The financial news that actually matters
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…
Starting July 4, 2026, the federal government will begin funding investment accounts for every U.S.-citizen child born since January 1, 2025. Each account opens with a $1,000 deposit from the Treasury Department, and families can add up to $5,000 per year of their own money. The funds are invested in S&P 500 index funds. The…
Every spring, tax preparers across the country field the same panicked call: a retiree who pulled a lump sum from a traditional IRA or 401(k) expecting a refund, only to discover the IRS wants thousands of dollars instead. The surprise is not a glitch. It is baked into the way retirement-account withdrawals are taxed and…
Your parent spent decades building a $500,000 IRA. You inherited it, and now the IRS wants a quarter of it back, possibly more, unless you handle the withdrawals correctly. That is the reality facing non-spouse beneficiaries under rules the IRS began enforcing in January 2025. As of May 2026, according to tax practitioners and financial…
A 55-year-old software engineer earning $185,000 has been maxing out her 401(k) for years, including the $7,500 catch-up contribution that goes straight into a pre-tax account. That option no longer exists for her. Starting with the 2026 plan year, every dollar of her catch-up contribution must flow into a Roth account, taxed now instead of…