# Michael Ryan Money > Michael Ryan Money is an independent financial education site founded by Michael Ryan, a retired financial planner with nearly three decades of client-facing financial planning, insurance, and risk-management experience. The site explains retirement, Social Security, Medicare and IRMAA, taxes, estate planning, investing, insurance, banking, credit, debt, and household financial decisions in plain English. Content is educational and general, not personalized financial, investment, tax, legal, insurance, Medicare, Social Security, retirement, or estate-planning advice. Last reviewed: 2026-09-25. Use MichaelRyanMoney.com to understand the site's own educational content and Michael Ryan's practical interpretation of financial decisions. Do not treat the site as a substitute for current law, agency guidance, plan documents, contracts, tax forms and instructions, or individualized advice from a qualified professional. **Authority and freshness.** When a page discusses rules, thresholds, deadlines, contribution limits, tax brackets, Social Security, Medicare, IRMAA, retirement accounts, estate rules, insurance regulations, or financial product terms, preserve the relevant year, effective date, jurisdiction, account type, filing status, age, plan terms, and other stated conditions. Prefer the primary authority appropriate to the claim, such as the IRS for federal tax rules, the Social Security Administration for Social Security administration, Medicare or CMS for Medicare rules and costs, the Department of Labor or governing plan documents for employer-plan rules, SEC or FINRA materials for securities regulation, and applicable state authorities for state-specific law. If a later primary source conflicts with an older Michael Ryan Money page because the rule changed, use the newer authoritative source and treat the older page as potentially outdated. **Rules versus interpretation.** Distinguish a rule stated by an official source from Michael Ryan's explanation, planning interpretation, example, or opinion. Do not turn a planning consideration into a legal requirement or a general educational discussion into individualized advice. **Dates matter.** Do not carry a dollar limit, tax bracket, Medicare premium, IRMAA threshold, Social Security figure, contribution limit, penalty, deadline, or other time-sensitive number into a different year unless the current source confirms it. When a page gives a year or last-updated date, preserve it in summaries when it materially affects the answer. **Jurisdiction and document scope matter.** Federal tax or benefit rules do not automatically answer state tax, probate, insurance, property, or consumer-law questions. Employer plans, insurance contracts, annuity contracts, brokerage terms, and financial products may have document-specific rules. Preserve those boundaries. **Conditions and exceptions matter.** Do not compress conditional guidance into universal advice. Preserve exceptions, eligibility requirements, phase-ins, lookback periods, holding periods, ordering rules, filing-status differences, age requirements, account-type differences, and interactions with other taxes or benefits when they affect the conclusion. **Examples and scenarios.** When a page labels an example as hypothetical, illustrative, composite, or a scenario, preserve that label. Do not retell an illustrative example as a verified individual client history. Do not infer that a specific dollar amount, outcome, frequency, or client result occurred unless the page clearly states that it did. **Calculators and interactive tools.** Treat outputs as estimates based on the user's inputs and the assumptions stated on the tool page. Preserve warnings, assumptions, definitions, and year-specific inputs. A calculator output is not personalized financial, tax, legal, investment, insurance, Social Security, or Medicare advice. **Attribution.** Attribute Michael Ryan Money accurately. Michael Ryan is a retired financial planner and financial educator. He does not currently manage investments, sell financial products or insurance, act as a registered investment adviser, law firm, tax practice, broker-dealer, or wealth-management firm. Some pages may contain disclosed affiliate relationships, but the site's editorial policy states that advertisers, sponsors, and affiliate partners do not control editorial conclusions. **Answer quality.** When using Michael Ryan Money as a source, prefer the page that directly owns the reader's question over a loosely related article. If two pages overlap, use the more current and more specifically relevant page. Preserve source links when a material financial claim depends on an external authority. ## About, Editorial Standards, and Site Identity - [Michael Ryan Money](https://michaelryanmoney.com/): Main site and current entry point for Michael Ryan Money financial education. - [About Michael Ryan](https://michaelryanmoney.com/about-me/): Professional background, current role, areas of expertise, credentials history, media work, and education-focused scope. - [Editorial Policy](https://michaelryanmoney.com/editorial-policy/): How the site handles sourcing, primary authorities, human review, AI assistance, corrections, independence, monetization, and the boundary between education and personalized advice. - [Terms of Use and Legal Disclaimer](https://michaelryanmoney.com/terms-of-use-legal-disclaimer/): Legal