The financial news that actually matters
Workers who land a raise and worry the extra income will be taxed at a punishing rate on every dollar they earn are operating on a stubborn myth. The Internal Revenue Service spells out that a higher bracket applies only to the slice of income above the threshold, not to total earnings. With the IRS…
Homebuyers and car shoppers with credit scores above 740 gain access to the lowest interest rates lenders offer, a threshold that can translate into thousands of dollars in savings over the life of a loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirms that a borrower’s credit score directly shapes both mortgage eligibility and the rate a…
Workers who switched jobs and left retirement savings behind now have a free federal tool to search for those accounts. The Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database, created under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, began accepting data from plan administrators in November 2024 and is designed to help people reconnect with 401(k) balances from…
Borrowers, investors, and anyone shopping for a mortgage felt the sting in early June 2026 when the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.55%, driven by a sharp shift in trader expectations from rate cuts to possible rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The move sent stocks lower and raised the cost of long-term borrowing across…
Millions of Americans who parked retirement savings in bond funds for stability are watching those holdings lose value as interest rates climb. The reason is a bedrock rule of fixed-income investing: when market yields rise, prices of existing bonds fall. That inverse relationship, well documented by federal regulators and visible in Treasury auction data, is…
The Securities and Exchange Commission reported $17.9 billion in monetary relief for fiscal year 2025, a figure that on its surface suggests a banner year for investor protection. But a single legacy case, the Robert Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme first charged in 2009, accounts for roughly $8 billion of that total. Remove it, along with…
Apple closed three U.S. retail stores on June 20, pulling out of malls in Escondido, California; Towson, Maryland; and Trumbull, Connecticut. The company has pointed to weakening mall environments around the locations, while one of the three was its first unionized U.S. store, raising questions about what really drove the exits. Local records and officials…
Any taxpayer with a Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number can stop a thief from filing a fraudulent federal return in their name, at no cost, by requesting a six-digit Identity Protection PIN from the IRS. The tool works by requiring that code on every electronically filed return tied to that taxpayer’s identification…
Credit-card holders who pay every dollar on their statement before the due date owe nothing in interest, a protection written directly into federal law. That zero-interest window, known as the grace period, hinges on a single condition: the cardholder cannot already be carrying a revolving balance from a prior cycle. The rule sounds simple, but…
Consumers who receive a phone call, text, or email demanding that they settle a debt, tax bill, or legal threat by purchasing gift cards and reading off the numbers are being targeted by one of the most persistent fraud schemes in the country. The Federal Trade Commission, the IRS, and the FBI have each stated…