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
Medicaid’s new 80-hour-a-month work rule takes effect by January 1, and adults 55 to 64 must document the hours or lose coverage
Most states must begin requiring many Medicaid enrollees to complete 80 hours a month of work or approved activity by January 1, 2027, or face...
Tipped and overtime workers can deduct up to $25,000 of tips and much overtime pay through 2028 under the new law
A new federal law lets tipped workers deduct up to $25,000 of reported tips and lets many overtime workers deduct a large share of their...
The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, and businesses have now been refunded $100 billion of the $166 billion they overpaid
About $100 billion in tariff money has now been returned to the businesses that paid it, roughly 60 percent of the $166 billion collected under...
Trump’s promised $2,000 tariff-dividend checks are still only a proposal, and an adviser says no formal plan will reach Congress until next year
President Trump has repeatedly floated sending most Americans a $2,000 payment funded by tariff revenue, but as of late August 2026 the figure remains a...
A pour-over will moves any forgotten assets into your living trust at death
A living trust only governs the property actually placed inside it, and that single condition trips up a surprising number of otherwise careful estate plans....
A no-contest clause can discourage heirs from challenging a will
A contested will can drain an estate faster than any tax, turning a modest inheritance into years of legal fees and permanent rifts between siblings....
A digital-asset clause in a will lets heirs reach online accounts and crypto
A lifetime now lives partly on servers no relative can open. Email archives, cloud photo libraries, frequent-flyer balances, online brokerage logins, and cryptocurrency wallets all...
A spendthrift trust shields an heir’s inheritance from their creditors
An inheritance handed to an heir outright can be gone within a year, and not always because the heir spent it. A lump sum that...
A widow or widower keeps the $500,000 home-sale tax exclusion for up to two years
The death of a spouse quietly resets the tax math on the family home, and the change can cost a survivor hundreds of thousands of...
A brokered CD can pay more than a bank CD but lose value if you sell early
Brokered certificates of deposit routinely advertise yields above what a neighborhood bank pays on its own CDs, and that gap is what draws savers who...
A CD’s early-withdrawal penalty can wipe out months of interest, so match the term to your needs
Certificates of deposit look like the safest corner of a savings plan: a fixed rate, federal insurance, and no exposure to the market. The catch...
The VA reimburses eligible veterans for mileage to and from medical care
Getting to a VA appointment can mean a long round trip, and for veterans on fixed incomes the fuel and tolls add up over a...
A Specially Adapted Housing grant helps a severely disabled veteran buy or fix a home
For veterans left with the most severe service-connected disabilities, small home modifications are not enough; the house itself may need to be built or rebuilt...
A VA HISA grant helps pay for home changes like ramps and roll-in showers
An aging or disabled veteran who can no longer safely step over a tub wall or clear a front-door threshold does not always need to...
Medicaid estate recovery can skip a home when a sibling with equity lived there
For families whose main asset is the house, the biggest fear after a parent enters a nursing home is not the monthly bill but what...
A gift-and-annuity “half-a-loaf” plan can shield part of savings from Medicaid’s look-back
Middle-income families facing a nursing-home bill of $8,000 or more a month often believe they must spend down nearly everything before Medicaid will help. A...
