Tyler Foster
Latest Articles by Tyler Foster
Dividend stocks can supply retirement income, but the payout is never guaranteed
Dividend-paying stocks are a favorite source of retirement income because they can send cash to a shareholder several times a year without requiring the sale...
A veteran can refinance a VA loan to a lower rate with little paperwork through an IRRRL
The VA’s streamline refinance, formally the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, lets a veteran swap an existing VA mortgage for a lower-rate one without an...
A home-equity line can fund repairs, but it puts the house on the line if payments stop
When a roof fails or a furnace dies, a home-equity line of credit is often the cheapest large sum a homeowner can reach. It typically...
Appealing your property-tax assessment can shave hundreds off the bill, and many owners win
A property-tax bill looks fixed, but the number that drives it is an estimate — and estimates can be wrong. Every bill starts with an...
Scammers now pose as your own bank’s fraud department to talk you into moving money
The Federal Trade Commission warns that a fast-growing con now opens with a phone call or a text from what looks like a bank’s own...
Freezing your credit is free and does not lower your credit score
The single most effective defense against having a loan or credit card opened in someone else’s name is also one of the least used, and...
A bank must give provisional credit while it investigates an unauthorized charge you reported in time
When an unauthorized charge drains a checking account, the immediate crisis is not who is at fault but how long the money stays gone. Federal...
A credit “lock” lets you block and unblock new-account access from your phone in seconds
Identity thieves make their money by opening accounts in someone else’s name, and the most direct way to stop them is to cut off access...
Setting account alerts and a daily-withdrawal limit can blunt the damage from a drained account
When a thief gets into a bank account, the money that leaves in the first hours is rarely the whole story. What determines how much...
A federal Lifeline benefit can trim the monthly phone or internet bill for low-income households
A telephone and internet bill is one of the few household costs that rarely bends, arriving at the same figure month after month regardless of...
Some states add a monthly supplement to the federal SSI check for aged, blind or disabled residents
The federal Supplemental Security Income check pays a single recipient $994 a month in 2026 and a couple $1,491, the amounts set after a 2.8...
Medicaid may pay for home modifications like ramps and grab bars through a waiver
A wheelchair ramp, a set of bathroom grab bars, or a widened doorway can be the single change that lets an older adult stay home...
Veterans and their spouses can combine VA benefits with Medicaid to pay for long-term care
A veteran facing long-term-care costs does not have to choose between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Medicaid. The two programs can run at the...
A caregiver child who lived with and cared for a parent can shield the home from Medicaid recovery
For most families that rely on Medicaid to pay for a nursing home, the house is the one asset that survives the spend-down — and...
Medicaid can cover adult day care in many states, giving a family caregiver a paid break
Adult day care can run families hundreds to well over a thousand dollars a month, and for households built around a single unpaid caregiver it...
A Social Security “hold harmless” rule can keep a Part B premium jump from cutting most retirees’ checks
The standard Medicare Part B premium jumped to $202.90 a month for 2026, an increase of $17.90 over the $185 that enrollees paid in 2025...
