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Four-panel full-color educational comic. Panel 1: cartoon piggy bank IRA 2026, sticky note ceiling not homework. Panel 2: jar $7,500 annual limit, up from $7,000. Panel 3: age-50-plus cartoon with +$1,100 catch-up backpack. Panel 4: chalkboard phase-out ranges as lids, educational not advice.
Four panels: an IRA 2026 piggy labeled ceiling not homework, a $7,500 jar up from $7,000, a +$1,100 catch-up backpack at 50, and a chalkboard of phase-out lids. · Comic: Topics / Drew’s Comic Newsroom. Source: IRS. Educational, not advice.

Finance

The 2026 IRA contribution ceiling is $7,500

What happened

The Internal Revenue Service’s 2026 cost-of-living announcement put the annual IRA contribution limit at $7,500, up from $7,000 for 2025. The IRA catch-up for people age 50 and over rises to $1,100, up from $1,000, under the SECURE 2.0 cost-of-living adjustment for that catch-up. Those are ceilings published in the IRS newsroom and detailed in Notice 2025-67. A contribution limit is the most the code will recognize for the year. It is not a grade, not a target, and not advice to fill the jar to the rim. Some households will put in less. Some will not be eligible for a full deduction.

Income phase-outs for deductible traditional IRA contributions also moved for 2026. For a single taxpayer covered by a workplace retirement plan, the phase-out range is $81,000 to $91,000. For married couples filing jointly when the contributing spouse is covered at work, it is $129,000 to $149,000. When the contributor is not covered but the spouse is, the range is $242,000 to $252,000. Married filing separately and covered at work stays $0 to $10,000. Roth IRA contribution phase-outs rise to $153,000–$168,000 for singles and heads of household and $242,000–$252,000 for joint filers. Those numbers are lids on who can put money in, or deduct it, under the published rules — not a shopping list.

This desk already filed the 2026 401(k) elective-deferral figure and the HSA caps on earlier days. Today’s jar is the IRA ceiling. An IRA is not an HSA and not a 401(k). Employer plan coverage can shrink or erase the traditional IRA deduction even when the $7,500 contribution limit still applies. The sticky note on the strip is the same house line: ceiling, not homework. Educational about published IRS figures, not advice.

Why it matters

Readers who only remember “IRA went up” need the $7,500 and the $1,100 catch-up in the same breath as the phase-out lids. The comic is a piggy, a jar, a backpack, and a chalkboard. Color on the coins, the sticky note, the trail, the chalk. White gutters. No tickers. No “max this.” Yesterday’s beats were other jars. Today’s is the IRA newsroom post.

Conclusion

For 2026 the IRS set IRA contributions at $7,500, with a $1,100 catch-up at 50, and updated deduction and Roth phase-out ranges. Those are lids. Source: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500

Source: Internal Revenue Service