The financial news that actually matters
Downsizing is one of retirement’s most appealing money moves on paper. The idea is simple: sell the big family house, buy something smaller and easier to manage, and pocket the difference as cash for the years ahead. For a homeowner who bought decades ago and watched the property appreciate, the equity can look like a…
For many retirees, the mortgage is paid off but the house still comes with a bill that keeps rising: homeowners insurance. Premiums have climbed sharply in recent years, and unlike a fixed mortgage payment, an insurance renewal can jump by a double-digit percentage from one year to the next. The good news for an older…
The grandparent scam is among the oldest cons aimed at older Americans, and it endures because it exploits love and panic rather than carelessness. A phone rings, and a familiar-sounding voice — a grandchild, a lawyer, a police officer — describes an emergency and pleads for money immediately and in secret. The entire design is…
Federal law caps how much a consumer can lose to an unauthorized bank charge or transfer, but the protection is built on a clock. The size of that cap depends almost entirely on how fast the fraud is reported, and the amount at stake can swing from zero to an entire account balance based on…
Somewhere in the country’s filing cabinets and dormant accounts sits an estimated $70 billion in money that belongs to ordinary people who have simply lost track of it. It piles up as old bank balances, uncashed paychecks, forgotten security deposits, insurance payouts, and refunds that were never delivered. No one is guaranteed to have money…
A settlement stemming from a 2024 cyberattack on System Pavers, a national outdoor-remodeling and hardscaping company, is now open for claims, and the money is available without a single receipt. For older homeowners who hired the firm for a patio, driveway, or backyard project and handed over personal details in the process, the breach put…
A stroke, a bad fall, or the slow arrival of dementia can leave an older person unable to write a check, pay a mortgage, or manage the accounts that keep a household running. When that happens and no legal document is in place, banks and brokerages will not simply let a spouse or an adult…
Health care claims a growing share of income in retirement, and the tax code offers a partial offset that many older Americans overlook. Unreimbursed medical and dental costs, including the Medicare premiums pulled from a Social Security check, can be deducted on a federal return. The deduction does not cover every dollar, though: it reaches…
Few taxes worry older Americans more than the federal estate tax, often called the death tax, and few reach so little of the population. In 2026, the federal estate-tax exemption stands near $15 million per person, meaning an individual can pass that much to heirs before a single dollar of federal estate tax is owed….
A Roth IRA carries a reputation for tax-free money in retirement, and for the most part it earns it. But the tax-free label comes with fine print that surprises savers who dip into the account early. Pulling out the original contributions is simple and always tax-free. Pulling out the earnings those contributions generated is a…