Mike MilliganFounder and CEO, 1.oak Financial · Founder and CEO, 1.oak Financial

The Hidden Cost of Retirement: How to Slash Your Taxes in 2026

9 Jan 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:39

In this brief monologue, Mike Milligan challenges the common habit of waiting until December to address taxes. He argues that integrating tax planning into the year‑long financial plan yields far larger savings than trying to trim small advisor fees or chase marginal investment gains. Milligan illustrates the power of compounding: a modest 1% extra return over 30 years is significant, but saving an additional 4‑5% in taxes, compounded over the same period, would be transformative for retirement wealth.

Chapters

People want to start doing tax planning in like December. Guys, why not use the whole year to do tax planning? Because when you put tax planning at the key of your financial plan, it's easier to save money. The percentages are bigger when you have a tax plan than by trying to shave 0.2% off of your advisor fee or trying to get like an extra 1%. Now, extra 1% compounded over 30 years is a big deal. Imagine if you could save an extra 4 or 5% in taxes compounded over 30 years. It would be, it would be huge.