Budgeting

Through the week ending May 8, 2026, the IRS had issued 99,138,000 refunds on tax year 2025 returns, worth $324.757 billion, for an average of $3,276. Those are cumulative season-to-date figures, not …

Continue Reading about Why a Big Tax Refund Is a Bad Sign — With Exceptions →

A dollar you stop spending is worth exactly one dollar. A dollar you earn on the side is not. Before a cent of income tax, self-employment tax takes 15.3% of 92.35% of your net earnings — 14.13 cents …

Continue Reading about Side Income vs Cutting Costs: The Tax Math →

In June 2026 the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker put 12-month wage growth for people who had changed jobs at 4.1%, and for people who had stayed in the same job at 3.4%. A gap of 0.7 percentage …

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Either owner of a joint checking account can generally take all the money out and close it. Neither can generally remove the other owner without that person's consent. Both come from the Consumer …

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In 2024 the lowest-income fifth of US households put 41.6 percent of everything they spent into housing. The top fifth put 29.3 percent. Same survey, same year, same definition. That 12.3-point gap is …

Continue Reading about Budget Percentages: What US Households Actually Spend →

The Federal Reserve deleted the six-transfers-a-month cap on savings accounts on April 24, 2020, after reserve requirement ratios were cut to zero, and has stated it has no plans to re-impose transfer …

Continue Reading about How Envelope Budgeting Works: Setup, Sizing, and Resets →