In March 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reached a landmark $418 million settlement after losing an antitrust lawsuit filed by a group of home sellers. As many as 50 million people who paid commissions on homes sold in recent years could receive a small amount from the class-action settlement. The powerful industry group […]
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2025 Key Numbers for Health Savings Accounts
The IRS recently released the 2025 contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), as well as the 2025 minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amounts for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). What is an HSA? An HSA is a tax-advantaged account that enables you to save money to cover health-care and medical costs that your insurance doesn’t […]
Read MoreThe Economic Impact of an Aging World
During the week of June 10, 2024, French markets were rocked by a government bond sell-off after a strong showing by the far-right National Rally party in the European Union election. With polls suggesting the party might win a plurality of seats in the upcoming French parliamentary election, investors feared a promised social spending program, […]
Read MoreInterest Rates on Federal Student Loans Jump to Decade Highs for 2024-2025 Year
Every May, interest rates on federal student loans are reset for the upcoming school year. The rates are calculated by combining the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note with an extra fixed amount set by Congress. Based on this calculation, interest rates on federal student loans are set to increase for the 2024-2025 school […]
Read MoreRetirement Confidence Edges Up, With Some Optimism
After falling in 2023 by the widest margin since the 2008 financial crisis, retirement confidence began to edge back up in early 2024. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey, workers who said they are at least somewhat confident in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement rose to 68%, up […]
Read MoreReal Estate Roundup: Feeling the Impact of Higher Rates
U.S. commercial real estate prices fell more than 11% between March 2022, when the Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates, and January 2024. The potential for steeper losses has chilled the market and still poses significant risks to some property owners and lenders.1 On the residential side of the market, the national median price of […]
Read MoreTax Treatment of Home Energy Rebates
The IRS has provided guidance on the federal income tax treatment of certain home energy rebates offered by states, with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Background The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included two provisions allowing rebates for home energy efficiency retrofit projects and home electrification and appliance projects. These home […]
Read MoreWhat Does the Future Hold for Social Security and Medicare?
Each year, the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds provide detailed reports to Congress that track the programs’ current financial condition and projected financial outlook. These reports have warned for years that the trust funds would be depleted in the not-too-distant future, and the most recent reports, released on May 6, 2024, […]
Read MoreRelief for Certain RMDs from Inherited Retirement Accounts for 2024
In early 2022, the IRS issued proposed regulations regarding required minimum distributions (RMDs) to reflect changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019. The IRS has held off on releasing final regulations so that it can address additional changes to RMDs made by the SECURE 2.0 Act of […]
Read MoreWhat Stubborn Inflation Could Mean for the U.S. Economy
On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March, and the increase in CPI — the most commonly cited measure of inflation — was higher than expected. The rate for all items (headline inflation) was 3.5% over the previous year, while the “core CPI” rate, which […]
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