The financial news that actually matters
Workers who earned at or above Social Security’s taxable ceiling every year of their careers and waited until age 70 to claim benefits can collect $5,181 a month starting in January 2026. That figure, published by the Social Security Administration, represents the absolute ceiling for a single retired worker, and the vast majority of retirees…
Millions of non-pregnant adults between 19 and 64 who rely on Medicaid will soon face a new federal requirement to log 80 hours a month of work, job training, or community service to keep their coverage. The deadline for states to enforce the rule is January 1, 2027, but states can begin sooner, and at…
Americans who turn 50 this year gained an extra $8,000 in tax-advantaged savings room after the IRS raised the standard catch-up contribution limit for 401(k) plans alongside a new $24,500 base deferral cap for 2026. That brings the combined ceiling to $32,500 for workers in the 50-and-older bracket, up from $31,000 last year. The increase,…
Millions of taxpayers who file returns without bank account information on record now face a fundamentally different refund experience. Beginning Sept. 30, 2025, the IRS stopped mailing most paper refund checks to individual filers, a shift that affects roughly 7 percent of all refunds, or several million returns each filing season. The change, driven by…
Cardholders who picked up the phone and asked their credit card issuer for a lower interest rate had remarkably good odds of success last year, with a prior-year survey wave recording an 83% approval rate. That figure has since dropped, but the core finding holds: most people who request a rate cut still get one,…
Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, a roughly 20 percent jump from the prior year, after the Federal Trade Commission logged more than one million reports in that category alone. A growing share of those cases started with a fake romantic connection before the scammer pivoted to pushing fraudulent cryptocurrency or forex…
Freelancers, gig workers, and other self-employed individuals face a hard deadline this Monday for their second-quarter estimated tax payment. Missing it triggers an automatic interest charge from the IRS at a 6% annual rate, and that interest compounds daily, not monthly or quarterly. For independent earners who already manage uneven cash flow, even a short…
American drivers are paying less at the pump this week after the national average price of regular gasoline dropped to $4.13 a gallon, down from $4.28 just seven days earlier. The 15-cent decline arrived as crude oil pulled back from its highest level of 2026, easing pressure on refiners and the retail fuel chain. For…
American grocery shoppers are paying measurably more than they were a year ago, and federal forecasters expect the pressure to continue. The Consumer Price Index for food climbed 3.1% over the 12 months ending May 2026, while grocery store prices specifically rose 2.7% in the same period. The USDA Economic Research Service has issued 2026…
Customers affected by Krispy Kreme’s data breach face a tight window to file claims for payments reported to reach as high as $3,500, with the deadline set for June 22. The settlement follows a cybersecurity incident that prompted the company to file a breach notification with the California Department of Justice. With fewer than two…