Skip to main content

The Money Overview

Personal Finance

Day-to-day money decisions for individuals and households. Practical guidance on budgeting, saving, spending, credit, debt management, and financial planning.

Latest in Personal Finance

Insurance & Protection

Home insurance is rising about 4% in 2026 to around $3,057, and California premiums jump 16%

Homeowners are on track to pay about 4% more to insure a house in 2026, pushing the national average annual premium to roughly $3,057, according...

Smart Spending

Brookstone tabletop fire pits are recalled for a burn hazard, and owners can collect a full refund

About 48,700 Brookstone-branded tabletop fire pits have been recalled, and the remedy is a full refund rather than a repair or a partial credit, which...

Smart Spending

Duke Energy must return $90.5 million to customers, about $5.62 a month on a typical bill

Florida regulators have ordered Duke Energy Florida to hand back $90.5 million it collected from customers but never needed to spend, and the money is...

Insurance & Protection

Long-term-care insurance can spare a spouse from spending down savings for nursing care

A nursing-home stay is one of the few expenses in retirement large enough to drain a couple’s savings entirely, and long-term-care insurance exists to stop...

Insurance & Protection

State Farm is returning $5 billion to auto customers, about $100 a policy, and the credit is applied with no claim to file

State Farm is sending $5 billion back to its auto insurance customers, the largest dividend in the mutual insurer’s 103-year history. The payout averages about...

Insurance & Protection

Home insurance is rising about 4% this year, a fifth straight annual increase

The bill that arrives with a mortgage statement or a renewal notice is climbing again. Home insurance premiums are on track to rise roughly 4...

Insurance & Protection

The FDIC insures $250,000 per depositor, and beneficiaries can raise that ceiling

The $250,000 figure attached to federal deposit insurance is one of the most repeated numbers in personal finance, and one of the most misread. Many...

Smart Spending

People who got two or more unwanted robocalls or texts can claim up to $160 from a settlement by September 14

Up to $160 apiece is available to people who fielded unwanted marketing calls or texts pushing Farmers Insurance policies, part of a $1.25 million settlement...

Smart Spending

True World Holdings data-breach victims can take a no-proof $50 payment before September 8

A no-questions-asked payment of $50 is available to people caught up in a 2024 data breach at True World Holdings, a national seafood distributor, but...

Insurance & Protection

Home insurance now eats a record 9% of the typical homeowner’s monthly payment

Homeowners who have never filed a claim are still watching their premiums climb, and the cost has now reached a share of the monthly housing...

Smart Spending

Parents whose children used apps carrying Google’s AdMob ads can file a no-proof claim from an $8.25 million settlement by September 14

An $8.25 million fund set up by Google and its AdMob advertising arm is now open to a group few would expect to hold a...

Smart Spending

Anyone who paid out of pocket for the stop-smoking drug Chantix can claim part of a $44 million Pfizer settlement by September 14

A $44 million fund now sits open to a broad group of Americans: anyone who paid out of pocket for the stop-smoking pill Chantix over...

Smart Spending

The FTC is mailing $23.8 million in Grubhub refunds to 640,000 customers, and the checks expire in 90 days

The Federal Trade Commission began mailing 640,038 payments worth more than $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners on August 12, 2026, closing out an...

Smart Spending

Walmart and Target dropped price matching, ending one way shoppers trimmed their bills

A familiar money-saving tactic just lost two of its biggest venues. Walmart and Target have both pulled back from price matching, the practice that once...

Smart Spending

Airlines must send an automatic cash refund when they cancel or badly delay your flight

Air travelers who once got stuck with a voucher after an airline scrapped their flight now hold a firmer right to cash. Under a federal...

Smart Spending

Billions in unclaimed cash sit with state treasurers, and one free search covers most states

Across the United States, state treasurers and unclaimed-property offices are holding tens of billions of dollars that belong to ordinary people who lost track of...

Credit & Debt

Buy-now-pay-later loans are starting to appear on credit reports, where they can move a retiree’s score

A form of borrowing that once stayed invisible to the credit system is beginning to surface on consumer credit reports. Buy-now-pay-later plans, the four-payment installments...

Insurance & Protection

The FDIC insures $250,000 per depositor, and naming beneficiaries can lift that ceiling

A federal guarantee stands behind the money Americans keep in banks, and knowing its exact shape matters more when banks are failing. The Federal Deposit...

Budgeting & Saving

Idle savings are earning less as Federal Reserve rate cuts drag yields down, and locking a CD near 4.5% guards a retiree’s interest income

One number quietly decides how hard a retiree’s cash works, and lately it has been pointing down. After the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate...

Smart Spending

Anyone on SNAP or Medicaid can cut a phone or internet bill by $9.25 a month through the federal Lifeline program

A federal program that predates the smartphone quietly knocks up to $9.25 off a phone or internet bill every month for households that already receive...

1 … 13 14 15 16 17 … 38