Thirteen states decided they don't need your retirement money. They looked at Social Security checks, 401(k) withdrawals, IRA distributions, and pension payments, then said no thanks. Keep it. Buy yourself something nice. A new hip maybe.
The article asks if you'd move to avoid taxes on your retirement nest egg. Bold question. Assumes you have a nest egg. Assumes it survived your conviction that GameStop was undervalued at $347. Assumes you didn't liquidate everything in 2022 to buy a timeshare in Orlando because the sales guy seemed really confident.
These states figured out they could attract retirees without taxing retirement income. Genius strategy. Lure in people who need affordable healthcare, then don't tax the money they'll spend on affordable healthcare. It's like opening a steakhouse next to a cardiac ward. The system feeds itself.
The real comedy is retail traders reading this headline and thinking it applies to them. You're forty-three years old with $1,800 in a Robinhood account and seventeen different cryptocurrency positions you can't explain to your wife. You're not moving to avoid retirement taxes. You're staying exactly where you are, refreshing your portfolio every six minutes, wondering why the chart for $TSLA looks angry today.
Picture the guy who actually moves because of this article. Sells his house in California. Buys a condo in Nevada or Florida or wherever these tax havens exist. Pays $40,000 in moving costs and realtor fees to save $600 a year on his pension. Brags about it at the new HOA meeting. Dies three months later from the stress of living in a state where everyone else had the same idea.
The states that do tax retirement income must be furious. They're watching their retirees pack U-Hauls like it's the Oklahoma land rush, except everyone's seventy and needs frequent bathroom breaks.
Your technical analysis works just fine in all fifty states, by the way. The lines are still meaningless everywhere.
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