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
Free IRS and AARP programs will prepare a senior’s tax return at no cost
Paying a commercial preparer to file a straightforward retirement-era return can cost well over a hundred dollars, and for a fixed-income household that is money...
Closing an old credit card can shorten your history and drop your score
Closing a credit card that has gone unused feels like tidying up, but it can quietly cost points on a credit score at the worst...
You can pull a free credit report from each bureau every week
Every American is entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide bureaus once a week, a right that turned from a...
Trump Accounts can also take up to $2,500 a year, tax-free, from an employer
The 2025 tax law that created Trump Accounts for children also lets an employer chip in, allowing a company to contribute up to $2,500 a...
Food stamps now require five years of legal U.S. residency to qualify
A change in the 2025 federal budget law has narrowed the list of immigration statuses that qualify for SNAP food benefits, and for most noncitizens...
A shrinking SNAP utility allowance is cutting about 29,000 households’ food benefits by roughly $58 a month
A change in the 2025 federal budget law is trimming the monthly food benefits of tens of thousands of households by narrowing who automatically qualifies...
Miss a required IRA withdrawal and the penalty is 25%, or 10% if you fix it fast
Forgetting to take a required withdrawal from a retirement account is one of the more expensive mistakes a retiree can make, but the penalty is...
Retirees 70½ and older can give straight from an IRA and skip the tax
There is a rarely used move that lets older IRA owners support a cause and trim their tax bill in one step. Anyone age 70½...
Most heirs must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years, and the tax bill can be steep
The long-standing strategy of stretching an inherited IRA across a lifetime is gone for most heirs. Under rules that took hold after the SECURE Act,...
Required minimum withdrawals from an IRA now start at 73 and rise to 75 in 2033
The age at which retirement savers must begin pulling taxable money out of a traditional IRA has shifted again, and the change gives many people...
Extension filers have until October 15 to claim new breaks on tips, overtime and car-loan interest
Taxpayers who requested a six-month extension back in April have until October 15, 2026, to file their 2025 federal return, and this year that return...
A new federal rule limits a child’s Trump Account to low-cost index funds and caps the yearly fee at one-tenth of a percent
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have proposed a rule that would sharply narrow how money in the new Trump Accounts for children...
A surviving spouse can still file a joint tax return for the year a partner dies, often at a lower rate
When a spouse dies, the survivor faces a stack of financial decisions at the worst possible moment, and one of the more valuable ones is...
Seniors can deduct out-of-pocket medical costs above 7.5% of income, including long-term-care premiums
The federal tax code lets a taxpayer deduct unreimbursed medical and dental expenses, but only the portion that exceeds 7.5% of adjusted gross income. For...
A CD near 4% locks in a return before the Fed’s expected rate cut
Certificates of deposit at the most competitive banks have recently carried yields near 4%, and that window may be narrowing. The Federal Reserve’s next policy...
Treasury bills can pay retirees more than a big-bank savings account, no state tax
A short-term Treasury bill has recently paid interest in the neighborhood of what a certificate of deposit offers, while the typical savings account at a...
