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
This year’s Medicare fall enrollment, October 15 to December 7, is the main window to replace a plan leaving in 2027
With major insurers dropping and reshaping Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, the calendar has quietly become the most important tool a beneficiary has. Medicare’s annual...
Medicare won’t post 2027 drug-plan prices until late September, so seniors can’t compare next year’s coverage yet
Medicare’s fall enrollment season is approaching, yet the one figure a senior most needs to make a smart choice, the actual price of each 2027...
Medicaid’s five-year look-back can delay nursing-home coverage over recent gifts of money or property
Medicaid’s five-year look-back is the rule that quietly decides whether a nursing-home stay is covered from the first day or billed to a family for...
A widow can take a survivor benefit first, then grow her own Social Security until 70
When a spouse dies, the survivor often faces a choice that Social Security presents as one decision but that actually holds two separate benefits inside...
A new federal account, TrumpIRA.gov, will match up to $1,000 a year for workers without a retirement plan starting in 2027
A new federal website, TrumpIRA.gov, is scheduled to open in 2027 as an online marketplace connecting workers without a workplace retirement plan to savings accounts,...
A spouse can claim up to half the higher earner’s Social Security, but filing before full retirement age cuts it for life
A married retiree with little or no earnings record of their own is not shut out of Social Security. The program lets a husband or...
Next year’s Social Security raise is tracking near 3.6%, about $69.75 a month, before September’s inflation reading sets it
The next Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is shaping up near 3.6%, an estimated $69.75 more on the average monthly retirement check — but that figure...
Sentara’s contract fight with Anthem could push about 380,000 Virginians out of network on January 1
A contract dispute between Sentara Health and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has put roughly 380,000 Virginians on notice that their hospitals and doctors could...
Garnishment of Social Security for defaulted student loans is set to restart, taking up to 15% from 452,000 retirees
A collection tool that had been switched off for years is powering back up, and it reaches straight into retirees’ monthly income. The federal government...
UnitedHealth, Aetna and Humana are all cutting Medicare Advantage plans after 2.6 million members were dropped for 2026
The three biggest names in Medicare Advantage are all pulling back at once. UnitedHealth, Aetna and Humana are each shedding plans heading into 2027, a...
Trump is ending a subsidy that held down Medicare drug premiums, and about half of plans could cost more in 2027
The federal government is ending a temporary subsidy that has quietly held down Medicare prescription-drug premiums for two years, and the Centers for Medicare and...
Social Security overpayment clawbacks are back to 50% of a check, yet most who qualify for a hardship waiver never ask
A single line buried in a Social Security overpayment notice now carries far more sting than it did two years ago: the agency’s default response...
Claim Social Security after full retirement age and you can take six months of back pay, but every future check shrinks for good
Social Security offers a tempting shortcut to anyone who files after reaching full retirement age: a single deposit covering up to six months of past...
Humana is dropping Medicare Advantage plans that cover about 600,000 members, and the non-renewal letters go out in September
Humana has confirmed it will stop offering a slate of Medicare Advantage plans that together cover roughly 600,000 members in 2027, and most of those...
Original Medicare pays nothing toward custodial long-term care averaging $9,500 a month
Most people spend their working lives paying into Medicare and assume it will cover the care they need if they can no longer manage on...
Selling a home after a spouse dies still allows the full $500,000 profit exclusion if you sell within two years
Losing a spouse often forces a decision about the family home, and the timing of that sale carries a tax consequence few grieving households anticipate....
Workers under full retirement age can earn up to $24,480 in 2026 before Social Security holds back part of the check
A retiree who claims Social Security early and keeps working can run into a rule that surprises many of them: earn above a set threshold...
A health savings account gives a triple tax break and, after 65, works like an IRA for any expense
Most retirement accounts offer one or two tax advantages, forcing a choice between a deduction now and tax-free income later. A health savings account refuses...
A free national search can turn up a lost pension from an employer that merged or shut down decades ago
A pension earned in the 1980s or 1990s does not disappear when the company behind it does. When a traditional pension plan shuts down, the...
Required retirement withdrawals now begin at 73, and missing one brings a steep penalty
For decades the government let retirement savings grow untouched only up to a point, then demanded a share back through required minimum distributions. Recent law...