The exclusion was set in 1997 and never indexed. For a home bought decades ago on the California coast, it now covers a fraction of the gain — and the deed decides the rest.
Last week we said Wednesday's PCE report would settle whether the gold and crude move was a signal. It came in hot. Gold gave back $147.96 and Energy finished last. Here's why.
The 30-year Treasury yield moved one basis point last week. Gold rose $227 an ounce. That pairing rules out the explanation most people will reach for.
A surviving spouse files single the year after a death. In 2026 that means half the brackets and half the standard deduction — on income that rarely falls by half. California adds two wrinkles.
The retroactive payment was reported in the year it arrived, and that return is the one Medicare will read in 2027. Four more consequences nobody was mailed a notice about.
Rates up, income sectors down. Rates down, income sectors down. Rates up, income sectors up. Three weeks, one explanation, and it only worked once.
Appreciated company stock in a 401(k) qualifies for a one-time federal tax election. Rolling the shares into an IRA ends it permanently, and most rollover paperwork never mentions it.
The S&P 500 gained 3.59% on a jobs report the market read as good news. Underneath it, the sectors retirees hold for income sat out a second straight week.
The index closed higher, but utilities and real estate led the market lower. The Treasury market explains why, and it matters more to retirement income than the headline does.
A married couple reaches the 37% bracket at $768,700. A trust reaches it at $16,000. If a trust is named on your IRA, here's what that four-second decision costs over the next decade.
Stocks slipped, but the real move was in the bond market: yields jumped and oil hit $89 as the market repriced inflation — two days before the Fed. What it means for a retirement portfolio.
A new 0.5% floor now sits under every charitable deduction, and top-bracket donors lost value too. Here's who it hits — and the two moves, including one Wall Street won't mention, that put you back in control.