The financial news that actually matters
Homeowners in Florida and California are being dropped by their insurers at higher rates than anywhere else in the country, according to a new analysis of the national home-insurance market. The trend, known in the industry as non-renewal, has quietly become one of the biggest financial risks facing homeowners in disaster-prone states, because it can…
The price of a car grabs the headlines, but the interest rate on the loan quietly decides how much that car really costs. Right now those rates are high enough to add thousands of dollars to a purchase, and they fall hardest on the buyers who can least afford it. New-car borrowers are paying around…
The share of income the typical American renter spends on rent has edged down to its lowest level in years, a rare piece of encouraging news in a housing market that has delivered mostly bad headlines. The improvement is modest, and it does not undo the affordability strains that built up during the pandemic, but…
A convicted felon has pleaded guilty in connection with a $50 million real-estate fraud in South Florida, prosecutors announced, closing another chapter in a case built on the same reliable prop that fuels so many investment schemes: property. Real estate feels tangible and safe, which makes it an unusually effective backdrop for fraud. A pitch…
The back-to-school shopping season is shaping up to be more expensive this year, and the reason traces back to the same trade policy reshaping prices across the economy. Retailers and industry groups are warning that notebooks, backpacks, clothing and electronics will cost more this summer as tariffs and higher supply costs land on price tags….
The money flowing into annuities reached a level the insurance industry had never recorded before. Across 2025, sales of these retirement-income contracts climbed to a fresh all-time high, extending a multi-year buying spree that has now run for the better part of a decade. The surge lines up with a demographic milestone that is reshaping…
Investors sitting on long-held stock with large unrealized gains face a straightforward choice at year-end: sell and owe federal capital-gains tax, or transfer the shares directly to a qualifying charity or donor-advised fund and claim a deduction for the full fair-market value. The mechanics rest on 26 U.S. Code Section 170, which sets the rules…
Taxpayers who hold dividend-paying stocks can face two very different federal tax bills on the same brokerage statement, depending on whether their dividends qualify for preferential treatment. Qualified dividends are taxed at the same 0, 15, or 20 percent maximum rates that apply to long-term capital gains, not at ordinary income brackets that can reach…
Tech workers across the United States are facing a sharp contraction in 2026, with companies from enterprise networking to fintech explicitly tying workforce reductions to the adoption of generative AI tools. Firms including Cisco and Block have pointed to AI as a direct factor in their restructuring announcements, shifting the conversation from speculative automation fears…
Self-employed drivers and small-business owners who put serious miles on their vehicles got a double dose of news from the IRS this year. The agency first set the 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile effective January 1, then bumped it to 76 cents per mile starting July 1 after fuel prices…