The 2025 Rules for Retirement Accounts, New Tax Brackets, and More!

In this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to talk about the 2025 rules for retirement accounts, new tax brackets, and more. How Andrew Can Help You: Don't let another year pass by without making significant strides toward your dreams. "Master Your Money Goals" is your pathway to a future where your aspirations are not just wishes but realities. Enroll now and make this year count! Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! Learn to invest by joining Index Fund Pro! This is Andrew’s course teaching you how to invest! Watch The Master Money Youtube Channel! , Ask Andrew a question on Instagram or TikTok. Learn how to get out of Debt by joining our Free Course Leave Feedback or Episode Requests here. Thanks to Our Amazing Sponsors for supporting The Personal Finance Podcast. Shopify: Shopify makes it so easy to sell. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/pfp Chime: Start your credit journey with Chime. Sign-up takes only two minutes and doesn’t affect your credit score. Get started at chime.com/ Monarch Money: Get an extended 30 day free trial at monarchmoney.com/pfp Thanks to Fundrise for Sponsoring the show! Invest in real estate going to fundrise.com/pfp Indeed: Start hiring NOW with a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/personalfinance Thanks to Policy Genius for Sponsoring the show! Go to policygenius.com to get your free life insurance quote. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Go to betterhelp.com/pfp and be on your way to your best self. Go to joindeleteme.com/pfp20 for 20% off! Links Mentioned in This Episode: IRS Newsroom The Mega-Back Door Roth IRA (How to Get an Extra $43,500 in Your Roth!) The $5 Billion Roth IRA and How You Can Use the Same Strategy (Self-Directed IRA) Which is Better a 529 or Roth IRA for Your Kids? Money Q&A Should You Max Out Your Roth IRA or HSA? (Money Q&A) Connect With Andrew on Social Media: Instagram TikTok Twitter Master Money Website Master Money Youtube Channel Free Guides: The Stairway to Wealth: The Order of Operations for your Money How to Negotiate Your Salary The 75 Day Money Challenge Get out Of Debt Fast Take the Money Personality Quiz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Andrew Giancola?

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• 0:44Andrew Giancola?

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• 1:27Andrew Giancola?

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• 2:27Andrew Giancola?

  What's up everybody and welcome to the Personal Finance Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of MasterMoney.co. And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to be going through the 2025 rules for retirement accounts, new tax brackets, and more. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money Newsletter by going to MasterMoney.co/newsletter and you can send your question in when any of those newsletter issues come out every single week. And don't forget to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. And if you're getting value out of the show, consider leaving

• 3:08Andrew Giancola?

  a five-star rating and review on your favorite podcast player. And you can also give us a thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube. Now, today, we're going to be diving into a ton of different updates that the IRS has issued for, A, tax brackets and how the marginal tax rates are going to be changed. B, we're also going to talk about retirement contribution limits and some of the changes that are coming up for 2025. And then in addition, we're going to be going through a bunch of other notable changes, things like the gift tax. We're going to be talking about, you know, health flexible spending accounts. We're going to talk about all those different things, estate tax credits, all of those different things and all the changes that have come over the course of the last year. So typically, we do this every single

• 3:52Andrew Giancola?

  year when the news comes out about this stuff, because I want you to be as informed as possible about your finances and the impact of these tax implications on your finance. So it's very important to understand this stuff every single year. And it's really important also, as I talk through this, to make sure you have a CPA in your corner. If you don't have a CPA in your corner, it is very helpful to have someone who knows some tax strategy that can help you through this process as we go through this. So at the top of the show, we are going to go through the contribution limit increases, then we're going to dive into the marginal tax rates and everything else that falls into place when it comes to that. So if that's something you're into, let's get into it. All right. So the first thing we're going to be diving into is the 2025 contribution

• 4:37Andrew Giancola?

  limit increases for things like retirement accounts and other savings accounts. And so one of the most important ones that we want to make sure that we are looking at is obviously the 401k and the 403B and those pre-tax accounts that fall into that category. So the 401k and the 403B employee contribution limits have shifted over the course of the last year, and we're going to see how much they have shifted. Now, one thing to note is the IRS has been increasing contribution limits over the course of the last few years. There are some contribution limits that we would love to see continue to increase that did not increase, and we'll kind of dive into that here today. So the 401k, 403B employee

