Guide
Retirement Savings 2026: Build a Plan That Actually Lasts
A complete guide to retirement savings 2026 covering how much to save, which accounts to use, catch-up strategies for late starters, and tax-smart withdrawals.
14 min read
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Make better financial decisions.
Practical guides to saving, borrowing, investing, and protecting your money. Understand the tradeoffs, then check the numbers.
Find a guideGuides for where you are
- Freelancer & small businessTaxes, banking, loans, and cards
- S corpIs it worth it, salary, and what it costs to run
- Real estate investingCap rate, DSCR, cash flow, and financing
- Tax planningBrackets, deductions, capital gains, and filing
- HomeownerBuying, financing, refinancing, and insurance
- New parentLife insurance, wills, 529s, and childcare
- New gradStudent loans, refinancing, and building credit
Start with a useful question
Guide
How Much House Can You Safely Buy With Irregular Income?
Freelancer income swings from $85,000 to $160,000? Compare a lender's $2,900 payment with three home prices, low-year cash flow, and reserve needs.
15 min read
Guide
Can I Spend $95,000 a Year With $2.5 Million at Age 53?
A retirement example tests $95,000 and $110,000 budgets, health costs before Medicare, Social Security, and spending cuts after a market drop.
17 min read
Guide
Inherited Money: Pay Off the Mortgage or Invest?
At 54, this household has $180,000 to use, a 3.25% mortgage and 11 years to retirement. Compare four choices, job-loss cash and the return that changes the result.
17 min read
Go deeper with a guidebook
A clear path through a bigger decision.
Guidebook · 19 published chapters
The Liquidity Guidebook
Where to keep your cash so it is safe and earns more: how much to hold, how CD ladders work, what FDIC insurance covers, and when Treasuries beat a bank.
Start guidebook →Guidebook · 8 published chapters
The Switching Guidebook
Should you move your savings to a higher-rate bank? How much you would gain, how long a top rate lasts, whether banks follow the Fed, and how to switch safely.
Start guidebook →Guidebook · 8 published chapters
The Coverage Guidebook
How much of your bank money is insured? How joint, trust and business accounts are counted, which bank sits behind your app, and what a bank failure pays.
Start guidebook →Guidebook · 8 published chapters
The Bonuses Guidebook
Is a bank account signup bonus worth it? A plain guide to what you really earn, how it compares with savings, the tax bill, who qualifies and how to keep it.
Start guidebook →Guidebook · 12 published chapters
The Trump Accounts Guidebook
A plain guide to Trump accounts for children: how to claim the $1,000, who can add money, what it is invested in, how it is taxed, and what happens at 18.
Start guidebook →Guidebook · 10 published chapters
Where to Park It
Where to keep your cash while rates are high: what each account is, why rates differ, how tax and the Fed change the answer, and how much to hold at each age.
Start guidebook →Browse all guides
983 results · Page 1 of 82
Guide
The 0% Capital-Gains Rate Can Still Raise Your ACA Premium
A 0% federal long-term capital-gains rate does not keep a gain out of ACA MAGI. See how taxable income, Marketplace credits, and the 400% poverty guideline interact, with a 2026 example and calculator.
12 min read
Guide
The Fed Held Rates on Oct. 28. 53 of 87 Savings Accounts Still Haven't Passed On September's Hike.
The Fed held at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28. SwitchWize's tracker shows 53 of 87 savings accounts unchanged 43 days after the hike, and what a hold means for yours.
5 min read
Guide
If One Spouse Dies, What Income Will the Other Keep?
A couple's survivor-income plan: estimate the Social Security and pension income that may change, list the bills that remain, and check account access.
11 min read
Guide
Why can an old IRA make most of your backdoor Roth taxable?
A worked $50,000 IRA example shows how the December 31 balance changes tax on a $7,000 backdoor Roth conversion, plus what a later 401(k) rollover can change.
14 min read
Guide
How Much House Can You Safely Buy With Irregular Income?
Freelancer income swings from $85,000 to $160,000? Compare a lender's $2,900 payment with three home prices, low-year cash flow, and reserve needs.
15 min read
Guide
Can $800,000 Pay for Long-Term Care and Protect a Spouse?
A couple with $800,000 saved tests two, four and six years of care, the healthy spouse's income gap and the savings line that changes the answer.
16 min read
Guide
Claim Social Security at 62 or 70? A Younger Spouse Changes the Math
A worked couple compares Social Security at 62, 67 and 70, including bridge costs, spousal benefits, survivor income and earnings-test effects.
16 min read
Guide
Can I Spend $95,000 a Year With $2.5 Million at Age 53?
A retirement example tests $95,000 and $110,000 budgets, health costs before Medicare, Social Security, and spending cuts after a market drop.
17 min read
Guide
Inherited IRA: How to Withdraw $600,000 Over 10 Years
A $600,000 inherited IRA, $110,000 salary and retirement in six years: compare equal withdrawals, minimums then a lump sum, and larger retirement-year draws.
16 min read
Guide
Inherited Money: Pay Off the Mortgage or Invest?
At 54, this household has $180,000 to use, a 3.25% mortgage and 11 years to retirement. Compare four choices, job-loss cash and the return that changes the result.
17 min read
Guide
Laid Off at 58 With $976,000 Saved: Can We Retire?
A worked layoff plan compares a 12-month budget, severance, health coverage, card debt and retirement withdrawals for a couple in their late 50s.
17 min read
Guide
Long-Term Care Premium Jump: Keep the Policy or Cut Coverage?
A 68-year-old compares keeping a long-term care policy after a premium increase with cutting daily benefits, inflation protection, or benefit years.
15 min read