Retirement Accounts

If you inherited an IRA anytime after 2019, there's a good chance you've been told the rule is simple: empty the account within 10 years, take distributions whenever you want in between. That's no longer entirely true, and the IRS's penalty-free grace period for getting it wrong ended after 2024.…

SECURE 2.0 has been rolling out in phases since it passed in 2022, and 2026 is the year several of its biggest provisions stopped being “coming soon” and started being real. The Roth catch-up mandate for high earners is now in effect. Mandatory auto-enrollment applies to newly created plans. And…

If you turn 73 or 75 this year (depending on when you were born), the IRS wants you to start pulling money out of your traditional retirement accounts — whether you need it or not. Skip it, and the penalty is steep: 25% of whatever you should have withdrawn. This…

The Roth IRA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,500 — up from $7,000 in 2025. If you're 50 or older, you can add a $1,100 catch-up contribution (now indexed for inflation under SECURE 2.0), bringing your total to $8,600. The income phase-out ranges have also shifted up slightly for 2026.…

If you're self-employed and not taking full advantage of a SEP IRA or Solo 401(k), you're likely leaving a significant amount of tax-deferred savings on the table every year. I've talked to a lot of freelancers and small business owners over the years who are diligently contributing to a regular…

For 2026, the IRA contribution limit is $7,500 — the first increase from the $7,000 limit that held for 2024 and 2025. Whether you're putting money into a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, that's your combined ceiling across all IRA accounts. The IRS announced this increase in IR-2025-111, along…

If you've ever had a 401(k) at one job and a 403(b) at the next, you've probably wondered whether the IRS treats them as the same thing. Mostly, yes — 401(k), 403(b), and TSP plans all share one combined $24,500 employee deferral limit for 2026. The exception is the 457(b),…

The Saver's Credit gives lower- and moderate-income workers a direct tax credit — not just a deduction — for contributing to a retirement account. For 2026, the income limits increased across all filing statuses, so more people now qualify than in prior years. The IRS confirmed these thresholds in Notice…

If you're lucky enough to have a traditional pension — and fewer than one in five private-sector workers are these days — you'll eventually face one of the bigger money decisions of your life: take it as a monthly annuity for as long as you live, or take a lump…

The IRS officially raised retirement plan contribution limits for 2026 in IRS Notice IR-2025-111, announced in November 2025. Most of the increases are driven by COLA adjustments under SECURE 2.0. Here's the full rundown of what changed and what it means for your retirement savings this year. 2026 401(k), 403(b),…

Two major SECURE 2.0 changes took effect in 2026 that most people haven't fully absorbed yet. If you're between 60 and 63, your 401k catch-up limit jumped to $11,250 — significantly more than the $8,000 available to other workers over 50. And if you earned more than $150,000 last year,…

One of the biggest hassles when changing jobs used to be around what to do with your old 401(k). It sat wherever you left it until you got around to dealing with it — or, if the balance was small enough, your former employer quietly cashed it out and mailed…

The SIMPLE IRA (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) is one of the most practical retirement plan options for small businesses. For 2026, the contribution limit rises to $17,000, and the catch-up provisions got a meaningful boost under SECURE 2.0. These 2026 figures are confirmed in IRS Notice IR-2025-111. 2026…