• 5:16Andrew Giancola?

  contribution in 2024, the contribution limit was $23,000 for the 401k. Now, in 2025, they have increased it to $23,500. Seeing a $500 change in the 401k is very, very impactful to your long-term financial gain. And so it's very important that they did this, and we are really, really excited that they did this because you just want to see that increase over time because the more dollars that you can get into these retirement accounts, the faster you can grow your wealth. And these limits actually limits how much we can get in there. And so because of that, we want to make sure that we are taking advantage of this. Now, if you don't know what a 401k or a 403B is, really quick recap. Money goes

• 5:57Andrew Giancola?

  in before it's taxed, your money grows, and then when you pull the money out, you're taxed at that point in time. So really powerful stuff because it has tax advantages and you can get a deduction in that specific tax year. So people who are higher income earners, this can help you out with your tax situation and is something I would definitely recommend you look into more. Now, let's look at the catch-up contribution. So if you don't know what the catch-up contribution is for the 401k or the 403B, this is an additional contribution that you can make towards your retirement account if you are over the age of 50 years old. And it has not increased at all. So it is $7,500 for the year 2025, and it was $7,500 for 2024. Now, let's look at the catch-up contribution, and you may not know this, but there is a catch-up contribution if you're between the ages 60

• 6:40Andrew Giancola?

  263 and that catch-up contribution has increased a ton. It was $7,500 last year. This is one of the biggest changes overall, and it is the biggest change on the 2025 contribution limit increases. It jumped to 11,250. So really great stuff for folks who are between ages 60 to 63. We see a $3,750 increase, uh, which is huge for most people. Now, the 401K, 403B total contribution, if you're under the age of 50, went from $69,000 to $70,000. So that increased $1,000.

• 7:17Andrew Giancola?

  And the total contribution, if you're over the age of 50, went from $76,500 to $77,500. And then total contribution between age 60 to 63 also increased $4,750. It went from $76,500 to $81,250. So a lot of great changes here with the 401K. I am pleased with those changes. You just want to see increases year in and year out if you can. And so that is great for the 401K. Now, the 457B, if you have a 457B, the 2024 limit was $23,000 and it now has increased to $23,500 along the same lines as the 401K, 403B. So that's another pre-tax account.

• 8:02Andrew Giancola?

  Fantastic that you get that $500 increase on those pre-tax accounts. So for those of you who have something like a 401K at your job, or a 403B, or a 457 at your job, I highly recommend you look further into these if you are not already contributing to them because they do have great tax advantages and can help you build wealth over a long period of time. Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey's company, did a study with 10,000 different millionaires, and 80% of them hit their million-dollar net worth through their 401K. That's how they did it, was with their 401K. This is something where you're going to hear people out there on TikTok or Instagram say a 401K is a scam. It is absolutely not. It is a slow and steady way to build out your wealth. I like to invest in index funds in my 401K.

• 8:47Andrew Giancola?

  If you're self-employed, you can get a solo 401K. A lot of different options there. Make sure you do your research, but definitely a huge component to what we talk about here at the Personal Finance Podcast. And high income earners, looking at the 401k is important because it helps reduce your tax liability in that current year. And so because of that, that is a great option for high income earners to try to make sure you get as many dollars into those 401ks as you possibly can. Now, let's get into the traditional IRA. We're going to get into the Roth IRA also on this segment. So the traditional IRA, the way that that works is that you put money in, very similar to a 401k, you put money in and you get a tax deduction in that year. The money grows, and when you pull the money out, then you get taxed on that money when you pull it out. So

• 9:31Andrew Giancola?

  a traditional IRA has not changed at all. $7,000 was the limit in 2024, and the 2025 limit is also $7,000. So if you don't have a 401k at work and you have no other options, you can open a traditional IRA and at least get $7,000 in there. Now, the traditional IRA catch-up contribution has not changed either. It is $1,000 last year, it is $1,000 in 2024, and it will be $1,000 in 2025. Now, let's look at our good old friend, the Roth IRA. And anybody who has listened to these episodes in the past knows that usually the Roth IRA follows suit to the traditional IRA because they are both IRAs. And so yes, that is the case. The Roth IRA contribution limit did not

