The financial news that actually matters
Foreclosure pressure was building across the U.S. housing market heading into the end of 2025, with more borrowers falling behind even as the broader economy avoided the kind of collapse that defined the last housing bust. The shift has been gradual rather than explosive, but it has become difficult to ignore. Monthly and quarterly foreclosure…
Manufacturers planning new plants or major expansions just got a tax incentive that can materially change the economics of a project. The new Section 168(n) factory tax deduction allows eligible businesses to deduct 100% of the cost of certain production buildings in the year those properties are placed in service, rather than stretching the write-off…
Home Depot beat Wall Street expectations in its fourth-quarter earnings report, but the results still carried a warning about the American homeowner. Beneath the headline beat was a customer base that is putting off ambitious renovations and sticking to smaller repairs, replacement purchases, and practical upkeep. That matters because Home Depot is more than a…
More than 1.1 million U.S. homeowners ended 2025 owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth, the highest tally since early 2018. That does not mean the country is heading into a replay of the last housing crash. It does mean the easy-equity era that defined much of the pandemic housing boom has…
Families claiming the federal child tax credit for the 2025 tax year are set to see a slightly larger benefit when they file their returns. That is because a new tax law raised the maximum credit to $2,200 per qualifying child from $2,000. The change gives many parents a bigger tax break starting with returns…
The age at which many Americans must begin taking required minimum distributions from retirement accounts is set to rise again under SECURE 2.0, moving to 75 in 2033 for savers who fall into the later birth cohorts covered by the law. The shift extends the window for tax-deferred growth and gives retirees more control over…
Homeowners across the country absorbed a sharp jump in property taxes after rising home values and local budget pressures fed into new assessments. In 2023, property tax bills levied on single-family homes reached $363.3 billion. That was 6.9% up from a year earlier, while the average bill climbed to about $4,062. For many households, the…
Home insurance is becoming one of the fastest-rising housing costs in America, and the increase is no longer confined to a handful of disaster hotspots. Premiums are climbing because insurers are pricing in a harsher reality: more destructive wildfires, more expensive flooding, and repair costs that keep rising after every major event. What was once…
Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment for 2026 is set at 2.8%, giving beneficiaries a modest increase after the unusually large raises of the past few years. For the average retired worker, that translates to about $56 more per month, according to federal estimates. The increase reaches far beyond retirees alone. The adjustment affects Social Security and…
American homeowners are sitting on one of the largest paper fortunes in modern U.S. housing history. Collective home equity has climbed to roughly $35 trillion, a towering gap between what owner-occupied housing is worth and what households still owe on it. On paper, that is a remarkable show of financial strength. In practice, much of…