Tax Planning Before & After Retirement: The Bulman Wealth Checklist

It’s well known that tax planning isn’t a one-time event but a continuous process that changes with new rules and one’s life. It also tends to unfold in two distinct phases—the years leading up to retirement and the years when income distributions begin.

Each phase presents different decisions, deadlines, and trade-offs that can shape how much flexibility you have later on.

Additional factors, such as California’s state tax structure and rising living and healthcare costs, often complicate retirement planning in Roseville, CA, and are frequently overlooked.

This checklist from Bulman Wealth Group is designed to help you review key tax-related decisions before and after retirement, so you can better understand how today’s choices impact tomorrow’s income.

Pre-Retirement Phase: Optimizing Taxable Income

The years before retirement can offer the most control. Income is still coming in, contribution options are open, and planning moves can be evaluated without the pressure of required withdrawals.

Contribution Review Checklist

Before retirement, many tax strategies center on how income is sheltered or redirected:

• Employer-sponsored plans
  • Confirm annual deferral levels
  • Review catch-up contributions if age 50 or older

• Traditional and Roth IRAs
  • Verify eligibility and contribution timing
  • Confirm prior-year contributions were completed before filing

• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
  • Review annual contributions
  • Confirm eligibility and funding strategy

These contributions may reduce current taxable income or create tax-free growth later, depending on account type. Over time, this foundation plays a major role in determining the retirement tax benefits in California once distributions begin.

The Roth Conversion Question

One of the most common planning considerations before retirement is whether a Roth conversion makes sense.

Pre-retirement checklist questions include:

• Is your current taxable income lower than it may be later?
• Are future RMDs likely to increase income substantially?
• Would shifting funds to tax-free accounts provide greater financial control later?

Many retirees explore conversions during a “golden window”—often after full-time work slows but before required distributions begin. While not appropriate for everyone, this window allows some to reposition assets gradually rather than all at once.

Asset Location & Account Stacking Review

Beyond how much you save is where assets are held.

Account stacking involves reviewing:

• Taxable accounts (brokerage, joint accounts)
• Tax-deferred accounts (traditional IRAs, 401(k)s)
• Tax-free accounts (Roth IRAs)

Each account type behaves differently once withdrawals begin. Reviewing how growth assets, income-producing investments, and bonds are distributed across these accounts can help limit ongoing taxable activity.

A balanced structure may reduce avoidable annual taxation and allow withdrawals to be coordinated more deliberately during retirement.

Tax-Loss Harvesting Check

While tax-loss harvesting happens during the year, pre-retirement reviews help confirm it was applied correctly.

Checklist items include:

• Reviewing Form 1099-B and year-end statements
• Confirming realized losses offset gains as intended
• Verifying carry-forward losses are recorded properly

These pre-retirement steps provide the basis for more extensive planning conversations and can improve clarity around future tax reporting.

Post-Retirement Phase: Managing Distributions and Income

Once paychecks stop, tax planning moves from contributions to coordination—how and when income is drawn from different sources.

RMD Planning Checklist

Required Minimum Distributions are a major transition point.

Key items to review:

• Which accounts are subject to RMDs
• Year-end balances used for calculations
• Timing options for the first distribution

If your first RMD is delayed, two distributions may fall in the same calendar year. That overlap can raise taxable income and affect marginal tax brackets. Coordinating RMDs with other income sources typically becomes a central planning focus.

Social Security Tax Awareness

While California does not tax Social Security, federal taxation may still apply.

Checklist considerations include:

• Reviewing provisional income levels
• Understanding how withdrawals affect benefit taxation
• Managing account withdrawals to handle taxable thresholds

Many retirees encounter “tax shock” when benefits become partially taxable due to other income sources. Reviewing this interaction early can help avoid surprises.

The California Tax Reality

State taxes remain part of the equation throughout retirement.

California taxes:

• IRA and 401(k) withdrawals
• Interest, dividends, and capital gains
• Rental and business income

Because brackets are progressive, even modest increases in income can move part of your earnings into a higher range. Awareness of these post-retirement tax factors can offer more financial confidence that Roseville, California, retirees need when planning distributions.

Beyond Income Tax: Healthcare and Legacy Considerations

Comprehensive tax planning reaches beyond income tax to include healthcare and estate planning decisions, offering significant benefits.

Healthcare & Long-Term Care Readiness

Medical expenses can affect withdrawal strategies more than many expect.

Checklist items regularly include:

• Reviewing HSA balances and usage
• Evaluating insurance coverage
• Identifying assets earmarked for long-term care-related costs

Proper healthcare and long-term care planning in California prepares you for medical needs and helps prevent unplanned withdrawals from tax-sensitive accounts.

Wealth Transfer Alignment

Tax strategy also intersects with how assets are passed to heirs and charitable organizations, making wealth transfer a vital part of the broader review.

Key items to revisit include:

• Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, which take precedence over wills and trusts
• Rules for inherited accounts, including required distribution timing and taxable income exposure
• Trust arrangements, and whether assets are titled in a way that reflects current distribution preferences
• Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), which may be used to satisfy RMDs while limiting taxable income
• Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) for coordinating charitable giving during higher-income years

Looking at these elements together helps reduce mismatches between tax decisions, income planning, and legacy intentions, especially as retirement transitions begin.

Review Your Plan With Bulman Wealth

Tax planning before and after retirement works best when decisions are viewed comprehensively—not in isolation.

This checklist approach highlights how:

• Contributions influence distributions
• Account structure affects taxation
• Healthcare and legacy planning shape withdrawal choices

Bulman Wealth Group works with Californians and families nationwide, bringing decades of collective experience to retirement planning conversations. Our process brings together investments, income planning, tax considerations, healthcare factors, and estate planning so decisions remain coordinated.

If you’d like to review how your current plan fits across both phases of retirement, reach out to us today to set up a free consultation.

A Bulman financial advisor in Roseville, California, can help assess where adjustments may be worth considering.