Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney: ‘For Most Americans, You’re Going to Pay Less Tax in Retirement’

Our guests on the podcast today are Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney. They’re both advice-only financial planners, and they’re the co-authors of a new book called Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement. Cody is a certified financial planner and the founder of Measure Twice Money, where he helps DIY investors make informed decisions aligned with their values. He also leads Measure Twice Planners, which is an educational community for financial planners. Sean Mullaney is a certified public accountant and head of Mullaney Financial & Tax. He also writes the blog, TheFITaxGuy.com, which is focused on the intersection between financial independence and taxes.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:27 Defining Early Retirement, the 4% Rule, and Withdrawal Strategies

00:11:03 Fear-Based Tax Narratives and Retirement Calculators

00:15:10 Rethinking Future Tax Rate Assumptions

00:23:14 Retirement Savings Tax Trade-Offs

00:30:08 Taxable Accounts in Early Retirement

00:32:29 Backdoor Roth IRAs, Asset Allocation, and Sequence Risk

00:44:03 RMDs, Roth Conversions, and Retirement Planning Tools

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Morningstar’s Tax-Planning and IRA Resources for 2026

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