The financial news that actually matters
The first batch of May Social Security deposits hits bank accounts on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, starting a three-week payout cycle that will reach roughly 74 million Americans. Every payment this month reflects the 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment that kicked in back in January, a bump that added an average of about $56 per month…
The first paychecks of 2026 delivered a jolt to millions of older workers who earn six figures. Take-home pay dropped, even though salaries stayed the same. The culprit: a new federal rule that forces higher-earning employees to make their 401(k) catch-up contributions on an after-tax Roth basis, wiping out an upfront tax deduction many had…
For the past three years, a 72-year-old Medicare beneficiary with obesity and heart disease has had two options when it comes to GLP-1 medications: pay roughly $1,350 a month out of pocket, or go without. Starting July 1, 2026, a third option arrives. Under a new federal program called the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, qualifying seniors…
Walk into certain Social Security field offices without an appointment and you might wait well over two hours before sitting down with a staff member. At one office, the peak wait for a walk-in visitor hit 2 hours and 23 minutes, according to internal agency planning documents. That figure has been cited in federal oversight…
A 62-year-old worker earning $120,000 can now put up to $35,750 into a 401(k) in 2026. That is roughly $4,250 more than the same worker could have contributed last year, and it reflects the largest single-year expansion of late-career retirement saving capacity in more than a decade. The jump comes from two changes landing at…
A baby born on the Fourth of July last year already has $1,000 waiting in a savings account she has never seen. So does every other child born in the United States since that date. The money is real, it is federally funded, and starting July 4, 2026, parents will finally be able to access…
The first batch of May 2026 Social Security payments arrives on Tuesday, May 13, and for the roughly 68 million Americans who depend on these benefits, every deposit this year reflects a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that kicked in back in January. For the average retired worker, that translates to about $56 extra per month. Not…
Until now, a Medicare enrollee who wanted Wegovy had two options: pay roughly $1,350 a month out of pocket or go without. On July 1, 2026, a third option arrives. Under a new federal demonstration called the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, eligible Part D beneficiaries will be able to fill prescriptions for covered weight-loss GLP-1 medications…
Somewhere in the United States, roughly 665,000 workers opened their 401(k) statements in early 2025 and saw a seven-figure balance staring back at them. Fidelity Investments, which administers more than 48 million retirement accounts, reported the milestone after the S&P 500 delivered back-to-back annual gains exceeding 20% for the first time since the late 1990s….
Social Security’s annual raise is starting to feel like a ritual of disappointment. For the third consecutive year, the cost-of-living adjustment is tracking at a level that sounds reasonable in a press release but will likely shrink considerably once Medicare premiums take their cut. The early projection for the 2027 COLA sits at 2.8 percent,…