Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
President Donald Trump has promised to stop taxing Social Security benefits, pitching the idea as a sweeping break for retirees. The fine print tells a narrower story, with the biggest gains flowing to a relatively affluent slice of seniors and even some younger workers, while many low income beneficiaries see little change. The plan also…
Social Security beneficiaries are being told they will get a raise in 2026, and on paper the number looks reassuring. The real risk is that many seniors are treating that cost-of-living adjustment as a pay bump instead of what it actually is: a partial inflation patch that can easily be wiped out by other rising…
Two policy shifts are quietly reshaping Social Security from a program many retirees feared would shrink into one that offers more predictable income and fairer treatment. Benefits are rising in real terms while key groups of workers and savers are finally seeing long‑criticized penalties rolled back. Together, these moves amount to a rare combination in…
Retirees who enjoy steady, satisfying lives tend to rely on small, repeatable habits rather than dramatic reinventions. I use the phrase “steady habits” deliberately, echoing the way one midlife story has been framed in film criticism, to highlight how structure, reflection and relationships can keep later years grounded. Each of the following daily practices shows…
Staying happy in retirement often comes down to steady income, manageable risk, and the confidence that money will last as long as you do. I see baby boomers gravitating toward investments that feel understandable, pay them regularly, and help them sleep at night. The following options, all grounded in recent data, show how a mix…
Retirement planning increasingly starts long before a traditional “save 10 percent” rule of thumb can do much good, which is why more people are looking at big, one-time moves to accelerate their future security. Prepaying major expenses, from mortgages to college tuition, can look like a shortcut to freedom, but it can also lock up…
Retiring on Social Security alone is not a fantasy reserved for the ultra-frugal. It is a practical reality for millions of Americans who learn to align their lifestyle with a fixed monthly benefit instead of chasing a seven-figure nest egg. The tradeoff is that success depends less on luck and more on deliberate choices about…
A seemingly modest $17.90 increase in the standard Medicare Part B premium can quietly erode the Social Security raise many retirees are counting on for 2026. I want to walk through how that monthly bump in health costs interacts with the cost-of-living adjustment, why some beneficiaries will feel it more than others, and what steps…
Social Security is about to get less forgiving for new retirees. Starting with people who first claim benefits in 2026, the program’s full retirement age will complete its long climb to 67, reshaping how much future retirees receive and how long they may feel pressured to work. The change has been decades in the making,…
Social Security recipients already know a cost-of-living adjustment is coming for 2026, but the more pressing question is whether the higher payments will actually arrive when household budgets need them. With inflation still squeezing fixed incomes, the timing of the 2026 COLA is almost as important as the size of the increase itself. I am…