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Every article we've published — the specific questions behind the pillar guides, answered in depth. Filter by topic, or start with the guides if you're new to a subject.
Roth Conversion Deadline: Why December 31 Is the Date
Conversions count for the year the money leaves the IRA, not April 15. Key dates, custodian cutoffs, estimated-tax safe harbors and the IRMAA lookback.
Read the article →Excess Roth IRA Contribution: The 6% Penalty and How to Fix It
Four fixes compared, deadline windows, how the 6% excise tax compounds, and 1099-R / Form 5329 reporting.
Read the article →Solo 401(k) Contribution Limits for 2026
Employee deferral plus employer share, catch-ups, the $72,000 cap, a worked example at two income levels, and Form 5500-EZ.
Read the article →Convert a 401(k) to a Roth IRA: Rollover vs. Conversion
Four paths compared, what is taxable, the 5-year clocks, and when a direct conversion beats a rollover first.
Read the article →Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA for 2026: Which Wins?
Side-by-side contributions at $75K, $150K and $300K of profit, Roth options, loans and the $72,000 cap.
Read the article →How to Avoid Taxes on a 401(k) Inheritance (and What You Cannot)
What heirs can defer, reduce or eliminate: spousal rollover, the 10-year window, disclaimers, charity and Roth conversions.
Read the article →Tax-Efficient Retirement Withdrawal Order
Which account to tap first, with a two-scenario example that fills the 22% bracket while staying under an IRMAA tier.
Read the article →Can You Open a Roth IRA for a Child?
Earned-income rule, family-business wages, custodian control, and what happens at the age of majority.
Read the article →Self-Directed Solo 401(k) for Real Estate
Checkbook control, non-recourse financing, prohibited transactions and the permitted-vs-prohibited scenarios.
Read the article →Can You Have a Roth IRA and a 401(k)?
Separate limits, 2026 phase-outs, deductibility when covered by a plan, and the high-earner routes.
Read the article →Oil and Gas Industry Tax Breaks Explained
Who gets which break: majors, independents, working-interest and royalty owners; depletion, IDCs and passive-loss treatment.
Read the article →Converting an IRA to Roth After Age 60
The same $200,000 conversion priced at 60, 65 and 72, with IRMAA, Social Security taxation and RMD runway.
Read the article →Backdoor Roth IRA in 2026: Step by Step
Still allowed. The five steps, the pro-rata rule with a worked example at three IRA balances, the reverse-rollover clean-out, and Form 8606 reporting.
Read the article →Mega Backdoor Roth: How It Works in 2026
After-tax 401(k) room up to the $72,000 limit, the three plan features you need, why ACP testing blocks many plans, and in-plan conversion vs a Roth IRA.
Read the article →RMD Age: When Do RMDs Start, 73 or 75?
Born 1951–1959, it's 73; 1960 or later, 75. The April 1 first-RMD option and its two-in-one-year trap, the still-working exception, and the 1959 edge case.
Read the article →The Roth IRA 5-Year Rule for Earnings
One clock for life, from January 1 of your first Roth year — and 59½ alone doesn't satisfy it. How it differs from the conversion clock, in one table.
Read the article →Inherited Roth IRA Rules: No Annual RMDs
Why most heirs owe nothing until year 10, spouse and EDB options, the owner's five-year clock you inherit, and why waiting is usually right for this one account.
Read the article →SEP IRA Contribution Limits 2026: $72,000
25% of pay up to $72,000, the 20% self-employed math worked on $150,000 of profit, the $800 eligibility rule, extended deadlines and the new Roth SEP option.
Read the article →Can You Convert an Inherited IRA to a Roth?
Only a surviving spouse can truly convert it. The non-spouse workaround, the inherited-401(k) exception, and what still doesn't change — the 10-year clock.
Read the article →How to Calculate MAGI for IRMAA
A line-by-line Form 1040 worksheet — AGI plus tax-exempt interest, what counts, what doesn't, and the two-year lookback that sets your premium.
Read the article →Does Deferred Compensation Count Toward IRMAA?
Yes, at 100% — NQDC payouts flow straight into MAGI. Why the payout election, not the tax year, is the real lever, and how installments change the bill.
Read the article →Inheriting an Inherited IRA
Successor beneficiaries get no new stretch — which 10-year clock you inherit depends on what the first beneficiary had, and annual RMDs may keep running.
Read the article →Pre-Tax or Roth: How to Actually Decide
Marginal rate now vs effective rate later, the equal-rates math, a bracket-by-bracket decision table — and the 2026 rule forcing high earners' catch-ups into Roth.
Read the article →A Roth IRA for Your Adult Child
You can't open it for them — but you can fund it. The earned-income rule, the $19,000 gift exclusion, and why nine years of $7,500 beats thirty years started late.
Read the article →Do Roth IRA Withdrawals Count as Income?
Qualified withdrawals sit outside every MAGI that matters — ACA credits, IRMAA, Social Security, NIIT. Conversions don't. One table, five thresholds.
Read the article →529-to-Roth IRA Rollovers
The 15-year clock, the five-year seasoning rule, the $35,000 lifetime cap, and the three places IRS guidance is still missing.
Read the article →Roth IRA Basis: Track It or Lose It
Your custodian doesn't track it and the IRS assumes zero if you can't prove it. Form 8606 Part III, the ledger to keep, and how to rebuild years of records.
Read the article →Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA)
Pay capital-gains rates on employer stock instead of ordinary income — the four requirements, a $500,000 worked example, and the break-even basis where NUA stops paying.
