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
Medicaid can bill a senior’s estate after death for nursing-home care it paid
Medicaid is often described as the program that pays for nursing-home care once a person’s savings are gone, but that description leaves out the final...
First-time homebuyers can tap $10,000 from an IRA without the extra 10% tax
A first-time homebuyer can use as much as $10,000 from an individual retirement account without the additional 10% tax that usually applies to an early...
Retirement contributions can trigger a $1,000 Saver’s Credit
A qualifying retirement contribution can generate a federal Saver’s Credit of as much as $1,000 for an individual, adding an immediate tax benefit to money...
IRA savers get a $7,500 contribution limit for 2026
The individual retirement account contribution limit rose to $7,500 for 2026, giving savers $500 more room than in 2025 before any age-based catch-up. The increase...
Workers can now put $24,500 into a 401(k) for 2026
The basic 401(k) employee contribution ceiling is $24,500 for 2026, up $1,000 from the prior year. That number governs the salary workers can elect to...
Early retirees can avoid the 10% penalty with 72(t) payments lasting at least five years
Section 72(t) can turn retirement savings into penalty-free income before age 59½, but it does so by replacing flexibility with a rigid payment schedule. A...
Old 529 money can roll into a Roth IRA up to a $35,000 lifetime limit
A long-open 529 account no longer has to end with a taxable withdrawal simply because the beneficiary finished school with money left over. Federal law...
One $1,000 emergency retirement withdrawal can escape the 10% early-distribution tax each year
A federal exception can spare one small emergency retirement withdrawal from the 10% additional tax, but it does not turn a 401(k) or IRA into...
The Labor Department’s lost-and-found database can reconnect workers with forgotten retirement plans
A federal search can now bridge one of the hardest gaps in retirement planning: remembering who holds a benefit from an employer that changed names,...
Workplace emergency-savings accounts can hold $2,600 in 2026 and allow tax-free withdrawals
A pension-linked emergency savings account puts a small cash reserve inside an employer retirement plan without treating every withdrawal like a retirement raid. The 2026...
$7,789.77 a month is PBGC’s 2026 pension guarantee ceiling for a 65-year-old
The federal pension backstop has a large 2026 headline number and a much narrower legal meaning. PBGC lists $7,789.77 a month as the maximum guarantee...
About 4 million Americans turn 65 each year, and most retire without a pension
Roughly 4 million Americans cross the traditional retirement age of 65 every year right now, the largest such wave in the nation’s history. Yet the...
$464 billion in annuities sold last year, a record, as buyers chase guaranteed income
Americans poured a record $464.1 billion into annuities last year, more than in any year before, as savers rattled by market swings and uncertain interest...
New 401(k) plans must now automatically enroll workers at 3% to 10% of pay
A worker who starts a job at a newer company now begins saving for retirement automatically, whether or not they ever fill out a form....
About $2.1 trillion sits in nearly 32 million forgotten 401(k) accounts
Roughly $2.1 trillion in retirement savings sits in about 31.9 million 401(k) accounts whose owners have walked away from them. That money was not lost...
Retirement savers set a record, putting away 14.4% of pay into their 401(k)s
American workers funneled a record share of their paychecks into workplace retirement plans in early 2026, with the combined 401(k) savings rate reaching 14.4% —...
A pension’s survivor option decides whether your spouse keeps getting checks after you die
One decision at the moment a pension starts paying can quietly determine whether a surviving spouse keeps receiving income or watches it stop at the...
A health savings account is the only account with three tax breaks, and 55-and-older savers can add an extra $1,000
A health savings account carries a tax advantage no other account can match: money goes in tax-deductible, grows tax-free, and comes out tax-free when spent...
After a spouse dies, the survivor can get hit with a “widow’s penalty” of higher taxes on a single return
The first tax year after a married retiree loses a spouse often brings an unwelcome surprise: the household’s income has barely moved, yet the federal...
Qualified charitable distributions let those 70½ and older give from an IRA and cut their tax bill
Retirees who have reached age 70½ can send money straight from a traditional IRA to charity and keep that amount off their taxable income entirely,...