The financial news that actually matters
Taxpayers who contribute to a Roth IRA hold a flexibility that most other retirement accounts do not offer: the money they put in can come back out at any time without triggering income tax or an early-withdrawal penalty. That right rests on a specific set of federal ordering rules, codified in regulation and tracked through…
Walmart shoppers are pumping less than 10 gallons of gas per trip for the first time since 2022, a shift the retailer’s chief financial officer has called “an indication of stress.” The pattern points to real-time pressure on lower-income households as fuel prices stay elevated and broader inflation continues to climb. With consumer sentiment falling…
American households are paying sharply more for staple goods than they were at the start of the year. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, climbed from 2.9% year-over-year in February 2026 to 4.1% by May, a steep acceleration over just four months. Grocery prices, restaurant tabs, and broader consumer…
Workers saving for retirement through a 401(k) or IRA will have more room to stash pre-tax dollars starting in 2026, with the elective deferral ceiling climbing to $24,500 and the IRA cap rising to $7,500. Those higher limits, announced by the IRS, let savers build bigger balances faster. But larger balances carry a less obvious…
A single tip to the Securities and Exchange Commission can earn a whistleblower between 10% and 30% of the money the agency collects in sanctions, provided the enforcement action yields more than $1 million. One recent award exceeded $37 million. The program, created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, draws its payouts from a…
Thousands of businesses that paid tariffs later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court have received only a fraction of their money back. U.S. Customs and Border Protection directed Treasury to issue $20.6 billion in refunds, according to the Associated Press, out of roughly $166 billion collected under the disputed duties. The remaining gap of…
Americans eating out are paying noticeably more than those cooking at home. Over the 12 months ending in May 2026, restaurant prices climbed 3.5 percent while grocery prices rose 2.7 percent, widening the cost gap between dining out and preparing meals in a home kitchen. Full-service restaurant meals jumped even faster, at 3.8 percent, raising…
Hackers gained unauthorized access to the Canvas learning management system, stealing usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment details and private messages from students and faculty across the country. The attackers claimed nearly 9,000 schools and 275 million individuals were affected, and they defaced institutional systems with ransom demands. Instructure, the company that operates Canvas, said…
Renters searching for an apartment in Manhattan now face a median asking price above $5,000 a month, a threshold the borough has never crossed before. The record arrives alongside a citywide rental vacancy rate that fell to just 1.4 percent, according to the 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey conducted for the NYC Department of Housing…
Americans lost $789 million to government impersonation scams in 2024, a $171 million increase over the prior year, as fraudsters flooded phones with text messages posing as toll agencies and demanding payment for fictitious unpaid fees. The Federal Trade Commission released those figures alongside a broader finding that total reported fraud losses reached $12.5 billion…