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
Filing Form W-4V lets you have federal tax withheld from Social Security and avoid a surprise April bill
Retirees who owe tax on their Social Security benefits can arrange to have the money withheld before the check ever arrives, using a single one-page...
Buy-now-pay-later loans now appear on credit reports and can move a retiree’s score
Buy-now-pay-later loans, long invisible to the credit system, have started appearing on credit reports — a shift that can push a retiree’s score up or...
Paying your credit-card bill before the statement closes can lower your credit score
A habit most cardholders assume can only help — paying a credit-card balance early, before the statement closes — can quietly cost a few points...
A free national search can turn up a lost pension from an employer that merged or shut down decades ago
Tens of millions of dollars in earned pension benefits sit uncollected across the country, waiting for people who moved, changed names, or simply lost track...
Billions in forgotten money sits with state treasurers, and one free search finds it
Tens of billions of dollars in forgotten accounts, uncashed checks and dormant balances sit in the custody of state treasurers, waiting for their rightful owners...
Roth 401(k) accounts no longer force required withdrawals during your lifetime
A quiet provision that took effect for the 2024 tax year removed one of the last penalties on Roth savings held inside a workplace plan....
Twenty-three burn-pit conditions can now qualify veterans for disability pay without proving the cause
For years, a veteran who developed a rare cancer or a stubborn respiratory illness after breathing the smoke of a military burn pit faced a...
A veteran rated 100% disabled now receives more than $3,900 a month, tax-free
A veteran who reaches the top of the Department of Veterans Affairs disability scale now collects more than $3,900 every month, and none of it...
About 54,000 combat-injured veterans could finally draw both military retirement and disability pay, roughly $1,200 more a month
For tens of thousands of veterans who were medically retired because a combat injury ended their careers early, every dollar of disability compensation they earn...
A bill in Congress would let homeowners 65 and older shield up to $1 million in home-sale profit from capital-gains tax
A home that was bought for a modest sum decades ago and is now worth well over a million dollars can hand its owner a...
A bipartisan PROMISE Act would set up a fast-track process to fix Social Security before its 2030s shortfall
Congress has spent years knowing that Social Security’s finances are heading for a cliff and doing almost nothing about it. A bipartisan group of senators...
Rick Scott is pushing a plan to let older Americans keep working without a Social Security earnings penalty
Senator Rick Scott is targeting a rule that quietly discourages older Americans from working: the Social Security retirement earnings test. His Senior Citizens’ Freedom to...
Senators Warren, Schumer and Wyden introduced a bill to expand Social Security and veterans’ benefits, but Congress must act
A group of Senate Democrats has put a concrete dollar figure on the table for older Americans and veterans: an extra $200 a month, for...
Eighteen states will soon block soda, candy and desserts from food-stamp purchases
The list of things a food-stamp dollar can buy is shrinking, and the map of where that happens now covers 18 states. Through a wave...
Social Security is ending paper checks this year, and recipients without a bank account switch to a Direct Express card
The federal government is retiring a payment method that has existed since the New Deal. Under a 2025 executive order and a Treasury mandate that...
“No tax on Social Security” is really a $6,000 senior deduction that phases out above $75,000 and ends in 2028
The phrase “no tax on Social Security” was one of the most repeated promises in recent tax politics, and it landed in the law that...
