Author: Elizabeth Blessing
-
Wheat prices paid to farmers are up 25.5 percent in a year, an early warning for bread and cereal
Long before a loaf of bread or a box of cereal gets a new price tag, the wheat that goes into it gets one first. USDA’s Economic Research Service reported this week that the price farmers are paid for wheat jumped 9.3 percent in a single month, from June to July 2026, and now sits…
-
Butter and jerky still ring up on an EBT card, but they no longer count toward a store’s SNAP license
It sounds like a contradiction. A jar of cheese dip, a stick of butter, or a bag of beef jerky can no longer help a grocery store qualify to accept SNAP benefits, yet a SNAP shopper can still walk up to the register and buy any of them with an EBT card. That is not…
-
A working family with three children can claim up to $8,231 from the earned income credit for 2026
Working families with children stand to gain thousands of dollars from a single line buried inside a routine IRS inflation announcement, and most of them will not see it mentioned anywhere until they sit down to file. For tax year 2026, the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for a family with three or more qualifying…
-
Employer health coverage counts as affordable in 2027 even if it eats 10.22 percent of a worker’s income
The IRS has quietly reset one of the most consequential numbers in the Affordable Care Act, and most workers will never see it printed on a pay stub or a benefits enrollment packet. Starting with health plans that begin in 2027, an employer can require a worker to spend up to 10.22 percent of household…
-
Treasury and the IRS published sample forms to simplify a 401(k) rollover
Moving money out of an old 401(k) has long meant navigating a patchwork of paperwork that varies from one plan administrator to the next, with delays and lost forms a common complaint from savers trying to consolidate accounts. Treasury and the IRS have now put out a standardized set of sample forms meant to smooth…
-
The FDIC loosened rules on networks that keep balances above $250,000 insured
Money sitting in a single bank account above $250,000 has always carried some exposure the standard FDIC insurance limit doesn’t cover on its own. Banks have spent years building networks that split large deposits across many banks to close that gap without the depositor lifting a finger, and a rule change adopted at the end…
-
Under the Education Department’s new repayment plan, a student loan balance can no longer grow while payments are made
Millions of federal student loan borrowers have watched a monthly payment go out and their balance somehow tick up anyway, a result of interest accruing faster than income-based payments could cover it. The Education Department’s new repayment system is built specifically to stop that from happening. Under the plan the department finalized this year, a…
-
An untouched U.S. Bank account is charged $5 a month for sitting dormant
A checking or savings account that sits untouched long enough does not just quietly wait for its owner to come back. At U.S. Bank, an account classified as dormant is charged $5 every month it stays that way, a fee that can chip away at a forgotten balance long before the state ever gets involved.…
-
The VA proposed cutting its disability application from 15 pages to five and the survivors’ form from 20 to seven
Filling out a VA disability claim has long meant working through a form thick enough to intimidate anyone doing it without help. The Department of Veterans Affairs now has a formal proposal on the table to cut that paperwork down dramatically, along with the separate form survivors use to apply for benefits after a veteran’s…
-
Households with someone over 60 can deduct every medical dollar above $35 a month on a SNAP application
Every SNAP application asks about medical expenses, but many households skip past the question because they assume it will not change their benefit. For a household with a member age 60 or older, that assumption can leave real money on the table. Federal rules let those households deduct nearly every dollar they spend on medical…
