Retirement Check 101™ — Know Your Plan

76 articles across 13 topics:

Limits & Rules

• 2026 IRS Retirement Contribution Limits: The Complete Guide
  Every 2026 IRS retirement contribution limit in one place: 401(k), IRA, HSA, SEP, SIMPLE, 457(b), and the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up for ages 60 to 63.
• SECURE 2.0 Super Catch-Up (Ages 60–63): An Extra $3,250 You Probably Missed
  From 2026, savers aged 60 through 63 can make an $11,250 catch-up contribution to a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) instead of the standard $8,000.
• The 415(c) Annual Additions Limit, Explained
  IRC §415(c) caps everything flowing into a defined-contribution plan at $72,000 in 2026. What counts, what does not, and how it sets mega backdoor room.
• HSA Contribution Limits and the 55+ Catch-Up
  Every 2026 HSA limit: self-only, family, and the $1,000 catch-up at 55, plus the eligibility rules and the Medicare trap that ends contributions.
• RMD Rules After SECURE 2.0
  2026 RMD rules: starting age 73 or 75, the Uniform Lifetime Table, the still-working exception, the reduced excise tax, and inherited-IRA RMDs.
• The Mandatory Roth Catch-Up Starting 2026
  From January 1, 2026, FICA wages above $150,000 force your age-50 catch-up into Roth. The mechanics, the two-year delay, and what to do this year.
• FICA Wage Base and How It Drives Plan Limits
  The Social Security wage base is $184,500 for 2026. It is the OASDI cap and the quiet anchor under nearly every other retirement-plan limit.
• Compensation Limits That Cap Employer Contributions
  Above $360,000 of salary your employer's plan must ignore every additional dollar. How the IRC §401(a)(17) limit works, and how it eats your match.

Strategies

• Mega Backdoor Roth: How High Earners Save Up to $47,500 More Per Year
  The mega backdoor Roth lets high earners move up to $47,500 of after-tax money into a 401(k) and convert it to Roth for tax-free growth for life.
• HSA: The Only Triple Tax-Advantaged Account in the Tax Code
  The HSA is the only account where contributions, growth, and qualified withdrawals are all tax-free. How to use one as a stealth retirement account.
• Backdoor Roth IRA: Step-by-Step for High Earners
  A four-step walkthrough of the backdoor Roth IRA, the pro-rata rule trap, and the tax mistake that wrecks most do-it-yourself attempts.
• The Roth Conversion Ladder: Early Retirement Without the Penalty
  Turn pre-tax retirement money into spendable cash before 59½ with no 10% penalty. The mechanics, a worked example, and the five-year clock.
• Asset Location: Which Accounts Hold Which Investments
  Asset allocation is what you own. Asset location is which account holds it. Done right it adds 0.25% to 0.75% of after-tax return a year.
• Tax-Loss Harvesting and the IRA Wash-Sale Trap
  Tax-loss harvesting offsets gains and up to $3,000 of ordinary income a year, but only in taxable accounts. Buy the replacement in an IRA and it is lost.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) From Your IRA
  A QCD moves up to $111,000 in 2026 straight from your IRA to charity, satisfies your RMD, and never enters taxable income. For those 70½ and older.
• Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) on Company Stock
  IRC §402(e)(4) turns growth on employer stock in a 401(k) into long-term capital gains. The four conditions, the lump-sum rule, and a worked example.
• 72(t) Substantially Equal Periodic Payments
  IRC §72(t) lets you tap an IRA before 59½ with no penalty using a fixed schedule. The methods, the modification trap, and Notice 2022-6 in plain English.
• Bunching Charitable Giving with a Donor-Advised Fund
  With the standard deduction permanently doubled, charitable giving produces no federal benefit unless it is bunched. How a donor-advised fund does it.

History

• A Brief History of Retirement: From Augustan Rome to OBBBA
  Retirement is a 150-year-old invention built by accident, by war, and by political compromise. A short history of how today's IRS rules came to be.
• How IRS Retirement Limits Have Changed: 2017–2026
  A ten-year grid of every major IRS retirement limit, plus the laws and inflation surges that moved them. 401(k), IRA, HSA, caps, and top tax rates.

Self-Employed

• Solo 401(k) vs. SEP IRA: Which Should the Self-Employed Choose?
  Solo 401(k) versus SEP IRA head to head: contribution limits, Roth availability, loans, paperwork, and the income level where each one wins.
• Cash Balance Plans for High-Earning Professionals
  A cash balance plan can let a 55-year-old physician or partner contribute $200,000 a year on top of a 401(k), and when the cost is actually justified.
• Defined Benefit Plans: When the Numbers Make Sense
  A traditional DB plan lets an owner-only business fund six-figure contributions toward a fixed retirement income. When it beats cash balance and a SEP.
• S-Corp vs Sole Prop: Impact on Retirement Savings
  The same $200,000 of profit funds very different retirement contributions by entity. The 25% W-2 rule, the 20% net-SE rule, and the break-even point.
• SIMPLE IRA Basics for Small Business Owners
  The SIMPLE IRA is a 401(k)-lite: $17,000 deferral, mandatory employer contribution, no testing. Who it fits, who it rules out, and the two-year trap.
• Solo 401(k) Mechanics for One-Person Businesses
  The Solo 401(k) is the highest-contribution plan for a one-person business. Two contribution sources, the $72,000 cap, Roth, loans, and the hiring rule.
• Adding a Spouse to Your Solo 401(k)
  A spouse working in the business can nearly double Solo 401(k) capacity, to $140,000 or more. The W-2 versus K-1 test, and the plan-document fix.

