 You need to have a tax plan within your financial plan. Your tax plan while you're working is to max out your 401k, TSP, have a few kids. Maybe if you got a, you know, we're able to itemize, you know, you had some interest right off in your mortgage and other things, but you don't have a tax strategy for retirement. You're not funding the 401k or TSP anymore. The house is paid off. The kids have grown and gone. No more deductions. And you find that you got less income, but you're in the same tax record, perhaps even higher.