• 10:15Andrew Giancola?

  change. It's $7,000. Was hoping that would increase a little bit because you know your boy loves the Roth IRA and loves getting more dollars into the Roth IRA, but it is still $7,000 for 2025. And the catch-up contribution also goes unchanged if you're over the age of 50. It is still $1,000 in 2025 as it was in 2024. So because of this, we do not see many changes in the Roth IRA, but if you don't know about the Roth IRA, money goes in and you've already been taxed on those dollars, meaning you already were taxed on your paycheck. So you contribute money to your Roth IRA, but the beautiful part about the Roth IRA is it grows completely tax-free. So you invest your money, it's going to grow tax-free, and when you pull the money out,

• 11:01Andrew Giancola?

  You pull it out tax-free. That tax-free growth is so massive, if you have a long-term time horizon, that you will be amazed how many dollars you can have tax-free. In fact, if you max it out over the course of 30 years, you'll have about a million bucks in that account. And of those million dollars, about 850,000 of that is going to end up being completely tax-free money, where you do not spend a dime on taxes. So, obviously, they have limits to this Roth, and that's partially the reason why, is Uncle Sam is not going to get as many tax dollars, but it helps you grow your wealth significantly over time, and can have six-figure impact to your wealth if you continue to max it out over the long term. Now, if you make too much money, Roth IRAs have contribution limits, but they also have income limits. So, if you make too much money for the Roth IRA, you can do what is called a backdoor Roth IRA.

• 11:46Andrew Giancola?

  So, you open a traditional IRA, like we talked about here, and then what you're going to do is, when you open that traditional IRA, you're going to contribute your $7,000 into the traditional IRA, and then roll it over to the Roth IRA. This is why a lot of higher-income earners do it, is you just do a backdoor Roth IRA. It's actually a very simple process. The easiest place I know to do it is at Vanguard. So, honestly, if you just want to do it with a click of a button, Vanguard makes it so incredibly easy. I've done it through a couple of other places. Merrill Lynch is one that just makes it super complicated. They send you a form, you've got to fill out this form, it takes like, a bunch of extra days. Vanguard, you push one button. So, I like Vanguard for the traditional and Roth, only because you can roll them over very, very simply, in my experience. I'm sure Fidelity is pretty simple, too,

• 12:30Andrew Giancola?

  but Vanguard, I know for a fact, is very easy. Next, we're going to be talking about the SEP IRA. Now, the SEP IRA is a self-employed IRA that is pretty complicated, but if you do not have access to a 401k, you can look at the SEP IRA. And so, SEP IRA, the good thing about that is you can get larger amounts of money, depending on how much money your business makes. You can take a percentage of that business income, and there's a lot of cool things that you can do there. The SEP IRA contribution limit went up. It was $69,000 in 2024. It is now $70,000 in 2025, so that's a $1,000 change. Now, the simple IRA and the simple 401k are two other great options for a lot of people who have small businesses. And maybe you have a small business with 50 or less employees.

• 13:14Andrew Giancola?

  This is one that you can also look at as a simple IRA. $16,000 is the contribution limit for 2024 and $16,500 is the increase. So it increased 500 bucks. Now, our good old friend, the HSA. For those of you who don't know, I love the HSA. It is actually probably one of my favorite accounts. I call it the super retirement account because it has triple tax benefits. Money goes in tax-free, it grows tax-free, you can invest the money, and you can pull the money out tax-free as long as you have a qualified medical expense. And there is a laundry list of what a qualified medical expense is now. And so it's continuously increasing every single year. And so the HSA contribution, if you are single, is different than if you have a family plan. So for the single plan, it has gone up $150.

• 13:59Andrew Giancola?

  So 4,150 was what 2024's contribution limit was. $4,300 is now what the 2025 contribution limit is. And the HSA contribution for the family plan was $8,300. And now it is 8,550. So it increased $250 for the family plan. If you have a high deductible health plan, I encourage you to look into the HSA, the health savings account, to see if you can get some great benefits out of that. Because I believe that is a great wealth building vehicle. And as we know, healthcare expenses are rising. There's also a healthcare FSA contribution, and that has shifted from 3,200 to 3,300. So there is a $100 difference for the flexible spending account.

