Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Higher-income workers approaching retirement age are set to gain a powerful new savings tool under federal law, but the benefit comes with a significant upfront tax cost that many savers have not yet accounted for. The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed into law as Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, requires that catch-up…
Americans aged 55 and older have accumulated roughly $500,000 in average retirement savings, according to the federal government’s most authoritative household finance survey. Yet a growing body of evidence suggests that figure may cover only half of what they actually need for a comfortable retirement, creating a gap that could force millions to delay their…
Crossing the $300,000 mark in a 401(k) is a milestone that arrives quietly, usually on a quarterly statement, but the decisions it triggers can cost or save tens of thousands of dollars over the next decade. For savers weighing a job change, a consolidation into an IRA, or simply a rebalancing of their retirement strategy,…
Retiring baby boomers who rush to buy a dream home on the same day they leave the workforce risk draining their savings at a pace that few fixed-income budgets can absorb. The average Social Security check for a retired worker will be $2,071 per month in January 2026 after a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment, and for…
Retirees who reach age 73 must begin pulling required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs and most workplace retirement plans, whether or not they need the money for living expenses. Skipping those withdrawals triggers an excise tax, while taking them can quietly inflate tax bills, push more Social Security benefits into taxable territory, and raise Medicare…
About 11,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day in the United States, a demographic surge that researchers have labeled the “peak 65” phenomenon. That wave is colliding with thin retirement savings, strained federal trust funds, and a labor market where millions of older Americans already work reduced hours to stay afloat. The question facing this…
The federal government will deposit $1,000 into a new savings account for every eligible American baby, but parents need to file the right paperwork before the money starts flowing. Created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, these accounts represent a first-of-its-kind federal program that seeds long-term savings for children born between 2025 and 2028….
The IRS finalized new regulations on required minimum distributions from inherited IRAs in 2024 that apply to calendar years beginning January 1, 2025, ending years of confusion over how quickly certain beneficiaries must drain these accounts. Under the final rules, many heirs subject to the SECURE Act’s 10-year rule may need to take annual withdrawals…
Federal data now shows that 38.2 million Americans provided unpaid eldercare in the 2023-2024 period, with the heaviest burden falling on workers aged 55 to 64 who are simultaneously approaching retirement. Lawmakers in Congress have responded with proposed legislation that would grant Social Security credits to caregivers, but the measures have not become law, leaving…
A new survey of 8,750 U.S. adults finds that four in ten Americans are not confident they will have enough savings to retire or believe they will never be able to retire at all. That finding, released by the Pew Research Center, lands at a moment when federal projections show Social Security’s combined trust funds…