Employer Plans

• How a 401(k) Actually Works
  The 401(k) grew out of a 1978 statutory accident into the dominant private retirement plan. The mechanics, the testing rules, and the safe harbor.
• 403(b) Plans for Nonprofit and School Workers
  The 403(b) is the 401(k) for nonprofits, schools, and churches. Same $24,500 limit, plus a 15-year service catch-up no other plan offers.
• 457(b) Plans and Why They Stack
  A 457(b) carries its own $24,500 limit that does not coordinate with a 401(k) or 403(b). For public-sector workers that is $47,000 of deferral a year.
• Employer Match Math: Don't Leave Money on the Table
  Match formulas, true-up provisions, the front-loading trap, and the SECURE 2.0 student-loan match. The benefit most employees quietly leave behind.
• Vesting Schedules and What Happens When You Leave
  Cliff versus graded vesting, immediate vesting for safe-harbor money, and how to time a job change so you do not forfeit unvested employer match.
• After-Tax 401(k) Contributions and In-Plan Roth Conversions
  The mega backdoor Roth depends on two plan provisions: after-tax contributions and in-plan Roth conversions. The headroom math, and what to ask HR.

IRAs

• Traditional vs Roth IRA: How to Choose
  Traditional or Roth comes down to one variable: your tax rate now versus in retirement. The math, the rules, and why many high earners use both.
• IRA Deductibility Phaseouts by Filing Status
  Every Traditional and Roth IRA phaseout for 2026, the $0 to $10,000 trap for married filing separately, and the rules when only one spouse has a plan.
• Spousal IRAs for Non-Earning Partners
  IRC §219(c) lets a working spouse fund an IRA for a non-earning spouse, the one place someone with no income can build a retirement account of their own.
• Inherited IRA Rules After the SECURE Act
  The 10-year rule, the five beneficiary categories that escape it, and the 2024 regulations requiring annual RMDs inside the window, enforced from 2026.
• Rollover IRAs vs Direct Transfers
  A trustee-to-trustee transfer is always safe. A 60-day rollover triggers 20% withholding and the once-a-year IRA rule. When to use which, and why.
• The Pro-Rata Rule and Why It Matters for Backdoor Roths
  IRC §408(d)(2) makes every IRA conversion part basis and part pre-tax across all your Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs. Three legitimate ways around it.

Social Security

• When to Claim Social Security: Age 62, 67, or 70
  Claiming at 62 cuts your benefit 30%; waiting until 70 raises it 24%. The break-even math, the survivor benefit, and why 62 is rarely the answer.
• Spousal and Survivor Benefits, Explained
  Spousal benefits pay up to 50% of the worker's PIA and survivor benefits pay 100%. When each starts, the divorced-spouse claim, and how they interact.
• Working While Collecting: The Earnings Test
  Claim before full retirement age and you lose $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 in 2026. The mechanic, the year-of-FRA rule, and why it comes back.
• Taxation of Social Security Benefits
  Up to 85% of Social Security becomes taxable once provisional income passes $25,000 or $32,000. The two-tier mechanism, and how to stay under the line.
• WEP and GPO Repeal: What Changed in 2026
  The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset back to January 2024. Who gains, and how much.
• How Inflation Adjustments (COLA) Work
  The annual COLA comes from a CPI-W formula written in 1972. How it is computed, the third-quarter window, and why it understates retiree inflation.

Medicare & Healthcare

• Medicare Enrollment Basics: Parts A, B, C, and D
  The seven-month window around 65, the four parts of Medicare, the late penalties that never expire, and how it coordinates with employer coverage.
• IRMAA Brackets and the Two-Year Lookback
  IRMAA adds as much as $487 a month to your 2026 Part B premium, based on income from two years earlier. The brackets, the cliff, and the appeal to file.
• Transitioning from an HSA to Medicare
  Medicare enrollment ends HSA contributions. The six-month Part A retroactive trap, when to make your last contribution, and what to do with the balance.
• Long-Term Care Planning Without Long-Term Care Insurance
  Traditional long-term care insurance is increasingly unobtainable. Self-funding, hybrid policies, the HSA stockpile, and the Medicaid rules that work.
• Coordinating Marketplace Coverage with Early Retirement
  Retiring before 65 makes the ACA marketplace your bridge to Medicare. The premium credit math, and why one mistimed Roth conversion can cost $20,000.

