Retirement guides
Practical, sourced explanations across five essential retirement topics—connected to calculators that let you test the numbers.
Featured guideRetirement Planning
Rules verified for 2026A practical retirement checklist for five years, one year, and six months before retiring—covering income, Medicare, Social Security, taxes, documents, and more.
Browse practical answers
Start with the question closest to your situation. Each guide connects to a relevant calculator or planning next step.
Social Security
Learn when U.S. Social Security can continue overseas, how citizenship and country rules apply, and what to check before moving abroad.
401(k) & IRA
See the official 2026 limits for 401(k), IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, and HSA contributions, including age-based catch-ups and Roth IRA income ranges.
Medicare & Health
Estimate the years between employer coverage and Medicare, including ACA premiums, household income, and spouses reaching Medicare at different times.
Retirement Planning
Avoid 10 costly mistakes in the decade before retirement—from spending and healthcare gaps to Social Security, taxes, and account access.
Social Security
Compare SSI and SSDI eligibility, 2026 payment and work limits, resource rules, Medicare, Medicaid, and concurrent benefits.
401(k) & IRA
Learn when splitting Roth and Traditional contributions may reduce tax uncertainty, how to choose a starting mix, and which household factors to review.
Retirement Planning
FIRE can mean financial independence before traditional retirement. Learn the savings math, healthcare gap, taxes, Social Security tradeoffs, and risks often left out.
Social Security
Learn how self-employment tax, Schedule C profit, 2026 Social Security credits, the earnings cap, and your 35-year record work together.
401(k) & IRA
See how annual 401(k) fees can change a $500,000 portfolio over 20 years, where to find the costs, and which numbers deserve a closer look.
Retirement Planning
Use the 25x rule as a starting point, then adjust for Social Security, spending, taxes, healthcare, retirement length, and flexibility.
Social Security
Compare Form SSA-521 withdrawal within 12 months with voluntary suspension at full retirement age, including repayment, family, and Medicare effects.
Retirement Planning
Starting retirement savings at 50 is challenging but not hopeless. Build a realistic plan around cash flow, employer benefits, catch-up contributions, and timing.
Social Security
Avoid seven costly Social Security filing mistakes involving claiming age, work earnings, taxes, spouses, survivors, and benefit estimates.
Retirement Planning
Use retirement savings benchmarks for ages 30, 40, 50, and 60, understand the assumptions behind them, and build a more personal next step.
Social Security
Learn the 10-year marriage rule, two-year divorce rule, claiming reductions, remarriage rules, and survivor rights for former spouses.
Retirement Planning
Learn which numbers determine your retirement runway and why a single withdrawal-rate rule is not enough for a personal retirement plan.
Social Security
Learn how the Social Security Fairness Act repealed WEP and GPO, who may receive higher benefits, and what public workers should verify now.
Social Security
Learn how Social Security calculates COLA from CPI-W data, when the increase appears, and why Medicare or rounding can change your net payment.
Social Security
Learn how Social Security selects your highest 35 earning years, handles missing years, calculates AIME, and replaces low years when you keep working.
Social Security
Learn when Social Security benefits are federally taxable, how combined income works, and which retirement-income choices may change the result.
Social Security
See how working affects Social Security before full retirement age, including the 2026 earnings limits, withholding rules, and examples.
Social Security
Learn who qualifies for Social Security spousal benefits, how the 50% maximum and own-benefit top-up work, and why claiming age matters.
Social Security
Learn who qualifies for Social Security survivor benefits, how claiming age changes the payment, and when switching benefits may help.
Social Security
See how claiming Social Security at 62, 67, or 70 changes monthly and cumulative benefits using a clear $2,000-per-month example.