Daniel Harper
Daniel is a finance writer covering personal finance topics including budgeting, credit, and beginner investing. He began his career contributing to his Substack, where he covered consumer finance trends and practical money topics for everyday readers. Since then, he has written for a range of personal finance blogs and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, straightforward content that helps readers make more informed financial decisions.
Latest Articles by Daniel Harper
A Fed official’s talk of a rate hike is keeping top CD yields near 4%
Savers shopping for a certificate of deposit this week are still finding offers close to 4 percent, even as the broader trend in deposit rates...
A spousal IRA lets a non-working spouse keep saving on the earner’s income
A spouse who has left the paid workforce, whether to raise children, manage a home, or simply because one paycheck covers the household, is not...
A qualified charitable distribution lets those 70½ and older give from an IRA tax-free
Once an IRA owner turns 70½, the tax code offers a narrow but valuable shortcut: money can move directly from the account to a qualified...
SNAP’s shutdown protection runs out September 30, putting food aid in doubt after October 1
The federal funding that has protected SNAP food assistance all year runs out September 30, and Congress has not yet passed a follow-up bill to...
A House bill would send tariff-rebate checks up to $2,040 a household, but it hasn’t passed
Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas has introduced a bill that would send rebate checks of up to $2,040 to American households, funded by roughly $231.35...
Trump’s new order launches TrumpIRA.gov with up to $1,000 a year in federal matches
President Trump signed an executive order in April directing the Treasury Department to build a new federal website, TrumpIRA.gov, aimed at workers who lack access...
Failing to update a beneficiary after a divorce can send your money to an ex-spouse
A retirement account does not know a marriage ended unless someone tells it. Federal law lets a divorced person’s former spouse collect a 401(k) or...
Long-term-care insurance premiums keep climbing, and insurers can raise them again
Long-term care insurance is marketed around a single reassuring idea: pick a benefit level, lock in a premium, and budget for it for decades. Federal...
Inheriting an IRA now forces most heirs to empty it within 10 years
Most people who inherit a traditional IRA today have exactly ten years to drain it, not a lifetime. The Internal Revenue Service confirms that a...
Cashing out a 401(k) before 59 and a half usually adds a 10% penalty to the tax
Tapping a 401(k) before age 59½ triggers a two-part tax hit the Internal Revenue Service treats as the default outcome, not a rare exception: the...
Selling an inherited home uses its date-of-death value, erasing most of the taxable gain
When someone inherits a home, federal tax law resets the property’s cost basis to its fair market value on the date the original owner died,...
A pension survivor election at retirement decides whether a spouse keeps income for life
A single choice made the moment a traditional pension begins paying out can decide whether a surviving spouse keeps any income at all after the...
Selling too soon after a spouse dies can forfeit a big home-sale tax break
A surviving spouse who sells the family home can still shield up to $500,000 of profit from federal tax, but only if the sale closes...
Heirs of a reverse-mortgage borrower have limited time to repay or sell before foreclosure
When a reverse-mortgage borrower dies, the loan does not simply pass to whoever inherits the house; it becomes immediately due and payable, and a clock...
A reverse mortgage turns home equity into cash, but heirs must repay or sell the house
A reverse mortgage lets a homeowner age 62 or older convert home equity into cash without a monthly payment, according to the Consumer Financial Protection...
Many states give older homeowners a property-tax freeze or rebate worth hundreds a year
More than two dozen states let homeowners age 65 and older shrink, freeze or get reimbursed for a rising property tax bill, and the design...