Read the article →Solo 401(k) vs Self-Directed IRA
For leveraged real estate the solo 401(k) usually wins: the UDFI exemption, participant loans, no custodian — and the 2026 limits side by side.
Read the article →Are Annuities Subject to RMDs?
Qualified yes, non-qualified no, QLAC deferred to 85 — plus the SECURE 2.0 aggregation rule that's still only in proposed regs.
Read the article →The 401(k) Early Withdrawal Penalty
The 10% penalty and every exception that waives it — all 20+ in one table, with the 401(k)-vs-IRA columns that most explanations get wrong.
Read the article →Using an IRA to Buy a House
The $10,000 first-home exception (IRA only — not your 401(k)), the Roth contribution path, and why "borrowing" from an IRA isn't a thing.
Read the article →Your 401(k) in a Divorce
QDRO mechanics, the alternate-payee cash-out that skips the 10% penalty, and what courts do when a spouse empties the account mid-divorce.
Read the article →What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Die
The beneficiary form beats the will, your spouse has rights no one mentions, and the no-beneficiary path leads through probate to the worst tax outcome.
Read the article →Can You Put a 401(k) or IRA in a Trust?
Not during your lifetime — but a trust can be the beneficiary. Conduit vs accumulation, the see-through rules, and the trust tax bracket trap.
Read the article →Trusteed IRA
The IRA that acts like a trust after you're gone — post-death control for second marriages and spendthrift heirs, honestly weighed against the alternatives.
Read the article →The Roth Conversion 5-Year Rule
Each conversion gets its own January 1 clock. The two different five-year rules, the ordering that protects you, and why 59½ changes the whole answer.
Read the article →Recharacterize Roth to Traditional
Contributions can still be undone until October 15 — conversions can't, since 2018. The deadline, the NIA math, and the recharacterize-then-backdoor play.
Read the article →Roth Conversion 1099-R Codes
Code 2 or 7 for an IRA conversion, G for in-plan, N and R for recharacterizations — the full Box 7 table, and how the form flows onto Form 8606.
Read the article →The 60-Day Rollover Rules
When the clock starts, the once-per-12-months trap that covers ALL your IRAs, the 20% withholding surprise, and the self-certification fix for late rollovers.
Read the article →The IRA Rollover Chart
What can roll where, on one grid — plus the SIMPLE IRA two-year rule, the Roth one-way doors, and the moves the IRS chart says are never allowed.
Read the article →RMD Taxes: How Distributions Are Taxed
Ordinary income, never capital gains — how an RMD stacks on your bracket, hits IRMAA and Social Security, and the withholding trick that fixes a year of underpayment.
Read the article →What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Leave a Job
The four options compared honestly — including the cases where rolling to an IRA is the wrong move: the rule of 55, NUA, and backdoor Roth users.
Read the article →401(k) Hardship Withdrawal
The qualifying reasons, the self-certification rules, why hardship doesn't waive the 10% penalty — and the $1,000 emergency option that may beat it.
Read the article →Oil & Gas Investment Tax Deductions
The full map on one page: IDCs, tangible costs, percentage depletion, G&G amortization, and the working-interest rule that unlocks them all.
Read the article →The Rule of 55
Penalty-free 401(k) access after leaving a job at 55 — which plan qualifies, the practical plan-rule traps, and the IRA rollover that destroys it.
Read the article →In-Plan Roth Conversion
Converting inside your 401(k): the tax it creates, the five-year recapture rule, and when converting in place beats rolling out first.
Read the article →In-Service Withdrawal
Moving 401(k) money while still employed — what each money type can move, at what age, and the five protections you give up by rolling out.
Read the article →The Roth Conversion Ladder
Early retirement's tax play: convert a slice each year, wait out each rung's five-year clock, and reach your money penalty-free before 59½.
Read the article →Self-Directed Roth IRA
The rules, the custodian landscape, and why the Roth wrapper changes the math on real estate and other alternatives.
Read the article →Inherited IRA RMDs & the 10-Year Rule
How to calculate the RMD for an inherited IRA: which beneficiary regime you're in, the Single Life factor, the subtract-one method, and the year-ten deadline.
Read the article →Can You Have Multiple Roth IRAs?
Yes — but the annual contribution limit is one aggregate cap across every account. When a second Roth helps, and when it just adds cost.
Read the article →How to Avoid Taxes on Your RMD
The RMD itself can't be skipped — but seven legal moves cut the tax on it, from QCDs to gap-year conversions to bracket timing.
Read the article →Roth IRA Early Withdrawal Penalty
The order money leaves a Roth — contributions, conversions, earnings — the two separate 5-year rules, and every penalty exception.
Read the article →How to Avoid IRMAA
What counts as MAGI, why the brackets are cliffs rather than slopes, and how a Roth conversion bites two years later.
Read the article →IRMAA Appeal: Form SSA-44
The eight life-changing events, the proof SSA actually accepts, and why a Roth conversion is not one of them.
Read the article →Intangible Drilling Costs (IDC)
What IRC §263(c) lets you expense, why the working interest matters, and the risks a deduction never fixes.
Read the article →QCD From an Inherited IRA
Yes, you can — if you're 70½. How QCDs defuse the 10-year rule's tax squeeze on inherited accounts, with a worked example.
Read the article →QCD Rules for 2026: The $111,000 Limit
Why a QCD beats deducting the same gift under the new 2026 rules — and no, IRA charitable giving was not eliminated.
Read the article →Does a Roth Conversion Count as an RMD?
No — the RMD must come out first. The first-dollars-out rule, the age-73 trap, and how to fix the mistake.
Read the article →New to a topic? The pillar guides are the place to start.