For a lot of people, the idea of building a retirement nest egg can feel overwhelming. Between juggling daily expenses, paying off debt, and managing unexpected bills, contributing to retirement accounts often gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.
You may have been hoping to max out your IRA in 2025. If you fell short but contributed a decent chunk of money to that account, consider it a win -- especially since many people don't manage to contribute anything toward retirement.
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But one thing you should know is that it's actually not too late to finish funding your 2025 IRA. You just need to act quickly.
There's still time to max out
In 2025, the maximum allowable IRA contribution was $7,000 for workers under 50. For those 50 and over, it was $8,000.
If you didn't max out your 2025 IRA by Dec. 31, here's some good news -- you can finish funding that account by April 15 this year, and it'll count toward 2025's taxes.
In other words, let's say you're 35 and only put $5,000 into your 2025 IRA. If you have another $2,000 to contribute and you get that money into your account by April 15 (the tax-filing deadline), it'll count toward last year's contribution. That could result in a lower tax bill.
Of course, that's not the only benefit. The more money you put into your IRA each year, the more your balance can grow over time.
Come retirement, you should expect to need a decent chunk of savings to supplement your Social Security benefits. So if you're able to max out an IRA every year, you could end up with a sizable nest egg.
Don't wait to fund that IRA
At this point, you don't have a lot of time to finish making your 2025 IRA contribution. But most financial institutions allow for online transfers. So as long as you carve out some time in the next few days, you should be all set.
As far as your 2026 IRA is concerned, your best bet may be to try to spread contributions evenly over the next eight months or so. Take a look at your budget to see what you can afford to contribute based on your known expenses, and set up an automatic transfer so your IRA gets funded on a regular basis. That way, you won't risk getting to the end of the year being behind on your 2026 IRA contributions.
