The financial news that actually matters
A general consumer finance category covering everyday money decisions, budgeting, saving, debt management, credit behavior, and personal financial improvement strategies.
The age band of adults subject to the food-stamp work-time limit jumped by a decade under a 2025 law, and USDA is now requiring every state to tell the newly covered group directly. Individuals aged 55 to 64 who once sat safely above the cutoff are, as of the law’s enactment, subject to the same…
A federal rule change has narrowed who counts as an exempt caregiver under the food-stamp work-time limit, and the shift lands squarely on parents and grandparents raising teenagers. Adults responsible for a child between 14 and 17 no longer qualify for the exception that once covered any dependent child under 18, according to a U.S….
The fight over which states can bar SNAP recipients from buying soda and candy with their food benefits is now sitting in front of a federal appeals court, months after the underlying program hit a legal wall. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has appealed a June court ruling that stripped five states of the special…
The Postal Service’s First-Class Mail Forever stamp costs 82 cents today, up four cents from the 78-cent price that applied for the first half of 2026. The increase took effect on July 12, 2026, after review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the independent federal body that oversees postal pricing. For households that still pay bills,…
Marketplace insurers raised 2026 premiums by an average of 26 percent nationwide, but that number hides a sharp geographic split. Sticker prices rose by roughly 30 percent in the roughly 30 states that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov exchange, compared with about 17 percent in the states that run their own marketplace platforms. For a…
The federal government’s latest energy forecast projects that natural gas held in underground storage across the Lower 48 states should reach 3,969 billion cubic feet by October 31, 2026, a level the U.S. Energy Information Administration describes as about 5 percent above the five-year average for that date. The estimate comes from EIA’s September 2026…
Up to about 689,000 people whose personal information was exposed in a 2024 data breach at FinWise Bank can file a claim against a $2.8 million settlement, and the window to do so closes October 29, 2026. A federal court in Utah granted the deal preliminary approval. Many of those affected never opened an account…
Health insurers raised the sticker price of 2026 Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans by an average of 26 percent this year, among the sharpest jumps since the exchanges opened in 2014. Roughly 22 million of the 24 million people enrolled in Marketplace coverage still receive a premium tax credit that absorbs part of that increase,…
Wholesale natural gas is projected to get cheaper over the next two years, according to the federal government’s newest energy forecast, a shift that eventually touches everything from electricity generation to home heating bills. Released September 9, 2026, and built on data finalized September 3, the federal agency’s outlook forecasts the Henry Hub spot price…
Fifty-seven electric and natural-gas utilities across 48 states currently have pending requests before state regulators to raise the rates they charge, according to a tracker maintained by the energy-comparison site Electric Choice. The utilities are asking, on average, for a 13.2 percent increase, and the filings together touch a combined 125.1 million residential and commercial…