BetterWealth with Caleb Guilliams · BetterWealth Media

How to Avoid The Tax Reckoning Coming In 2035

March 27, 2026·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

Your IRA isn't really yours - it's actually two piles of money, and one belongs to the IRS.

2035 frames the whole argument. David McKnight says the tax math looks uncomfortable, and Caleb keeps dragging the conversation back to real retirement choices instead of abstract warnings. If rates rise later, listeners have to decide how much IRA and 401(k) money they still want sitting in the tax-deferred bucket. Roth conversion is not treated like a magic button. McKnight pushes back on the urge to convert everything at once, because bracket control and timing matter more than a dramatic move. The 24% bracket does a lot of work here. For people already near 22%, he argues that paying two more points can move a useful amount into Roth treatment without taking the next, much steeper hit. The jump from 24% to 32% is where the tone changes. That is not framed as a tiny step up. It is the point where the math may stop feeling worth it. Caleb asks how McKnight landed on that lane, and McKnight ties it to the gap between today's brackets and possible future rates. The Trump tax cuts are part of the setup. McKnight says the case was clearer when they were still set to expire in 2026, because the comparison was easier to see. Still, the clock matters. The years between now and 2035 become the planning window: annual conversions, reviewed carefully, with room for market swings and changing assumptions. Younger listeners get the uncomfortable version of the question. Should someone decades away count on today's standard deduction or Social Security rules? The episode does not promise certainty. It treats tax planning as a way to keep options open before the rules get less friendly.

As heard by us

A grounded Roth conversion discussion centered on the 2035 tax window.

David McKnight and Caleb Guilliams treat tax planning as a matter of timing, not slogan. The conversation moves from the 2035 to 2043 window to Roth conversions, pre-tax account balances, and the question of how much to convert while keeping a volatility buffer in mind.

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Why you'd press play

You want a cleaner tax move before the 2035-to-2043 reckoning.

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