Paul Anderson, Author at The Financial Wire

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The Fed’s April minutes drop today — and the four dissents reveal a committee too split to deliver the rate cut that would lower your 6.58% mortgage

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago012 mins

Four Federal Reserve officials broke ranks at the April 29-30 meeting, dissenting from the committee’s decision to hold interest rates steady and exposing the deepest split on the Federal Open Market Committee in recent memory. The minutes released May 28, 2026, lay out the fault lines: some policymakers pushed to begin cutting rates immediately, arguing…

Fidelity’s data breach settlement starts paying out July 27 — file one claim and you could collect up to $5,000 with no receipts required

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago012 mins

Fidelity’s data breach settlement starts paying out July 27 – file one claim and you could collect up to $5,000 with no receipts required If you got a letter from Fidelity Investments last fall saying your personal data had been compromised, that piece of mail could now be worth thousands of dollars. A class action…

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The IRS may owe you a refund for penalties paid between 2020 and 2023 — you have 51 days left before the July 10 deadline

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago213 mins

Millions of Americans who paid late-filing or late-payment penalties on federal tax returns between 2020 and 2023 may be entitled to get that money back from the IRS. But the window to act is closing fast: the deadline to file a claim is July 10, 2026, roughly 51 days away. The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS),…

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The April FOMC minutes drop Wednesday — Warsh’s first major Fed document will reveal whether four members voted to cut rates anyway at Powell’s final meeting

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago011 mins

The Federal Reserve’s April 28-29 meeting ended with a fractured vote and a leadership transition already underway. On Wednesday, May 20, the public gets to see what happened inside the room. The FOMC minutes, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, will detail the internal debate at what was effectively Jerome Powell’s final meeting as full chair…

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AI was the #1 reason for U.S. layoffs for the third straight month — 21,490 workers lost their jobs to AI in April alone, the highest single-month total on record

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago016 mins

When outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released its May 2025 jobs report, one number jumped off the page: 21,490. That was the count of positions U.S. employers said they eliminated because of artificial intelligence in April alone, the highest single-month AI-linked total since the firm began tracking the category. It also marked the third…

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Friday wiped out stocks, bonds, gold, silver, AND Bitcoin in a single session — the first “everything-down” day since 2022

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago011 mins

On a single Friday in late May 2026, there was nowhere to hide. Stocks fell. Bonds fell. Gold fell. Silver collapsed. Bitcoin dropped. Every major asset class closed in the red on the same day, a synchronized wipeout that had not happened since the Federal Reserve’s punishing rate-hike campaign shook markets in 2022. Pinpointing the…

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The average 401(k) balance just hit a record $146,400 — but the personal savings rate fell to 3.6%, the lowest since 2008

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago010 mins

Two numbers released in the spring of 2026 tell opposite stories about American finances. The first sounds like good news: the average 401(k) balance reached roughly $146,400, a record, according to Fidelity Investments, which manages more than 49 million workplace retirement accounts. The second number is harder to celebrate. The personal saving rate fell to…

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Long-term care insurance just got a penalty-free 401(k) loophole — anyone under 59½ can now withdraw $2,500 a year to pay LTC premiums

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago015 mins

Say you are 55, paying $2,800 a year for long-term care insurance, and every dollar of that premium comes from after-tax income because touching your 401(k) before 59½ would trigger a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty. That math just changed. Under Section 334 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, you can now pull up to $2,500 a…

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Memorial Day drivers will pay $1.35 more per gallon than last year — adding $54 to the cost of a 1,000-mile road trip in a 25 MPG car

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago010 mins

That family road trip to the beach just got more expensive. A gallon of regular gasoline is running about $4.52 nationally heading into Memorial Day weekend 2026, according to GasBuddy and AAA daily tracking data as of late May. A year ago, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly retail series put the Memorial Day average…

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The 2027 Social Security COLA forecast climbed to 4.2% — analyst Mary Johnson cites “sharply rising gas, energy, and fresh produce prices” as the catalyst

Paul Anderson2 weeks ago2 weeks ago013 mins

Gasoline crossed $4 a gallon in much of the country this spring. Electric bills jumped. A bag of apples costs noticeably more than it did last year. For the roughly 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security, those price increases are not just kitchen-table frustrations. They are the raw inputs that will determine the…

Paul Anderson

The Fed’s April minutes drop today — and the four dissents reveal a committee too split to deliver the rate cut that would lower your 6.58% mortgage

Fidelity’s data breach settlement starts paying out July 27 — file one claim and you could collect up to $5,000 with no receipts required

The IRS may owe you a refund for penalties paid between 2020 and 2023 — you have 51 days left before the July 10 deadline

The April FOMC minutes drop Wednesday — Warsh’s first major Fed document will reveal whether four members voted to cut rates anyway at Powell’s final meeting

AI was the #1 reason for U.S. layoffs for the third straight month — 21,490 workers lost their jobs to AI in April alone, the highest single-month total on record

Friday wiped out stocks, bonds, gold, silver, AND Bitcoin in a single session — the first “everything-down” day since 2022

The average 401(k) balance just hit a record $146,400 — but the personal savings rate fell to 3.6%, the lowest since 2008

Long-term care insurance just got a penalty-free 401(k) loophole — anyone under 59½ can now withdraw $2,500 a year to pay LTC premiums

Memorial Day drivers will pay $1.35 more per gallon than last year — adding $54 to the cost of a 1,000-mile road trip in a 25 MPG car

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