Sean Pyles

To help us answer Batilda's question is no one.

Elizabeth and I are taking this on ourselves this episode.

So I'll start with a rundown of how catch-up contributions work, how you qualify, and how much you can tuck away.

Catch-up contributions allow people in the later stages of their working years to save extra for retirement using workplace retirement accounts like a 401k, 403b, or even non-workplace accounts like IRAs.

You become eligible on January 1st of the year that you turn 50.

In terms of how it works, you first max out your retirement accounts, be it a 401k or an IRA, and then you can save an additional amount with the catch-up contributions.

You can make catch-up contributions to multiple accounts, but your contributions across your retirement accounts shouldn't exceed the limit.

And a fun fact for the history buffs out there, catch-up contributions became a thing in the early 2000s and were just around $2,000 back then.

They're much higher now.

Yes, same here.

Low rise jeans and a lot of Madonna and Cher for me.

As a child, yeah.

Okay, well, fast forward to 2026.

You can make an $8,000 catch-up contribution to a 401k and a $1,100 catch-up contribution to an IRA.

This is in addition to the annual contribution limit on those accounts.

The catch-up contribution limit and rules vary depending on the type of account that it is.

Super catch-up contributions were introduced in 2022 with the Secure Act 2.0.

It allows folks from 60 to 63 a higher catch-up contribution amount of $11,250 to a 401k, 403b, and a 457 plans and thrift savings plans.

So you can make both traditional and Roth catch-up contributions, but because of some recent changes, a lot depends on your income, as Batilda was alluding to.

That's probably more than anyone thought they would ever want to know about FICA taxes, but it is helpful to know where your money is going.