The financial news that actually matters
Focuses on savings strategies, 401(k), IRA accounts, retirement goals, and long-term financial planning. It helps individuals build sustainable retirement income strategies.
Starting in July 2026, parents of roughly 5.4 million children will be eligible to open a new kind of federally funded investment account. Under a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in 2025, the U.S. government deposits $1,000 into an account for every American baby born between January 1, 2025,…
A 61-year-old engineer in Dallas maxing out her 401(k) in 2025 could have socked away $3,250 more than her 58-year-old colleague down the hall, and most people in her position never touched the extra room. That gap exists because of a provision buried in the SECURE 2.0 Act that created a higher catch-up contribution limit…
For the first time in decades, the federal tax code includes a standalone deduction built specifically for Americans 65 and older, and it is worth up to $6,000 per qualifying filer. A married couple filing jointly where both spouses meet the age requirement can claim $12,000. The benefit was created by Section 70103 of the…
A 52-year-old worker paying $1,800 a year for long-term care insurance just got a new way to cover that bill: pull the money straight from a 401(k), skip the usual 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty, and keep the policy in force. The catch is that the annual limit is $2,500, the withdrawal is still taxed as…
A 62-year-old worker who maxes out her 401(k) in 2026 will be allowed to contribute $35,750, roughly $670 per week before her employer even chips in. That ceiling is $11,250 higher than what a colleague under 50 can defer and $3,250 above the limit for most other catch-up-eligible workers over 50. No other age group…
In less than two months, the federal government will begin depositing $1,000 into investment accounts for millions of American children. The program, officially called Trump accounts, covers every U.S.-citizen baby born since January 1, 2025, and allows parents to contribute up to $5,000 more each year, invested in S&P 500 and other broad stock index…
The first paychecks of 2026 delivered a jolt to millions of older workers who earn six figures. Take-home pay dropped, even though salaries stayed the same. The culprit: a new federal rule that forces higher-earning employees to make their 401(k) catch-up contributions on an after-tax Roth basis, wiping out an upfront tax deduction many had…
A 62-year-old worker earning $120,000 can now put up to $35,750 into a 401(k) in 2026. That is roughly $4,250 more than the same worker could have contributed last year, and it reflects the largest single-year expansion of late-career retirement saving capacity in more than a decade. The jump comes from two changes landing at…
Somewhere in the United States, roughly 665,000 workers opened their 401(k) statements in early 2025 and saw a seven-figure balance staring back at them. Fidelity Investments, which administers more than 48 million retirement accounts, reported the milestone after the S&P 500 delivered back-to-back annual gains exceeding 20% for the first time since the late 1990s….
A child born in the United States today will soon have something no previous generation of American newborns has had: a federally funded investment account with their name on it. While some city and state governments have created children’s savings programs in the past, this is the first such program established and funded at the…