Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Estate sales are treasure troves of unique items often overlooked by casual shoppers. With a keen eye, you can discover valuable pieces that might just enhance your collection or even turn a profit. Here are seven such items you should keep an eye out for at your next estate sale adventure. 1) Vintage Jewelry Often...
Read MoreImporters owed tariff refunds by the U.S. government are now being offered upfront cash buyouts worth 60 percent or more of their pending claims, feeding a secondary market that has grown to an estimated $100 billion as federal processing delays stretch on. The offers come from investors betting they can collect the full refund later,...
Defense contractor KBR plans to eliminate 758 jobs at Fort Irwin, a sprawling Army training installation in California’s Mojave Desert, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state. The cuts represent one of the larger single-site layoffs in San Bernardino County in recent memory and raise pointed questions about the stability...
Ford CEO Jim Farley told a podcast audience that his company has thousands of open mechanic and technician positions paying as much as $120,000 a year, yet cannot fill them because the training pipeline produces far fewer skilled workers than the industry loses. The disclosure puts a sharp number on a problem that stretches well...
The U.S. Treasury Department granted India a 30-day window to take delivery of Russian crude oil already loaded on tankers, a move that eased pressure on global oil prices by signaling flexibility in Washington’s sanctions enforcement. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 133 on March 5, 2026, authorizing the sale and offloading...
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing to create a fiscal commission charged with reining in federal spending and debt, which now exceeds $38.8 trillion. Senators Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, John Curtis, a Utah Republican, and Angus King, a Maine independent, along with other colleagues, introduced the Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Act as the government’s...
A growing number of U.S. employers are abandoning performance-based raises in favor of uniform pay increases spread evenly across their workforces, a strategy compensation professionals call “peanut butter” pay because it smears the same thin layer over everyone. The tactic mirrors what companies did during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, when recession fears drove firms to...
Savers chasing high CD yields at a single bank face a hard ceiling most do not fully understand: the Federal…
U.S. merchants paid a record $160.70 billion in card processing fees in 2022, and the pressure on small businesses has…
Student loan borrowers filing their 2025 tax returns face a narrowing window of tax benefits that many will miss entirely.…
Roth IRAs are often pitched as the go-to retirement account for young workers in lower tax brackets. But take a closer look, and you’ll see plenty of high-income earners quietly using Roths to build long-term, tax-free wealth—despite earning too much to contribute the “normal” way. It’s not just about the account itself. It’s about how...
Federal regulators have spent the past year tightening the rules around 401(k) plans, and workers who fail to keep up risk losing tens of thousands of dollars in retirement savings to penalties, taxes, and forgone investment growth. From missed contribution limits and overlooked catch-up rules to early cashouts, hidden fees, and missed tax credits, eight...
Cautious retirees often want equity income without the stomach-churning swings that can come with broad stock indexes. Low-volatility dividend ETFs aim to smooth the ride while still delivering regular cash flow. The following three funds focus on quality companies, disciplined screening and defensive sector tilts that can help Retirement investors stay invested through market stress....
Retirees drawing down savings face a tightening set of competing pressures: bond yields have climbed well above the levels that defined the post-2008 era, life expectancies continue to stretch retirement horizons past 30 years for many households, and federal tax rules now force minimum withdrawals from retirement accounts starting at age 73. Together, these forces...
Supplemental Security Income recipients eligible for the maximum federal payment will see $994 land in their bank accounts for March 2026, with the deposit arriving as early as February 27 because the scheduled payment date falls on a weekend. The early arrival, combined with a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that took effect in January, means roughly...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services set the standard monthly Part B premium at $202.90 for 2026, a $17.90 increase over the current year. Because that premium is typically deducted straight from Social Security checks, the hike will eat into much of the $56-per-month raise that the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment was supposed to deliver....
Middle-class retirees hoping to stretch their savings in the Sunshine State are running into a financial wall. Housing costs in Florida’s most popular retirement corridors are climbing faster than Social Security benefits can keep up, and the demographic profile of new arrivals is shifting toward wealthier households. For anyone planning a budget-conscious move south, the...
Retirees who have paid off their mortgages can cover all basic living expenses on Social Security alone in exactly 10 states, according to analyses of federal benefit data and regional cost figures. With the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment raising the estimated average monthly retirement benefit to $2,071 starting in January 2026, the math works in a...
The expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits at the close of 2025 has put approximately 22 million Marketplace enrollees on a collision course, with sharply higher insurance costs. These subsidies, first created by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and later extended by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, kept monthly...
Only eight states still tax Social Security benefits in 2026, and each uses its own income tests and formulas to decide what retirees owe. Key Points For 2026 from Dec reporting state that Only eight jurisdictions, including Colorado and Connecticut, still reach into Social Security checks. Understanding which states tax benefits and how they calculate...
Federal agencies are sounding alarms about a surge in financial schemes draining retirement savings, with Americans over 60 reporting more than $3.4 billion in fraud losses in 2023 alone. From high-pressure annuity sales to botched tax calculations, five specific traps keep catching retirees off guard, and the pressure to fall for them is only intensifying...
Federal prosecutors have charged two foreign nationals in Chicago for allegedly running a $10 million health care fraud scheme that used fake labs and medical equipment suppliers to bill Medicare for services never provided, laundering the stolen proceeds overseas. The case is one thread in a far larger federal enforcement wave that has now charged...
Millions of Americans are cashing out their 401(k) accounts before retirement, sacrificing long-term financial security to cover immediate needs. Cash-outs at job separation alone totaled approximately $74 billion in 2006, dwarfing every other form of retirement savings leakage. The pattern has persisted for years, driven by a collision of economic shocks, thin household savings buffers,...
Vice President JD Vance has built a consistent public message around Social Security: benefits will not be cut. He has called the program an “important promise” to older Americans and argued that rooting out fraud, not trimming checks, is the right path to keeping it solvent. But a closer look at the policies taking shape...
Spending $10,000 a month in retirement requires $120,000 a year after taxes, a figure that dwarfs what most American retirees actually spend. For anyone targeting a 2026 retirement date, the core question is how much you must save to reliably cover the gap after Social Security. Using common withdrawal-rate guardrails, that typically translates to roughly...
Rising Medicare premiums, a little-known tax on Social Security benefits, and forced retirement-account withdrawals are quietly compounding into thousands of dollars in annual losses for retirees who thought their budgets were locked in. These three costs share a common trait: they are tied to income thresholds that interact with each other, meaning one spike can...