Yearfold journal
Field notes on planning a real retirement
The Yearfold journal is honest, sourced writing about retirement planning under 2026 federal rules — the post-OBBBA tax brackets, the post-SECURE 2.0 RMD ages, the Social Security taxability thresholds that haven’t moved since 1993, and the Medicare IRMAA tiers that move every year. Every post is written by Yearfold’s founder, every load-bearing number traces to a primary source (IRS, SSA, CMS, Congressional Research Service, FRED), and every page carries the date it was last reviewed against those primary sources.
What you won’t find here: pump-and-dump stock picks, advisor-affiliate funnels, or generic “invest in low-cost index funds” restated for the thousandth time. What you will find: the math behind the 4% rule’s actual claim and its limits, when a Roth conversion ladder pays and when it costs more than it saves, what 2026 brackets really look like after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, how the Social Security “tax torpedo” reshapes a middle-income retiree’s real marginal rate, and what Monte Carlo simulation actually means when a calculator claims to use it.
June 5, 2026 · Mindaugas Laucius
Is $500K Enough to Retire On? An Honest Answer
For some households, $500,000 is comfortably enough to retire on. For others it isn't close. The difference is almost never the $500K — it's three other numbers: your spending gap after Social Security, your age and claim timing, and your household shape. Here's the honest math, with worked examples.
enough-to-retire · 500k · retirement-savings · social-security · early-retirement
June 5, 2026 · Mindaugas Laucius
Do You Already Have Enough to Retire? Many People Do — They Just Haven't Run the Numbers
Half of workers have never calculated what retirement actually requires — and the rules of thumb most people lean on often overshoot the real number. Here's why 'enough' is a probability, not a single figure, how proper calculation sometimes reveals you can retire earlier than you assumed, and how to find out where you actually stand in 30 minutes.
pillar · early-retirement · enough-to-retire · financial-independence · monte-carlo