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
Medical debt is back on credit reports after a court voided the federal ban, though 15 states still restrict it
Medical collections are showing up on credit reports again across most of the country, more than a year after a federal judge in Texas erased...
A federal court threw out the $8 cap on credit card late fees, so the typical penalty is back near $32
A consent judgment signed in a Fort Worth federal courtroom in April 2025 erased the $8 ceiling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had placed on...
Workers who earned more than $150,000 last year must now route 401(k) catch-up contributions into a Roth
A $150,000 line drawn in 2025 paychecks now decides how the Internal Revenue Service taxes retirement catch-up savings. As of the 2026 plan year, any...
The federal pension agency refreshed its unclaimed-benefits list on August 5
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation refreshed its national database of unclaimed pension benefits on August 5, the latest in a series of quarterly updates for...
About 31.9 million forgotten 401(k) accounts hold an estimated $2.1 trillion
Roughly 31.9 million 401(k) accounts across the country now sit forgotten by the people who own them, holding an estimated $2.1 trillion in retirement assets,...
The VA is taking about 78 days on average to finish a disability claim
The Veterans Benefits Administration is now completing an average disability compensation decision in about 78 days, according to the agency’s own performance data released this...
Veterans’ disability pay rose 2.8% for 2026, the same raise Social Security recipients received
Two federal agencies applied the exact same 2.8 percent adjustment to benefit checks for 2026, but the number lands very differently depending on which program...
About 600,000 households are getting smaller food-stamp benefits because of a change in how utility bills are counted
The federal government has changed the formula many states use to calculate part of a household’s monthly food-stamp benefit, and the shift is expected to...
Seventeen drugmakers covering about 86% of the branded market have agreed to match the lowest prices paid abroad
Seventeen pharmaceutical manufacturers covering about 86 percent of the branded drug market have signed the Trump administration’s most-favored-nation pricing agreements, but the framework splits into...
More than 209,000 American workers have been laid off this year, already past all of last year, with half the cuts blamed on AI
Employers tracked nationwide had already eliminated 209,032 jobs through August 28, across 365 separate layoff events — a total that exceeds the 205,773 workers cut...
The IRS clarified in August that only the premium half of overtime pay counts toward the new deduction
A worker earning $20 an hour who logs ten hours of overtime and receives double pay — $400 instead of $300 — might assume the...
A Labor Department rule driven by a Trump executive order would let 401(k) plans hold crypto, private equity and real estate
The Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration published a 57-page proposed rule on March 30, 2026, and its central move is not a mandate but...
The White House is floating an end to capital-gains tax on home sales, but only Congress can change the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusions
Nearly 13 million homeowners would owe capital-gains tax if they sold their primary residence today, NAR estimates, because the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusion limits written...
A shutdown would still stop Medicare card replacements and Social Security proof-of-income letters
Twice already in 2026, a lapse in federal funding froze routine but essential paperwork at Social Security Administration field offices, including proof-of-income letters, earnings-record corrections,...
Federal funding runs out September 30, but Social Security and Medicare payments keep going because they sit outside the annual budget
Current federal appropriations expire at midnight on September 30, the last day of fiscal year 2026, setting up a fourth possible funding lapse in a...
Linda Sánchez’s bill would phase out the $184,500 Social Security payroll tax cap by 2032 and raise checks for lower earners
Rep. Linda Sánchez’s Strengthening Social Security Act of 2026, filed June 11 with six Democratic co-sponsors, would erase the $184,500 ceiling that currently shields the...
