The 2026 401(k) contribution limit is $24,500 for workers under 50. That is the legal maximum a typical employee can defer from their paycheck before any employer match. Most Americans do not come close…
A 67-year-old retiree with a $1 million portfolio, no pension, and a projected Social Security benefit of $2,800 a month has a destination in mind: Anchorage, Alaska. The attraction is easy to understand. Alaska offers…
Is Social Security going to have to cut benefits? That’s the big question on many people’s minds in light of the latest Trustees report. In June, the public got an update on the program’s…
The latest Powerball jackpot stood at roughly $269 million, with a cash option of about $120.5 million before taxes. That would solve all your financial problems, but the odds are not great: roughly 1…
She retired from a long career with good benefits, and her former employer’s pension picks up her Medicare Part D drug premium. So when she scanned her first Social Security deposit of the year…
A retiree in Charlotte opens a letter from her Medicare Advantage plan in early April. Her primary care doctor, the physician who has managed her blood pressure for nine years, is leaving the network…
The headline number from Fidelity’s Q1 2026 retirement analysis is striking. The average IRA balance now sits at $131,380, and IRA contributions hit a record, climbing 29% year over year. More Americans are funding…
The 2026 Medicare cost letters landed in November, and most beneficiaries scanned for one number: the new Part B premium. They missed the line that can actually do the most damage. The Part A…
Anesthesiologists are quietly walking off the operating-room schedule at 55 with seven-figure 401(k) balances, and the specific reason they leave that year (not 56, not 54) comes down to a single IRS provision most…
The average federal student loan borrower leaves school owing roughly $38,000, though balances of $50,000 or more are common among graduate students and many private-college graduates. Depending on interest rates and repayment terms, that…
The Bargain Plan That Wasn’t A married couple, both about 67 and newly on Medicare, sat down during open enrollment and did what many budget-minded people do. They lined up the Part D drug…
A 64-year-old couple with $1.8 million sitting in traditional 401(k)s walks into a planning meeting convinced they should claim Social Security at full retirement age and let the portfolio compound. The advisor pushes back:…
Allen Mueller, a recent guest on the Catching Up to FI podcast episode on intergenerational wealth, put it bluntly when host Bill Yount asked how to move serious money to adult children without triggering…
A retiree scrolling through the news sees a familiar headline: Medicare runs out in 2033. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, released earlier this month, did move the projected depletion date for Medicare’s Hospital Insurance…
A 67-year-old with a $650,000 portfolio and a Social Security check looks at New Orleans and sees a city that seems surprisingly affordable compared with many coastal retirement destinations. Home prices remain below those…
