Most people think the money in their retirement accounts is locked away until they turn 60 years old

But, that isn't always the case!

There are a bunch of fully legal loopholes to get some of the money out at any time, without any penalties

Here are my 5 favorites: 1 - Roth IRA contributions

You can withdraw the dollars you contribute to your Roth IRA at any time, for any reason

Since it's after-tax money, you'd owe no taxes and no penalties

But be careful, as you can't put it back in!

Even works for the Mega Backdoor Roth IRA loophole

One of the craziest loopholes in the US tax code gets better this year

If you make $160K+, you can no longer directly contribute to a Roth IRA

But, you can instead use your 401k plan to now contribute $72K to your Roth IRA every year

Here's how the "mega backdoor Roth" works: Roth IRAs are awesome

You don't get a tax break when you contribute, but then pay zero taxes in retirement

Even if the account grows to millions!

It's so effective at reducing taxes that the IRS doesn't allow anyone earning $168K+ to directly contribute to a Roth IRA

I just made my 2026 Backdoor Roth IRA contribution for $7,500

Most high earners don't do this because they think it's a complicated strategy that isn't worth the effort

But, you typically can do it in less than 5 minutes with 3 simple steps: Who is a Backdoor Roth IRA for?

If you want to make a full Roth IRA contribution directly, you need an annual income (MAGI) of less than $153K (single) or $242K (married)

If you are above these numbers, you need to use a Backdoor Roth IRA strategy to still fund your Roth IRA

I stopped investing in index funds this year

Instead, I started "direct indexing" - I use an app to buy every single company in the index individually

My results:
- Up almost 20% for the year (same as an index fund)
- More than $70K in tax savings

Here's how it works: With direct indexing, you own all 500 companies directly

Even when the overall stock market is up (like this year), a bunch of those 500 companies are down

The DI software sells some of these losing positions along the way to book a tax loss while still tracking the index

One of the craziest loopholes in the US tax code

If you earn $150K+, you can no longer contribute to a Roth IRA

But, you can instead use a Solo 401k to fund your Roth IRA with $70K every single year

Here's how it works: A Roth IRA is super powerful

You contribute after-tax money, but then never pay any taxes in retirement

You can also withdraw contributions at any time with no penalties

It's so effective at lowering taxes that the IRS has disallowed people earning $150K+ from contributing

I recently learnt about this financial engineering trick that blew my mind:

You can trade options to create a "synthetic loan" that lets you (potentially) borrow millions of dollars at treasury rates

And get a capital loss for the interest you pay

Here's how it works: This strategy is called a "box spread loan" and it involves buying & selling options to create a theoretically zero risk trade

You receive cash upfront at an interest rate comparable to treasuries (~4% right now)

And this "interest" is treated as a capital loss for taxes

My friend will make $500K+ this year with her solo business

If she doesn't do anything, she will owe more than $200K of taxes

Here's the list of strategies I gave her to implement before the end of the year to save 6-figures on taxes: 1 - Set up a Solo 401k

You can get a $70K tax deduction by setting up your own private 1-person 401k plan

Unlike a corporate 401k, you can invest in any asset you like & growth is tax-deferred

It also sets you up well for advanced strategies like the Mega Backdoor Roth IRA

Here is my ultimate travel guide to Oman

I grew up here for the first 17 years of my life, and I go back every single year

Skip Dubai and Doha, this country is the real travel gem in the Middle East if you know where you're going:


1 - Go hike Wadi Shab

A wadi is a dry riverbed that only fills up when it rains, Oman is full of them

The best one is one of my favorite hikes in the world

45 minutes one way, followed by 3 natural pools you swim through & find an otherworldly natural cave on the other side

My favorite perk of self-employment income: Setting up a Solo 401k

You get:

- A $70K tax deduction ($140K with spouse)
- Can invest in anything
- Tax-free growth
- Can borrow upto $50K
- Tax credit for setting one up

Here's how it works (& why you should act by December 31): A Solo 401k is a private 401k plan for anyone who has a one-person business or any side hustle income

You can get a very large tax deduction (up to $70,000) and invest it exactly how you want

You can pick ETFs, individual stocks or even crypto, real estate and startups

One of the coolest perks of being self-employed:

You can set up a private 401k plan just for yourself and get a tax deduction of up to $70,000

And invest in virtually anything you want - stocks, ETFs, crypto, real estate

And pay zero taxes while it's growing & compounding 👇 A Solo 401k may be the most powerful retirement account in America

The size of tax deduction alone is unmatched amongst the major plans

Up to $70K every year based on how much you make

If you add your spouse, you can double it to up to $140K every single year

I have stopped keeping my cash in a high-yield savings account

Even though the 3-4% yield sounds great on paper, taxes reduce it by almost half

Here's what I now do instead:

(This move alone will save me thousands of dollars this year) A HYSA is a big upgrade on an old school bank account that pay no interest

But for high earners all income is taxed at the worst possible rate!

