The financial news that actually matters
For an older adult living on a fixed monthly income, a single mistimed purchase can turn being a few dollars short into an expensive surprise. Federal rules give every account holder a way to head that off before it happens. Banks are required to let customers switch off overdraft coverage on everyday debit-card and ATM…
Most Americans assume that seizing a retiree’s Social Security requires a judge, a hearing, and a court order. When the creditor is the federal government collecting unpaid taxes, that assumption is wrong. The Internal Revenue Service can reach directly into a monthly Social Security benefit and skim 15 percent off the top through an automated…
A pair of new federal deductions is aimed at people who earn tips or work overtime, and they can add up to real money for older Americans still on the job. Under last year’s tax law, qualifying workers can now write off a slice of their tip and overtime income directly, without itemizing, on a…
Medicare has locked in the starting point for what tens of millions of older Americans will pay for prescription drug coverage next year, and it moved to the top of the range the law permits. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services set the 2027 base beneficiary premium for Part D drug plans at $41.33…
A letter arriving in mailboxes this September will carry unwelcome news for hundreds of thousands of older Americans. Humana, one of the country’s largest Medicare Advantage insurers, is discontinuing plans that cover roughly 600,000 members at the end of 2026, and for most of them the first official warning will be a routine-looking notice in…
Reaching the age when required withdrawals begin is confusing enough. Figuring out how to take them across several accounts is where retirees quietly trip. The rules are not the same for every kind of retirement account, and the difference can trigger a stiff penalty for people who assume one tidy withdrawal covers everything. The short…
A private pension is supposed to be the reliable leg of retirement, the check that arrives every month no matter what the stock market does. But companies fail, and pension plans sometimes fail with them. When that happens, a little-known federal agency steps in and keeps the checks coming, though only up to a ceiling…
The death of a spouse changes a household’s finances in obvious ways, but one of the costliest shifts is nearly invisible: the tax bill often climbs even as income falls. Surviving spouses frequently discover that the same retirement income, taxed under the rules for a single filer, leaves them with less spendable money than the…
A retiree who falls behind on a credit card or medical bill can face a jarring surprise: a debt collector wins a court judgment, sends the order to the bank, and the account is frozen. For older Americans living on Social Security, the fear is that the benefit they count on to buy groceries could…
The offer can sound like a windfall. A new Social Security applicant who has passed full retirement age may be told they can collect up to six months of benefits in a single retroactive lump sum, thousands of dollars deposited at once. What the pitch rarely spells out is the cost attached to that check:…