Category: Retirement Planning

IRA contribution room rises to $8,600 in 2026 for an eligible saver age 50 or older. That total combines the regular $7,500 limit with a $1,100 catch-up. The number applies across traditional and Roth IRAs together, so opening two accounts does not double the ceiling. The catch-up begins with the calendar year of age 50…

A four-year age window now carries the largest standard employee deferral opportunity in a 401(k). Workers who are 60, 61, 62 or 63 by the end of 2026 can combine the regular $24,500 limit with an $11,250 catch-up, reaching $35,750. The larger ceiling creates tax-planning room, but only for workers whose plan and pay can…

Signing a financial power of attorney is one of the most consequential decisions in later life, and it rarely feels that way at the time. The document hands another person legal authority to reach into bank accounts, sell investments, and pay bills in the signer’s name. Used well, it keeps a household running when illness…

Signing an annuity contract does not have to be the last word on the decision. Nearly every new annuity arrives with a built-in cooling-off period, a stretch of days after the contract is delivered during which the buyer can change their mind, cancel the whole thing, and get the money back. This “free look” is…

The invitation lands in the mailbox with a promise that is hard to refuse: a free steak or seafood dinner at a nice restaurant, and an hour of no-obligation education about protecting a nest egg. For many older Americans the event feels like a courtesy, a chance to learn something while enjoying a meal on…

Buying a variable annuity is often described as a long-term commitment, and the fine print enforces that commitment with a penalty for leaving early. Insurance companies attach a surrender charge to most contracts, a fee that applies when an owner withdraws more than a small permitted amount before a set number of years have passed….

A pension advance is marketed as a simple trade: a retiree hands over a slice of future monthly pension checks and, in return, receives a single lump sum today. The pitch leans on urgency and the comfort of guaranteed retirement income, and it lands most often with military retirees, police officers, firefighters, and other public…

A divorce decree can divide a house, a pension, and a checking account, and still leave one costly detail untouched. The beneficiary form on a 401(k) or a life-insurance policy is a separate document, and it does not update itself when a marriage ends. When that form still names a former spouse years later, federal…

Most estate planning attention lands on the will, yet one of the most powerful transfer instructions a person can leave sits on a single bank form. A payable-on-death designation, often abbreviated POD, tells the bank exactly who receives the money in an account the moment the owner dies. That instruction carries more force over the…

An annuity can feel like a decision that cannot be undone once the paperwork is signed and a five- or six-figure check has changed hands. State insurance law says otherwise, at least for a short stretch. Nearly every annuity comes with a “free look” period, a window of roughly 10 to 30 days in which…