Instead, you can invest in specific tax-advantaged money market funds that could have no taxes in some very specific situations

A friend of mine will make over $600,000 this year as a one-person business

If she doesn't do anything, she will face a tax bill of over $250K between federal, state and self-employment taxes

Here's what I told her to save 6-figures in taxes this year alone: 1 - Look into filing taxes as an S-Corp

This bifurcates your salary into a fair W-2 income you pay yourself & the rest is distributed as profits

You only have to pay self-employment taxes (social security & medicare) on the W-2

This alone saves many thousands of dollars

You could own 5% of a tech startup that eventually sells for $1B

Yet, you could walk away with absolutely nothing from the sale

Here's why you should always ask these 5 questions about any equity you get granted in a startup: Question 1: How much is the liquidation preference on the company?

This is typically the total money raised & the minimum a company needs to sell for before you see ANY RETURN

If the company has raised over $1B, you'd make nothing on your equity if it sold for $1B

The best personal finance "hack" for anyone who works for themselves:

Setting up a Solo 401k

You could get a tax deduction of up to $70,000 while getting access to potentially the most powerful retirement account in America

Here's how it works: 1 - Invest in (almost) anything

Unlike a corporate 401k with very limited investment options, you control exactly how you invest your Solo 401k

You can invest in stocks, bonds, ETFs... or even startups, crypto or real estate

Super powerful

No one in America pays more in taxes than W-2 employees with a high salary

But, there are still lots of things you can do to pay less in taxes!

Here are my 10 favorite strategies for people with a high salary to pay less in taxes this year: 1 - Fully max out your 401k at work

Contribute the full $23,500 as an employee and get the full employer match

But your 401k plan technically has a limit of $70K! (Or $77,500 if over 50)

See if you can contribute the leftover amount as "mega backdoor Roth" to fully max out

The single best thing you can do to save money on taxes in America is starting a business

It could be a small side hustle or a massive venture-backed company

Here are 5+ tax benefits for business owners that have recently gotten even more generous with the new tax bill: 1 - Pay zero taxes when you sell your startup

If you hold shares in a qualifying C-Corporation (most tech startups would count) for 5 years, you can now pay no taxes on $15M when you sell your shares

No federal taxes & in 40+ states, no state taxes as well

$15M tax free!

The new tax bill created Trump accounts for all children under the age of 18

If you are a high earner, here's how you can arbitrage these accounts to make your kids tax-free multimillionaires: Trump accounts are special type of retirement account for your kids

They cannot get money out until the age of 18

Between age 18 and 59.5, while they can get money out, they have to also pay a 10% penalty on top of taxes unless it's for a qualified expense

So, why contribute?

70 million Americans will soon get access to an Invest America account

This "Trump account" is a brand new tax-advantaged account and most people are sleeping on just how powerful they can be

Here are 5 little known strategies to leverage it to its maximum potential: Strategy 1 - You can open these accounts for kids you already have

While the government is giving a free $1,000 to kids born between 2025-28, these accounts aren't just for them

All children under the age of 18 are eligible to have one... that's over 70M Americans!

I may have found a cool tax loophole with the new Trump accounts

High earners can potentially use this account type to set their children up with millions of dollars of tax-free money in retirement

Here's how this could work: Caveat: This is based on my interpretation of the law as it's written

Please cross-check me & be gentle in the comments. It also only makes sense for high earners with kids

I'm not a tax professional and this is not tax advice &for educational / informational purposes only

You could own 5% of a tech startup that eventually sells for $200M

Yet, you could walk away with absolutely nothing from the sale

Here's why you should always ask these 5 questions about any equity you get granted in a startup: Question 1: What is the total liquidation preference on the company?

This is typically the total money raised & the minimum a company needs to sell for before you see ANYTHING

If the company has raised over $200M, you'd make nothing on your equity if it sold for $200M

The new tax bill that just passed into law is the single most significant piece of legislation we have had in 8+ years

Here is everything you should know as a high-income professional or business owner:

Bookmark this thread as I'll be updating it over the weekend Background: I have run a startup for the last 3 years that helps business owners and high-income professionals be smart about taxes

So this is an area I know a thing or two about

This is also not a political post, and none of this is an endorsement for any specific policy