The financial news that actually matters
Two of the most common sources of guaranteed retirement income can look almost identical on a monthly statement. A Social Security payment and an annuity check both arrive on schedule, both promise to keep coming for life, and both feel like a bedrock a household can count on. Yet one of them is quietly designed…
The age at which a retiree can collect a full, unreduced Social Security benefit has finished a slow climb that lawmakers set in motion decades ago. For everyone born in 1960 or later, that age is now 67 — not the 65 that still lives in many people’s minds, and not the 66 that applied…
A large share of Americans claim Social Security the moment they become eligible at 62, and many of them are still working when they do. What often comes as a surprise is that a long-standing rule can hold back part of that early check for anyone under full retirement age who earns more than a…
For most of Medicare’s history, there was no ceiling on what a beneficiary could be forced to spend out of pocket on prescription drugs. A retiree with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or another condition treated with an expensive specialty medication could watch drug bills climb into the thousands of dollars a year, with no…
Every autumn brings two announcements that shape a retiree’s budget for the year ahead: how much Social Security checks will rise, and how much Medicare will cost. They are usually reported as separate news items, one about a raise and one about a bill. For most older Americans, though, the two are wired directly together….
A long-running fight over a set of tariffs imposed in recent years has reached an unusual stage. The federal government has been ordered to hand billions of dollars back to the businesses that paid those import taxes, has already started writing the checks, and is now in court trying to avoid paying the rest. For…
Millions of Comcast and Xfinity customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach have a limited window to collect money from a class-action settlement. The payout can be as modest as a flat cash sum that requires no paperwork, or as large as several thousand dollars for those who can document real…
Not all scams cost the same. Among the many schemes aimed at older Americans, one category now inflicts far more financial damage than any other, and it is growing at a pace that has alarmed investigators. Fraud dressed up as investing has climbed to the top of the loss chart for people over 60, and…
Most retirees know that waiting to claim Social Security produces a larger monthly check. Fewer realize the same principle often applies to a pension or an annuity. Starting either one later, rather than at the earliest possible age, generally raises the monthly payout, sometimes substantially. The reason is not a special reward for patience but…
Cash feels like the safe choice, and for retirees who lived through market crashes, keeping money in the bank can be reassuring. A cushion of ready cash is genuinely smart: it covers emergencies without forcing a sale of investments at a bad moment. But there is a hidden cost to holding too much of it…