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Planning guides

Plain-English guides to the decisions that shape a retirement

Each guide opens with the short answer, shows the arithmetic, and cites the primary source. Figures are current for 2026.

Social Security

Claiming ages, spousal and survivor rules, and how the benefit interacts with taxes.

Social Security · 5 min readRetiring at 65? The 2.8% COLA Changes Your Social Security Math for 2026The 2026 Social Security COLA is 2.8%. What it does to a benefit check, why claiming at 65 pays 86.7% of the full amount, and how the $24,480 earnings test works.Social Security · 5 min readClaiming at 62 Costs You 30% — Forever. Here's the 2026 Math.With a full retirement age of 67, claiming Social Security at 62 locks in 70% of the full benefit for life. The 2026 formula, maximums, and arithmetic, shown plainly.Social Security · 6 min readSocial Security Claiming Strategy: A Framework for Getting It RightWhen should you claim Social Security? Understand FRA, the 62 vs. 70 tradeoff, spousal and survivor rules, taxation, and how timing shapes your retirement plan.Social Security · 5 min readSpousal Social Security: Who Gets 50 Percent — and Who Gets LessThe spousal benefit can pay up to 50% of a worker's full-retirement-age benefit — but claiming age, deemed filing, a 10-year divorce rule, and survivorship all change the number. The rules, laid out plainly.Social Security · 6 min readSurvivor Benefits: The 100% Rule, and the Clock That Starts at 60A surviving spouse at survivor full retirement age receives 100% of the deceased's benefit — delayed credits included. The 71½% floor at 60, the one switch strategy that survived, the widow's-penalty tax squeeze, and the fine print.Social Security · 6 min readThe Social Security Tax Torpedo: How $1 From Your IRA Can Tax $1.85 in 2026Above $44,000 of provisional income, each extra dollar of IRA income can pull $0.85 of Social Security into the taxable column — $1.85 taxed per $1 withdrawn. The arithmetic, shown plainly.Social Security · 5 min readThe WEP Is Gone: What the Social Security Fairness Act RestoredThe Social Security Fairness Act repealed the WEP and GPO in January 2025, retroactive to 2024 — restoring benefits for more than 3.2 million teachers, firefighters, police, and other public workers. Who was paid automatically, and who still must apply.

Tax Planning

Brackets, deductions, the 0% gains line, and the order in which accounts are drawn down.

Tax Planning · 6 min readThe 0% Capital Gains Bracket Is Real — Here’s Where It Ends in 2026Up to $98,900 of taxable income for a married couple, long-term capital gains are taxed at 0% in 2026. How the stacking works, why retirees qualify more often than workers, and what the 0% rate does not change.Tax Planning · 6 min readThe $11,250 Catch-Up: Why Ages 60–63 Get the Biggest Bucket in 2026The 2026 401(k) limit is $24,500 — but savers who reach ages 60–63 during the year can add an $11,250 catch-up, for $35,750 of personal room. The full table, the age math, and the new Roth catch-up rule.Tax Planning · 5 min readMarried Filing Jointly? Your 12% Bracket Ends at $100,800 in 2026The 2026 12% bracket for joint filers runs to $100,800 of taxable income — about $133,000 gross after the standard deduction. Bracket-filling mechanics, shown plainly.Tax Planning · 5 min read$32,200: The 2026 Number That Decides How Much a Retired Couple Pays $0 Tax OnThe 2026 standard deduction for joint filers is $32,200 — the first layer of income federal tax never touches. How the zero layer stacks with the 10% and 12% brackets, shown plainly.Tax Planning · 5 min readThe $6,000 Senior Deduction: What ‘No Tax on Social Security’ Actually MeansThe 2025 tax law created a $6,000-per-person deduction for taxpayers 65 and older — and left the taxation of Social Security benefits unchanged. What it is, where it phases out, and what it does not do.Tax Planning · 6 min readThe Step-Up: Why Some Taxes Disappear at Death — and Some Don'tInherited assets reset their cost basis to date-of-death value — but IRAs and 401(k)s never step up, gifts carry your old basis, and community-property states double the benefit. What steps up, what doesn't, and the deed mistake that forfeits it.Tax Planning · 7 min readThe Order in Which You Draw Down Accounts Is a Tax DecisionLearn how withdrawal sequence, bracket management, the Social Security tax torpedo, and QCDs can reduce your lifetime tax bill in retirement. 2026 figures.Tax Planning · 6 min readDo Taxes Really Get Simpler in Retirement?Many households expect an easier tax picture once the paycheck stops. For those who saved well in pre-tax accounts, the opposite is often true.

RMDs

Required distributions, the first-year deadlines, inherited accounts, and charitable moves.

