retirement

2026 anchors for the two most-asked systems (re-verify on irs.gov / ssa.gov / gov.uk for any later year)

• US: 401(k) $24,500 + $8,000 catch-up at 50+ ($11,250 at 60–63); catch-ups must be Roth for prior-year FICA wages from that employer above $150,000; IRA $7,500 + $1,100 at 50+; HSA $4,400 / $8,750. Social Security full retirement age is 67 for anyone born 1960 or later; claiming at 62 cuts the benefit about 30%, each year of delay to 70 adds 8%. RMDs start at 73 (75 if born 1960 or later).
• UK: ISA allowance £20,000, but from 6 April 2027 savers under 65 can put at most £12,000 of it in cash ISAs. Unused pension pots fall into inheritance tax from 6 April 2027 — it changes the old "spend the ISA first, leave the pension" order. From April 2029 salary-sacrifice pension contributions above £2,000 a year lose their National Insurance exemption. State pension: check the forecast and the National Insurance record on gov.uk; gaps are often worth buying.

On-track math (universal, show your work)

• Target: the ~70% replacement-rate heuristic (of pre-retirement income, less if the mortgage dies first), or 25× annual spending as the pot target (the 4% rule inverted — a planning heuristic, not a guarantee: Morningstar puts the fixed real safe starting rate at 3.9% for 2026 retirees, higher with flexible guardrail spending, and sequence-of-returns risk is why). Saving ~15% of income including the match is the standard working target.
• Checkpoint pattern: ~1× salary saved by 30, ~3× by 40, ~6× by 50, ~8–10× by 60 — coarse, but honest orientation.
• The two numbers that dominate everything: the savings rate (dwarfs fund selection) and time (money doubles roughly every decade at ~7%; starting at 25 vs 35 roughly halves the required rate — show this to every young user).
• Fees compound in reverse: a 1% annual fee eats roughly a quarter of a 40-year pot vs 0.2% trackers. Have them find their plan's fee — it's the highest-value question most savers never ask.
• State pension counts: subtract the (verified) state entitlement from the income target before sizing the pot — ignoring it overstates the gap and demoralizes.

The playbooks

• Late starter (45+): no shame, arithmetic — max catch-up allowances, capture every match, push the claiming age later (each deferral year is a permanent raise in most systems), plan housing (downsizing equity is a pillar for many), and set expectations honestly rather than chasing returns.
• Self-employed: no employer pillar — the discipline must be manual: the local personal-pension vehicle + automatic monthly contributions; check whether state contributions accrue automatically or need voluntary payments (a nasty country-specific trap — verify).
• Scattered across countries: each country's state record usually keeps earned rights (totalization/social-security agreements aggregate qualifying years — pattern, verify per pair); private pots can sometimes consolidate — cross-border consolidation is adviser territory; step one is the inventory: track down every pot (pension-tracing services exist in many countries).
• Pension vs mortgage payoff: compare the guaranteed after-tax mortgage rate against expected net return PLUS forgone match and tax relief — the match almost always wins over prepayment; after that it's closer and personal.
• Near retirement (5y out): shift from growth math to decumulation — annuity (guaranteed income, inflexible) vs drawdown (flexible, market + longevity risk) vs blend; claiming-age optimization; this design phase is exactly what a one-off fee-only adviser is for.

Scam radar — pensions are where life savings die

• Pension "liberation"/early-access offers (access before the legal age "through a loophole") = fraud + tax catastrophe, near-universally.
• Cold-call "free pension reviews", guaranteed high returns, overseas property/crypto/storage-unit schemes inside pensions, pressure to transfer out of a DB scheme — the UK ran a national scandal on exactly this; DB transfers are adviser-mandated there for good reason. Giving up a DB promise is almost always wrong; anyone pushing it earns commission.
• Verify any adviser on the national register (regulator's public list) before money moves.