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.
Investors who pull money from a variable annuity before the contract’s surrender period expires face fees that can consume a significant share of their principal, with a typical first-year charge starting around 7% and declining by roughly one percentage point each subsequent year. The surrender period on these contracts often runs six to eight years,…
Workers who switched jobs and left retirement savings behind now have a free federal tool to search for those accounts. The Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database, created under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, began accepting data from plan administrators in November 2024 and is designed to help people reconnect with 401(k) balances from…
Workers who hold large shares of their employer’s stock inside a 401(k) are staking both their paycheck and their retirement savings on a single company’s performance. A Government Accountability Office analysis of Form 5500 filings found that participants in plans offering employer securities often failed to diversify, concentrating risk in the very firm that also…
Workers and families covered by high-deductible health plans can shelter more money from taxes starting in January. The IRS set the 2026 health savings account contribution ceiling at $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, up from the 2025 figures. At the same time, new federal legislation has widened the pool of plans…
Workers age 50 and older just gained a small but real bump in how much they can stash in an Individual Retirement Account. The IRS set the 2026 IRA catch-up contribution limit at $1,100, a $100 increase over the $1,000 cap that applied in 2025. The adjustment stems from SECURE 2.0, which introduced annual inflation…
Savers who stash money in a Roth IRA hold a withdrawal advantage that most retirement accounts do not offer: every dollar they personally contributed can come back out at any time, free of federal income tax and free of early-withdrawal penalties. That flexibility, grounded in federal statute and IRS distribution rules, separates the Roth from…
American workers saving for retirement through employer-sponsored plans will be able to set aside $24,500 in a 401(k) during 2026, a $1,000 increase over the $23,500 cap that applied in 2025. The IRS announced the adjustment through Notice 2025-67, published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-49, which recalculates contribution ceilings each year based on cost-of-living changes….
Starting in 2026, workers aged 50 and older can contribute up to $32,500 to a 401(k) plan, combining a $24,500 base limit with an $8,000 catch-up contribution. The IRS set these figures through Notice 2025-67, which covers all retirement-plan cost-of-living adjustments for the coming year. For millions of older Americans trying to close a retirement…
A married couple collecting Social Security typically receives two separate monthly payments, one based on each spouse’s earnings record. When one partner dies, the household does not keep both checks. Federal rules allow the survivor to receive only the higher of the two benefits, not the combined total. For couples where one spouse earned far…
Anyone who turns 65 and skips Medicare prescription drug coverage without holding an equivalent plan will pay a monthly surcharge on Part D premiums for the rest of their enrollment. The penalty is not a one-time fee. It compounds over time because it is recalculated each year against the national base beneficiary premium, which CMS…