Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Scammers are quietly slipping into seniors’ inboxes with emails that look like routine Social Security notices but are really bait to steal benefits, bank details, and even control of a home computer. The messages lean on fear, urgency, and official-looking language, and they are spreading fast enough that federal officials and elder law experts are…
Retiring at 62 and grabbing Social Security as soon as the door opens can feel like a reward for decades of work, but it can also quietly hollow out the very safety net you are counting on. Personal finance expert Suze Orman has spent years warning that an early claim can lock in smaller checks…
Social Security recipients are staring down higher prices for everything from groceries to rent, and for many, the monthly check no longer stretches to the end of the Month. A proposed $200 boost to benefits in 2026 would not erase years of inflation, but it could function as an emergency lifeline for households that have…
For workers eyeing a comfortable retirement, one of the most concrete benchmarks is the salary that produces the largest possible Social Security check. The government caps how much of your earnings are subject to Social Security tax each year, and only income up to that ceiling counts toward your eventual benefit. Understanding where that limit…
Social Security beneficiaries are set to receive a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment in 2026, lifting the average retirement check by about $56 per month. That increase will help, but it will not come close to covering several major costs that dominate many retirees’ budgets. Here are seven expenses that the 2026 boost is unlikely to fully…
Some Social Security beneficiaries will see their December money hit bank accounts earlier than usual, but the calendar quirk that speeds up the deposit also creates a gap that can stretch budgets thin. I want to walk through who is affected, how the payment schedule really works, and what the early arrival means for anyone…
Federal tax rules on retirement benefits are shifting in ways that could dramatically shrink how many older Americans owe anything on their Social Security checks. A new senior-focused deduction, layered on top of existing thresholds, is poised to push a large majority of retirees out of the federal tax net on those benefits, even as…
Retirees have only one chance to get Social Security right, yet the same costly mistakes keep surfacing in surveys and expert warnings. I have pulled together eight recurring errors that show up in recent reporting, from claiming too early to underestimating bureaucratic delays, to help readers protect a benefit that may anchor their entire retirement…
Your Social Security number is the master key to your financial life, so handing it out in the wrong place can invite identity theft, ruined credit and even stolen benefits. I focus on 10 everyday situations where experts say you should refuse to share it, and I explain how each one fits the broader pattern…
Social Security has always been politically untouchable in theory, yet in 2025 it became the focus of some of the most aggressive policy tinkering in years. President Donald Trump reshaped how benefits are delivered, how they interact with the tax code, and how the system verifies who gets paid, all while insisting he was protecting…