The Tax-Protected Income Blueprint Quick-Start Guide

A six-page guide on the right question to ask about retirement, the embedded tax liability most people miss, and the Gap Years strategy.

What's inside

• The reframe. Most retirement planning asks the wrong question. The guide explains what the right question actually is, and why it changes everything that follows.
• Embedded tax liability. Why your $1 million in a traditional IRA is worth less than $1 million — and how to measure what it's actually worth after taxes.
• The Gap Years strategy. What the planning window between 65 and 72 is, why almost no one uses it well, and the specific decisions that matter most.
• How to think about Roth conversions. Not whether to do them — the framework for deciding how much, when, and why.

This isn't a comprehensive plan or financial advice. It's the framework I use with clients, condensed into a six-page format you can read in twenty minutes.

Phil Gaudiano is a CPA specializing in retirement tax planning and income strategy. Beyond the Quick-Start Guide, he writes The Pensioner's Paradox and offers personalized planning services.