Description

CRNAs and nurse practitioners often spend decades with an employer sorting out their taxes automatically. Retirement hands that job to you, along with a set of rules a W-2 career never prepares you for.

In this episode of MoneyRx for CRNAs and NPs, Brett Fellows, CFP®, walks through the income types that show up once you stop working, how ordinary income and capital gains get taxed differently, and costs like the Medicare IRMAA surcharge that catch a lot of long-time W-2 employees off guard.

Brett Covers:

• What stops the moment your paycheck does, and what steps in to replace it
• How ordinary income and capital gains get taxed at different rates
• Why up to 85% of a Social Security benefit can end up taxable
• The net investment income tax and the Medicare IRMAA surcharge
• Why none of your retirement income is automatically taxed unless you ask for it

Key Timestamps:

(0:18) Why retirement taxes work differently than W-2 taxes

(4:13) What disappears the moment you stop working, and what replaces it

(6:05) Ordinary income versus capital gains, the basic distinction

(7:42) How Social Security benefits get taxed

(9:14) Traditional accounts, Roth accounts, and the RMD deadline

(12:22) Interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental income

(17:37) The net investment income tax and the Medicare IRMAA surcharge

(19:43) Why nothing withholds automatically once you retire

(21:04) A hypothetical nurse practitioner's withdrawal order decision

(26:27) One takeaway to build your account list

For more information and resources related to this episode, please visit the show notes.