRS has a rule for that. 👀

Most people assume early retirement means one of two things: grind through a job you've outgrown just to protect the paycheck, or retire and slowly drain your taxable accounts while your IRA collects dust.

What most people don't realize is that there's a legitimate, tax-code-approved strategy that lets you pull from your IRA before 59½, completely penalty-free.

The IRS gives you three different calculation methods to choose from. But the rules are strict, and the consequences of getting it wrong are steep. One missed payment or a single misstep, and the IRS can go back and apply that 10% penalty to every distribution you've already taken, plus interest.

Knowing when this strategy makes sense, and how to execute it correctly, could be the difference between retiring on your terms or staying stuck.

Learn more about setting yourself up to retire on your schedule by hitting follow.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

John Damion Boyd is a financial advisor.

08/27/2026

Roth conversions can secretly cost you 40% 🚨

If you're planning to retire in your 50s, this is something your financial plan needs to account for before you convert a single dollar.

Most people hear "Roth conversion" and assume it's always a smart tax move. But for early retirees on ACA health insurance, the math can flip fast.

Converting pre-tax money raises your Modified Adjusted Gross Income, and when that number climbs, your premium tax credits shrink or disappear entirely. Suddenly the 22% you thought you were paying on the conversion balloons when you add in the subsidy losses.

There's another layer too. If your living expenses in early retirement are already being funded by pre-tax withdrawals, those distributions are already filling your tax bracket. Converting on top of that, with a break-even point that might be 20 to 30 years out, can work against the very retirement you planned for.

Roth conversions are a valuable tool, but only when the timing and circumstances are right.

Learn more about retiring early by hitting follow.

1) 'Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.' 2) 'The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority.' 3) Additional information available on SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. 4) CRD number: 323177. 5) Fee-only disclosure: compensation comes solely from transparent fee charged — no commissions, no hidden incentives.

John Damion Boyd is a financial advisor.

01/08/2024

It's not about how much you earn, but about how much you keep.

Join our Tax & Planning Insights newsletter in our learning center on MDRNWEALTH.com for tips on how you can optimize your wealth.

01/06/2024

Let's talk Housing:

The 3-2-1 buydown is a financing strategy aimed at helping potential homebuyers address the challenges of high home prices and steep interest rates.

This approach involves temporarily reducing the mortgage interest rate for the first three years of a mortgage, which results in lower monthly payments during that initial period. After this period, the interest rate typically returns to the standard rate.

To implement this strategy, the cost of the reduced interest rate during the initial years can be covered through various means, such as prepaying interest upfront, receiving credits from a builder (for new homes), or having the home seller finance it to make the property more attractive.

Individuals considering this strategy should evaluate factors like affordability, potential income growth, and their outlook on future interest rates to determine if it suits their specific financial circumstances and goals.

01/02/2024

New Year - New Legislation in Effect!

In 2022, the Secure 2.0 Act became federal legislation to encourage Americans to save more for retirement. Some of its changes will start in 2024.

What's new this year? Many students struggle to save for retirement while paying off their student loans. This makes it harder for them to benefit from employer contributions to retirement plans, and therefore can negatively impact an employee's future retirement savings. The new law allows employers to match their employees' retirement plan contributions based on their student loan payments. This helps employees save more for retirement, even as they pay off their loans.

12/28/2023

The celebration of a New Year is a great time to review your financial health and reevaluate financial goals for the upcoming year ahead. Here's your (starting) checklist for a financially happy new year.

1) Reevaluate your household budget
2) Check your emergency fund
3) Prioritize paying off your debt
4) Reevaluate your asset allocation

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