The financial news that actually matters
Covers retirement planning, Social Security benefits, pension systems, and long-term financial security. It helps readers understand how to prepare financially for retirement.
Retirees carrying past-due federal debts such as defaulted student loans face a renewed threat to their monthly Social Security checks, but a longstanding federal rule shields the first $750 of each payment from collection. The protection means the smallest benefits will pass through untouched, while retirees receiving slightly more than $750 a month stand to…
Scammers posing as Medicare and Social Security representatives are calling Americans to demand payments and personal information, and federal data show the problem is getting worse fast. Reports of impersonation scams that steal $10,000 or more from older adults have risen more than four-fold, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The timing is not random:…
Americans who separate from an employer at age 55 or older can pull money from that company’s 401(k) plan without paying the 10% early-withdrawal penalty that normally applies before age 59 and a half. The provision, rooted in federal tax code Section 72(t), is sometimes called the Rule of 55, and it applies only to…
Families with newborns and young children now have a new federal savings vehicle that pairs a one-time $1,000 government deposit with the option to add up to $5,000 per year in private contributions. The Treasury Department and IRS rolled out guidance through Notice 2025-68 and a draft version of Form 4547, spelling out how parents…
Retirees and inherited-account holders who fail to withdraw their full required minimum distribution from an IRA or qualified retirement plan by December 31 will owe the IRS an excise tax equal to 25 percent of the shortfall. That rate, cut from a prior 50 percent penalty under the SECURE 2.0 Act enacted in December 2022…
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries will pay $202.90 a month for Part B coverage in 2026, a jump of $17.90 from the $185.00 standard premium set for 2025. For individuals earning above $109,000, the bill gets steeper: federal rules add an income-related surcharge on top of that base rate. The increase hits as retirees on fixed…
Married couples with a single income can each fund a full IRA for tax year 2026, putting away up to $7,500 per spouse even if one partner earned nothing during the year. The IRS confirmed the $7,500 annual IRA contribution limit for 2026, a $500 increase over the $7,000 cap that applied for 2025. For…
Roughly 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security retirement benefits now have one fewer year before the program’s dedicated trust fund is projected to be exhausted. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, known as OASI, is expected to be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, according to the annual Trustees Report released…
Americans born in 1960 or later who file for Social Security retirement benefits at age 62 permanently lose 30 percent of their monthly payment compared to waiting until their full retirement age of 67. That five-year gap translates to 60 months of early claiming, and the reduction follows them through every future cost-of-living adjustment for…
Seniors searching online for Medicare plan options face a concrete risk: the first result they click may belong to a company that federal regulators have already caught faking government affiliation to harvest personal data. The FTC settled charges against two lead-generation firms, Assurance IQ and MediaAlpha, for $145 million after finding they ran false or…