• 14:44Andrew Giancola?

  The flexible spending accounts, you have to spend every single year. So I am less bullish on those. There are other ways to use them in more creative ways that maybe you want to utilize them, but not as interested in them as I am the HSA. So that is one where it just depends on your personal situation. But that is one I definitely would consider. Now, how can you take advantage of these new contribution limits? We've got to give you some ways to take advantage of this if you're going to listen to this podcast. And so first, I want you to prioritize these tax advantaged accounts. Our order, once you start to get to your levels of investing, is that we want you to, A, get your 401K match first. That is 100% free.

• 15:21Andrew Giancola?

  Money. You get absolutely free money by prioritizing that 401k match first. Then I want you to look at the Roth level or the HSA if you have a high deductible health plan. So if you have a high deductible health plan, prioritize that HSA, get dollars into that HSA, get those triple tax benefits. If you don't, then prioritize the Roth IRA. And if you can have access to both, I would prioritize both because they are both fantastic retirement accounts early on. Then go back to your 401k. Now, there are some situations for really, really high income earners, where if you have a very high income, you want to talk to your CPA about this situation and see, hey, should I prioritize the 401k first before the Roth so I can get that tax deduction in this year?

• 16:03Andrew Giancola?

  But for a lot of people, the Roth IRA is going to be a fantastic option. I love the Roth IRA. It's just one of my favorite things in the world. So it is a great, great account right now, and it can significantly reduce your taxable income by taking advantage of all of these different accounts and making sure you are getting after it. Now, catch-up contributions. If you are over the age of 50, make sure you are taking advantage of these catch-up contributions. You need to make sure that you are maximizing these to get more dollars into your accounts. If you are between ages 45 to 50, make sure you are starting to plan for these catch-up contributions and figuring out ways, hey, how can I start to get more dollars and get more income coming in so that I can take advantage of these catch-up contributions? You need to make a couple thousand

• 16:47Andrew Giancola?

  dollars more per year in order to get those dollars in. And so I want you to really accelerate your path at the last 10 years to retirement. So say, for example, you're going to retire at age 60. I want you to be able to take advantage of these catch-up contributions so you can just get those dollars in there and supercharge your retirement path. Really, really important stuff. Also, there's a lot of healthcare tools out there. Making sure that you're planning for healthcare is really, really important. I want you to make sure you're doing that. Obviously, get your employer match. That's the number one thing we talk about here is always, no matter what, even before paying off high interest debt and credit card debt, I want you to get that employer match because it's a 100% rate of return. It is free money. It is there for your future. You got to make sure you take advantage of that. And then lastly, let's optimize our contributions.

• 17:30Andrew Giancola?

  Making sure we make automated contributions and not relying on our willpower. All of this has to be part of our automated system. You've got to make sure you are automatically contributing money to your Roth IRA and investing it automatically, so you don't have to lift a finger. I want you to spend less time worrying about your finances and saying, "Hey, did I make sure that that got invested?" And instead, what I want you to do is focus your time, energy, on earning more income, so that you can take more dollars and continue to cycle. Automation is there to help you focus on the things that matter. And what really, really matters is not you going into your checking account and transferring the money over to your Roth IRA and then investing those dollars into VOO, or whatever else you invest in your Roth IRA.

• 18:13Andrew Giancola?

  Instead, you need to be spending your time and energy focusing on earning more and not having your brain fogged up by some of these other tasks that need to be done. And so that's one really important thing. I want you to spend less time on your finances and more time on things that you love and earning more income. So, those are some of the keys here, and those are ways to take advantage of these new contribution limits. Now, let's get into key changes for 2025 on that tax year. My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now, I know it's really about having clarity. When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch.

• 18:56Andrew Giancola?

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• 19:40Andrew Giancola?

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• 20:25Andrew Giancola?

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• 21:10Andrew Giancola?

