One of the key issues that helped propel President-elect Trump back into the White House is immigration. On the cusp of re-entering the Oval Office, Donald Trump has declared that he will fix what he considers to be the problems with immigration and immigration policy. Most people agree that the current immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform. However, immigration is a thorny issue and the devil is in the details. For decades, one branch or another of the federal government has proposed large-scale solutions to fix the immigration system. Common to all of these efforts, they failed. As…

How Doctors Are Pushing Medical Credit Cards on Patients Medical credit cards are increasingly pushed on patients across America as the costs of health, dental, and veterinary procedures rise. CareCredit had 12 million cardholders and 270,000 participating providers in 2024, up from 4.4 million cardholders and 177,000 participating providers a decade prior, according to a May 2023 report by the CFPB. “The growing promotion and use of medical cards and installment loans,” the CFPB wrote, “can increase the financial burden on patients who may pay more than they otherwise would pay and may compromise medical outcomes.” Revenue for the medical…

The Education Department announced on Wednesday that several million student loan borrowers will likely have no payment obligations for most of 2025 as legal battles over the future of student loan forgiveness under certain repayment programs continue. The new information was released as the SAVE plan, a key feature of the Biden administration’s student loan relief plans, remains blocked due to legal challenges. And student loan forgiveness under several other income-driven repayment plans is also currently enjoined. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to return to the White House next week, ushering in a new period of uncertainty for many…

MicroStrategy’s transformation from a $3.6 billion software firm to an $83 billion powerhouse since August 2020, when Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, embarked on its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, stands as a case study in corporate reinvention. The strategy behind this meteoric rise is straightforward: secure low-cost capital through convertible notes and equity issuance to acquire Bitcoin (BTC) systematically—and then repeat. While MicroStrategy’s legacy software operations remain intact, its financial core has shifted decisively toward Bitcoin. Investors have embraced this pivot enthusiastically, as evidenced by the 2,205% surge in its stock price (MSTR) and the stock’s consistent premium valuation above the Net…

Daniel Chartraw of South Lake Tahoe, California was recently indicted on wire fraud charges alleging that through his companies Crypto-Pal LLC and TDA Global he scammed investors who he lured by claiming to have developed a proprietary algorithm capable of generating exceptional returns on cryptocurrency investments. According to the indictment, Chartraw failed to invest the money, but instead used it to fund his personal lifestyle. Investment scams in general are a huge problem. According to the FTC in 2023 consumers lost $4.6 billion to investment scams and cryptocurrency investment scams accounted for $3.96 billion. Interest in cryptocurrencies as an investment…

Managing your money effectively is a cornerstone of financial health. This article explores key reasons expense tracking is crucial for personal finance, from enhancing financial control to reducing stress, and provides actionable tips on how to do it effectively. Whether you’re a novice looking to start or someone seeking to refine your process, this guide will empower you to take charge of your financial journey. Benefits Of Expense Tracking 1. Enhanced Financial Awareness And Control Tracking your expenses is a very simple way to take control of your finances. It helps you pinpoint exactly how much you earn and spend…

A new law signed by President Biden will impact millions of retirees in the U.S. The Social Security Fairness Act eliminates two provisions that have been penalizing a sizable portion of the workforce for more than four decades. Perhaps even more exciting to those affected is that the legislation, enacted on January 5th, 2025, applies retroactively as of the beginning of 2024. The Elimination Of The Elimination And The Offset Of The Offset Together, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) were responsible for significantly reducing Social Security payments for nearly 3 million public sector workers…

Despite his vow to close the US borders to nearly all immigrants and deport millions of others, President-elect Trump says he’ll continue special H-1B work visas for tech workers. That decision came in response to some of his Silicon Valley supporters, who insist foreign labor is critical because there are not enough US-born engineers and others to do this important work. By that logic, Trump also ought to protect the direct care workers who assist people with disabilities and frail older adults from his mass deportation plans and even create a new special immigration status for them. Why? Because, well,…

As January trudges, many of us have already started receiving the alphabet soup of yearly tax forms. While beginning to organize documents and preparing to file taxes for last year, it also behooves us to think ahead and identify opportunities to cut taxes for the upcoming year. Here are five foundational tax savings strategies that could help you save $20,000 on your taxes in the future. For most of these strategies, it’s not too late to enroll or change your contributions to maximize next year’s tax savings. While everyone’s situation will vary, to show specific savings, let’s assume a married…

We left off with the controversy swirling around FINCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements in my article, Unusual Fifth Circuit Self-Reversal Sows Confusion For BOI Reporting (Dec. 29, 2024). We now rejoin that controversy still in progress, but now before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the last two weeks, the following critical documents have been filed, being the U.S. Application For Stay (Dec. 31, 2024), the Plaintiff’s Opposition To Stay (Jan. 10, 2025) and finally the U.S. Reply Re Stay (Jan. 13, 2025). Additionally, about a dozen amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs have also been filed by…