Daniel Kim

The 2026 Roth IRA contribution limit is $7,500 ($8,600 if you are 50 or older), and the deadline to contribute for 2026 is April 15, 2027. If you are unsure how much you can put in, whether your income trims that amount, or what happens if you put in too much, the tables and checklist below let you check all three today. Income inside a set range shrinks your limit, income above it blocks direct contributions, and going over your limit triggers a 6% yearly penalty on the excess. Figures in this guide are as of IRS Notice 2025-67 (announced Nov. 13, 2025), cross-checked against Fidelity and Motley Fool . The limit moved from $7,000 in 2025 to $7,500 in 2026, so confirm the current figure with your IRA provider before you contribute. Roth IRA 2026 at a glance 1. The 2026 limit: $7,500, or $8,600 at 50 and older For 2026, you can contribute up to $7,500 to a Roth IRA if you are under 50 and up to $8,600 if you are 50 or older. The extra $1,100 for the older group is the catch-up...

You contribute to your 401(k) each payday, your balance grows, and you can still be missing part of your employer’s match. In the most common match formula, applied to a $60,000 salary (an example, not your numbers), contributing 3% brings $1,800 from your employer, while contributing 5% brings $2,400. That $600 gap is an illustration; this article shows you how to check whether you have one of your own. Two sources report that a share of workers miss part of the match. A May 2015 Financial Engines study ("Missing Out"), based on 2014 data from 4.4 million participants across 553 companies, found that 1 in 4 employees (25%) missed the full match. Fidelity's Q2 2026 analysis found about 18.8% of eligible employees (about 1 in 5) did not contribute enough to capture the full match, implying a match capture rate of 81.2%. My read: the two figures draw on different groups of participants, so treat them as context, not as a benchmark for your plan. Missing part of the match d...

Medicare Open Enrollment 2026: 6 Things to Check Before December 7 By Daniel Kim | Information as of Oct 15, 2026 If you like your Medicare plan and expect to do nothing this fall, keeping the same plan is not the same as keeping the same benefits. Your plan may change its premiums, benefits, networks, or drug coverage for the new year, and the annual window to act closes Dec 7, 2026. Below are six checks to run before you decide to stay or switch. This is general information, not a recommendation of any specific plan. The dates and what this window allows Annual Open Enrollment (AEP) runs from Oct 15, 2026 through Dec 7, 2026 ( Medicare.gov Open Enrollment ). Date What happens Oct 15, 2026 AEP begins Dec 7, 2026 Your plan has to receive your enrollment request by this date for the usual annual change Jan 1, 2027 Coverage under a plan selected during AEP generally begins, and changes to a plan you keep can also take effect During AEP you can generally: Switch between Orig...

By Daniel Kim December 15, 2026 is the deadline to apply on the federal platform for coverage that starts January 1, 2027, but it is not the final federal enrollment date, which is January 15, 2027. Picture a hypothetical shopper (not a real person) who read that December 15 is the last day to enroll and worries the window has closed: on the federal platform, applications from December 16 through January 15 generally start coverage February 1. A state Marketplace could run on a different calendar, so the date that counts for you is the one your own Marketplace publishes. This guide answers two questions: which date applies to your Marketplace, and what to verify before you choose a plan. It is general information for U.S. residents buying individual Marketplace coverage without employer-sponsored insurance, not tax, legal, or insurance advice. Facts are as of October 15, 2026. Know Your Actual Deadline As of October 15, 2026, federal-platform Open Enrollment for 2027 runs from No...

General information only. This article explains how different rates respond to a Fed decision. It is not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Confirm current terms with your lender, bank, or card issuer. If you are deciding what to do about a mortgage quote, a savings account or a credit card balance before the Fed's Oct 27-28 meeting, the decision itself matters less than the three different speeds at which those rates respond to it. Where our previous post explained what a 3.7% September CPI means, this playbook covers what to do before Oct 28: how each rate moves, who controls it, and which numbers and documents to check first to protect your monthly cash flow. Miniature house models and keys. Photo: Jakub Zerdzicki / Pexels 1. Who Sets Each Rate, and How Fast It Moves The Fed controls one rate directly: the target range for the overnight federal funds rate, now 3.75-4.00% after the Sept 16 increase. Your mortgage, savings account and credit card are each pr...

September CPI 3.7%: What It Means for Your Mortgage, Savings, and Grocery Bill Data as of Oct. 15, 2026. Every figure carries its date because rates and prices change daily. Figures shown with a formula are my own arithmetic. Photo: Pexels September CPI came in at 3.7%, and here's what that means for your mortgage rate, your savings account, and your grocery bill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that prices rose 3.7% over the last 12 months, up from 3.4% in August, while core CPI rose to 2.6% from 2.4%. Economists had expected 3.6% and 2.5%. Gasoline alone accounted for more than half of the month's 0.6% increase. Your grocery bill is not where the pain is. Food at home fell 0.1% in September and is up 1.8% over 12 months, less than half the headline rate. The squeeze is somewhere else: what a new mortgage costs, the gap between what your savings account pays and what prices are doing, and the pump. Mortgage: 7.40% Is the Number, and CPI Day Barel...