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.
Losing a job or cutting back to part-time hours in the years before Medicare eligibility can leave an older worker suddenly without health coverage. A federal law known as COBRA offers a bridge: it lets many employees keep the exact group health plan they already had, at least for a while. The catch, and it…
Life insurance is one of the few large sums of money that can pass to a family with almost no tax friction. When a policyholder dies and the company pays the death benefit to the person named on the policy, that money generally arrives free of federal income tax. For a surviving spouse or an…
A trip to the emergency room used to carry a hidden financial risk. Even patients who did everything right and went to a hospital in their insurance network could be blindsided weeks later by a large bill from an out-of-network doctor who happened to treat them. The federal No Surprises Act, which took effect at…
Medical bills have long been one of the most common blemishes on American credit reports, and they landed disproportionately on older households juggling deductibles, coinsurance, and gaps in coverage. Over the past few years the ground has shifted sharply. Because of voluntary changes by the three national credit bureaus, the large majority of medical collection…
When one spouse needs nursing-home care and the couple turns to Medicaid to pay for it, a common fear is that the healthy spouse will be left destitute. Long-term care can cost thousands of dollars a month, and Medicaid is means-tested, so the program looks hard at what a household owns and earns. Congress built…
Debt collectors reach millions of older Americans every year, and not every notice they send is accurate. Bills get sold and resold, amounts get inflated with fees, and outright scammers dial retirees hoping for a quick payment on a debt that was never owed. Federal law gives every consumer a short but powerful window to…
People who received unsolicited telemarketing calls or texts pushing Farmers insurance may be owed money from a $1.25 million class action settlement, with individual payments running up to $160. The claim deadline is September 14, 2026. For older consumers who fielded a stream of unwanted sales calls, the settlement is a chance to be compensated…
Millions of current and former Xfinity customers are eligible for cash from a $117.5 million settlement over a 2023 data breach, and the simplest option requires no documentation at all. Class members can elect a flat $50 payment without submitting receipts or proving a loss, but the window is closing: valid claims must be filed…
A change to who can receive food stamps is now working its way through state benefit offices, and it reaches further into retirement-age households than the headlines suggest. Under the tax-and-spending law enacted in 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has tightened its citizenship and immigration rules, cutting off many refugees, asylees, and other humanitarian…
A little-noticed change in how food-stamp benefits are calculated is quietly shrinking the monthly help that many households receive, and the way it is written creates a sharp dividing line based on age and disability. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program long gave households an automatic utility credit when they received even a small amount of…