Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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The child tax credit is now a permanent $2,200 per child, with up to $1,700 paid back as a refund
The child tax credit is now locked in at $2,200 per qualifying child, made permanent by the 2025 tax law, with up to $1,700 of it available as a refund even to families who owe little or no federal tax. Making the amount permanent ends years of uncertainty in which the credit’s size was set…
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Claimed Social Security too early? You can withdraw within 12 months and restart for a bigger check
Claiming Social Security early is one of the few big retirement decisions that comes with a do-over — but only if you act fast. Within 12 months of starting benefits, you can withdraw your application, pay back what you have received, and reset the clock as if you never claimed. Do it, and the permanent…
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Medicare’s Part B premium is projected near $209.50 a month in 2027
The standard Medicare Part B premium, which most beneficiaries have deducted straight from their Social Security checks, is projected to rise to about $209.50 a month in 2027. That is an estimate drawn from the Medicare trustees’ own numbers, not the official rate — that lands in November — but it gives retirees a realistic…
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Working before full retirement age, Social Security holds $1 for every $2 you earn over $24,480
If you claim Social Security before your full retirement age and keep working, the agency holds back $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above $24,480 in 2026. It surprises a lot of people who assume that once they file, their check is theirs to keep no matter what they earn. The good news…
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People 65 and older can claim a new $6,000 bonus tax deduction on returns through 2028
Taxpayers who are 65 or older can claim a new $6,000 bonus deduction on their federal returns, a break created by the 2025 tax law that runs through 2028. It is not a check and not a credit — it lowers the income the IRS taxes, which can trim a retiree’s tax bill or even…
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Truist customers can claim up to $1,000 from a $240 million overdraft-fee settlement before September 14
A $240 million settlement over overdraft fees is paying eligible bank customers up to $1,000 each, but the claim window closes September 14, 2026. The case dates back to fees charged by SunTrust Bank, which merged into what is now Truist, and the money is real — but it goes only to people who file…
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SNAP’s 80-hour work rule now reaches parents of teenagers and adults up to 64, or the food benefit stops
The food-stamp work rule that used to apply only to childless adults under 55 now reaches millions more people, including parents of teenagers and adults right up to their 65th birthday. Under the 2025 federal law, these newly covered groups must document at least 80 hours a month of work, training, or volunteering, or their…
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Humana is dropping Medicare Advantage plans for about 600,000 members in 2027, and only 4 in 10 will be moved to a plan it keeps
Humana has told investors it will pull out of Medicare Advantage plans that cover roughly 600,000 members for the 2027 plan year, and it expects to move only about four in ten of those people into another plan it still sells. For everyone else, the plan they use today simply will not exist in January,…
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A Minnesota gyro chain owes 46 workers $613,037, about $13,327 each
$613,037. That is the figure the U.S. Department of Labor recovered in back wages from a Minnesota restaurant group after a federal investigation found it had not paid minimum and overtime wages as the law requires. Forty-six workers are attached to that total. The case is small enough to be invisible outside the Twin Cities…
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Tyson closed two beef plants in one day, blaming one of the most historic cattle shortages ever
On August 13, 2026, Tyson Foods put out a news release announcing the end of operations at two beef plants on the same day: a beef facility in Joslin, Illinois, and a case-ready facility in Eagle Mountain, Utah. That same date now sits on Utah’s official layoff-notice table beside the name Tyson Fresh Meats and…
