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Artwork for Money Hungry
Money Hungry · June 2 · 12 min

Retirement for High Earners

Most high earners assume that making more money means retirement is easier to solve. This episode challenges that assumption head-on. Social Security replaces a much smaller share of income for high earners — sometimes under 30% — meaning the burden of funding retirement falls almost entirely on you. On top of that, many standard tax-advantaged tools phase out above certain income levels, little-known strategies like the backdoor Roth and mega backdoor Roth are available but widely overlooked, and the distribution phase introduces risks — sequence of returns, Medicare surcharges, and Required Minimum Distributions — that can quietly derail even a well-funded retirement. This episode walks through each of these gaps clearly and explains what a coordinated, complete retirement strategy actually requires for high earners.

0:00-12:12

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show notes

Most high earners assume that making more money means retirement is easier to solve. This episode challenges that assumption head-on. Social Security replaces a much smaller share of income for high earners — sometimes under 30% — meaning the burden of funding retirement falls almost entirely on you. On top of that, many standard tax-advantaged tools phase out above certain income levels, little-known strategies like the backdoor Roth and mega backdoor Roth are available but widely overlooked, and the distribution phase introduces risks — sequence of returns, Medicare surcharges, and Required Minimum Distributions — that can quietly derail even a well-funded retirement. This episode walks through each of these gaps clearly and explains what a coordinated, complete retirement strategy actually requires for high earners.