Retirement Planning: 10 Most Expensive Mistakes You Can Make

📘 THE BOOK — The Last 10 Years Before Retirement (and the First 10 After) Every line on this invoice is a chapter. 20 decisions, each checked against the government page it came from: https://unclejohnfinancial.gumroad.com/l/last10years 🎟️ Use code UNCLEJOHN30 for 30% OFF 📒 BUDGET PLANNER PRO — run the decisions on your own numbers, line by line: https://unclejohnfinancial.gumroad.com/l/BudgetPlannerPro (same code: UNCLEJOHN30) A couple saved for forty years and did everything right — so we sent them an invoice for the cost of being careful. Ten lines, each priced for one invented household, Ron (64) and Linda (62), from the government page that creates it. The biggest line isn't a tax. THE INVOICE 01 Zero-tax years — $71,044 more lifetime tax 02 Tax torpedo — 22% inside a 12% bracket 03 One-dollar Medicare cliff — $2,296.80 04 Wrong withdrawal order — $22,000 + a year 05 The exit you don't choose — $282,400 exposure 06 Survivor's brackets — $4,008 a year 07 The check she inherits — $181,272 08 The first five years — ≈$1,007,000 swing 09 The stranger — ≈$21,900 per reported loss 10 The money never spent — $670,055 ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 – The careful saver's invoice 1:14 – Line 1: the zero-tax year 2:44 – Line 2: the tax torpedo 3:58 – Line 3: the one-dollar Medicare cliff (IRMAA) 5:17 – Line 4: withdrawing in the wrong order 5:59 – Every line is a chapter (the book) 6:31 – Line 5: the exit you don't choose 8:19 – Line 6: the survivor's tax brackets 9:28 – Line 7: the Social Security check she inherits 10:48 – Line 8: the first five years (sequence risk) 12:03 – Line 9: the stranger (fraud) 13:03 – Line 10: the money they never spent 14:42 – The total, and the one thread 👇 Which line is on YOUR invoice? Tell us the number in the comments. ────────────────────────────────── 🎬 HOW THIS VIDEO WAS MADE ────────────────────────────────── Narration: AI-generated voice. Research, script, arithmetic and editing: A.R. Khole, Uncle John Financial. Visuals: AI-assisted illustrations; every figure is shown against the published page it came from (captured September 2026). Ron and Linda are invented; their numbers come from a year-by-year model at a 4% real return with 2026 tax rules held constant — illustrations, not predictions. Music: Mixkit (Ahjay Stelino), Mixkit music license. ────────────────────────────────── 📚 SOURCES — every page shown in this video ────────────────────────────────── 2026 Medicare Part B/D premiums and income tiers — CMS https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles Medicare premiums for higher-income beneficiaries (2-year lookback; life-changing events) — SSA https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/medicare/medicare-premiums.html Required Minimum Distributions, final regulations (age 75 if born 1960+) — Federal Register, July 19, 2024 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14542/required-minimum-distributions Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 tax brackets) — IRS https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf Publication 915 (Social Security taxation, $44,000) — IRS https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf Income Taxes on Social Security Benefits (thresholds not indexed) — SSA Office of Policy https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/issuepapers/ip2015-02.html Savvy tax withdrawals (Joe's example) — Fidelity Viewpoints https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/tax-savvy-withdrawals 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey — EBRI/Greenwald https://www.ebri.org/retirement/retirement-confidence-survey Publication 501 (filing after a spouse dies) — IRS https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf POMS RS 00615.320 (widow(er)'s limit, 82.5%) — SSA https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615320 Delayed Retirement Credits — SSA https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html 2026 Guide to Retirement (sequence of returns; bucketing) — J.P. Morgan Asset Management https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-management/adv/insights/retirement-insights/guide-to-retirement/ Protecting Older Consumers 2024–2025 — Federal Trade Commission https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/P144400-OlderAdultsReportDec2025.pdf Asset decumulation over retirement (May 2026) — EBRI https://www.ebri.org (press release, May 15, 2026) ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This video is education, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures are 2026 rules and change annually; the household is invented and the projections are simplified illustrations. Confirm your own numbers with the IRS, Social Security, Medicare, and a qualified professional before acting.