Britannica Money (2024)

No judgment here, but if you spent a chunk of your working years trying to juggle the expenses of your home and family, it’s possible your retirement accounts didn’t get as much love as they needed—and you wouldn’t be alone.

That’s why there are catch-up contributions. As the name implies, catch-up contributions are a way to boost retirement savings by contributing a little extra to your IRAs, your employer-sponsored accounts—including a 401(k) or 403(b)—or even a health savings account (HSA).

How catch-up contributions work

If you’re 50 or older by the end of the calendar year, you’re no longer beholden to the regular contribution limits for your 401(k) or IRAs. For HSAs, catch-up contributions kick in after age 55.

Thanks to catch-up contribution rules, you can contribute a little or a lot more, depending on the account. The trick is understanding how catch-up rules work so you don’t end up accidentally over-contributing, which can trigger tax issues.

Catch-up contributions and your 401(k)

The ordinary contribution limit for an employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k) or 403(b) in 2023 is $22,500 per year. But if you’re over 50, you can contribute an additional $7,500 annually for a total of $30,000.

Remember, these are tax-deferred accounts, and the money you withhold from your paycheck is considered pre-tax (meaning, it’s not taxed until later, when you withdraw it in retirement). So these contributions reduce your taxable income—which will likely reduce your tax bill. In essence, you could save more for retirement and potentially owe less at tax time—a double win.

Catch-up contributions and traditional or Roth IRAs

The story with individual retirement accounts (IRAs) is a little different. The annual contribution limit for traditional and Roth IRAs for 2023 is $6,500. If you’re over 50, you can play catch-up by adding $1,000, for a total of $7,500.

Similar to a 401(k), a traditional IRA is a tax-deferred account. A Roth IRA is not, because you make those contributions with after-tax funds. But the same $1,000 catch-up benefit applies if you’re over 50.

Plug in the appropriate numbers to the calculator in this article to see how much you might need to save for retirement. Are you on track?

There are a couple of other things to know about annual IRA contributions:

• The $7,500 limit (including the $1,000 catch-up contribution) is the total amount you can save in all your IRA accounts in 2023, combined. It’s not the amount you can save in each account. So if you’re over 50 and have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, and you contribute $3,000 to one, you can’t contribute more than $4,500 to the other, for a combined total of $7,500.

• You can contribute to both a 401(k) and a traditional IRA, but depending on your income, you may not be able to deduct your contributions to your IRA account if you or your spouse also contributes to a workplace retirement plan.
• You can always contribute to a 401(k) and a Roth IRA as long as your income doesn’t exceed the cap for contributing to a Roth. For 2023, the MAGI (modified adjusted gross income) limits for a Roth IRA are $153,000 or less if you’re single, and less than $228,000 if you’re married filing jointly.

Catch-up contributions and your HSA

Health savings accounts are typically funded with pre-tax money (which can reduce your taxable income). But HSA catch-up contributions are allowed for those 55 and older (not 50, as with retirement accounts).

The annual catch-up is $1,000 per account holder. So if you have an HSA and you’re 55 or older by the end of the year, you can add another $1,000 to your account. The basic limit for an individual (they call it “self only”) HSA is $3,850 for 2023, or $4,850 with the catch-up. It’s $7,700 for family coverage, or $8,700 with the catch-up amount.

If you and your spouse are both 55 or older, you can each add the extra $1,000 to your HSAs. If you meet the age requirement but your spouse doesn’t, and you both have HSAs, only you can make a catch-up contribution.

Hidden benefits of an HSA. Many people don’t realize that HSA accounts (and the money in them) are yours to save or spend, whenever. There are no withdrawal requirements or deadlines, as there are with flexible spending accounts (FSAs). (However, you’ll need to pay income taxes if you use the money for nonqualified expenses.)

Even better, the money can be withdrawn tax free for qualified medical expenses now—or later in retirement. So adding the extra $1,000 once you turn 55 could be a smart move, given that medical expenses loom large as you get older.

The bottom line

Catch-up contributions don’t always get the shout-out they deserve as an excellent way to enhance your retirement nest egg. If you’re already contributing to a 401(k), an IRA, or an HSA, the money is likely being deposited automatically. It could be relatively easy to bump that number up, and look forward to reaping the benefit of a bigger nest egg in years to come.