History
How the retirement system and its contribution limits got to where they are today.
2 articles in this topic.
Last updated: 2026-08-17.
A ten-year grid of every major IRS retirement limit, plus the laws and inflation surges that moved them. 401(k), IRA, HSA, caps, and top tax rates.
Retirement is a 150-year-old invention built by accident, by war, and by political compromise. A short history of how today's IRS rules came to be.
