Written
Insights.
One retirement decision at a time, worked all the way through with real numbers. Written for people who have already done the saving and now want to keep more of it.
What Are the 2026 Federal Tax Brackets?
The 2026 federal income tax brackets for single and joint filers, and why your top rate is not the rate you actually pay.
Read this article →Does Medicare Cover Long-Term Care? No, and What Does
Medicare pays for skilled care after a hospital stay, up to 100 days. It does not pay for custodial care at all.
The Medicare Late-Enrollment Penalty: What It Costs and Why
The Part B penalty adds 10% of the premium for each full 12 months you could have enrolled and did not, for as long as you have Part B.
The Social Security Fairness Act: Who Qualifies, What Changes
Congress repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset outright. Who the repeal reaches, and what it reopens.
What Long-Term Care Costs: Why the Average Misleads
What matters is not the average annual cost but how many years you might pay it. How long care lasts, and how to run it against your own portfolio.
Form SSA-44: How to Get an IRMAA Surcharge Reduced
Form SSA-44 asks Social Security to price your Medicare surcharge on this year’s income instead of the return from two years ago. Who can file it.
How Is an RMD Calculated?
A required minimum distribution is last December 31’s balance divided by one factor from an IRS life-expectancy table.
How Much of Your Social Security Is Taxable?
Somewhere between none of it and 85 percent, decided by a measure called provisional income. What goes into it, and why the thresholds never move.
What Is the Inherited IRA 10-Year Rule?
Most people who inherit a retirement account must empty it by the end of the tenth year after the death, and some owe a withdrawal in each year too.
The IRMAA Look-Back Period: Why Income Lags Two Years
Your Medicare surcharge is set from the tax return you filed two years earlier. How the look-back works, and why age 63 is the first year that counts.
What Are the Medicare IRMAA Brackets for 2026?
IRMAA is a cliff, not a ramp: one dollar over a threshold moves your whole premium to the next tier for the year. The 2026 Part B and Part D tiers.
What Is the Mega Backdoor Roth? How It Works and Who It Fits
The mega backdoor Roth routes after-tax contributions in a workplace plan into a Roth account. The mechanism, the plan features it needs, and who it fits.
Pension Lump Sum vs. Annuity: Which One Is Better?
The real question is whether you or an insurer carries the risk of a long life, and what your spouse is left holding under each option.
QCD Rules: How a Charitable IRA Distribution Works
A qualified charitable distribution moves IRA money straight to a charity without it entering your income. Who can make one, and how it is reported.
The RMD Table for 2026, and the Deadlines That Go With It
Find the age you turn this year in the Uniform Lifetime Table, divide last December 31’s balance by the factor beside it, and withdraw by December 31.
What Is the Roth Conversion 5-Year Rule?
There are two five-year clocks, not one. Which decides whether earnings come out tax free, which decides the 10% additional tax, and when each starts.
The Rule of 55: How It Works and Where It Goes Wrong
The Rule of 55 lets you take money from the plan at the job you just left, after separating at 55 or later, without the 10% early-distribution tax.
The New Senior Deduction: Who Gets It and How It Phases Out
The senior deduction is a flat amount for each person 65 or older that shrinks as income rises above a threshold and disappears after 2028.
What Is Sequence of Returns Risk?
Two retirees can earn identical returns and one runs out of money, because withdrawals turn the order of those returns into a permanent difference.
What Is the Social Security Break-Even Age?
Break-even is the age at which delaying Social Security has paid back the checks you skipped. How it is calculated, and the four things it leaves out.
What Is the Step-Up in Basis at Death?
When you die, the cost basis of most assets resets to their value on that date, and the unrealized gain your heirs inherit disappears with it.
What Is IRMAA? The Medicare Surcharge on Higher Incomes
IRMAA is an income-related surcharge added to your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums, and it is a cliff rather than a phase-in.
The Widow’s Tax Trap: Why a Survivor Pays More Tax on Less
When one spouse dies, household income falls but the tax rate can rise. The six mechanisms that cause it, and what can be done before and after.
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