The financial news that actually matters
Losing a job or cutting back to part-time hours in the years before Medicare eligibility can leave an older worker suddenly without health coverage. A federal law known as COBRA offers a bridge: it lets many employees keep the exact group health plan they already had, at least for a while. The catch, and it…
Life insurance is one of the few large sums of money that can pass to a family with almost no tax friction. When a policyholder dies and the company pays the death benefit to the person named on the policy, that money generally arrives free of federal income tax. For a surviving spouse or an…
Medical bills have long been one of the most common blemishes on American credit reports, and they landed disproportionately on older households juggling deductibles, coinsurance, and gaps in coverage. Over the past few years the ground has shifted sharply. Because of voluntary changes by the three national credit bureaus, the large majority of medical collection…
Debt collectors reach millions of older Americans every year, and not every notice they send is accurate. Bills get sold and resold, amounts get inflated with fees, and outright scammers dial retirees hoping for a quick payment on a debt that was never owed. Federal law gives every consumer a short but powerful window to…
Private mortgage insurance protects the lender, not the borrower, yet it is the homeowner who pays for it every month. Once a homeowner has built enough equity, that charge can be removed, freeing up cash that had been going toward a policy the borrower never benefits from directly. The catch is that cancellation is not…
For the first time, insurance regulators have assembled a nationwide picture of the homeowners insurance market, and the findings confirm what many older homeowners have felt at renewal: premiums have climbed steeply and coverage has grown harder to keep. The analysis from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows inflation-adjusted premiums rising between roughly 18%…
Millions of current and former Xfinity customers are eligible for cash from a $117.5 million settlement over a 2023 data breach, and the simplest option requires no documentation at all. Class members can elect a flat $50 payment without submitting receipts or proving a loss, but the window is closing: valid claims must be filed…
A certificate of deposit rewards a saver for leaving money alone until a set maturity date. Pull the cash out early and that bargain reverses: most banks and credit unions charge an early-withdrawal penalty, and it is usually measured in months of interest rather than a flat fee. For retirees who park emergency money or…
Probate, the court process that settles an estate, can tie up a bank account for months and rack up fees before an heir sees a dollar. For a straightforward bank or credit union account, there is a simple way to skip it entirely. Naming a payable-on-death beneficiary lets the money move directly to a chosen…
The phone rings and a stern voice says the IRS has flagged unpaid taxes, that a warrant is being issued, and that the only way to stop an arrest is to pay immediately with a gift card or a wire transfer. It is a script that has cost Americans, many of them retirees, enormous sums….