Retirement

The step-up in basis rule is one of the most valuable tax provisions most Americans have never heard of. When you inherit stocks, mutual funds, or a taxable brokerage account, the IRS automatically resets your cost basis to the fair market value on the date of death — wiping out all the capital gains that accumulated during the original owner’s lifetime. On $125,000 in inherited stock with an $81,000 embedded gain, that’s $12,000–$16,000 in federal taxes that simply disappear. Here’s the real dollar math, what qualifies and what doesn’t, and how to use this rule in your own estate planning.

A self-employed person with $80,000 in net income can contribute roughly $38,000 to a Solo 401k but only about $16,000 to a SEP-IRA — on the same income. Most people pick the SEP because it’s simpler without realizing they’re leaving more than $20,000 in annual tax-deferred contribution room on the table. Here’s the complete comparison: contribution limits at different income levels, the Roth advantage the SEP-IRA doesn’t have, the backdoor Roth complication that makes the SEP a trap for some investors, and a clear decision framework for choosing the right account.

The debate between dividend investing and total return is one of the most emotionally charged in retirement planning — and it has a real answer. Total return wins on the math. Dividends win on the psychology. Here’s what actually matters for a 62-year-old deciding how to structure their portfolio, including the sector concentration trap most dividend investors walk into, the tax math during the pre-Social Security window, and the cash buffer strategy that solves the behavioral problem better than any yield-chasing approach.

The old rule of subtracting your age from 110 to find your stock allocation was built for a generation that retired at 65 and died at 72. Today’s 60-year-old needs a portfolio to last 25-30 years — and being 50% in bonds at 60 is a quiet way to underfund that runway. Here are the allocation targets that actually make sense at 55, 60, and 65, plus the income-source variable that changes everything.

If your retirement savings are locked in a traditional IRA or 401k and you want to retire before 59½, a Roth conversion ladder may be your best tool for accessing that money without the 10% early withdrawal penalty. Here’s how it works, what it costs in taxes, and why you need to start it five years before you need it.

The SECURE Act replaced the old stretch IRA with a 10-year depletion rule — and most adult children who inherit a parent’s IRA have no idea it exists until they’re already in trouble. Here’s what the 10-year rule actually means, why the difference between taking all $180,000 in year one vs. spreading it out can cost you $20,000–$35,000 in unnecessary taxes, and the four things to do in the next 30 days if you’ve recently inherited an IRA.

Most people set up their 401k, pick some funds, and forget about it for years. The problem: stocks outperform bonds during bull markets, so your 60/40 portfolio quietly drifts to 75/25 or 80/20 without any decision on your part. Then a correction hits and you’re carrying far more risk than you intended. Here’s how often to rebalance, what the research says, and how to do it in 15 minutes inside your 401k.

Medicare Part B doesn’t cost everyone the same amount. If your income exceeds certain thresholds, you pay an IRMAA surcharge — and Medicare looks at your income from two years ago, not your current retirement income. For a 65-year-old with $90,000 in retirement income, whether you pay standard premiums or hundreds more per month depends entirely on your income sources and your income history. Here’s the full breakdown.

Most people think market risk goes down once they retire. It’s the opposite. The first three to five years after you stop working are the most dangerous in your entire investment life — and the order in which market gains and losses happen determines whether your money lasts. Here’s what sequence of returns risk means and what to do about it.

A 403(b) and a Roth IRA can work together — but for a teacher earning $58,000, the order matters. Here’s the priority framework: capture the employer match first, then Roth IRA, then more 403(b). Plus the fee trap inside many school district plans that nobody warns you about.