New 401(k) catch-up contributions: Key changes impacting pre-retirees in 2025

The IRS has released the latest 2025 contribution limits—and there’s a whole new catch-up contribution category. In particular, this has implications for employees with a Starter 401(k) retirement plan. Under these new changes, SECURE 2.0 extended the catch-up limit for people between ages 60 and 63, but data from Guideline shows that 55% of eligible savers aren’t even aware that they have this opportunity to begin with.

With inflation and cost-of-living still impacting American workers, this new catch-up provision could allow 60-63 year-olds to save thousands of dollars more for retirement. To ensure that employees are aware that these changes are coming so that they can maximize their retirement savings in the next year, we talked with Guideline’s COO Jeff Rosenberger, who shared his insight on the category and how employers can educate employees. .