The Catch-Up Years

You're in your 40s, 50s, or early 60s, and your retirement savings are small, or close to nothing. You've read that you should have started at 25, and a quiet voice says it's too late. It isn't. Starting late costs you some compounding years, but it leaves the biggest levers in your hands.

The Catch-Up Years is a calm, practical retirement planning guide for late starters. It shows how catch-up contributions, a higher savings rate, a few more working years, a Social Security claiming age chosen on purpose, low costs, and smart housing and spending choices can improve your outcome a lot. It's built around one simple method, B.R.I.D.G.E.: Begin with the real numbers, Raise your savings rate, Increase the gap, Delay what you can, Guard what you've built, and Expect the costs, and ease across.

In this book, you'll discover:

• How to take an honest inventory and find old 401(k)s and pensions you forgot
• How to estimate your own retirement number without scary headline targets
• How the match, 401(k) and IRA limits, and catch-up contributions work in 2026, including the ages 60 to 63 window and the Roth catch-up rule
• Where to find money to save without making life miserable
• What claiming Social Security at 62, 67, or 70 really means, including spousal and survivor benefits
• Why low fees and simple index investing matter more when you start late
• How to avoid cashing out, chasing returns, pressure sales, and scams aimed at savers
• Health coverage before 65, Medicare deadlines, and a phased plan for your last working years

It's a plan for the years you actually have, starting from where you actually are.

Why read this book

• It is written for ordinary late starters in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s: plain language, simple math, and no shame or hype.
• It is grounded in IRS rules, Social Security Administration data, Federal Reserve and EBRI surveys, and published research, and it is honest about the limits of rules of thumb like the 4% rule.
• It covers the catch-up tools that matter now, with U.S. rules as of 2026: catch-up contributions, the ages 60 to 63 window, the Roth catch-up rule, HSAs, Social Security claiming, and Medicare deadlines.
• Every section ends with one small "Try this" step and words you can say to HR, the Social Security Administration, a salesperson, or your spouse.

AI disclosure: The text of this book was generated with AI (Claude by Anthropic), and the cover image was created with AI.