The financial news that actually matters
Investors who sold positions at a loss during recent market swings face a strict federal cap on how much of that damage they can write off each year. Under the Internal Revenue Code, net capital losses first cancel out any capital gains dollar for dollar, then reduce ordinary income by no more than $3,000 annually,…
Retirees who are at least 70 and a half years old can now direct as much as $111,000 from a traditional IRA to a qualifying charity in a single year and owe zero federal income tax on the transfer. That ceiling, originally set at $100,000, has climbed because Congress required it to keep pace with…
Workers age 55 and older who stay on an employer high-deductible health plan can contribute an extra $1,000 per year to a health savings account, but the window to use that benefit slams shut the moment Medicare coverage begins. The catch-up amount is fixed by federal statute, not adjusted for inflation, and it applies every…
Homeowners across the United States face another year of rising insurance costs, with the national average premium projected to hit $3,057 in 2026. That figure represents a 4% increase after premiums already jumped 12% in 2025, according to data from insurance comparison platform Insurify. The steepest increases are concentrated in California, Nebraska, New Mexico, and…
Retirees who depend on Social Security checks to cover basic expenses are watching the gap between their benefit increase and the cost of filling a gas tank widen to its largest margin in years. The gasoline index climbed 26.7% over the 12 months ending in June 2026, while the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2026…
Millions of retirement savers at two of the largest U.S. employers could see changes in how their nest eggs are managed after Goldman Sachs reportedly took on oversight of roughly $70 billion in combined pension and savings plan assets from Verizon and Lockheed Martin. Both companies have filed audited plan financial statements with the Securities…
Taxpayers in high-tax states just got their biggest federal relief in nearly a decade. The cap on state and local tax deductions has quadrupled from the $10,000 ceiling that applied under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, jumping to $40,400 for tax year 2026. The increase, enacted through P.L. 119-21, is temporary: the cap…
Retirees who tap their home equity through a reverse mortgage often discover that the loan’s true cost extends well beyond the initial closing table. The federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, administered by HUD and backed by the FHA, allows homeowners aged 62 and older to convert equity into cash without monthly payments. But…
Homeowners across the United States fell behind on mortgage payments at a faster clip in the first quarter of 2026, with the national delinquency rate reaching 4.44 percent. Florida and Texas stood out as the two states where borrowers slipped into early-stage missed payments most quickly, according to federal regulator data released this spring. The…
Shari’s Management Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced plans to close 86 restaurants, a decision that will strip dozens of communities across the Pacific Northwest and beyond of a familiar family dining option and leave hundreds of workers without jobs. The closures affect locations in multiple states, though public labor records so…