Have a Big 401(k) and Turning 60? Your Catch-Up Limit Just Jumped to $11,250 and the Window Closes at 64

If you have a 401(k) and you’re turning 60 this year, the IRS just handed you a four-year window that most savers don’t even know exists. Starting in 2026, workers ages 60 through 63 can make a “super” catch-up contribution of $11,250 on top of the regular employee deferral, pushing your total 401(k) contribution ceiling to $35,750. Miss this window and it slams shut the day you turn 64.

The Buried Rule

Everyone knows about the age-50 catch-up. Almost no one talks about what happens next. Between ages 60 and 63, your catch-up limit isn’t the standard $8,000. It’s $11,250, roughly 50% higher. Stack that on top of the 2026 employee deferral of $24,500 and you can move $35,750 of your own money into a 401(k) in a single year. At age 64, you revert to the ordinary $8,000 catch-up, capping you at $32,500.

The Proof

This is federal law. Section 109 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 created the enhanced catch-up for ages 60 through 63, and the IRS confirmed the 2026 dollar figures in its annual cost-of-living notice for retirement plans. The provision took effect on Jan. 1 of this year after a delay to let plan administrators update payroll systems. The same higher limits apply to 403(b) plans and governmental 457(b) plans.

Who Qualifies, Who Doesn’t

You qualify if you’ll be age 60, 61, 62, or 63 at any point during the calendar year and your employer’s plan is a 401(k), 403(b), or governmental 457(b). You do not qualify if you’re 59 or younger, if you’re 64 or older, or if you’re trying to use this in an IRA. The rules don’t apply to individual retirement accounts. Solo 401(k) owners get it too, as long as the plan document has been amended to allow the super catch-up.

One more filter: high earners. If your 2025 FICA wages (Box 3 of your W-2) exceeded $150,000, every dollar of your catch-up, super or standard, must go into a Roth 401(k) starting this year. Side-gig 1099 income and K-1 partnership income don’t count toward that threshold.

How to Use It

1. Confirm your birthday math. If you turn 60 anywhere in 2026, you’re in. If you turn 64 in 2026, you’re already out for the year.
2. Call HR or log in to your plan portal and check that your employer has adopted the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up. Not every plan has updated its documents yet.
3. Reset your paycheck deferral election. To max out, you’re targeting $35,750 spread across your remaining pay periods.
4. If your 2025 W-2 Box 3 wages topped $150,000, route the catch-up piece to the Roth 401(k) source. If your plan doesn’t offer a Roth option, no catch-up contributions are allowed for you at all.
5. Weigh the tax hit. A 62-year-old in the 24% bracket contributing the full $11,250 pretax under the old rules saved roughly $2,700 in federal income tax. Under the Roth rule, that deduction disappears, but withdrawals come out tax-free later.

This is exactly the kind of low-tax pre-RMD window that fits into a broader Roth conversion strategy for anyone staring down a big pretax balance.

The Catch

The window is narrow on both ends. The higher limit kicks in the year you turn 60 and disappears the year you turn 64, even if you turn 64 in December. Miss a year and there is no makeup provision. And if your plan doesn’t offer a Roth 401(k) and you’re above the wage threshold, you lose the catch-up entirely. Given that the average 401(k) balance for savers ages 60-64 is just $246,500, and the personal savings rate has slid to 3.9%, four uninterrupted years at $35,750 is one of the last real levers left before retirement.

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