Retirement scan

The U.S. is one of the few countries that doesn’t have paid family leave, and it can cause families hardship around the time of a birth, says an expert.

The Trump administration unveiled its proposed budget that includes provisions that would enable Medicare beneficiaries to contribute to a health savings account.

Seniors will face a 20% penalty on top of income taxes if they withdraw funds from a health savings account for non-medical expenses before the age of 65.

Not having a full understanding could hurt workers’ retirement prospects by causing them to possibly miss out on their employer’s match or not reducing their taxable income as much as possible.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is facing a $54 billion deficit for insuring multiemployer plans in unionized industries, says the GAO report.

The worst thing you can do during a stock market crash is panic and sell your stocks near the market bottom.

To qualify for this feature, clients should have reported a minimum amount for at least 11 years.

For many workers, moving assets from old 401(k)s into a traditional IRA may not be a smart move. One reason: IRAs often don’t offer stable value or guaranteed fund investment options as do most 401(k)s.

The government needs to improve cost-of-living adjustments to ensure that retirees can cope with inflation, says an expert.

If the client makes a mistake, they are advised to take the RMD as soon as they discover it so they can ask the IRS for a waiver of the penalty.

Those who signed up in the past year will get a smaller pension than they would under the old system, but they can expect additional benefits from the tax-advantaged Thrift Savings Plan.

The sandwich generation is struggling to save for its own needs, and when you add in family demands, it paints a "grim picture," an expert says.

Although the test is complicated and misunderstood, eliminating it could “do more harm than good,” according to an expert.

Medicare will charge a high-income surcharge if seniors reported more than $85,000 (or $170,000 for joint filers) in modified adjusted gross and tax-exempt interest income.

Although more taxpayers are expected to use the standard deduction, they can still claim the tax deduction for IRA contributions.

Retirees who opt to file at a much later date can earn delayed retirement credits that could boost their benefits by as much as 32%.

Although earnings in a deferred annuity will not be included in an investor's adjusted gross income, future withdrawals from the annuity could trigger a bigger tax bill.

It would raise enough new revenue to more than restore long-term balance of the program.

Even middle-class households who have health insurance are at risk, as a researcher points out that they are the ones who filed for the most bankruptcies.

Lawmakers and policymakers should make retirement savings plans universally available if they want to help Americans secure their golden years.