If you’ve been searching for easy, low-effort ways to save money when you’re burned out, you’re not alone. There may comes a season in your frugal living journey where everything just starts to feel… heavy.The budgeting, the planning, the constant decision-making…it can wear you down, especially when life is already full. Maybe you’re tired of tracking every dollar.Maybe you’ve lost the motivation to cook from scratch every night.Or maybe you’re just mentally worn out from trying […]

Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Available on all podcast players. Here’s the latest episode: Time for another cautionary tale! A client sent me this video last week, along with the question: “Is this legit – or fake news?“ If you don’t have time to watch it, the creator (John) suggests that a retired couple can have $3.23 million in their portfolio, withdraw exactly 4% per year (~$130K), and never pay taxes on it. My response to my client: He is making a major tax law mistake. There is a kernel of truth to what he’s saying. But it’s mostly bad advice. Online financial content is a “buyer beware” landscape. John’s Major Tax Error Why is John wrong? First – yes, 0% capital gains tax is a real thing. Here’s some of my previous work on the topic: The Numbers Behind Tax-Gain Harvesting 0% Capital Gains vs. Roth Conversions: How to Optimize? But John makes, frankly, a terrible assumption in his analysis: That capital gains are the ONLY income source you have in retirement (!!!) He is assuming no Social Security. No interest income. No dividend income. No pension income. No withdrawals from Traditional 401(k) or Traditional IRA accounts (and therefore no required minimum distributions). No Roth conversions. No other income!!! The only income he’s thinking about is capital gains income. So – why is this such a big error? Because all of those income types I listed above can be taxable, reducing the remaining space to realize 0% tax on capital gains. I work with $3M retirees who have more than $100,000 in “unavoidable” taxable income annually. Interest, dividends, capital gains, IRA withdrawals, etc. That income fills space in their tax return that can no longer be used for 0% capital gains harvesting. The idea of realizing $130,000 in 0% capital gains in one year – let alone every year – is not even “questionable.” It’s purely misleading. Duh, Jesse… I hear people saying, “C’mon, Jesse, of course we’re not going to believe some random influencer.” Fair enough. But this guy has over 1 million followers (!!) across TikTok, Instagram, and other channels. He’s speaking authoritatively. He’s “showing you the math” in the video. People are drinking this Kool-Aid. And to be fair to John, he’s far from the only influencer of this ilk. The online finance creatorsphere is rife with bad advice. The blind are leading the blind. Thank you for reading! Here are three quick notes for you: First – If you enjoyed this article, join 1000’s of subscribers who read Jesse’s free weekly email, where he send you links to the smartest financial content I find online every week. 100% free, unsubscribe anytime. Second – Jesse’s podcast “Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors” has grown ~10x over the past couple years, now helping ~10,000