Retirement Planning
401(k), IRA, Roth accounts, pension plans, withdrawal strategies, required minimum distributions, and how much you need to retire.
Latest in Retirement Planning
Indiana gave its Medicaid program nine months to bill a deceased senior’s estate for nursing-home care
Indiana’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Unit can file a claim for nine months after a recipient dies, giving the state a longer runway than families may...
Leftover 529 college savings can roll into a Roth IRA, up to $35,000
A 529 account no longer has to become a tax problem simply because a child received a scholarship, chose a cheaper school or never used...
You can put $4,400 in a health savings account in 2026, or $8,750 for a family, plus $1,000 at 55
Health savings account limits rose again for 2026, giving eligible households more room to save for medical costs with unusually strong tax treatment. The annual...
High earners over $150,000 must now make their 401(k) catch-up contributions as after-tax Roth money in 2026
A new tax split now applies to older, higher-paid participants making extra contributions to many workplace retirement plans. In 2026, someone whose prior-year wages from...
A free national search can turn up a lost pension from an employer that merged or shut down decades ago
A worker who spent years at a company that later merged, was bought out, or closed its doors entirely may assume any pension earned there...
Money moved into a qualified longevity annuity escapes required withdrawals until payments begin, as late as 85
Retirees who dread required minimum distributions have a little-known way to carve a slice of a retirement account out of the calculation entirely. A qualified...
Company stock inside a 401(k) can be moved out so its gains are taxed at lower capital-gains rates
A long-tenured employee who retires with company stock stacked inside a 401(k) faces a choice most never realize exists. Roll the whole balance into an...
Each Roth conversion starts its own five-year clock before penalty-free withdrawals
A saver who moves money from a traditional IRA into a Roth account this year triggers a countdown that is easy to overlook: a fresh...
Required IRA withdrawals can come from a single account once you total them, not each plan separately
A retiree juggling three or four individual retirement accounts often assumes each one demands its own required withdrawal every year, drawn separately and on its...
A home health aide now runs a median $35 an hour, so full-time in-home care can top a nursing home’s cost
The instinct to keep an aging parent at home rather than move them into a facility is almost universal, and on paper it sounds like...
Assisted living averages about $6,200 a month, but Medicaid pays only for the care, not room and board
A month in assisted living now runs about $6,200 on average, and families who assume Medicaid will step in to cover it often discover the...
Medicaid’s 2026 nursing-home income limit is $2,982 a month, and it helps only after savings fall below $2,000
For a family facing the cost of a nursing home, Medicaid is often the only program that will pay the bill, and in 2026 the...
Your heirs inherit your home and investments at their value on the day you die, erasing tax on a lifetime of gains
When a home, a brokerage account, or a block of stock passes to an heir at death, the tax code hands the recipient a fresh...
A transfer-on-death deed passes your home to heirs without going through probate
For many older homeowners, the family house is the single largest asset they will leave behind, and the way it passes to the next generation...
Starting in 2027 the government will deposit up to $1,000 a year into low- and middle-income savers’ retirement accounts
Beginning with the 2027 tax year, the federal government will start putting money directly into the retirement accounts of lower- and middle-income workers who save,...
Roth 401(k) accounts no longer force required withdrawals during your lifetime
For the 2024 tax year and every year since, a designated Roth account held inside a 401(k) or 403(b) has stopped forcing its owner to...
Rolling a 401(k) straight into an IRA avoids the automatic 20% tax withholding a check in your name triggers
The difference between two ways of moving a 401(k) into an IRA can cost a saver thousands of dollars, and it comes down to whose...
The average forgotten 401(k) holds $66,691, and a free federal database finds yours
Decades of job-hopping have left Americans holding an enormous pile of retirement money they have simply lost track of. Research counts roughly 31.9 million forgotten...
A community spouse can keep up to $162,660 in assets when a partner enters a nursing home on Medicaid
When one spouse moves into a nursing home and turns to Medicaid to cover the bill, the partner who stays home does not have to...
A shared nursing-home room now runs $72,000 to $127,750 a year, and Medicaid helps only after savings fall below $2,000
The price of a nursing home has moved well beyond what most retirement incomes can absorb. A shared, semi-private room now costs between $72,000 and...