Tyler Foster
Latest Articles by Tyler Foster
A widow can take a survivor benefit first and switch to her own larger Social Security check at 70
A Social Security rule that catches many widows and widowers by surprise allows a surviving spouse to start collecting a deceased spouse’s survivor benefit as...
ACA health premiums are set to more than double in 2026 after enhanced subsidies expired, hitting near-retirees hardest
Millions of people who buy their own health coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace are opening their 2026 renewal notices to a shock. The...
A listeria outbreak tied to recalled cheese has killed one person and hospitalized 10, and the recall keeps expanding
A listeria outbreak linked to soft cheese has now killed one person and sent 10 others to the hospital, and the company at the center...
A federal audit found 5,367 widows lost $113.8 million by claiming Social Security survivor benefits too early
A federal watchdog review has put a hard number on a mistake that has quietly drained retirement income from thousands of widows: claiming a Social...
Social Security’s 2027 raise could reach 4.7%, an analyst says, the biggest since 2023
Early forecasts for next year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment are starting to circulate, and one independent analyst is putting the number well above recent years....
A 77-year-old lost $390,000 in retirement savings to a gold-bar scam and is now warning other seniors
A 77-year-old woman drained nearly her entire retirement account after scammers convinced her that converting her savings into physical gold bars was the only way...
Amazon is mailing new claim notices for Prime refunds of up to $51 under a $1.5 billion FTC settlement
A wave of official claim notices is landing in mailboxes and inboxes across the country, and many older Amazon customers are trying to work out...
Maine is sending $300 payments and expanding a property-tax credit for older homeowners this year
Maine is putting money back in the hands of residents this year through two separate channels, and older homeowners are among those best positioned to...
A widow can start a smaller survivor benefit now and switch to her own Social Security later if it grows larger
Losing a spouse forces a series of financial decisions at the worst possible time, and Social Security is one of the more confusing pieces to...
Six digits and no cost: an IRS Identity Protection PIN blocks thieves from filing a tax return in your name
Tax-related identity theft works by beating the real taxpayer to the punch. A criminal who obtains a Social Security number files a fraudulent federal return...
$39 billion in matured U.S. savings bonds sit unclaimed, and a free government search finds any with your name
For much of the twentieth century, paper U.S. savings bonds were among the most common financial gifts in America. Grandparents bought them for newborns, employers...
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to pay just 78% of benefits after 2032 unless Congress acts
Few facts about Social Security worry retirees more than the projected exhaustion of its trust funds. Each year, the program’s trustees release a report estimating...
Medicare’s Part B premium is projected to climb to about $209.50 a month in 2027
Older Americans watching their fixed budgets have another number to keep an eye on. The standard Medicare Part B premium, the monthly amount most beneficiaries...
Wartime veterans and their surviving spouses can draw $1,500 to $2,900 a month from an underused VA pension
There is a Department of Veterans Affairs benefit built specifically for older wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who need help getting through the day,...
A Senate bill would send $1,200 tariff-rebate payments to couples earning under $180,000, plus $600 per child
The idea is simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker: if tariffs raise the price of goods for American families, send some of that...
Burn-pit illness claims from veterans are still denied more than half the time on the first try
The 2022 PACT Act was supposed to close the door on decades of denied burn-pit claims. It expanded the list of illnesses the Department of...