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
A durable power of attorney lets a trusted person handle your finances if you can’t
A power of attorney is a one-page legal fix for a problem most families only discover mid-crisis: someone needs to pay a parent’s mortgage, sign...
A revocable trust can name someone to manage your money if illness leaves you unable
A revocable living trust does more than route money to heirs after death. Written correctly, it also names a backup manager — a successor trustee...
Naming a minor directly as a beneficiary can force a court guardianship a trust would avoid
A parent or grandparent who lists a child directly as the beneficiary on a life insurance policy or retirement account is choosing the option that...
A 60-day IRA rollover done a day late becomes a taxable withdrawal
A retirement distribution that’s meant to pass briefly through a saver’s hands before landing in a new account carries a deadline that shows no leniency...
Delaying Social Security while first drawing down an IRA can cut a retiree’s lifetime taxes
Waiting until 70 to claim Social Security raises a retiree’s monthly check by roughly 8% for every year past full retirement age, but it also...
An ABLE account lets a disabled person save tens of thousands without losing benefits
An ABLE account lets a person with a qualifying disability save and invest money in a dedicated, tax-advantaged account without the balance counting against the...
A spousal IRA lets a non-working spouse keep saving on the earner’s income
A spouse who has left the paid workforce, whether to raise children, manage a home, or simply because one paycheck covers the household, is not...
A qualified charitable distribution lets those 70½ and older give from an IRA tax-free
Once an IRA owner turns 70½, the tax code offers a narrow but valuable shortcut: money can move directly from the account to a qualified...
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...
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 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...
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...
Medicaid’s five-year look-back can penalize gifts made before applying for nursing-home coverage
Federal law requires every Medicaid long-term care applicant to disclose 60 months of financial history, and a cash gift, a forgiven loan, or a house...
A revocable living trust can move a house and accounts to heirs without a court process
A revocable living trust can move a house, a brokerage account, or a bank balance directly to the people named to inherit it, without the...
A small-estate affidavit can let heirs skip probate when an estate is modest
A small estate can clear a bank’s front desk in an afternoon once a family has the right piece of paper: a small-estate affidavit, sworn...
Naming a beneficiary on an account skips probate and pays heirs directly
A named beneficiary on a bank account, a retirement plan, or a life insurance policy receives that money directly the moment the account holder dies,...
Trading a pension for a lump sum feels tempting, but the buyout often shortchanges the retiree
A company pension that offers to convert a lifetime monthly benefit into a single lump-sum check looks like a windfall, but the number behind that...