Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Social Security is edging toward a deadline that will force Washington to choose between math and promises. The program’s finances are deteriorating just as a wave of retirees leans more heavily on benefits that were sold as guaranteed. The “fixes” now on the table, from higher taxes to later retirement ages, would keep checks flowing…
With retirement just four years away, the decision to shift a quarter of a 401(k) into a Roth IRA is less about chasing a clever tax trick and more about locking in flexibility for the next three decades. The tradeoff is stark: pay more tax now in exchange for potentially lower lifetime taxes, smaller required…
Retirement savers are watching prices climb at the supermarket and in the stock market ticker, and many are looking for assets that can hold their ground when everything else feels shaky. Gold and other precious metals have moved from niche collectibles to mainstream portfolio tools, especially for people in their 50s and 60s who want…
For most Americans, the decision about when to start Social Security is the single biggest retirement math problem they will ever solve. The rules quietly shift thousands of dollars between your monthly budget and your lifetime total, depending on whether you file early, at full retirement age, or much later. The numbers do not care…
For years, a comforting line has echoed in retirement conversations: take Social Security as soon as you can, because you might as well get something while it is there. Many new retirees now say that was the one piece of guidance they most regret, because locking in smaller checks early has squeezed their budgets just…
Social Security is entering 2026 with a mix of automatic adjustments and ambitious ideas from Capitol Hill that could reshape how retirees are taxed and how their benefits grow. Washington is weighing two headline changes, one that would scrap federal income tax on benefits and another that would overhaul the way annual cost-of-living increases are…
Retiring at 55 with $490,000 saved and an $80,000 salary is not a fantasy, but the numbers are tighter than many people expect. The real question is not whether it is possible, but what kind of lifestyle that combination of savings and income can safely support over a retirement that may last three decades or…
Millions of low income adults who rely on food assistance are about to discover that their grocery money now comes with a time clock attached. Under new federal rules, child free, non disabled adults who do not log at least 20 hours of work or approved activities each week face losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…
Donald Trump built a powerful bond with older voters by promising to wipe out federal taxes on Social Security benefits, turning a dry line of the tax code into a vivid campaign pledge. Two years into his second term, however, retirees are still seeing those benefit amounts show up in the taxable column of their…
The United States is carrying a $38 trillion national debt, and Mark Cuban is arguing that one of the most bloated corners of the economy, health insurance, should help pay it down. His idea is blunt: fine insurers every time they overbill or wrongly deny care, and use the proceeds to chip away at the…