The financial news that actually matters
Somewhere right now, a college senior is rehearsing an answer to “What are your salary expectations?” and the number in their head is $80,000. That figure comes from a ZipRecruiter survey of graduating seniors, which found that the median pay expectation among soon-to-be bachelor’s degree holders settled around $80,000 (based on the class of 2024…
A federal student loan borrower carrying $80,000 in debt who gets auto-enrolled in the government’s new default repayment plan could pay roughly $30,000 to $50,000 more in total interest over the life of the loan than a borrower who actively chooses an income-driven alternative. That is the gap at stake for millions of people who…
The last time Series I savings bonds paid this well, inflation was running near 4% and savers were scrambling to lock in yields before they dropped. On May 1, 2026, the U.S. Treasury set the new I bond composite rate at 4.26%, the highest since the November 2023 cycle delivered 5.27%. That rate applies to…
The last time the United States had this few cattle, Dwight Eisenhower was finishing his presidency and the country had 180 million people. Today it has nearly 340 million, and the herd they all depend on for hamburgers, brisket, and Sunday roasts has dropped to roughly 86.7 million head, according to the USDA’s January 2026…
The U.S. Treasury set the new Series I Savings Bond composite rate at 4.26%, a number that quietly outpaces what most high-yield savings accounts are paying. But the composite rate is not the real story. Buried inside it is a 0.90% fixed rate that gets stamped onto every bond purchased between now and October 31,…
When State Farm sent renewal notices to tens of thousands of California homeowners in early 2026, the numbers told a blunt story: premiums were jumping 17% in a single year. For a policyholder paying $2,400 annually, that meant roughly $400 more, on top of increases that had already accumulated over the previous four years. The…
A 55-year-old marketing director earning $160,000 used to stash an extra $7,500 into her 401(k) each year on a pre-tax basis, shaving roughly $1,800 off her annual federal tax bill. That option no longer exists. Starting in January 2026, every dollar of her catch-up contribution must go into a Roth account, taxed upfront, with no…
Brent crude whipsawed nearly $8 in a single trading session in late May 2026. The front-month contract opened above $116 a barrel, then cratered to $108 after a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters that both the United States and Iran were observing the terms of a ceasefire brokered in Oman and that U.S. naval assets in…
Right now, a Medicare enrollee who fills a Wegovy prescription without supplemental coverage faces a list price north of $1,300 a month. Starting July 1, 2026, a new federal program will cap that cost at $50. The program is called the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will operate…
President Trump suspended the U.S. Navy’s armed escort operation through the Strait of Hormuz after a single day of fighting with Iranian forces, halting a mission that had been pitched as the answer to weeks of Iranian threats against commercial shipping in the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. During roughly 24 hours of operations in…