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
Roth 401(k) accounts no longer force withdrawals during your lifetime
Retirees and workers with designated Roth accounts inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans no longer face mandatory annual withdrawals during their lifetimes. The change, rooted in...
Earning $7,560 in 2026 banks all four Social Security credits for the year
Part-time workers, gig earners, and anyone with irregular income face a concrete deadline built into the Social Security system each year: earn enough in covered...
Social Security is phasing out paper checks this year, moving remaining recipients to direct deposit or a prepaid card
Social Security beneficiaries who still receive paper checks are running out of time. Executive Order 14247 directed the Treasury Department to stop issuing paper checks...
A shared nursing-home room now averages $119,340 a year, and Medicaid only helps after your savings run down
A year in a shared nursing-home room now costs an average of $119,340, a price tag that has climbed well past what most retirement savings...
Medicare will cap out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,400 in 2027, up from $2,100
Medicare’s annual cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug spending is set to rise to $2,400 in 2027, up from $2,100 in 2026, according to figures compiled...
A widow can take a survivor benefit first and switch to her own larger Social Security check at 70
A Social Security rule that catches many widows and widowers by surprise allows a surviving spouse to start collecting a deceased spouse’s survivor benefit as...
Seniors earning under $23,475 can cut their Medicare drug copays to about $5 through the Extra Help program
Prescription drug costs remain one of the biggest strains on a fixed retirement income, and a federal program built specifically for lower-income Medicare enrollees is...
A federal audit found 5,367 widows lost $113.8 million by claiming Social Security survivor benefits too early
A federal watchdog review has put a hard number on a mistake that has quietly drained retirement income from thousands of widows: claiming a Social...
More hospital systems are dropping UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage for 2027, including Minnesota’s Fairview Health
A growing list of hospital systems is walking away from UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network, and the latest to join is Fairview Health Services, one of...
Social Security’s 2027 raise could reach 4.7%, an analyst says, the biggest since 2023
Early forecasts for next year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment are starting to circulate, and one independent analyst is putting the number well above recent years....
A free federal database holds unclaimed pensions for about 80,000 workers, some worth up to $7,789.77 a month
A federal agency is sitting on retirement money that roughly 80,000 people have never picked up, and there is no cost to check whether any...
Original Medicare covers no routine dental, vision or hearing, a gap that surprises many the year they retire
Many people spend their working years assuming that once Medicare begins, their major health needs are handled. Then the first dental bill arrives, or a...
The average 401(k) balance fell 4% to $141,000 as more workers raided their accounts, Fidelity says
Retirement savers saw their account balances shrink at the start of 2026, and a growing number of workers pulled money out early to cover financial...
A widow can start a smaller survivor benefit now and switch to her own Social Security later if it grows larger
Losing a spouse forces a series of financial decisions at the worst possible time, and Social Security is one of the more confusing pieces to...
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to pay just 78% of benefits after 2032 unless Congress acts
Few facts about Social Security worry retirees more than the projected exhaustion of its trust funds. Each year, the program’s trustees release a report estimating...
Public workers hit by the old Social Security offset are also owed back pay, often thousands of dollars
When Congress eliminated two rules that had long reduced Social Security benefits for public workers, most of the attention landed on the higher monthly checks...
Medicare’s Part B premium is projected to climb to about $209.50 a month in 2027
Older Americans watching their fixed budgets have another number to keep an eye on. The standard Medicare Part B premium, the monthly amount most beneficiaries...
Limited-income seniors can get their $209.50 Medicare Part B premium paid through a Medicare Savings Program
The steady rise in Medicare’s Part B premium is a genuine strain for retirees living on modest fixed incomes. With the standard premium projected to...
A spouse who never worked can still collect up to half of the other spouse’s Social Security benefit
Not everyone spends decades in the paid workforce. In many households, one spouse focused on raising children or managing the home while the other earned...
An outdated beneficiary form on your 401(k) can send your savings to an ex instead of your family
Many people spend real money on a will, confident that it settles who will inherit their assets. What they often miss is that one of...