  It's kind of amazing how much can change in just a single year. Every summer, the kids are a little bigger, a little more independent, and life looks a little different than it did the year before. And it reminds me that while we can't predict the future, we can prepare for it. That's one of the reasons I like PolicyGenius. See, PolicyGenius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace that lets you compare life insurance quotes from some of America's top insurers, side by side, for free. And their licensed team helps you compare coverage, prices, and terms, answers your questions, and even handles the paperwork so you can get the right policy without the hassle. For me, having life Insurance isn't about expecting something to happen.

• 21:53Andrew Giancola?

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• 22:43Andrew Giancola?

  All right, so in 2025, there's going to be some key tax changes that I want you to know. There's actually several important changes in the tax code that will affect you as a taxpayer. So understanding these updates are going to help you maximize your tax benefits. It's going to help you avoid penalties and it's going to help you plan for financial strategy. So really important to make sure you see some of these notable adjustments. And we'll give you some explanation on some of these as well. So first is the standard deduction. Now, the standard deduction is very important to your tax situation. For a lot of people who may not take a ton of deductions. And if you don't know what that is, the standard deduction is a flat amount. That reduces the amount of your income that is subject to federal tax. So every taxpayer out there in the U.S. can choose to either take the standard deduction.

• 23:27Andrew Giancola?

  Or an itemized deduction such as mortgage interest, charitable donations, those types of things. But what you cannot do is you cannot take both. Okay, so most people, most Americans out there, they opt for the standard deduction. Because it's easier and often results in a larger tax break. So in a lot of situations, if you are a W2 employee. And you're looking at your itemized deductions, you're like, I don't even use a home office. I don't give to charity yet. I got some charitable donations, maybe you got a deduction for daycare. Maybe you have a deduction for a couple of other things and outside of that. You don't really have much going on. Well, for those scenarios, the standard deduction is going to be much higher for most people than would be an itemized deduction.

• 24:09Andrew Giancola?

  I personally do an itemized deduction and the reason why I do that is I have a bunch of businesses. I have a lot of things going on at the same time. I have a ton of deductions in my personal finances that make a ton of sense for me to do the itemized deduction. Do I want to do that? No, because it's a lot harder to do that, but I save more on taxes because I itemize my deductions because I have so many businesses and so many things going on at the same time. My personal finances are a little more complicated than if you just went to your nine to five, came home and didn't have many other things to itemize and deduct. And so because of that, I use an itemized deduction, but most people should be using the standard deduction. Now, the standard deduction increases slightly for 2025. For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, it rises to $15,000,

• 24:53Andrew Giancola?

  which is a $400 increase. And for married couples filing jointly, it rises to $30,000, which is an $800 increase. And then heads of household will see their deduction increase to $22,500, which is a $600 increase. Again, the standard deduction will reduce the amount of your income that is subject to tax and help lower your overall tax burden. So it's really important to know what this number is and make sure your CPA understands it as well. Now, when you use like software like TurboTax and all that stuff, the reason why it has you enter all of your deductions is just trying to figure out, hey, is it better for you to take the standard deduction or is it better for you to go ahead and just take an itemized deduction? And so a lot of times you're doing this and you don't even know it if you're using those

• 25:37Andrew Giancola?

  softwares or your CPA is doing it for you and kind of calculating that for you. But it's very good to know that. And so for couples married filing jointly, it is now $30,000 and it's rising every single year. There's a great book on this, by the way. For most people who want to learn more about their tax situation, read the book called The Power of Zero. And in the Master Money Newsletter, we talk about a book I'm reading every single week. And The Power of Zero was in one of those past ones. I might reread it here shortly when tax season comes up because we'll do some episodes on that. And make sure you're subscribed if you want to check out more ways to save on taxes. But The Power Power of Zero is a wonderful book on how to reduce your taxable rate. Next, let's look at marginal tax rates. So if you don't know already, the US is on a marginal tax system.

• 26:20Andrew Giancola?

  And what that means is that you're taxed at different rates based on specific income levels. And the easiest way to kind of show this or think about this is to use an example. So let's say, for example, you in 2025, you're a single filer and you're using a marginal tax bracket and you make $300,000 per year. The way that this would work is when you are looking at your marginal tax rate, 10% of your income up to $11,925, which is somewhat of a spoiler alert, is going to be taxed at 10%. 10% on income up to $11,925. Then you're going to be taxed at 12% on income between $11,926 and $48,475.

