The financial news that actually matters
A new federal tax break aimed squarely at older Americans took effect for the 2025 tax year, and by law it is set to disappear after 2028. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, created a temporary senior deduction worth up to $6,000 for each taxpayer who is 65 or older, stacked…
When a spouse who paid into Social Security dies, the survivor faces a choice that can shape the rest of their retirement income — and getting the order wrong can leave money unclaimed for years. A widow or widower can receive as much as the full benefit the late spouse was collecting, or was entitled…
A year into the largest overhaul of federal food assistance in decades, the number of people dropped from the program has climbed past four million — and a large share of them are children. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still widely called food stamps, has lost participants every month since the summer of 2025, when…
A common fear after a long marriage ends is that a former spouse’s Social Security record disappears along with everything else divided in the divorce. It does not. Federal rules let a divorced person collect a benefit worth as much as half of an ex-spouse’s full retirement amount, as long as the marriage lasted at…
Some of the largest companies in America are collecting billions of dollars in refunds on tariffs that were later ruled illegal, while the shoppers who absorbed those costs in higher prices are getting little or nothing back. Apple has recovered about $2.2 billion, Ford roughly $1.3 billion, and Amazon around $600 million, part of a…
The White House is preparing to announce another round of agreements aimed at lowering U.S. prescription drug prices, this time with a group of midsized biotechnology companies. Under the deals, first reported by Bloomberg on August 26, the drugmakers would offer state Medicaid programs the same lower prices they charge for outpatient medicines in other…
Health insurers are pulling out of the Medicare Advantage market at a pace the program has never seen, and the fallout is landing on older Americans who assumed their coverage was settled. A new analysis from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimates that as many as 2.9 million Medicare Advantage members —…
Most people assume a will is a private document, and in a sense it is right up until it is needed. The moment a will takes effect, it usually enters the probate court, and probate is a public process. That means the contents of an estate, the names of heirs and the value of what…
Generosity moves fastest right after a disaster, and so do the people who prey on it. When a hurricane, wildfire or shooting dominates the news, fake charities and copycat groups surface within days, often using names that sit one word away from a real and trusted organization. A few minutes of verification before giving is…
A will written years ago can quietly turn into a set of instructions no one actually wants followed. Life changes such as a divorce or the death of a spouse, child or named heir can leave an estate plan pointing at people who are no longer in the picture, and the document does not correct…