Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
About 11,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day in the United States, a demographic surge that researchers have labeled the “peak 65” phenomenon. That wave is colliding with thin retirement savings, strained federal trust funds, and a labor market where millions of older Americans already work reduced hours to stay afloat. The question facing this…
The Social Security Administration’s 2025 Trustees Report projects the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will run dry in 2033, leaving retirees with roughly 77 cents on every promised dollar. For Generation X, the cohort now aged roughly 45 to 60, that timeline lands squarely in their early retirement years, turning what was once a…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has put Part D drug plans on notice: starting in 2025, plans must offer an option that lets participating enrollees pay $0 cost sharing at the pharmacy counter for Part D-covered drugs, with those out-of-pocket costs billed later by the plan. The policy, called the Medicare Prescription Payment…
A growing share of Americans who once left the workforce for good are punching back in, driven less by restlessness and more by the rising cost of living. Seven percent of retirees have returned to work in just the past six months, and nearly half of them say the primary reason is simple: they need…
The federal government will deposit $1,000 into a new savings account for every eligible American baby, but parents need to file the right paperwork before the money starts flowing. Created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, these accounts represent a first-of-its-kind federal program that seeds long-term savings for children born between 2025 and 2028….
The IRS finalized new regulations on required minimum distributions from inherited IRAs in 2024 that apply to calendar years beginning January 1, 2025, ending years of confusion over how quickly certain beneficiaries must drain these accounts. Under the final rules, many heirs subject to the SECURE Act’s 10-year rule may need to take annual withdrawals…
Nearly half of Americans between the ages of 62 and 70 who collect Social Security retirement checks also earn wages from a job. That overlap between benefits and paychecks challenges the long-held assumption that claiming Social Security means leaving the workforce for good. The trend reflects a mix of financial pressure, shifting career expectations, and…
Social Security benefits will rise by 2.8% in 2026, a bump that adds roughly $50 a month to the average retired worker’s check. But that extra income will not go equally far everywhere. In states where housing, groceries, and utilities cost well below the national average, retirees on fixed incomes can expect their dollars to…
Federal data now shows that 38.2 million Americans provided unpaid eldercare in the 2023-2024 period, with the heaviest burden falling on workers aged 55 to 64 who are simultaneously approaching retirement. Lawmakers in Congress have responded with proposed legislation that would grant Social Security credits to caregivers, but the measures have not become law, leaving…
A new survey of 8,750 U.S. adults finds that four in ten Americans are not confident they will have enough savings to retire or believe they will never be able to retire at all. That finding, released by the Pew Research Center, lands at a moment when federal projections show Social Security’s combined trust funds…