The financial news that actually matters
Anyone taking out a new federal student loan on or after July 1, 2026, will face a sharply different repayment system. The Repayment Assistance Plan, known as RAP, replaces every prior income-driven repayment option for those borrowers, while a separate Tiered Standard plan becomes the only other choice. At the same time, federal law now…
American restaurants and bars lost tens of thousands of workers last month, dragging the broader labor market to its weakest monthly gain in more than a year. Total nonfarm payrolls grew by just 57,000 in June 2026, well below forecasts, while the leisure and hospitality sector alone shed 61,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held at…
American grocery shoppers are paying roughly 13 percent more for a pound of ground beef than they did a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index data. The price increase traces directly to a U.S. cattle herd that has not recovered from years of drought-driven contraction. With the USDA counting…
Electricity bills for households across Pennsylvania and Ohio are climbing as summer default-service rates take effect on June 1, 2026, driven by wholesale capacity costs set through the PJM Interconnection grid. PECO customers in the Philadelphia region face some of the sharpest increases, while Ohio regulators work to contain distribution-rate impacts on FirstEnergy customers. The…
American households face a summer of higher electricity bills, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration projecting residential cooling costs will climb about 8.5 percent compared to last year. The increase stems from two forces hitting at the same time: rising retail electricity prices and a hotter-than-normal forecast that will push air conditioners harder across much…
American auto borrowers are falling behind on their payments at a pace not seen in more than three decades. About 5.6 percent of U.S. auto debt is now 90 days or more past due, a level that Federal Reserve data places at the worst reading since 1994. The deterioration signals that millions of households stretched…
Homeowners facing higher property-tax bills after reassessments can often challenge the new valuation by filing a single standardized form with their local or state tax authority. States including Massachusetts, Utah, New York, California, and Illinois each maintain official paperwork that lets property owners request a review without hiring an attorney or a tax-reduction service. The…
Pizza Hut will shut roughly 250 U.S. restaurants during the first half of 2026, a wave of closures timed to coincide with Yum! Brands’ decision to sell the chain entirely. The cuts land as Yum signed a definitive agreement to offload Pizza Hut, turning what began as a strategic review last November into a binding…
Workers younger than 59½ now have a narrow but real escape hatch from the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty on 401(k) distributions. A provision added to the Internal Revenue Code allows them to pull up to $2,500 per year from a defined-contribution plan, penalty-free, to cover premiums on certified long-term care insurance. The catch: their employer’s…
Millions of Americans who financed cars during and after the pandemic are now falling behind on payments at a pace not seen in decades. Federal Reserve researchers have tracked a sharp rise in auto loan delinquencies through 2025, with the steepest increases hitting borrowers in lower-income areas. At the same time, federal data shows that…