{"id":405201,"date":"2026-01-13T20:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405201\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:29:11","slug":"this-financial-move-can-ensure-you-keep-your-home-in-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405201\/","title":{"rendered":"This financial move can ensure you keep your home in retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saving for retirement is a critical\u00a0financial move<\/a>\u00a0at any age, but if you\u2019re over 50 and a homeowner, ensuring that your accounts are well funded is particularly important<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00a02026<\/a>, investors can defer up to $24,500 in their 401(k) plan, up from $23,500 in 2025. The full plan limit, which includes employer matches and other contributions, is $72,000.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re over 50, you can add $8,000 in 2026 for catch-up contributions, while investors aged 60 to 63 can add $11,250.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maxing out your 401(k)<\/a>\u00a0every year is ideal, as it has a plethora of benefits in the short and long term. This is especially true for homeowners, and if you\u2019re heading into retirement <\/a>in the next decade, you may want to\u00a0prioritize your 401(k)<\/a>\u00a0if you hope to stay in your home after you\u2019re done working.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

How maxing out your 401(k) benefits homeowners\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of June 2025, the average 401(k) balance for people in their 60s was $568,040, according to data from\u00a0Empower<\/a>. This figure is slightly less than the average balance for those in their 50s ($607,055), which may be due to some individuals in the older age group having already retired and started withdrawing funds from their 401(k)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maxing out your 401(k)\u00a0every year can help those retiring keep their homes. peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Regardless, financial experts encourage homeowners to fund this retirement account specifically due to the unique benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a 401(k) improves your financial picture, making it possible for one to become and successfully\u00a0stay a homeowner,\u201d says\u00a0Katrina Martin, founder and Certified Tax Advisor of Wow Tax & Advisory Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you don\u2019t invest the maximum amount, it\u2019s not like those dollars end up in your pocket. They\u2019re taxed at every level of your paycheck\u2014federal, state, Social Security, Medicare, and more. So it makes sense to keep the money you worked hard to earn and give it a chance to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a 401(k) improves your financial picture, making it possible for one to become and successfully\u00a0stay a homeowner,\u201d Katrina Martin, founder and Certified Tax Advisor of Wow Tax & Advisory Service, says. Tada Images \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause 401(k)s are pretax, maxing them out every year can shave a few hundred dollars off your federal and state income tax bills. This means that savings is available to help pay for maintenance, repairs, insurance, homeowners association dues, and so on,\u201d adds\u00a0Armine Alajian, founder and CPA at\u00a0Alajian Group Inc.<\/a>, an accounting firm with locations in Los Angeles and\u00a0New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How the math plays out at tax season<\/p>\n

To better understand just how powerful maxing out your retirement fund can be, we\u2019ll show you the math.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Say you\u2019re a single 50-year-old homeowner in\u00a0New Jersey<\/a>\u00a0earning $125,000 a year. You own a home purchased in 2005 with 20% down at a 6% mortgage rate and pay $10,500 annually in property taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Jersey has the highest property tax rate in the nation, and the SALT deduction is capped at $10,000.<\/p>\n

As of June 2025, the average 401(k) balance for people in their 60s was $568,040. piter2121 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Losing out on the SALT deduction, combined with other itemized deductions not exceeding the standard deduction, those housing costs don\u2019t meaningfully reduce their federal taxable income.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But by maxing out your 401(k) in 2026\u2014contributing $24,500 plus an $8,000 catch-up for a total of $32,500\u2014you can reduce your taxable income from $110,400 to $77,900 after the standard deduction. At a 22% marginal federal tax rate, that 401(k) contribution cuts your tax bill by roughly $7,100, savings that can help offset high New Jersey property taxes without touching home equity or cash reserves.<\/p>\n

The long-term benefits of maxing out your 401(k), by the numbers<\/p>\n

As homeowners reach retirement age, the dread of not having a steady income starts to set in. If they\u2019re not working, how will property taxes be paid, the roof get fixed, or even the last lingering mortgage payments be taken care of?<\/p>\n

Financial experts say homeowners should fund their 401(k) specifically due to the unique benefits.\u00a0 Liubomir \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

This is where the real benefits of maxing out your 401(k) really shine.<\/p>\n

If you were to continue to max out your 401(k) at $32,500 a year for the next 15 years, assuming a 6% annual return, you could rack up roughly $756,000 by the time you\u2019re 65, two years shy of the standard retirement age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That total includes $487,500 in contributions and about $269,000 in investment growth, all growing tax-deferred.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s no doubt that this is a substantial nest egg, which has been built alongside your home equity, providing two parallel sources of wealth to support retirement. Remember, unless you have refinanced, by 2035, the\u00a0mortgage<\/a>\u00a0is paid off free and clear, so that\u2019s one less bill you\u2019re on the hook for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And this doesn\u2019t even take into consideration any employer match or potential future increases in contribution limits.<\/p>\n

And in a scenario where your mortgage is still live and you fall on hard times, your 401(k) can be the lifeline you desperately need to save your home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hit a roadblock and need to save your home from foreclosure, you can tap into your 401(k),\u201d adds Martin. \u201cWe all know that it\u2019s best to leave your 401(k) untouched until retirement, but it\u2019s nice to know it\u2019s there in times of real need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saving for retirement is a critical\u00a0financial move\u00a0at any age, but if you\u2019re over 50 and a homeowner, ensuring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5097,28,25313,9042,147,530,1170,1666,3415],"class_list":{"0":"post-405201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-401k","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-homeowners","11":"tag-insurance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-real-estate","15":"tag-retirement","16":"tag-savings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}