Author: Brian Lund
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UnitedHealthcare is shrinking its Medicare Advantage rolls, dropping plans for about 20,000 members in 2027
Humana is not the only big insurer trimming Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. UnitedHealthcare, the largest player in the market, is preparing to pull out of dozens of counties, a move that would strip coverage from roughly 20,000 members. The company calls the list preliminary, but for anyone in an affected county the smart response…
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Supplemental Security Income adds a monthly federal check for low-income seniors and disabled adults
A lot of older Americans on a tight income assume there is nothing beyond their Social Security check, and they are often wrong. Supplemental Security Income is a separate federal benefit that pays a monthly amount to people who are 65 or older, blind, or disabled and who have very little income and few assets.…
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Eighteen states will block SNAP cards from buying soda and candy under new waivers
For millions of families who buy groceries with a SNAP card, the list of what the benefit can pay for is about to get shorter. A wave of state waivers approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will bar SNAP from covering soda and candy, and after a court trimmed the list, roughly eighteen states…
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Tipped workers must still reach the full minimum wage, or the employer owes the difference
The paycheck says $2.13 an hour, and to a lot of new servers that number looks like the whole story. It is not. Under federal law, a tipped worker is still guaranteed the full minimum wage of $7.25 for every hour worked, and when tips do not get them there, the employer has to make…
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The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to offer accommodations like light duty
A pregnant worker asked her manager for a stool so she could sit during long shifts, and instead of a stool she was told to go home on unpaid leave until the baby came. Under federal law, that response is now backwards. Since 2023, employers of a certain size have been required to work with…
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Retirees who turn 73 must start required IRA withdrawals or face a steep tax penalty
Money in a traditional retirement account cannot stay there untouched forever. Once an account owner reaches 73, the government requires withdrawals to begin, and the penalty for ignoring the rule is one of the harshest in the tax code. These mandatory withdrawals, known as required minimum distributions, catch retirees off guard every year, both those…
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Extended 2025 tax returns are due October 15, with interest already running since April
Roughly one in ten taxpayers asks for extra time to file, and for those who requested a 2025 extension, the real deadline is now close: October 15, 2026. What trips people up is a detail the extension paperwork does not shout about. An extension buys more time to file the return, but it never bought…
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A certificate of deposit locks your rate, but cashing out early usually costs months of interest
A certificate of deposit is one of the most predictable products a bank offers, and that predictability is exactly what trips people up. The deal is simple on the surface: lock the money away for a set time and the bank guarantees a fixed interest rate. What many savers underestimate is the cost of breaking…
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High-yield savings accounts still pay near 4% while many big banks pay almost nothing
Two savers can keep the exact same $10,000 in a savings account at two different banks and end the year hundreds of dollars apart. The difference is not luck or risk. It is entirely the interest rate on the account, and right now the gap between the best-paying banks and the biggest-name banks is enormous.…
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U.S. savings bonds stop earning after 30 years, so cash the ones you forgot
Somewhere in millions of American households, a savings bond bought decades ago for a birth, a graduation, or a retirement is sitting in a drawer doing absolutely nothing. That is not a figure of speech. A U.S. savings bond earns interest for exactly 30 years and then stops cold, and every month it sits past…