Catch Up Contributions: EDU #2534

The Retirement and IRA Show

Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP®

Business, Investing

4.3 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chris’s Summary

Jim and I review catch up contributions across IRAs and workplace plans using questions from the Ed Slott training quiz. We clarify the $1,000 IRA catch up (now indexed), explain the age 60–63 super catch up in 401(k)/403(b) plans, and outline the Roth mandate that will require high earners’ catch ups to go to the Roth side. I focus on what’s actually changing and where these rules create practical planning tradeoffs.

Jim’s “Pithy” Summary

Chris and I dig into the latest Ed Slott quiz, focusing heavily on catch up contributions and how Secure Act 2.0 continues to reshape the rules. We start by clarifying what’s true and false about the standard catch up, then dive into the new super catch up available between ages 60 and 63. I explain why I find this provision frustrating, since adding a few thousand dollars so late in the game hardly moves the needle compared to what earlier compounding could have achieved.

And here’s the part that drives me nuts: Congress pats itself on the back for giving people in their 60s this special window, but where was that option decades earlier when it really mattered? If you let someone in their 30s or 40s make bigger contributions, you give compounding time to actually do its job. Instead, they created a rule that looks generous but, in practice, is mostly symbolic.

From there, we tackle the Roth mandate for higher earners. If your wages exceed the threshold, your additional catch up dollars must go into the Roth side of the plan. That’s going to be a big surprise for many workers who are used to putting everything pre-tax, especially in higher-cost states where salaries above the threshold aren’t unusual. The upshot is that many workers in this situation will find their catch up contributions directed into a Roth account, which takes away the immediate deduction but allows those dollars to grow and be withdrawn tax-free later in retirement.

The post Catch Up Contributions: EDU #2534 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The retirement and IRA show represents the words and views of the show hosts exclusively and should not be construed as investment legal or tax advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance information is historical in nature and is not indicative of any future results. Any indices mentioned on the show are unmanaged and cannot be invested indirectly. Diversification and asset allocation strategies do not assure profit or protect against loss.
0:23.8	Never make any investment or financial decisions based on information offered on this show
0:26.8	without first consulting your financial legal or tax advisor.
0:29.6	Financial planning services offered through Jim Solnior and Associates LLC, a registered investment advisor.
0:47.1	This is the retirement and IRA show coming to you from beautiful Northern Colorado.
0:52.8	Join us as certified financial planner Jim Sonier, as well as Colorado State University Finance Instructor and Certified Financial
0:55.1	Planner Chris Stein teach you about IRAs, borrow-en-case, annuities, Social Security,
1:01.1	pension plans, and estate planning in a fun and enjoyable show. Whether you are listening live in
1:06.8	Colorado or streaming from their website or iTunes podcast, Jim and Chris want you to know that they're
1:12.6	available to help you plan for your retirement. Just visit their website at Jimhelps.com.
1:18.5	That's Jim H-E-L-P-S dot com and click the Meet the Team button on the homepage.
1:24.7	Now here's Jim and Chris with today's show.
1:29.4	Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Retirement and IRA show EDU edition for this week.
1:35.0	Before we dive into today's topic, I want to apologize for last week's EDU show.
1:41.4	Those of you who jump right on the download there might have it set up to auto download last week's EDU show. Those of you who jump right on the download there might have it set up
1:45.2	to auto download. Last week's EDU show, the wrong audio file got linked to the release. So there was
1:51.5	an older show instead of the second half of the Robert Merton article that we were breaking down.
1:59.5	That has since been fixed.
2:01.2	So if you got the wrong file, if you just force a fresh download on the
2:05.8	EDU episode from last week, you'll be up to date with what should have been there.
2:11.7	So I apologize for that.
2:13.3	We'll try to prevent that from happening in the future.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP®, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jim Saulnier, CFP® & Chris Stein, CFP® and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.