Please forgive me if this has been asked before:
I am going to max out my 401k this year at $17,500. My wife likely won't be able to. We will be "married filing jointly" on our taxes. Can I put in more than $17,500 if she isn't able to? For example, if she can only put in $10K, can I put in $25K? When I read about it on the IRS website it doesn't specify being able to do this, so I'm assuming not. If I can, I will keep putting in extra contributions. If I can't I'll back it down.
Also, my parents are 53 and 60. One of them is old enough to withdraw without penalty but the other isn't. If they put in the max combined (I believe $23K/person or so if over 50), can the 60-year old withdraw all of it without penalty? For example, if the 53-year-old has $50K in his/her 401k account and they want to get it, can they withdraw it under the 60-year-old's name without penalty? I'm not familiar with it; I told them to talk to a professional about it but was curious myself. I know there are other options such as the Roth pipeline but was curious about this particular scenario.