The system doesn't send a
warning. It sends a bill.
Uncle Sam taxes up to 85% of your Social Security. Aunt IRMAATM quietly adds hundreds to your Medicare premium — based on income from two years ago. Punch in the Gut is the book that explains exactly how, and the 90-day plan to protect what you already earned.
You did everything right. That's exactly why this hits you.
The households hit hardest by the punch in the gut tax aren't the ultra-wealthy — they're the ones who saved consistently, avoided debt, and built a retirement account large enough to trigger a threshold they never knew existed.
Provisional Income
Half your Social Security, plus other income, plus tax-exempt interest. Most retirees have never heard the term — until it decides how much of their benefit gets taxed.
The Hidden Marginal Rate
A 22% tax bracket can behave like a 40% effective rate once Social Security inclusion kicks in. The bracket on paper isn't the bracket you actually pay.
The Two-Year Lookback
IRMAA is billed on income from two years ago. By the time the notice arrives, the decision that caused it is long finished — and can't be undone.
Aunt IRMAA doesn't care that your income spike was from selling your business. She just sees the number.
Uncle Sam and Aunt IRMAATM are running your retirement.
Punch in the Gut gives the tax code's most confusing mechanism a name and a personality — because a system nobody can picture is a system nobody plans for.
Every dollar of retirement income gets sorted into one of three categories. Knowing which is which, before a distribution is made, is the entire diagnostic.
Eleven chapters. One 90-day action plan.
Built around Dave and Karen — a composite couple whose story carries the math from the first surprise to the last fix.
The Letter Nobody Explains
The moment the surcharge notice arrives, and why nobody saw it coming.
Provisional Income & the Hidden Rate
The formula behind the tax, and why two couples with identical spending can owe very different amounts.
Red, Yellow, Green in Practice
Applying the framework to Roth conversions, business sales, and required distributions.
The 401(h) Account
A legal, tax-free retiree healthcare tool sitting unused inside the tax code.
The 90-Day Action Framework
The exact checklist this site's companion tool personalizes to your numbers.
What We're Really Protecting
A closing word on the difference between money and the life it was meant to fund.
The book explains it. These tools personalize it.
Every diagnostic below runs a deterministic scoring engine — the AI only explains the result in plain language. It never generates the score, and it never recommends a product.
PunchPlanTM
Answer a few questions about your income sources and get a personalized Punch Protection Playbook — your Punch Risk Score, your IRMAA Exposure Level, and the three priority actions to take first.
Run your diagnostic →Punch in the Gut LIVE
The book, delivered as a seminar. Built for employers, associations, and the public — with a dedicated 90-minute session on Social Security timing, IRMAA mechanics, and the Hidden Marginal Rate Effect.
See upcoming sessions →The IRMAA White Paper
The practitioner-level companion to Chapter 3 — built for CPAs and referral partners who want the full 2026 threshold tables and the compliance framing behind the diagnostic.
The Fit Check Call
A direct conversation with Michael about where your income picture sits today — and whether a structural fix is worth exploring before your next tax return is filed.
Book a Fit Check →Get the book. Run the diagnostic. Protect what's still healthy.
Available on Kindle now. Paperback shipping soon. Free companion diagnostic at PunchPlan takes five minutes.