Our Monthly Guide to Every Milepost, Junction, and Landmark on Your Road to Retirement
- THIS ISSUE:
- What’s On Our Minds This Month
- What’s Around the Bend: Goal Allocation
- What’s Over the Next Hill: Reducing IRMAA Surcharges
- What’s On the Horizon: The Best Times to Buy and Travel
What’s On Our Minds This Month
Saving. It’s the ultimate test of a person’s discipline, because it means putting off immediate gratification in favor of long-term happiness.It means prioritizing what we want the most over what we only want right now.
When we think of saving for retirement, we often tend to think in big buckets: We contribute to a 401(k), IRA, or other type of vehicle in order to grow — hopefully — a bigger and bigger pile of cash on which to draw from once we retire and stop earning a paycheck. But sometimes, it helps to break down the concept of saving into more specific strategies for more specific purposes. By doing this, we can take advantage of all possible ways to save for retirement…while maximizing all the fun and fulfilling things we want to accomplish with our savings.
This quarter’s issue of The Road to Retirement is all about saving. Have a great quarter, and a Happy New Year!
What’s Around the Bend: Goal Allocation
Is 2026 the year you finally remodel the kitchen or put in a new deck? Maybe it’s the year you decide to take your family to the upcoming World Cup — the last time it was held in the United States was 1994, after all. Or maybe you really want to buy that boat, RV, or motorcycle you’ve had your eye on. Perhaps it’s all of the above and more!
Each year, there are always multiple things we want to do and accomplish. But retirement doesn’t just last one year. For many people, it can last for 20 or 30 years, and sometimes even more!Think about it: 30 years to tick off all the items on both your bucket list and your “honey-do” list.
But retirement doesn’t mean those things will just automatically happen. Most of them will cost money — and when you’re drawing from one big bucket labeled “retirement savings,” it can sometimes be difficult to know what to prioritize, how much to spend, or even if you can actually afford it.
That’s why one of the most important things you can do when saving for retirement is to not just “save for retirement.”
Instead, save for the specific things you want to do in retirement!
Start thinking strategically about the items on your bucket list. Determine now which ones are the most important to you. Next, estimate how much each is likely to cost, either as a one-time payment or an ongoing concern. Then, ask yourself how much you have already saved up for each goal and how much you still need.
One smart tip is to open a different savings account for the most important goals. While the bulk of your “retirement savings” will of course stay in your 401(k) or IRA, by putting a little seed money into smaller, individual pots for specific goals, you will become more likely to actually accomplish that goal. Because you’ve planned for it. Prioritized it. Saved for it.
The idea is to become more purposeful, organized, and strategic with your saving. By allocating your savings towards specific goals in addition to your overall retirement, the more your retirement will actually be everything you’ve dreamed it will be.
What’s Over the Next Hill: Reducing IRMAA Surcharges
Saving can mean two things: Setting aside money for the future and preventing money from slipping out of your possession and into someone else’s.
Medicare — a federal health insurance program specifically for those age 65 and older — is probably the single most important way to save money on healthcare in retirement. But Medicare itself can cost money, especially for those who are high earners. Besides monthly premiums for Medicare Part B — which covers outpatient care— high earners must also typically pay IRMAA surcharges.
IRMAA stands for “income-related monthly adjustment amount.” These surcharges are applied if your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) from two years prior exceeds a certain threshold. (For 2026, the average monthly surcharge is estimated to be $82.60 per month, but can rise to a maximum of $495.60 for the highest earners.)[1]
Fortunately, there are ways to potentially decrease or even avoid these surcharges. Here are just a few:
1. File for an IRMAA reduction due to a life-changing event. There are eight qualifying life-changing events that enable you to request a reduction in your surcharge if the event resulted in a reduction to your earnings. Those events include:
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Death of a spouse
- Work stoppage (e.g. retirement or termination)
- Work reduction (e.g. changing to part-time work)
- Loss of property that provides income (like a rental
- property, if the loss was outside of your control, like due to a natural disaster)
- Loss of pension income
- Employer Settlement Payment
2. Make qualified charitable distributions (QCDs). Certain types of charitable contributions can lower your modified adjusted gross income.For example, let’s say you own a traditional IRA. When you begin making withdrawals from that IRA — known as required minimum distributions — those withdrawals count as income. But with a QCD, you make a donation to a registered charity directly from your IRA. This does not count as taxable income and can reduce your overall MAGI, thereby reducing or even eliminating your IRMAA surcharge.
