Should You Contribute to Retirement Accounts After 65?
Once you reach retirement age, it's time to quit dumping money into your retirement savings accounts and start spending it. Or is it? If you're in your late 60s or even early 70s, it may make sense to keep contributing to those accounts even after retirement. This is especially true if your balances aren't as high as you'd like, or you've decided to delay your retirement.
Once you reach 50, you become eligible to make catch-up contributions to both 401(k)s and IRAs. The idea behind catch-up contributions is to allow workers who are behind on retirement saving to throw a little extra money into the pot. As of 2017, workers 50 and older can contribute an extra $6,000 per year to a 401(k) account and an extra $1,000 per year to an IRA (either traditional or Roth).
On or around your 50th birthday, pull up your retirement savings account balances and do the math on how much income they'll provide versus how much income you'll need. If the numbers are disappointing, now is the time to start maxing out your contributions to those accounts, including catch-up contributions. You're getting close to the finish line, so this is the moment to bring your A-game.
Source: Fool.com
