I got really excited when I finished filing our 2025 tax return last week. You might assume it’s because we’re getting a huge refund. Nope. The real reason I was excited? My tax optimization spreadsheet actually worked. Last year, I shared a spreadsheet I built to estimate how much long-term capital gains  we could realize while staying in the 0% capital gains tax bracket . I had tested the math every way I could think of. But until you actually file a tax return, you never

I’m so excited to share a new spreadsheet I recently created to estimate tax liability and optimize long-term capital gains (LTCG)! I know this sounds like an odd thing to get excited about—but hear me out. Since retiring earlier this year, early retirement tax planning has become a major focus for us. We have more than a decade before we begin to collect Social Security. And without steady paychecks, we’ll be relying solely on our savings and investments. Of course, we’d li