Tyler Foster
Latest Articles by Tyler Foster
Social Security’s “deemed filing” rule can force you to take your own and a spousal benefit at once
A claiming strategy that once let married couples collect a spousal check while their own benefit fattened toward age 70 is effectively gone, closed by...
The Social Security earnings limit jumps the year you reach full retirement age, then disappears entirely
Working while collecting Social Security before full retirement age triggers an earnings test that can claw back part of each check, but the rules loosen...
Same-sex and common-law married spouses can qualify for Social Security spousal and survivor benefits
Social Security’s spousal and survivor benefits, worth up to half of a living worker’s full benefit or the entire amount after a death, reach far...
Social Security bases your check on your 35 highest-earning years, and any missing years count as zeros
Social Security’s monthly retirement benefit rests on one long calculation: the agency indexes a worker’s lifetime wages, singles out the 35 best years, and averages...
A spousal Social Security benefit stops growing at full retirement age and earns no delayed credits
Delaying a Social Security claim from full retirement age to 70 rewards a worker’s own record with delayed retirement credits worth roughly 8 percent a...
Crimson Wine shoppers can claim about $100 with no proof over a data breach before September 1
A $637,500 fund set aside to resolve claims over a 2024 Crimson Wine Group data breach is running up against a hard cutoff, and the...
Eggs are forecast to fall about 31% in 2026 even as beef and milk keep climbing
One corner of the grocery store is finally moving in the shopper’s favor, and it is the same aisle that inflicted the worst sticker shock...
A spouse who never worked can still get premium-free Medicare Part A on the worker’s record
A husband or wife who spent decades outside the paid workforce, or who never piled up enough covered earnings alone, can still walk into hospital...
You start earning Social Security cost-of-living raises at 62, even years before you claim a check
A worker who turns 62 this year quietly crosses a financial line that has nothing to do with signing up for benefits. From that birthday...
Waiting from 62 to 70 to claim Social Security can raise your monthly check by about 77%
The single largest lever most retirees hold over their monthly Social Security income is the calendar. A worker who claims at 62, the earliest age...
The average U.S. household will pay roughly $920 more this year because of Trump’s tariffs, one analysis estimates
A year of higher import taxes is quietly landing on kitchen tables, and one estimate puts the average tab at roughly $920 per household for...
Dropping a hospital that leaves your Medicare Advantage plan can cost you up to $13,900 out of pocket
A hospital walking away from a Medicare Advantage network rarely arrives with much warning, yet the financial fallout can be severe. When roughly two dozen...
Setting up a “my Social Security” account early blocks a thief from claiming your benefits first
One of the cheapest defenses against Social Security fraud costs nothing and takes a few minutes: claiming a personal online account before a criminal claims...
Freezing a deceased relative’s credit stops thieves from opening accounts in their name
In the weeks after a death, a grieving family is rarely thinking about a credit report, and identity thieves count on exactly that. A scheme...
A romance scam can drain a lifetime of savings, and the money is almost never recovered
Among the frauds the Federal Trade Commission tracks, romance scams sit near the top for total dollars lost, and they carry a second cruelty that...
A “pig butchering” crypto-investment scam has drained retirees of six-figure savings, the FBI warns
Federal investigators have a blunt name for one of the costliest frauds now aimed at older Americans: “pig butchering,” a scheme in which a stranger...
