BOP In Crisis One of the few remaining senior leaders at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Associate Deputy Director Kathleen Toomey, testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. This comes at a time of extreme uncertainty for the agency. Former BOP Director Colette Peters was fired on January 20, and Acting Director William Lathrop announced last week that he will retire by the end of this week. With leadership in flux, the agency faces unprecedented challenges just as major changes are being forced upon it. Pressure From DOGE The Department of Government Efficiency is driving aggressive…

Social Security Administration Announces Acceleration Of Social Security Fairness Act Benefits The Social Security Administration is expediting benefits under the Social Security Fairness Act, which will impact over 3.2 million Americans. The new timeline, announced in an SSA press release on Tuesday, promises retroactive payments beginning “immediately” and increased monthly benefits starting in April. This pace marks a dramatic departure from earlier projections of year-long delays. The Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in January, addressed the longstanding impact of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, two measures that, for…

House Republicans on Tuesday successfully passed a budget resolution that paves the way for trillions of dollars in tax cuts, which lawmakers hope to offset with significant reductions in federal spending. The move allows lawmakers to proceed with plans to draft legislation that would cut up to $330 billion in education-related spending, in part by slashing federal student loan forgiveness and repayment plan programs. The passage of the budget resolution is a critical next step as GOP lawmakers push forward with a massive reconciliation bill, which they hope to pass via narrow party-line votes in the House and Senate to…

If you asked a group of parents ten, or even five years ago about their children’s access to smartphones, you could easily strike up a debate as to whether children should be allowed to own or use these devices at all. In today’s digital landscape, however, it’s much more commonplace for young children, and especially teenagers, to either own a smartphone or have open access to a family device. In fact, consumer data shows that 95% of teenagers own a smartphone, compared to 73% a decade ago. The same report shows that the average age for children to receive their…

Tax-loss harvesting is an investment technique used to reduce taxable income by selling securities at a loss to offset capital gains. It allows you to lower your overall tax liability while maintaining market exposure by reinvesting in similar but not identical assets. This article discusses the mechanics, benefits, and limitations of tax-loss harvesting. How Tax-Loss Harvesting Works Tax-loss harvesting is the process of selling investments that have declined in value to realize a capital loss. These realized losses can then be used to offset capital gains from other investments, thereby reducing your taxable income. To implement it, you must first…

Where’s My Refund? Will IRS Layoffs Affect Tax Return Schedule? Tax season is a high-stakes period for millions of Americans, many of whom anxiously wonder ‘where’s my refund’ after they file their tax return. This doesn’t come as a surprise given that 37% of Americans, including 50% of millennials, depend on tax refunds as a financial lifeline, according to a survey conducted by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma and reported by Fox 9. This year, a new challenge has emerged that could throw a wrench in the works: IRS layoffs. As President Trump’s administration pushes ahead with significant…

House Budget Bill Passes: Here’s What It Likely Means For Student Loans In a move that could reshape federal fiscal policy for the next decade, Republicans just passed a sweeping House budget bill that sets the stage for dramatic spending cuts—including a recalibration of student loan programs. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill budget resolution; it’s the blueprint for Trump’s legislative agenda and includes top-line savings targets that House committees must hit. In this process, reconciliation has emerged as a powerful tool, locking in numbers that will be nearly impossible to change once set in stone. Why The House Budget Bill Is…

Are You Eligible For A 2025 Stimulus Check? While most of the attention over the last week has been focused on the proposed DOGE dividend checks, there are several stimulus check programs for which Americans may qualify (unlike the DOGE dividend checks, which are merely conceptual at this point). This article will explore what you need to know about federal and state stimulus checks options. The Federal 2025 Stimulus Check Opportunity While many vividly remember the economic impact payments that flowed during the pandemic, there’s a unique opportunity for those who still didn’t claim their 2021 payments to still file…

The House passed its budget for fiscal year 2025, which runs through September of this year. It will include large tax cuts, higher border and defense spending, and significant deficit reduction measures as Roll Call reported. Student loans and the new House proposed budget. One part of the House proposed budget — which still must be negotiated against the Senate version and isn’t guaranteed to be in the final budget — is a restructuring of the student loan program. Some of the proposals will be extremely unpopular. “We really see this as an attack on students and working families with…

When I talk to prospects and clients about retirement investing, no one usually thinks about what companies are inside their portfolio. They often have a shocked reaction thinking that they might be making money on the backs of the unfortunate prey of predatory lenders. Research provider YourStake defines predatory lending as “Companies that have received 25 or more Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints for predatory lending complaints, including payday loans, installment loans, pawn loans, title loans, tax refund anticipation loans, personal lines of credit, and check cashing, over the last 3 years”. In this article, we break down how this…