Get ready to save more for retirement in 2019! The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2019, and there are a lot of changes that will help investors.

After six years stuck at $5,500, the amount you can contribute to an Individual Retirement Account is being bumped up to $6,000 for 2019. The amount you can contribute to a 401(k), 403(b) or similar workplace retirement plan goes up from $18,500 in 2018 to $19,000 in 2019. Catch-up contribution limits if you’re 50 or older in 2019 remain unchanged at $6,000 for workplace plans and $1,000 for IRAs.

That means that many high earners and super-savers age 50-plus can sock away $32,000 in these tax-advantaged accounts. If your employer allows after-tax contributions or you’re self-employed, you can save even more. The overall defined contribution plan limit moves up to $56,000, from $55,000.

Do these limits seem unreachable? During 2017, 13% of employees with retirement plans at work saved the then-statutory maximum of $18,000/$24,000, according to Vanguard’s How America Saves. In plans offering catch-up contributions,14% of those age 50 or older took advantage of the extra savings opportunity.

The following limits remain unadjusted for 2019:

• The catch-up contribution limit for employees who are age 50 and over who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan remains unchanged at $6,000.
• The additional catch-up contribution limit to an IRA for individuals age 50 and over remains $1,000.
• The minimum compensation amount under IRC Section 408(k)(2)(C) for simplified employee pensions (SEPs) remains $600.

NEGATIVE-CALORIE FOOD

A negative-calorie food is food that supposedly require more food energy to be digested than the food provides. Its thermic effect or specific dynamic action—the caloric "cost" of digesting the food—would be greater than its food energy content. Despite its recurring popularity in dieting guides, there is no scientific evidence supporting the idea that any food is calorically negative. While some chilled beverages are calorically negative, the effect is minimal and drinking large amounts of water can be dangerous.

Foods that are claimed to be negative in calories are mostly low-calorie fruits and vegetables such as celery, grapefruit, lemon, lime, apple, lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. There is no scientific evidence to show that any of these foods have a negative calorific impact. Celery has a thermic effect of around 8%, much less than the 100% or more required for a food to have "negative calories".

Diets based on negative-calorie food do not work as advertised but can lead to weight loss because they satisfy hunger by filling the stomach with food that is not calorically dense. A 2005 study based on a low-fat plant-based diet found that the average participant lost 13 pounds over fourteen weeks, and attributed the weight loss to the reduced energy density of the foods resulting from their low fat content and high fiber content, and the increased thermic effect.  - from Wikipedia