The financial news that actually matters
Covers retirement planning, Social Security benefits, pension systems, and long-term financial security. It helps readers understand how to prepare financially for retirement.
Workers saving for retirement through a 401(k) plan can set aside $1,000 more per year starting in 2026, after the IRS raised the elective deferral limit to $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025. For savers age 50 and older, the catch-up contribution allowance rises to $8,000, bringing their combined ceiling to $32,500. The increases, announced…
Americans who leave a job during or after the calendar year they turn 55 can pull money from that employer’s 401(k) plan without paying the 10 percent early-distribution penalty that normally applies before age 59 and a half. The rule, written into federal tax law at 26 U.S. Code Section 72(t)(2)(A)(v), is often called the…
Married couples who are both past age 70½ can now exclude as much as $216,000 combined from taxable income by sending IRA money straight to qualifying charities, with each spouse eligible for a $108,000 annual cap. The per-person limit rose from $100,000 after Congress indexed it for inflation under Section 307 of the SECURE 2.0…
A married couple filing jointly for 2026 can direct up to $7,500 into an IRA for a spouse who earns nothing at all, thanks to a longstanding but widely overlooked federal tax provision. The IRS confirmed that annual IRA contribution ceiling when it released cost-of-living adjustments for 2026, raising the limit from the prior $7,000….
Americans who turned 73 in 2025 face a hard deadline that did not exist two years ago: they must pull money from traditional IRAs and workplace retirement plans or hand the IRS a quarter of the amount they failed to withdraw. The required minimum distribution age shifted from 72 to 73 under the Consolidated Appropriations…
Workers earning well above the Roth IRA income thresholds will not lose access to tax-free retirement growth in 2026. The IRS confirmed that the individual retirement account contribution limit rises to $7,500 for the year, and income phase-out ranges for direct Roth IRA eligibility also increased. But the two-step conversion strategy known as the backdoor…
Roughly 1.5 million veterans who receive disability compensation could see their benefits reduced under a bill that House Republicans have moved toward a floor vote. H.R. 9237, titled the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, includes a provision known as Section 108 that would offset the cost of expanding benefits for combat-injured military retirees by…
Workers earning low or moderate wages who set aside even a small amount in a retirement account can reduce their federal tax bill by as much as $1,000 per person through the Saver’s Credit, a benefit the IRS says applies to contributions to traditional or Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457(b)s, SIMPLE plans, SARSEPs, the Thrift…
Workers turning 60, 61, 62, or 63 during 2026 can now set aside up to $11,250 in catch-up contributions to their 401(k) or similar retirement plan, according to IRS guidance. That figure is roughly 41 percent higher than the $8,000 standard catch-up limit available to all workers 50 and older. Combined with a new $24,500…
The Social Security Board of Trustees released its 2026 annual report on June 9, projecting that the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds will be depleted in the third quarter of 2034. After that point, incoming payroll tax revenue would cover only 83 percent of scheduled benefits for the roughly 67…