• 27:05Andrew Giancola?

  Then you're going to be taxed at 22% on income between $48,476 and $103,350. Then you're going to be taxed at 24% on income between $103,351 and $197,300 is going to be taxed at 24%. And then lastly, 32% on income between $197,301 and $300,000. And so because of that, you take a total tax calculation of each of those different levels, those five levels up to $300,000. And your total tax for that year is going to be $73,063 if you're a single person and you're filing that way. So that's how marginal taxes work. And that's how a lot of people misunderstand taxes.

• 27:49Andrew Giancola?

  If you're at the 32% tax bracket, you're not getting taxed on 32% of your income. That is not how it works. It's marginally taxed based on the different levels of your income. And then you have the effective tax rate. So if you don't know what the effective tax rate is, you divide the total tax paid by your total income. So although someone who makes $300,000 per year is in the 32% marginal tax bracket, their actual effective tax rate is much lower at about 24.35%. It's important to know this. The reason why it's important to know this is you need to know what really you are paying in taxes. So when your paycheck comes in and you're making 300 grand every single year,

• 28:28Andrew Giancola?

  you know that 24.35% of that is going to be going towards taxes, not the 32%. It's a marginal tax bracket system. And so you really need to know your effective tax rate, but also what marginal tax bracket you're in, so you know how to do the calculation. Again, your CPA will do this calculation for you if you have one. But if you don't have one, it will, you know, if you use a software or something else, it will help you through this process. So the marginal tax rates for 2025, and I say all of this to explain to you why it's important to know this. Now here's what they are for 2025. For 2025, 37% for incomes over 626,350 if you're single, and 751,600 if you're married filing jointly.

• 29:12Andrew Giancola?

  So here's why the wealthy and the rich don't like really high marginal tax rates, because all of their income, if they make a ton of, let's say they make $5 million per year. Well, everything above 751,600 if they're married filing jointly, is going to be taxed at that 37%. And that's why it's the majority of their income if you're really, really wealthy. Now for someone out there who doesn't make that much, if you don't make 751,600 as a household, then it doesn't matter as much for you in that specific situation. But because we have this progressive tax system, it's important to note how this works. It is 35% for incomes over 250,525 if you're single, or 501,050 if you're married filing jointly,

• 29:57Andrew Giancola?

  32,000 for incomes over 197,300. So some of you are going to start to fall into these categories, or 394,600 if you are married filing jointly. 24% is the marginal tax rate for incomes over 103,350, which is where a lot of people are going to fall, and 206,700 if you're married filing jointly. And then below this is where pretty much most people listening are going to fall. 22% for incomes over 48,475.

• 30:30Andrew Giancola?

  $96,950 if you're married filing jointly. 12% for incomes over $11,925. And if you're married filing jointly, it's going to be $23,850. And then 10% for incomes $11,925 or less. Now, those are some of the biggies that we just talked about here. We went through some of the retirement accounts. We went through the standard deduction and we went through marginal tax rates. Now, these next ones that we're going to be talking through are stuff that might apply to you. They may not. And so I'll kind of run through some of these changes here. We've got another eight or so changes that are going to be taking place. So for 2025, there is the alternative minimum tax.

• 31:09Andrew Giancola?

  And so for 2025, the alternative minimum tax exemption for unmarried individuals rises to $88,100, up from $81,300. So a big, big change here. And the phase out for the exemption starts at $626,000. And for married couples filing jointly, the exemption increases to $137,000, with the phase out beginning at $1.252 million. Now, the alternative minimum tax is a parallel tax system that ensures high income earners who benefit from too many tax deductions still pay a minimum amount of tax. And so it's essential if you are a high income earner to understand those numbers. Next, we have the earned income tax credit for 2025.

• 31:54Andrew Giancola?

  The earned income tax credit for taxpayers with three or more children, this is a big for anybody who does have kids, increases to $8,046, up from $7,830 in 2024. So this is an increase. It is a valuable credit for low to moderate income working families and can significantly reduce the amount of tax owed and may even result in a refund. So a lot of you who have kids who get that refund, this is a big reason why. It's because the earned income tax credit, if you have multiple kids or even one. There's the qualified transportation fringe benefit. For 2025, the monthly limit for the qualified transportation fringe benefit and qualified parking will rise to $325, up from $315.