RMDs · 6 min readTurning 73 in 2026? Your First RMD Has Two Deadlines — and One Is a TrapA first required minimum distribution can be taken by December 31, 2026 or delayed to April 1, 2027 — but delaying stacks two taxable distributions into one year. The mechanics, shown plainly.RMDs · 6 min readThe 10-Year Clock: The Rules That Come With an Inherited IRAMost non-spouse heirs must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years — and since 2025, many owe annual RMDs along the way. Who is on the clock, who is exempt, and how the penalties work.RMDs · 5 min readMissed an RMD? The Penalty Is 25% — or 10% If You Fix It in TimeMissing a required minimum distribution triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall — reduced to 10% inside the correction window. How the deadlines and Form 5329 work.RMDs · 5 min readThe $111,000 Charity Move That Can Satisfy Your RMD Tax-Free in 2026A qualified charitable distribution of up to $111,000 (2026) can satisfy a required minimum distribution without adding a dollar to taxable income. The mechanics, shown plainly.RMDs · 5 min readRequired Minimum Distributions: A Plain-English Guide for 2026What you need to know about RMDs in 2026—new ages, calculation method, penalty changes, QCDs, and strategies to reduce your future distributions.RMDs · 5 min readYour Roth 401(k) No Longer Has RMDs — With One Clock Still TickingSECURE 2.0 removed lifetime RMDs from Roth 401(k)s starting with the 2024 tax year — matching Roth IRAs. What changed, the five-year-clock trap that rolling over can restart, and the 2026 contribution numbers.

Roth Conversions

When conversions pay off, how to time them, and the five-year clocks.

Roth Conversions · 6 min readRoth Conversions: When They Pay Off and How to Time ThemLearn when Roth conversions make sense, how to use the pre-RMD window, navigate IRMAA, and plan for legacy. Current 2026 figures.Roth Conversions · 6 min readThe Two Five-Year Clocks on Roth Money (and Which One Applies to You)Roth accounts run on two separate five-year rules — one for earnings, one for each conversion. Which clock applies depends on age and history. The mechanics, shown plainly.

Medicare

Part B costs, the IRMAA surcharge cliffs, and the enrollment window.

Medicare · 5 min readOne Dollar Over $218,000 Can Raise a Couple's Medicare Premiums About $2,300 a YearMedicare's IRMAA surcharge is a cliff: crossing $218,000 of joint MAGI by a single dollar triggers roughly $2,300 a year in extra premiums for a couple. The 2026 arithmetic.Medicare · 6 min readMedicare's 7-Month Window: Miss It and Part B Costs 10% More — PermanentlyMedicare's Initial Enrollment Period is seven months around your 65th birthday. Miss it without qualifying coverage and Part B costs 10% more per year of delay — for life. The mechanics, shown plainly.Medicare · 6 min readMedicare and IRMAA: What Higher-Income Households Need to KnowPlain-English guide to Medicare Parts A–D, the 2026 IRMAA income surcharge brackets, enrollment windows, and how income decisions affect what you pay.Medicare · 5 min readMedicare Part B Costs $202.90 a Month in 2026 — Here's the Math Behind ItThe 2026 Part B premium is $202.90 — up $17.90, just under 10%. What it nets against the 2.8% COLA at three benefit levels, the $283 deductible, the hold-harmless floor, and who pays $284.10–$689.90 instead.

Income Planning

How much is enough, withdrawal rates, and early access to retirement accounts.

Income Planning · 6 min readIs the 4% Rule Dead? The 2026 Research Says 3.9%–4.7% — Here's Why the RangeMorningstar's 2026 research says 3.9%; Bengen's updated work says 4.7%. Both are answering different questions. Why the safe withdrawal rate is a range, shown plainly.Income Planning · 6 min readHow Much Do You Actually Need? The ×25 Rule, and Where It BendsMultiply the spending your portfolio must cover by 25 and you have a first-pass retirement number. Where the rule comes from, the input everyone gets wrong, the 2026 research range (×21.3–×25.6), and what the number cannot tell you.Income Planning · 7 min readRetirement Income and Withdrawal Rates: What the Research Actually SaysThe 4% rule, bucket approach, bond ladders, and sequence-of-returns risk — current research and practical frameworks for sustainable retirement income.Income Planning · 5 min readThe Rule of 55: Early 401(k) Withdrawals Without the 10% PenaltyLeaving an employer in or after the year you turn 55 lets that plan's distributions skip the 10% early-withdrawal tax. Which accounts qualify, the rollover move that forfeits it, and the plan-document fine print.

Family Wealth

Preparing the people who will inherit, not just the documents.

Family Wealth · 6 min readIs Your Family Ready for What You Leave Them?The documents are the manageable part of passing on wealth. Most of what goes wrong traces back to preparation and conversation, not tax structure.