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 personal-care agreement lets a family pay a relative for care without a Medicaid penalty
Families who care for an aging parent often assume they cannot pay a son or daughter for that help without sabotaging a future Medicaid application....
Donating appreciated stock skips the capital-gains tax and still earns a deduction
A retiree who wants to make a large gift and happens to own stock that has soared since it was bought holds a far more...
Bunching several years of donations into one can clear the standard deduction
Since the standard deduction roughly doubled several years ago, the great majority of taxpayers no longer itemize, and a quiet consequence is that their charitable...
A charitable remainder trust can pay you income for life and trim the tax bill
A retiree sitting on a stock position or a rental property that has quadrupled in value faces an awkward math problem. Selling frees up cash...
Naming a trust as your IRA beneficiary can speed up the tax unless it’s drafted right
Naming a trust to inherit an IRA sounds like tidy estate planning: a way to control how heirs receive the money, protect a spendthrift child,...
A health savings account can reimburse years of old medical bills if you kept the receipts
Most tax breaks come with a clock ticking against them. A health savings account is the rare exception. There is no deadline for pulling money...
A 1035 exchange can turn a life-insurance policy into long-term-care coverage tax-free
An old whole-life policy bought decades ago often ends up doing a job it was never meant to do. The children are grown, the mortgage...
A retiree with side income can still open a SEP or solo 401(k) and cut the tax bill
Retirement rarely draws a clean line under earned income. A part-time consulting arrangement, a small crafts shop, a stream of freelance writing, or a few...
A Roth conversion in the low-income years before required withdrawals can lock in today’s tax rate
The years between leaving work and turning on Social Security or required withdrawals form a quiet tax window that many retirees waste. Income often dips,...
A “still-working” exception lets you delay 401(k) withdrawals past 73 while you’re on the job
Required minimum distributions force most retirement savers to start pulling money from tax-deferred accounts at age 73, whether the cash is needed or not. One...
Car buyers can deduct up to $10,000 of loan interest, but the break fades once income tops $100,000
A temporary tax break lets buyers of new American-assembled vehicles write off the interest on their auto loans, up to $10,000 a year, but the...
The new $6,000 senior deduction starts shrinking above $75,000 of income and disappears for higher earners
A new tax break aimed at older Americans comes with a ceiling that quietly erases it for anyone comfortably above the middle of the income...
The IRS again shot down the viral rumor of a $2,000 tariff-dividend check this year
A rumor that will not die keeps promising older Americans a $2,000 windfall, and federal tax officials keep saying it is not coming. Viral posts...
The White House is announcing a new round of drug-pricing deals that give state Medicaid programs foreign prices
The federal government is widening a campaign to pull American drug prices toward what other wealthy nations pay, and the newest step reaches into state...
Drawing from taxable, then tax-deferred, then Roth accounts can make retirement savings last longer
Two retirees can hold the same balances across the same accounts, spend the same amount each year, and still watch their savings run out years...
A brokerage’s cash “sweep” often pays far less than a money-market fund you choose yourself
Every brokerage account has to do something with the cash that lands in it between trades, from a dividend payment, a maturing bond, or a...
