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
Workers 50 and older can add an extra $8,000 to a 401(k) in 2026
Savers who turn 50 this year gain access to a larger shelter than any younger colleague can use: an extra $8,000 they can steer into...
Rolling a 401(k) straight into an IRA avoids the automatic 20% tax withholding
A worker who wants to move a 401(k) into an IRA can lose a fifth of the balance to the IRS the moment the check...
Donating an appreciated stock through a qualified charitable distribution lets retirees over 70½ satisfy a required withdrawal tax-free
Retirees who no longer need every dollar of a required withdrawal often watch it inflate their tax bill anyway, dragging more of their Social Security...
About 2 million seniors skip $11.4 billion in Medicare Extra Help each year
Roughly 2 million older Americans who qualify for Medicare’s most valuable prescription-drug subsidy never sign up for it, leaving an estimated $11.4 billion in assistance...
Fifteen more prescription drugs face Medicare price cuts in 2028, and for the first time the list includes doctor-administered Part B medicines
Medicare took its price-negotiation program into new territory this year, naming 15 more prescription drugs whose costs the government will bargain down for 2028 and,...
Who can get their entire $202.90 Medicare Part B premium paid? Limited-income seniors enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program
The standard Medicare Part B premium climbed to $202.90 a month in 2026, an increase of nearly $18 that lands on every enrollee’s Social Security...
The new $6,000 senior tax deduction phases out entirely above $175,000 in income and disappears after the 2028 tax year
A new federal tax break hands Americans 65 and older an extra $6,000 deduction, but two conditions quietly decide who actually benefits and for how...
Social Security’s 50% overpayment clawback still spares SSI recipients at 10%
When the Social Security Administration decides it paid someone too much, it can now recover the money by withholding half of that person’s monthly benefit,...
A divorced spouse can claim on an ex’s Social Security at 62 if the marriage lasted 10 years and they haven’t remarried
A divorce does not erase a person’s claim to Social Security built on a former spouse’s earnings record. As long as the marriage lasted at...
A dropped Medicare Advantage plan triggers a guaranteed right to buy any Medigap policy
Losing a Medicare Advantage plan through no choice of one’s own opens a door that is normally hard to walk through: the right to buy...
Waiting until survivor full retirement age unlocks a late spouse’s entire Social Security check
A surviving spouse who claims Social Security survivor benefits before reaching full retirement age gives up a permanent slice of the late partner’s check —...
Next year’s Social Security raise is tracking near 3.8%, enough to push the average spousal check past $1,000 for the first time
The projected 2027 cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security is holding near 3.8 percent, according to the latest independent forecast, and that estimate comes attached to...
An inherited Roth IRA is tax-free to heirs, but they must empty it within 10 years
Inheriting a Roth IRA can feel like receiving a gift with no strings attached, and on the tax side that is largely true. Money withdrawn...
Naming a beneficiary on a bank or brokerage account lets it skip probate
One of the simplest and cheapest estate-planning moves is often overlooked: adding a beneficiary to a bank or brokerage account. A single form can let...
Rolling a pension lump sum straight into an IRA avoids an immediate tax bill
When a pension plan pays out a lump sum, the way the money moves can matter as much as how large the check is. Sent...
A lump-sum pension buyout trades a guaranteed lifetime check for a one-time payment you must invest
Employers with traditional pension plans increasingly ask longtime workers and retirees to make a one-time choice: keep a guaranteed monthly check for life, or take...
Roth IRA withdrawals don’t count toward the income that makes Social Security taxable
Many retirees are surprised to learn that a portion of their Social Security benefits can be taxed, and that the tax often depends less on...
Bunching two years of charitable gifts into one can push a retiree past the standard deduction
The near-doubling of the standard deduction in recent years left many retirees unable to benefit from writing off their charitable gifts, because their total itemized...
Donating appreciated stock instead of cash skips the capital-gains tax and earns a deduction
For an investor sitting on stock that has climbed for years, how the shares are given to charity can matter as much as how much...
Workers 50 and older can add $7,500 more to a 401(k) in 2026
Retirement savers who have reached their 50s gained a little more room to shelter income in 2026. The standard limit on elective deferrals to a...