3. Delay collecting Social Security benefits. As you probably know, you can begin collecting Social Security benefits starting at age 62. You can enroll in Medicare beginning three months before the month you turn 65.
Because Social Security benefits may count as taxable income, they can increase your MAGI. By delaying when you take your benefits, you can — at least temporarily — lower your income and avoid or reduce your IRMAA surcharges.
However, note that delaying Social Security benefits means you will receive a larger benefit later on. That’s a good thing! But it also could mean paying a larger surcharge later on as well. For this reason, it’s important to determine whether this strategy really makes sense for you in both the short term and the long.
There are other potential ways to reduce your Medicare expenses, but the point is, when it comes to saving, it pays — literally — to leave no stone unturned in your search for ways to cut costs.
What’s On the Horizon: The Best Times to Buy and Travel
In the last article, we mentioned that saving means both setting money aside and ensuring you spend less than you have to.
One of the best ways to maximize what you have set aside while simultaneously minimizing what you spend is to choose the best time to buy or do something. This is especially true in retirement.
For example, many people use retirement as a way to finally make that big purchase they’ve always wanted, or complete that major home improvement they’ve been putting off. Many retirees also use their newfound free-time to travel the world and seek out new experiences.
These goals can certainly be costly, but saving money on them is certainly possible with a little planning ahead. To help, below are the most and least expensive months to make large purchases, followed by the most and least expensive months to travel to twelve of the most popular international destinations.
Most/Least Expensive Times to Buy Big-Ticket Items
January
Most expensive: Cars
Least expensive: Home furniture
February
Most expensive: Spring apparel
Least expensive: Dishwashers, winter apparel, TVs
March
Most expensive: Cars, large appliances
Least expensive: String trimmers, Outdoor grills, Fine jewelry
April
Most expensive: Mattresses, Refrigerators
Least expensive: Tires
May
Most expensive: RVs
Least expensive: Freezers, Mattresses
June
Most expensive: Lawn mowers
Least expensive: Power tools, Pressure washers
July
Most expensive: Electronics
Least expensive: Refrigerators, Freezers
August
Most expensive: Roofing
Least expensive: Laptops, Camping Gear
September
Most expensive: Major Appliances
Least expensive: Holiday Airfare, Lawn Mowers
October
Most expensive: HVAC Furnaces,
Least expensive: RVs, Seasonal outdoor furniture
November
Most expensive: Tires
Least expensive: Indoor furniture, Flooring
December
Most expensive: Fine Jewlery
Least expensive: Electronics, Cars
Most/Least Expensive Times to Travel
January:
Most expensive: Mexico, Thailand
Least expensive: France, Spain, Italy, China, UK, Greece, Japan, Germany, US
February
Most expensive: N/A
Least expensive: France, Spain, US, Italy, UK, Germany, Japan, Greece
March
Most expensive: N/A
Least expensive:US, Turkey
April
Most expensive: Japan
Least expensive: N/A
May
Most expensive: UK
Least expensive: Mexico
June
Most expensive: US, UK
Least expensive: Mexico, Thailand Greece
uly
Most expensive: France, Spain, US, China, Italy, Turkey, UK, Greece
Least expensive:Thialand
August
Most expensive: France, Spain, US, China, Italy, Turkey, UK, Greece
Least expensive: Thailand
September
Most expensive: N/A
Least expensive: Thailand
October
Most expensive: N/A
Least expensive: Thailand
November
Most expensive: Japan
Least expensive: US, China, Turkey
December
Most expensive: Mexico, Germany
Least expensive: US, China, Turkey
SOURCES:
“Our experts share the best deals on our top-rated products every month,” Consumer Reports
“Best Things to Buy Every Month,” Nerd Wallet, Retrieved 18 November 2025.
“When Is the Best Time to Buy Anything?” Readers Digest, 16, November, 2024
“Global and regional tourism performance”. UN Tourism. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
“Guides for Travelers,” Radical Storage, Retrieved 18 November 2025.