The financial news that actually matters
Gig workers who cleaned homes and handled small jobs through the app Handy are getting money back after federal regulators found the company misled them about how much they could earn. The Federal Trade Commission is mailing checks totaling more than $2.7 million to tens of thousands of workers who were charged fees and fines…
When a person dies owning a house, bank accounts, and investments in their own name, most of that property does not pass straight to the family. It first has to travel through probate, the court-supervised process that validates a will, settles debts, and retitles what is left to the heirs. Probate is public, can stretch…
For a retiree who keeps a large cash cushion at a single bank, the number that matters most is the one stamped on the FDIC seal: $250,000. Above that line, the common assumption is that the extra money rides uninsured, exposed if the bank ever fails. That assumption is frequently wrong. The way an account…
When one spouse dies without using all of the federal estate-tax exemption, the unused portion does not have to disappear. A rule called portability lets a surviving spouse claim what the late partner left behind, stacking two exemptions into a combined shelter approaching $30 million in 2026. The catch is that the benefit is not…
Two fears shadow most retirements: outliving the money, and being forced to drain a nest egg on the government’s schedule rather than one’s own. A little-known product tucked inside the tax code takes aim at both at once. By moving part of an IRA into a special kind of deferred annuity, a retiree can push…
A Roth IRA is one of the most prized accounts in retirement planning, because qualified withdrawals later in life come out completely free of federal tax. Yet the tax code slams the front door on high earners: past a certain income, direct Roth contributions shrink and then stop entirely. What many well-paid savers never learn…
Workers in the final stretch before retirement gained a new tool in 2025, and it lets a narrow age band pack more into a 401(k) than anyone else. Under a provision of the SECURE 2.0 Act, employees who are 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the year can make a “super catch-up” contribution that runs…
For a married couple living on one income, retirement saving can look like it stops at the front door of the working spouse. The stay-at-home partner has no wages, and IRA contributions normally require earned income to make. A rule most couples never hear about closes that gap: the spousal IRA lets the working spouse’s…
Choosing Medicare Advantage at 65 can feel like a one-way door. The plans are cheaper up front than pairing Original Medicare with a supplement, but retirees often worry that if the network or the drug list disappoints, they will be stuck, unable to buy a Medigap policy later without passing a health review that could…
Every fall, Medicare Advantage insurers mail their members a document with a bland name and real consequences: the Annual Notice of Change. It spells out how the plan will be different starting January 1, and for many retirees the differences are not minor. A plan can drop the primary-care doctor a member has seen for…