Category: Your Money

Workers who lose employer-sponsored health insurance mid-year face a tight deadline and a costly default option. Federal rules give them 60 days to enroll in an Affordable Care Act Marketplace plan through a Special Enrollment Period, a window that starts the day job-based coverage ends. The alternative, COBRA continuation coverage, shifts the full premium cost…

Apple is expected to show a built-in iPhone bill-splitting tool at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday, a feature that would let users scan a restaurant receipt with their camera, extract individual line items, and assign charges to contacts for instant payment requests. The move puts Apple in direct competition with Venmo and Splitwise,…

A Vietnam veteran who developed high blood pressure years after returning from service used to face a brutal catch-22 when filing a VA disability claim: prove that herbicide sprayed in a jungle 50 years ago caused a condition that millions of Americans develop for other reasons. The medical evidence was nearly impossible to produce, and…

Checking account holders who meet strict monthly spending rules can earn more than 100 times the return of those who fall short, creating a sharp divide between advertised headline rates and what most customers actually collect. Several banks now market reward checking accounts paying around 5.30% APY on the first $10,000 in deposits, a figure…

Workers who lose employer-sponsored health insurance and elect to continue it through COBRA face a steep financial cliff: they must cover the entire premium their employer once subsidized, plus an administrative surcharge, at the exact moment their paycheck disappears. Federal law caps what plans can charge at 102 percent of the total cost, but for…

Low-income college students heading into the 2026-27 academic year will receive up to $7,395 in Federal Pell Grant aid, a figure locked in by Congress through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. That award follows students across every institution they attend, with a hard lifetime cap of six Scheduled Awards, the equivalent of roughly 12 full-time…

People whose personal information was exposed in a data breach at American International College now have a path to compensation, but the window is closing fast. The Springfield, Massachusetts-based institution reached a settlement offering every approved class member a flat $50 cash payment, with additional reimbursement of up to $5,000 available for those who can…

Surviving spouses of wartime veterans who need help with daily living can receive up to $1,558 per month through the Department of Veterans Affairs Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance. The catch: the family’s countable net worth must remain below $163,699 for the benefit period running from Dec. 1, 2025, through Nov. 30, 2026. That…

A $1.07 charge at a gas station 400 miles from your house. A $0.50 donation to a charity you have never heard of. These are not billing errors. They are probes: tiny transactions that card thieves use to confirm a stolen number is live before they start spending for real. The pattern is so well…

Put $10,000 into a Series EE savings bond right now and the government will pay you 2.40% a year, fixed for life. Hold that same bond for 20 years and the government promises it will be worth $20,000, no matter what. Those two numbers do not add up on their own, and the gap between…