The financial news that actually matters
The amount a person can pass to heirs without owing federal estate tax has climbed to a new high under last year’s tax law. For deaths in 2026, the federal exemption is $15 million per individual, which means a married couple can shield roughly $30 million from the tax. At that level, the vast majority…
Anyone who reaches age 65 by the end of the tax year now qualifies for a federal deduction that did not exist two years ago. It is worth up to $6,000 per person, it runs only through the 2028 tax year, and it can be claimed whether a filer takes the standard deduction or itemizes….
Many people newly on Medicare book their “free yearly wellness visit” expecting the thorough head-to-toe physical their old employer plan used to cover. They sit down, answer a series of questions, and leave puzzled that no one listened to their heart or ordered the usual battery of tests. The confusion is common, and it can…
Amid a wave of insurers pulling out of Medicare Advantage for 2027, one federal protection is about to matter for hundreds of thousands of retirees who never expected to shop for coverage. When a Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued and its members are pushed out, those members gain a one-time right to buy a Medigap…
Retirees budgeting for next year now have an early read on one of Medicare’s most predictable line items. Federal actuaries expect the standard Part B premium to rise to roughly $209.50 a month in 2027, an increase of about $6.60 from the $202.90 that beneficiaries pay in 2026. The figure is a projection, not a…
Retirement tax breaks tend to reward people who already have money, but one of them does the opposite. The Saver’s Credit hands a direct tax reduction to lower- and middle-income workers precisely for the act of putting money aside for retirement. It can knock up to $1,000 off a single filer’s tax bill, or up…
For millions of older Americans, the retirement accounts they spent decades building eventually come with a catch: at a certain age, the government stops letting the money sit untouched. These required minimum distributions force a yearly withdrawal from traditional retirement accounts, and the current starting age is 73. Miss one, and the penalty can be…
Claiming Social Security early can feel like the right call in the moment, then look like a mistake once a retiree lands a new job, inherits money, or simply realizes the reduced check will fall short for decades. Social Security offers a rarely used escape hatch for exactly that regret: a one-time do-over that erases…
When a spouse dies, the survivor’s household income does not simply continue as before. Social Security offers a survivor benefit that can lift a widow or widower up to the full amount the late spouse was receiving, a lifeline for a partner who earned less. But the program comes with a hard limit that trips…
A change tucked into last summer’s tax-and-spending law is now reshaping who can keep food assistance, and it lands squarely on older Americans who are not yet old enough for Social Security. Adults between 55 and 64 who were previously exempt from federal work rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program must now document 80…