Skip to main content

The Money Overview

Avatar photo
Author

Tyler Foster

Latest Articles by Tyler Foster

Social Security & Medicare

Full retirement age has reached 67, and claiming at 62 now locks in a check about 30% smaller for life

Full retirement age has finished its long climb to 67. For everyone born in 1960 or later, the age at which Social Security pays a...

Social Security & Medicare

Divorced spouses married at least 10 years can claim up to half an ex’s Social Security, with no hit to the ex

A marriage that ended decades ago can still pay a monthly Social Security check. A divorced person who was married at least 10 years can...

Social Security & Medicare

A child can collect Social Security on a retired, disabled, or deceased parent’s record

Social Security lives in most people’s minds as a retirement check, but a substantial share of its payments go to children. When a parent begins...

Social Security & Medicare

About 2 million seniors skip $11.4 billion in Medicare Extra Help drug savings yearly

An estimated two million older Americans who qualify for Medicare’s Extra Help program never enroll in it, and the savings they leave unclaimed add up...

Social Security & Medicare

A retiree hit with a high Medicare premium after a one-time income spike can appeal it with Form SSA-44

A retiree whose Medicare premium jumps after a single unusual year of income, a home sale, a large Roth conversion, or the year work finally...

Social Security & Medicare

A surviving spouse who waits until survivor full retirement age can collect 100% of a late partner’s check

A surviving spouse who waits until reaching survivor full retirement age can collect the deceased partner’s Social Security benefit in full, the entire amount the...

Social Security & Medicare

Medicare’s out-of-pocket drug cap drops to $2,400 in 2027, then covered prescriptions cost nothing

Medicare’s cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs, a limit that did not exist a few years ago, brings the ceiling on covered drugs down to $2,400...

Cost of Living

New Jersey seniors can stack three programs for thousands in property-tax relief

New Jersey has some of the highest property taxes in the country, but its seniors now have an unusually powerful counterweight: three separate relief programs...

Social Security & Medicare

As Medicare Advantage insurers drop more 2027 plans, being cut guarantees you the right to buy any Medigap policy

Medicare Advantage insurers are pruning their 2027 lineups, and for the members caught in the cuts, the bad news comes wrapped around a rare piece...

Social Security & Medicare

A 3.6% Social Security raise would add about $75 a month next year, the biggest increase since 2023

Social Security’s yearly raise for 2027 is shaping up to be the largest in years. After the July inflation report, the Senior Citizens League estimates...

Tech & Your Wallet

Owners of Pixel phones, Nest Hubs and Google Home speakers can claim up to $56 from a $68 million privacy settlement by August 27

Owners of Google-made devices have less than two weeks to claim a slice of a $68 million privacy settlement, and for many the payout requires...

Fraud & Scams

Federal prosecutors say elder-fraud losses keep climbing, and a credit freeze is the free step that blocks new-account theft

Federal authorities keep warning that the money older Americans lose to fraud is climbing, and one of the few defenses against a large slice of...

Economy & The Fed

The Fed is now more likely to raise rates than cut them next month, so locking a CD near 4.5% looks smart

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark rate unchanged at a range of 3.50 to 3.75 percent at the end of July, but the debate inside...

Fraud & Scams

Seniors reporting six-figure losses to government and business impostors lost about $445 million in a single year

The size of the checks older Americans are losing to scammers has grown far faster than the number of victims, and the clearest measure sits...

Fraud & Scams

A Pennsylvania man was indicted for draining over $1 million from one elderly victim

A York County, Pennsylvania man now faces federal fraud charges after prosecutors said he talked a woman in her late 80s and her family out...

Fraud & Scams

Federal prosecutors charged 19 people in a $4 million scheme that billed Medicare and Medicaid for home care never given

Federal prosecutors unveiled charges on August 4, 2026 against 19 defendants accused of billing Medicare and Medicaid for home care that was never delivered, a...

1 50 51 52 53 54 179
Plain-English help keeping more of your money in retirement. Get the free newsletter.

Free from Retirement Shield. Unsubscribe anytime. We never ask for money.