If you’re planning on making tax-deferred retirement accounts the last pot of money you tap after retirement, you’ve got a lot of company. And why not? The idea that your 401(k) or traditional IRA can keep growing and churning out more tax-deferred money seems like a sound strategy.
But you may want to rethink this conventional wisdom. Instead of focusing on deferring taxes, Morningstar’s Mark Miller suggests looking at how to minimize your overall total taxes during retirement – which can mean tapping tax-deferred accounts first.