The financial news that actually matters
Taxpayers who spend thousands of dollars on medical bills each year often discover that federal law blocks them from deducting any of it. Under the statute that governs the medical expense deduction, only the portion of unreimbursed costs that exceeds 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) counts toward a write-off. For a household earning…
Single filers earning above the federal income threshold for direct Roth IRA contributions now face a familiar annual squeeze: wages climb, but the statutory ceiling rises more slowly, pushing a growing number of workers into workaround territory. For the 2026 tax year, the IRS set the IRA contribution limit at $7,500, while 401(k) deferrals can…
Taxpayers who turned 65 or older will see an extra $2,050 added to their standard deduction when they file federal returns for tax year 2026, a figure the IRS locked in through its latest round of inflation adjustments. The number comes from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, published alongside broader changes shaped by the One, Big, Beautiful…
Investors who sell a stock at a loss and repurchase it within 30 days lose the tax deduction they expected to claim. The wash-sale rule, codified in federal statute as 26 U.S. Code Section 1091, blocks the write-off whenever a taxpayer buys “substantially identical” shares inside a 61-day window that spans 30 days before through…
Starbucks Corporation is shutting down roughly 400 coffeehouses and eliminating about 900 corporate positions as part of a sweeping restructuring that carries an estimated $1 billion price tag. The company’s board approved the plan, branded “Back to Starbucks,” on Sept. 23, 2025, and the overhaul is now actively under way, with charges expected to stretch…
Single filers collecting Social Security face a tax hit that grows sharper each year, even if their actual benefits barely change. Once a single filer’s combined income crosses $34,000, up to 85% of that person’s Social Security check can be pulled into gross income for federal tax purposes. The threshold that triggers this tax was…
IBM’s preliminary second-quarter 2026 results landed well below Wall Street expectations, triggering a sharp selloff that spread to Microsoft, Salesforce and other major technology stocks sharing index weight with the company. The damage rippled into broad index funds, hitting passive investors who hold diversified portfolios tied to benchmarks where these names carry outsized influence. CEO…
Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven, is shutting down 645 convenience stores across North America this year, a sharp reversal from the expansion strategy it promoted just weeks earlier. The closures, disclosed in earnings filings, include some locations being converted to wholesale fuel operations rather than simply going dark. The pullback…
IBM shares lost roughly a quarter of their value on Tuesday, erasing an estimated $67 billion in market capitalization in the company’s worst single-day decline in more than five decades. The sell-off followed preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street expectations, landing on a day when the broader U.S. stock market actually climbed…
About 16,000 corporate employees at Amazon are losing their jobs this year in one of the largest white-collar workforce reductions the company has carried out. CEO Andy Jassy told staff in an internal memo that artificial intelligence tools will take over tasks previously handled by people, pointing toward a leaner corporate operation. The cuts follow…