The financial news that actually matters
A retired engineer in Dallas who earned six figures for 30 years and waited until 70 to claim Social Security might collect more than $61,000 a year from the program. Under a proposal now circulating in Washington, that check would be cut by roughly $11,000, capped at $50,000 annually, with no change for the vast…
In less than two months, the federal government will begin depositing $1,000 into investment accounts for millions of American children. The program, officially called Trump accounts, covers every U.S.-citizen baby born since January 1, 2025, and allows parents to contribute up to $5,000 more each year, invested in S&P 500 and other broad stock index…
A buyer who locked in a 30-year fixed mortgage on a $400,000 home during the first week of January 2026 secured a rate of 5.75% and a monthly principal-and-interest payment of roughly $2,334. A buyer taking out the same loan in early May faces a rate of 6.37% and a payment of about $2,498. That…
Pay your property taxes in Cook County, Illinois, with a credit card and you will see a convenience fee tacked on at checkout. That fee exists because the county has to cover the interchange charge, typically 1.5% to 3% of the transaction on a credit card, that flows to the bank behind your card every…
The call came from Chase. At least, that is what the screen said. The number matched the one printed on the back of the customer’s debit card. The voice on the line sounded like every fraud-department representative who had ever asked to “verify recent activity.” Within minutes, $40,000 was gone. That case, reported in consumer…
When the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s tariffs in February 2026, General Motors began preparing to collect what public reporting has estimated at roughly $500 million in refunded duties. So did more than 330,000 other importers that had paid levies on everything from Chinese-made toys and power tools to European auto parts and Vietnamese…
Filling up a sedan in Los Angeles now costs north of $75. In Honolulu, it is closer to $80. Across the country, the national average price of regular gasoline climbed 25 cents in a single week to $4.55 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly retail price survey. Six states are now…
The pound of ground beef in your cart costs $6.70. The gas you burned driving to the store ran about $4.55 a gallon. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans carrying a 30-year fixed mortgage, or trying to get one, the rate on that loan just climbed back to 6.37%. Each of those…
The roof over Brenda Colquitt’s head in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, needs patching. She knows it. But when her homeowners insurance premium jumped by more than $800 last year, she made a calculation millions of Americans are now making: pay the insurer or fix the house. She paid the insurer. The roof still leaks. Colquitt’s dilemma…
Until late May 2026, Maria Gonzalez, a home health aide in Las Vegas who flies to visit family in Dallas every few months, could book her round-trip on Spirit Airlines for as little as $39. When she searched for the same route in early June 2026, the cheapest available fare started at $124. “I just…