The financial news that actually matters
The typical American worker has just $955 saved for retirement. This is according to a new analysis that cuts through the glossy six figure averages often promoted in the financial industry. The report explicitly exposes a concerning worker retirement savings gap. The figure comes from the National Institute on Retirement Security, which analyzed U.S. Census…
The IRS has now given taxpayers something they did not have just months ago. Taxpayers now have a clear way to claim four headline-grabbing federal tax breaks. The breaks are tied to tips, overtime, car-loan interest, and age. For workers and retirees who spent much of the year hearing broad promises about “no tax” treatment,…
U.S. homebuilders are floating an ambitious idea: a national push to build as many as 1 million lower-cost houses under the name “Trump Homes.” The proposal, first reported by Bloomberg and echoed by Reuters, immediately grabbed attention because it linked two powerful forces in the housing market at once: the country’s deep affordability crunch and…
Parents who once focused mainly on 529 plans and savings accounts are increasingly taking a harder look at the Roth IRA for kids, especially when a child starts earning money early. The appeal is simple enough to explain at the kitchen table: if a child has legitimate earned income, even a few thousand dollars contributed…
Millions of taxpayers count on their federal refund to land quickly. Especially after filing electronically and choosing direct deposit. But the latest IRS oversight data shows that for a sizable group of filers, that expectation is not matching reality. Even after years of modernization efforts, millions of refunds still fell outside the agency’s normal processing…
The IRS has issued fresh guidance at the start of tax season that could change how millions of Americans get refunds and make payments to the federal government. The changes in the IRS new tax payment rules do not alter how people file their tax returns. It does, however, push the tax system further away…
Americans aged 65 and older have a new tax break to pay attention to when filing their 2025 federal returns: an extra deduction worth up to $6,000 per eligible person. For some married couples, that can mean as much as $12,000 in added deductions on one return. The catch is that the benefit of the…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has opened the door to a possible extension of the 2026 federal tax filing deadline. Taxpayers, however, are still stuck in a familiar position: preparing for April 15 while Washington leaves room for something else. That tension is what makes this filing season different. The IRS has already begun accepting 2025…
More than 67 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, and by the end of January they could be swept back under older, narrower telehealth rules if Congress does not extend a temporary policy that has propped up virtual care for years. The approaching deadline is not just another Washington budget marker. It is the latest…
Tax filing season is about to begin, and for millions of Americans the 2026 calendar comes with more moving parts than usual. The Internal Revenue Service is set to begin accepting 2025 federal returns on Jan. 26, while a string of tax-law changes tied to the One, Big, Beautiful Bill could alter how much many…