Retirement & Taxes
Long-term financial planning, retirement accounts, government benefits, tax law, and IRS rules. Covers the intersection of policy and personal finance that affects how people save, invest, and plan ahead.
Latest in Retirement & Taxes
Retirees who claim before full retirement age lose $1 in benefits for every $2 they earn above $24,480 this year
Workers collecting Social Security before they hit full retirement age and earning more than $24,480 in 2026 will see their benefits cut, dollar for dollar,...
Medicare’s new $50 weight-loss coverage requires a body-mass index of 27 plus another condition like heart disease
Medicare beneficiaries with a body-mass index of 27 or higher and a history of heart attack, stroke, symptomatic peripheral artery disease, or prediabetes will gain...
Women save at higher rates than men but retire with smaller 401(k)s
Women consistently set aside a larger share of their paychecks for retirement than men do, yet they still arrive at retirement age with smaller 401(k)...
Medicare Advantage out-of-pocket maximums have climbed about $900 in two years as plans trim extra benefits
Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are absorbing sharply higher potential costs at the worst possible moment: out-of-pocket maximums have risen by roughly $900 over...
Medicare’s $50 weight-loss copay stays flat through 2027
Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for GLP-1 weight-loss medications will pay a fixed $50 for each monthly supply from July 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027,...
Medicare’s weight-loss coverage includes Wegovy and Zepbound, not Ozempic for weight loss
Medicare beneficiaries with Part D coverage will gain access to certain GLP-1 drugs for weight loss starting July 1, 2026, but the list of eligible...
Insurers are pulling Medicare Advantage plans out of more counties, and 7 in 10 expect to cover less in 2027
Medicare Advantage enrollees in dozens of counties face a shrinking menu of plan options for 2027 as insurers respond to tighter federal payment parameters and...
The IRS keeps moving refunds off paper checks, and one wrong direct-deposit digit can freeze yours for weeks
Taxpayers who file after September 30, 2025, and make a single-digit error on their bank routing or account number will no longer have a paper...
A 22% Social Security cut would take roughly a quarter of every retiree’s check the year the fund runs dry
Every retiree collecting Social Security faces a potential 22 percent pay cut the moment the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund runs out of reserves,...
Medicare is paying Advantage insurers 2.48% more next year, yet most plans expect to cover less
Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will see their insurers collect 2.48 percent more from the federal government in 2027, an increase worth more than...
Medicare’s negotiated price for Ozempic drops to $274 a month next year, down from a $959 list price
Medicare beneficiaries who rely on Ozempic for diabetes management will pay sharply less starting January 1, 2027, when a federally negotiated price of $274 per...
Social Security and Medicare both moved their insolvency dates closer this year
The two trust funds that finance monthly checks for tens of millions of retirees and hospital coverage for seniors both lost ground in the latest...
Nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage members were forced to switch plans this year, the highest rate ever recorded
Nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage enrollees had to abandon their health plans this year after insurers exited markets or terminated contracts, setting a record for...
Medicare’s 2027 Part B premium is projected at $209.50 a month, about $80 more a year for most retirees
Most of the roughly 67 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Part B will pay about $80 more per year starting in 2027 if the latest...
Millions of taxpayers have until July 10 to claim refunds tied to a recent court ruling on penalties
Tens of millions of taxpayers who paid IRS penalties or interest during the COVID-19 pandemic period face a hard deadline of July 10, 2026, to...
Only a handful of states still tax Social Security benefits, and the list keeps shrinking
Retirees collecting Social Security in a shrinking number of states face a decision point as legislatures accelerate the elimination of state-level taxes on those benefits....
A drop in income after retirement can lower the higher Medicare premium you were charged
Retirees who stopped earning a paycheck in 2024 or 2025 may still be paying Medicare premiums based on their peak working-year income, because Social Security...
The average IRA slipped 4% last quarter to $131,380 even as savers paid in record sums
Millions of Americans watching their retirement savings saw average IRA balances drop 4 percent last quarter to $131,380, even as workers funneled record amounts of...
Americans poured a record amount into IRAs last quarter, up 29% from a year ago
American households directed a record volume of dollars into Individual Retirement Arrangements last quarter, with contributions climbing 29 percent compared with the same period a...
Full Social Security checks are flowing again to millions of public workers after a 2025 repeal
More than 2.8 million retired public workers are now receiving their full Social Security payments after decades of reductions tied to non-covered government pensions. The...