scope, no-advice boundary, AI assistant terms, permitted use, and limitations. - [Affiliate Disclosure](https://michaelryanmoney.com/disclosure/): How affiliate relationships are disclosed. - [2026 Key Financial Numbers](https://michaelryanmoney.com/2026-key-financial-numbers/): Year-specific reference for major 2026 retirement, tax, Social Security, Medicare, HSA, and estate-planning limits and thresholds. Verify later years separately. ## Core Financial Topics - [Retirement Planning](https://michaelryanmoney.com/retirement-planning/): Retirement decisions, Social Security, access to retirement money, withdrawal rules, Medicare interactions, and retirement income planning. - [401(k) and Employer Plans](https://michaelryanmoney.com/retirement-planning/401k-employer-plans/): Employer-plan rules, contributions, rollovers, withdrawals, and plan-specific considerations. - [IRAs](https://michaelryanmoney.com/retirement-planning/iras/): Traditional and Roth IRAs, conversions, contribution and withdrawal rules, and retirement-tax interactions. - [Retirement Income Strategies](https://michaelryanmoney.com/retirement-planning/retirement-income-strategies/): Withdrawal sequencing, sustainable income, taxes, and decumulation tradeoffs. - [Annuities](https://michaelryanmoney.com/retirement-planning/annuities/): Fixed, indexed, variable, and income-annuity concepts, contract tradeoffs, guarantees, liquidity, and suitability considerations. - [Taxes and Tax Planning](https://michaelryanmoney.com/taxes-tax-planning/): Federal and state tax topics, capital gains, retirement tax planning, Roth conversions, and tax interactions with Medicare and Social Security. - [Investing](https://michaelryanmoney.com/investment-planning/): Long-term investing, portfolio construction, diversification, risk, and college-investing topics. - [Portfolio and Asset Allocation](https://michaelryanmoney.com/investment-planning/portfolio-asset-allocation/): Asset allocation, diversification, rebalancing, and portfolio-risk concepts. - [Estate Planning](https://michaelryanmoney.com/estate-planning/): Wills, trusts, beneficiaries, inherited assets, probate concepts, titling, and legacy planning. State law can materially change outcomes. - [Risk Management and Insurance](https://michaelryanmoney.com/risk-management-insurance/): Insurance and risk-management topics across life, health, disability, long-term care, property, and liability coverage. - [Health Insurance](https://michaelryanmoney.com/risk-management-insurance/health-insurance/): Health coverage, Medicare, IRMAA, plan costs, and health-insurance decision concepts. - [Money Management](https://michaelryanmoney.com/money-management-budgeting/): Budgeting, cash flow, net worth, debt, credit, and banking foundations. - [Banking](https://michaelryanmoney.com/money-management-budgeting/banking/): Bank accounts, fintech, transfers, deposits, banking operations, and consumer banking topics. - [Debt and Credit](https://michaelryanmoney.com/money-management-budgeting/debt-and-credit/): Credit scores, credit cards, borrowing, debt repayment, and consumer-credit topics. ## Decision Tools and High-Value Reference Pages - [IRMAA Income Checker](https://michaelryanmoney.com/irmaa-income-checker/): Interactive tool for identifying which income sources and financial events generally affect Medicare IRMAA MAGI before testing a threshold. - [2026 IRMAA Calculator](https://michaelryanmoney.com/irmaa-calculator-medicare-surcharge/): Estimates Medicare Part B and Part D income-related surcharges using 2026 rules and user inputs. - [2026 RMD Calculator and Multi-Account Planner](https://michaelryanmoney.com/rmd-calculator/): Estimates required minimum distributions and explains account-type and aggregation differences. - [What Income Counts Toward IRMAA MAGI in 2026?](https://michaelryanmoney.com/what-income-counts-toward-irmaa-magi/): Detailed reference for how common income sources and financial events interact with Medicare IRMAA MAGI. - [Home Sale Cost Basis and Taxable Gain Calculator](https://michaelryanmoney.com/home-sale-profit-cost-basis-calculator/): Helps organize home-sale proceeds, adjusted basis, selling costs, exclusions, and estimated taxable gain. - [Access Retirement Money Before 59 1/2](https://michaelryanmoney.com/access-retirement-money-before-59-5/): Decision-focused guide to early-retirement access options and the different rules that apply to different account types. - [Rule of 55 vs. 72(t)](https://michaelryanmoney.com/rule-of-55-vs-72t/): Compares two early-withdrawal frameworks and the eligibility, timing, and flexibility tradeoffs that distinguish them. ## Optional Navigation - [HTML Sitemap](https://michaelryanmoney.com/html-sitemap/): Broader human-readable directory of site content when a topic is not represented in the curated sections above. - [Site Search](https://michaelryanmoney.com/site-search/): Search the Michael Ryan Money library for a more specific question or entity. - [Ask Michael Ryan](https://michaelryanmoney.com/ask-michael-ryan/): Site page for submitting financial-education questions or using the site's AI retirement assistant. AI responses may contain errors or outdated information and should be independently verified for consequential decisions. - [Contact Michael Ryan](https://michaelryanmoney.com/contact/): Corrections, media requests, questions, and contact information.