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
Who qualifies for the new $6,000 senior deduction? People 65 and older with income under $75,000
Americans age 65 and older who earn less than $75,000 a year can now subtract an extra $6,000 from their taxable income, a break created...
93% of Medicare Advantage insurers say the business isn’t profitable, and most plan to trim 2027 benefits
Nearly all Medicare Advantage insurers report that the business is not profitable, and a majority intend to scale back supplemental benefits for 2027. That pressure...
The income limits that make Social Security benefits taxable haven’t changed since 1984
Millions of Americans collecting Social Security benefits face a growing tax bite because the income thresholds that trigger federal taxation of those benefits have not...
If your Medicare Advantage plan exits for 2027, you can buy any Medigap policy
Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans that withdraw from their counties for 2027 will gain a federal protection that many do not know they...
Newly retired in the middle of the year? You keep a full Social Security check for any month you earn under $2,040
Workers who leave their jobs in the middle of the year and start collecting Social Security before full retirement age face a common fear: that...
Without direct deposit, the IRS now freezes your refund for six weeks
Taxpayers who filed their 2025 returns without providing bank account information now face a new obstacle: the IRS will hold their refund for up to...
$5,181 is the largest Social Security check in 2026, and only those who wait until 70 receive it
Workers turning 70 in 2026 can collect up to $5,181 per month from Social Security, the highest retirement check the program has ever issued. That...
Divorced after at least 10 years of marriage? You can claim up to half an ex’s Social Security, and their check isn’t cut
Americans who ended a marriage that lasted at least 10 years can collect up to half of an ex-spouse’s Social Security retirement benefit, and the...
$24,500 is the new 2026 401(k) contribution limit, up from $23,500
The IRS has raised the standard 401(k) employee contribution limit for 2026 to $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025. That extra $1,000 of tax-advantaged space...
After 2034, Social Security could still pay about 83% of benefits from payroll taxes alone
Roughly 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security checks face a fixed deadline: the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds...
$30 trillion is Social Security’s new long-term shortfall after the trustees cut birth and immigration forecasts
The Social Security system’s long-term financial hole just grew by trillions of dollars, driven almost entirely by two demographic forces: Americans are having fewer children,...
Social Security will no longer let you change your bank details by phone; verify online or in person now
Millions of Social Security beneficiaries lost the ability to change their bank account details by phone after the Social Security Administration locked down its telephone...
283,000 people still get Social Security by paper check as the government ends paper payments
Nearly nine months after federal law required Social Security payments to go electronic, roughly 283,290 beneficiaries still receive paper checks, according to the latest SSA...
Medicare’s 2027 deal cuts 15 drugs by 38% to 85%, including Ozempic
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries who rely on some of the most expensive prescription drugs in the United States will pay sharply less starting January 1,...
$44,115 is the new median 401(k) balance, up 27% in a year
American workers with 401(k) accounts saw their median balance climb to $44,115, a 27% jump from one year earlier, according to widely cited industry data....
Workers and employers now save a record 14.4% of pay into 401(k)s
American workers and their employers are now directing a combined 14.4 percent of pay into 401(k) accounts, a figure that represents the highest combined savings...
The government’s 2027 Medicare Advantage pay bump is just 0.09%, and insurers are cutting plans as costs outrun it
Tens of millions of Medicare Advantage enrollees are heading into the next plan year under the tightest payment growth rate in recent memory. The Centers...
Medicare covers nursing-home rehab only after a 3-night inpatient stay; observation nights don’t count
Medicare beneficiaries who spend days in a hospital bed, receive treatment from hospital staff, and sleep in a hospital room can still be denied coverage...
Social Security flags about 70,000 suspicious phone requests a year, driving new ID checks
Roughly 70,000 phone requests to the Social Security Administration each year trigger fraud alerts, and a new screening system that took effect in April 2025...
A bipartisan bill would give a 13-member commission one year to shore up Social Security before its 2032 shortfall, but Congress hasn’t moved
More than 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security retirement benefits face an automatic 22 percent cut as early as the fourth quarter of...