The financial news that actually matters
For years, Wall Street’s biggest exchanges talked about putting stocks and bonds on blockchains. Regulators listened politely and did nothing. That changed when the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a Nasdaq rule change allowing the exchange to list and trade securities in tokenized form, making Nasdaq the first major U.S. stock exchange to receive explicit…
For a retiree collecting the average Social Security benefit of about $1,976 a month, according to SSA data, a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment would add roughly $55 to each check ($1,976 x 0.028 = $55.33, rounded). That is the early 2027 COLA projection from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonpartisan advocacy group that tracks benefit…
In 2013, the Consumer Federation of America published rate comparisons showing that a driver with a clean record and a credit score near 580 could be quoted $1,000 or more per year above a neighbor with the same driving history and a score near 780, according to the organization’s analysis of online quotes from major…
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 8,750 U.S. employees, an estimated 7% of its domestic workforce, through a program set to begin in early May 2026. The offer, disclosed in an internal memo from Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman and reported by the Associated Press, puts thousands of workers in front of a…
An estimated 20 million single women in the United States own their homes, outnumbering single male homeowners by a margin that has persisted for decades. But federal data released over the past two years reveals that owning a home and owning one on equal terms are not the same thing. Single women consistently spend a…
If you bought a car on finance through a dealership in the past decade, there is a real chance the interest rate you paid was quietly inflated so the dealer could pocket a larger commission. Santander has now earmarked more than £460 million to cover compensation for affected UK customers, according to The Guardian, which…
A 55-year-old software engineer earning $185,000 has been maxing out her 401(k) for years, including the $7,500 catch-up contribution that goes straight into a pre-tax account. That option no longer exists for her. Starting with the 2026 plan year, every dollar of her catch-up contribution must flow into a Roth account, taxed now instead of…
Software stocks have been dragging down retirement portfolios this spring, and two of the sector’s most prominent names are at the center of the anxiety. IBM and ServiceNow have each, in different ways, signaled that artificial intelligence is changing how companies think about headcount. For the millions of Americans whose 401(k) plans hold broad technology…
American taxpayers are collecting noticeably fatter refund checks this spring. Through the first week of April 2026, the IRS reports the average refund has reached $3,462, up $346 from $3,116 at the same point last year, an 11.1% jump. The agency had issued 69.8 million refunds totaling $241.7 billion, compared with 67.7 million refunds and $211.1…
If you carry a mortgage, a student loan, or a credit card, the federal agency charged with making sure your lender plays fair may be about to change how aggressively it polices the rules. Twenty-three state attorneys general are telling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that its draft five-year strategic plan would gut federal enforcement…