Withdrawals & RMDs

• The 4% Rule Revisited
  Bengen's 1994 study found a 4% initial withdrawal, indexed for inflation, survived every 30-year period in U.S. history. What it does not say.
• Sequence-of-Returns Risk in Early Retirement
  Two retirees with the same average return can end very differently if the bad years come first. Why the first five years matter most, and what to do.
• Bucket Strategies for Drawing Down Accounts
  The three-bucket approach holds one to two years in cash, three to ten in bonds, and the rest in equities. Why it works, and how to refill the buckets.
• Roth Conversions in Retirement
  The years between retiring and starting Social Security or RMDs are the cheapest time to convert to Roth. The bracket-filling math, and IRMAA awareness.
• RMD Planning to Reduce Lifetime Taxes
  RMDs are not a one-year tax problem but a thirty-year one. Pre-RMD conversions, QCDs, and the survivor compression that makes the second bill worst.
• Order of Withdrawal: Taxable, Tax-Deferred, Tax-Free
  Taxable first, tax-deferred second, Roth last is right only on average. Filling brackets each year usually beats the textbook order by tens of thousands.

Estate Planning

• Federal Estate and Gift Tax After OBBBA: The Permanent $15M Exemption
  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the higher federal estate and gift exemption permanent and raised it to $15M per person from 2026. What changes.
• Beneficiary Designations: The Most Overlooked Estate Document
  Beneficiary designations override your will. Why they are the most common and most expensive estate-planning error, and how to audit yours this year.
• Trusts as IRA Beneficiaries: See-Through Rules and the 10-Year Trap
  Naming a trust as IRA beneficiary means meeting the see-through requirements, and after SECURE those rules meet the 10-year payout in odd ways.
• Step-Up in Basis Under §1014 and Why It Drives Asset Location
  IRC §1014 erases unrealized capital gains at death. Which assets receive the step-up and which do not determines where wealth should sit during life.
• GRATs, SLATs, and Other Advanced Transfer Strategies
  Grantor retained annuity trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts, and defective grantor trusts: moving appreciation out of a taxable estate cheaply.
• Charitable Lead and Charitable Remainder Trusts
  A CLT sends income to charity and the remainder to family; a CRT does the reverse. Both work the §7520 rate to compress gifts and defer capital gains.

State & Local

• California Nonconformity to Federal Retirement Rules
  California does not conform to several federal retirement provisions. HSAs are taxable, a 1% surtax applies, and OBBBA conformity is selective.
• State Income Tax Map for Retirees
  How each state treats pensions, Social Security, IRA withdrawals, and capital gains. A practical map for retirees weighing a move.
• Domicile Planning Before You Retire
  Changing domicile to a low-tax state takes more than a moving van. Severing residency, surviving an audit, and timing it around conversions and gains.
• States That Do Not Tax Social Security Benefits
  Forty-one states and DC fully exempt Social Security from state income tax. The nine that still tax it, and how their rules differ.

Special Situations

• Divorce and Retirement Accounts: Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
  A QDRO is the only way to divide a qualified plan in divorce without tax or penalty. The drafting, the timing, and the most common failures.
• Foreign Accounts: FBAR and FATCA Reporting
  Foreign accounts trigger two parallel regimes, FinCEN Form 114 and IRS Form 8938. The thresholds, the deadlines, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
• Disability and Early Access to Retirement Funds
  IRC §72(t)(2)(A)(iii) waives the 10% penalty for disability. The definition is stricter than Social Security's, and SECURE 2.0 added new exceptions.
• Federal Employees: TSP and FERS Basics
  The Thrift Savings Plan and FERS together form one of the strongest packages in U.S. employment. Match math, fund selection, and the FERS supplement.
• Military Retirement and the Blended Retirement System
  The Blended Retirement System pairs a reduced 20-year pension with a TSP match. Continuation pay at 12 years, the lump-sum option, and reserve service.

High Net Worth

• QSBS §1202 Family Stacking
  IRC §1202 excludes up to $10M of gain on qualified small business stock per shareholder, per issuer. How non-grantor trusts multiply it.
• Conservation Easements: Risk and Reward
  IRC §170(h) allows a deduction for donating a qualified conservation easement. The economics, the syndicated-easement crackdown, and what survives.
• Family Limited Partnerships and Discount Planning
  An FLP keeps control with the senior generation while passing discounted interests down. The valuation discounts, the §2036 traps, and what survived.
• Private Placement Life Insurance for High Earners
  Private placement life insurance wraps a custom portfolio inside a §7702 contract for tax-free compounding. The economics, and the diversification rules.
• Charitable Lead Trusts for Concentrated Wealth
  A zeroed-out CLAT funded with concentrated low-basis stock can move all appreciation above the §7520 hurdle to family with no gift tax.