The financial news that actually matters
When a married couple both collect Social Security and one spouse dies, the survivor does not keep both monthly payments. The agency pays only the larger of the two checks, and the smaller one stops. That single rule can cut a household’s Social Security income by a third or more overnight, and the size of…
American drivers saw gasoline prices dip below $4 a gallon for the first time since March after U.S. benchmark crude tumbled to below $76 per barrel, a direct result of tanker traffic resuming through the Strait of Hormuz following a U.S.-Iran interim agreement. The price relief, though significant, comes with a catch: pump prices still…
American homebuyers paid a record-setting median price of $429,300 for an existing home in May, even as sales volume climbed 3.2 percent from the prior month. The National Association of Realtors reported the figures on June 9, marking the fastest sales pace of the year so far. The combination of rising prices and higher borrowing…
Federal student-loan borrowers who enroll in the Repayment Assistance Plan when it launches on July 1, 2026, will have all unpaid monthly interest waived as long as they make on-time payments. The provision means that when a borrower’s required monthly payment falls short of the interest that accrues, the gap simply disappears rather than being…
Americans born in 1943 or later who pass their full retirement age without claiming Social Security earn a permanent benefit increase of two-thirds of 1 percent for every month they wait, adding up to 8 percent per year through age 70. That fixed rate applies uniformly regardless of income, health, or life expectancy, which means…
Air travelers who get stuck with a canceled flight can now demand their money back in cash, not airline credits or vouchers, under a federal rule that shifts the burden of refunds from passengers to carriers. The Department of Transportation finalized a regulation requiring airlines to issue automatic refunds, including for ancillary fees like checked…
Florida homeowners now face the highest property insurance costs in the country, paying a median of $7,136 a year for coverage on mortgaged homes. That figure, drawn from household-reported spending captured by the American Community Survey, puts Florida well ahead of every other state and reflects years of compounding pressures from catastrophe exposure, carrier withdrawals,…
Consumers across the United States reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, making it the single largest fraud category tracked by the Federal Trade Commission. Nearly one in three fraud reports filed last year involved someone pretending to be a trusted business or government agency. The scale of these losses raises hard questions…
Medicare beneficiaries who rely on Ozempic or Wegovy will pay no more than $274 for a 30-day supply starting January 1, 2027, after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services locked in a negotiated price through the second cycle of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. The drugs, manufactured by Novo Nordisk, were among 15…
Oil tankers resumed passage through the Strait of Hormuz after an interim diplomatic agreement, and Brent crude spot prices fell to about $78 per barrel. The price drop landed as maritime tracking data confirmed that stranded vessels had started moving again, easing weeks of supply anxiety that had kept the global benchmark elevated. For American…