• 32:37Andrew Giancola?

  Now, these benefits allow employers to help employees cover commuting costs. Costs such as parking and transit on a tax-free basis. If your company does not do that and you live in a city and if you have a lot of transportation costs, see if you can get that covered, at least those $325 per year. Really helpful stuff. Flexible spending accounts, a lot of you have FSAs or flexible spending accounts. The maximum contribution for health FSAs rises to $3,300, up from $3,200. So it rises to 100 bucks and the carryover amount for unused contributions increases slightly to 660. So FSAs, you gotta use them or you lose them, but there is a carryover amount that could carry over as $660. So if you don't know what an FSA is or a flexible spending account, it allows you

• 33:20Andrew Giancola?

  to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible medical expenses. Now we have medical savings accounts. If you don't know what medical savings accounts, they are tax advantage accounts often used by individuals with high deductible health plans. And this is not to be confused with health savings accounts, which I like more, but medical savings accounts increases to $2,850 for 2025, while the out-of-pocket maximum increases to $5,700. And then for family coverage, the deductible must be at least $5,700 and the out-of-pocket maximum is going to increase to $10,500. The foreign earned income exclusion. So the foreign earned income exclusion is an exclusion that allows US citizens and

• 34:03Andrew Giancola?

  resident aliens living and working abroad to exclude a certain amount of their foreign earned income from UX taxation. So if you are living overseas, and I get a lot of questions for people over here, this is a great tax exclusion to look at. The foreign earned income exclusion rises to $130,000. Big rise here in 2025, up from $126,500 in 2024. So if you're an expat, make sure you look at the foreign earned income exclusion, the FIE. Estate tax exclusion. For all my ballers out there, the estate tax exclusion is going to be changing for estates of descendants who died during 2025. The basic exclusion amount increases to $13,990,000.

• 34:47Andrew Giancola?

  I'm hoping every single person out there is going to care about. This when they get to the end of their life because we're all going to be ballers out there when we learn how to manage our money and our finances and we are going to get our dollars growing, aren't we? So everybody here listening, you're going to get to this point in time. The estate tax exclusion allows individuals to pass on a substantial amount of their estate without incurring estate taxes, which is very useful for estate planning, obviously. And for a lot of us, it is a very advanced tactic that we need to be utilizing as time goes on. Another one, annual gift tax exclusion. So the annual exclusion for gifts rises to $19,000 in 2025. So it increases another $1,000, which is great. And this matters a lot

• 35:30Andrew Giancola?

  because the increase allows individuals to gift more tax-free each year without reducing their lifetime estate tax exemption. So a lot of people start gifting away money so they don't have to pay so much in estate taxes and it's something that you can do each and every year and get that exclusion. The adoption credit, the maximum adoption credit for special needs adoption rises to $17,280, up from $16,810. And so what this credit does is it helps offset high cost of adoption and encourages families to adopt children with special needs by offering a financial incentive. So wish that number was even higher. I think that that is one that we can all get behind listening to this podcast. I am all for, you know, pretty much all their needs covered if we can get that done. So really good that it increased. I wish it increased more.

• 36:15Andrew Giancola?

  So that is the last one that we have on this list. Those are all the changes. If I did not list something on this list that did not change. And so those are all the changes that the IRS has released at this point in time. If you guys have any questions, please reach out to me. You can join the Master Money newsletter by going to mastermoney.co/newsroom and we answer your questions there. If you want to see any of these filings, I can send over the IRS links. But the IRS releases these updates every single year. And if you go to IRS.gov/newsroom, that's where all these new releases will be and the notable changes for the tax year of 2025. Again, thank you guys so much for listening and amazing job on educating yourself on taxes and your specific tax situation. The more you know about your finances.

• 37:00Andrew Giancola?

  And the more you know about personal finance, the better you can help equip your friends, your family, and really, really important stuff. But most of all, you'll be able to build wealth and you are a wealth builder just by listening to this podcast. So thank you guys so much for being here. Truly appreciate it and hope you have a great rest of your week. And let's get after it this week.

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