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
A widow or widower can start a reduced Social Security survivor benefit as early as 60
Social Security does not force a surviving spouse to wait until full retirement age to start collecting. A widow or widower can begin a reduced...
Fifteen more drugs, including Trelegy and Janumet, get Medicare price cuts up to 85% next year
Medicare finalized negotiated 2027 prices for 15 more prescription drugs on November 25, 2025, with individual cuts from the 2024 list price ranging from about...
Ignore the plan-change letter your Medicare insurer mails by September 30 and you can lose January drug coverage
Every year, Medicare Advantage and Part D plans mail an “Annual Notice of Change” each September, and CMS guidance calls for it to reach enrollees...
Trump’s new order launches TrumpIRA.gov with up to $1,000 a year in federal matches
President Trump signed an executive order in April directing the Treasury Department to build a new federal website, TrumpIRA.gov, aimed at workers who lack access...
A bill to stop Social Security garnishment for student debt lands when Congress returns September 14
Senator Bernie Sanders is preparing to introduce the Stop Social Security Garnishment Act of 2026 when the Senate returns from its August recess on September...
Medicare’s 2027 deal cuts Ozempic and Wegovy to about $274, down 71%
Medicare’s drug price negotiators have pushed the cost of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus down to roughly $274 for a 30-day supply, a 71% cut from...
Failing to update a beneficiary after a divorce can send your money to an ex-spouse
A retirement account does not know a marriage ended unless someone tells it. Federal law lets a divorced person’s former spouse collect a 401(k) or...
Inheriting an IRA now forces most heirs to empty it within 10 years
Most people who inherit a traditional IRA today have exactly ten years to drain it, not a lifetime. The Internal Revenue Service confirms that a...
Cashing out a 401(k) before 59 and a half usually adds a 10% penalty to the tax
Tapping a 401(k) before age 59½ triggers a two-part tax hit the Internal Revenue Service treats as the default outcome, not a rare exception: the...
A spousal Social Security benefit can reach half of a higher-earning partner’s full check
A spouse who earned little or nothing over a working life can still collect a Social Security check worth up to half of a husband’s...
Selling an inherited home uses its date-of-death value, erasing most of the taxable gain
When someone inherits a home, federal tax law resets the property’s cost basis to its fair market value on the date the original owner died,...
A pension survivor election at retirement decides whether a spouse keeps income for life
A single choice made the moment a traditional pension begins paying out can decide whether a surviving spouse keeps any income at all after the...
The 2027 Medicare Advantage retreat means checking whether your plan and doctors survive
Every October, the health and drug plans that cover Medicare beneficiaries file a new set of terms for the year ahead, and the changes can...
Selling too soon after a spouse dies can forfeit a big home-sale tax break
A surviving spouse who sells the family home can still shield up to $500,000 of profit from federal tax, but only if the sale closes...
A reverse mortgage turns home equity into cash, but heirs must repay or sell the house
A reverse mortgage lets a homeowner age 62 or older convert home equity into cash without a monthly payment, according to the Consumer Financial Protection...
Many states give older homeowners a property-tax freeze or rebate worth hundreds a year
More than two dozen states let homeowners age 65 and older shrink, freeze or get reimbursed for a rising property tax bill, and the design...
Medicare now caps a year’s out-of-pocket drug spending, shielding the sickest enrollees
Medicare’s prescription drug benefit now carries a hard annual limit on what enrollees pay for covered medications, a protection that did not exist before 2025....
A family maximum caps the total benefits a household can draw on one worker’s record
Social Security limits how much a single earnings record can pay out in a month, no matter how many spouses, children or survivors qualify on...
Social Security disability back pay can arrive as a lump sum covering months of waiting
A Social Security disability claim that takes a year or more to approve does not erase the months a person spent waiting without income. Once...
Social Security’s Ticket to Work lets beneficiaries try a job without an immediate benefit cut
Social Security disability beneficiaries who take a job do not automatically forfeit their monthly check the moment a paycheck arrives. The agency’s Ticket to Work...