How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Changed Retirement Planning for the Next Decade
Written by Leo Sun for The Motley Fool->
The OBBBA reduces tax burdens for lower-to middle-income retirees.
It eliminates the big rush to convert traditional retirement accounts to Roth accounts.
Its new Trump Accounts could make the next generation significantly richer.
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. It implemented major changes for individual, corporate, and specialized taxes; restructured safety-net programs like Medicaid and SNAP; increased government spending on defense and immigration reform; and pivoted federal support from green energy to fossil fuels. Let's see how those changes could impact your retirement plans.
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The OBBBA introduces a new senior tax deduction of $6,000 for individuals aged 65 and older, and $12,000 for married couples if both individuals are at least 65 years old. That deduction can be stacked with the baseline standard deduction and existing over-65 bonus deductions, which means a senior married couple can shield up to $47,500 from federal income taxes.
However, this new deduction phases out at a rate of 6% for every $1,000 in Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) exceeding $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for married joint filers. It disappears at $150,000 and $250,000 for single filers and married joint filers, respectively.
The OBBBA also raised the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 through 2029. That increase should help retirees in high-tax states preserve much more cash.
For many years, retirees assumed the reduced income tax brackets from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would expire by the end of 2025, driving more retirees to convert their traditional retirement accounts to Roth accounts before those tax rates surged.
However, the OBBBA permanently extended those lower individual tax brackets. Therefore, there's no need to rush into big Roth conversions -- which could inadvertently boost your MAGI by so much in a single year that you're priced out of the OBBBA's new senior tax deduction.
Last but not least, the OBBBA introduced the "Trump Account", a new birth-to-retirement custodial account for children. Parents and employers can contribute up to $5,000 per child under the age of 18 each year. Employers can contribute up to $2,500 of that limit completely tax-free for the employee.
The funds aren't tax-deductible, but they grow tax-deferred in the same way as a traditional IRA. The child can't access those funds until they turn 18, when it finally converts to a traditional IRA.
To keep that growth stable and maintain low fees, the funds must be invested in non-leveraged mutual funds or ETFs that track a major index, like Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO). Moreover, the fund's annual management fees cannot exceed 0.1%.
That change won't matter too much to current retirees, but it might make their grandchildren richer -- since the S&P 500 has delivered an annual return of about 10% since its inception in 1957.
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Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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