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…

Tax season doesn’t have to be a time of stress and last-minute scrambling. With the proper preparation, you can take control of the process and set yourself up for a smooth and hassle-free experience. That’s where a solid tax prep checklist comes in. Think of it as your roadmap to staying organized, avoiding costly mistakes, and ensuring you don’t miss out on potential savings. Whether you’re filing for the first time or you’ve been through many tax seasons, having a clear plan can make all the difference. From gathering the correct documents to choosing how to file, a well-thought-out checklist…

DOGE Removes Biggest Spending Cuts; Here’s What It Could Mean For DOGE Dividend Checks Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, has been on a mission to slash spending and has recently dangled an enticing value proposition by proposing to return a portion of the savings to taxpayers in the form of a DOGE Dividend check. At least, that’s the pitch. But as the numbers behind DOGE’s purported savings are not withstanding scrutiny, taxpayers might want to ask a different question: How much actual savings will there be to distribute? Last week, DOGE proudly posted a “wall…

With warmer weather heading into spring, your air conditioning is about to make your electricity bill soar and you’re thinking of buying an electric vehicle and installing a charging station for it. Plus you’d like to do your part to combat climate change. So you’re thinking now is maybe the time to get solar panels installed on your roof to cut your electricity costs and help save the planet to boot. But now you need to decide: do you buy your solar panels? Or is it better to lease them? I can help guide you to the choice that is…

Credit Scores Are Dropping For Student Loan Borrowers Student loan borrowers nationwide are waking up to a harsh new reality: their credit scores are plunging, sometimes by as much as 200 points. As the extended Covid-era protections end, millions of Americans face a sudden, brutal reckoning with student loan servicers reporting late payments or other negative marks to credit bureaus. Given the importance of a strong credit score, a precipitous drop of 100 – 200 points has real implications for borrowers. Here’s what happened and what borrowers can do proactively and reactively. What’s Causing Credit Score Issues For Student Loan…

The Supreme Court of Ohio has entered an order finding that Legally Mine LLC and Daniel McNeff engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Ohio in the case of Ohio State Bar Assoc. v. Legally Mine LLC, Ohio Supreme Case No. 2025-0037 (Feb. 20, 2025). The Ohio Supreme Court’s order also approves a consent decree that will be discussed below and ordered Legally Mine LLC and McNeff to pay a $5,000 fine plus an additional $1,220 in costs. The consent decree requires that Legally Mine LLC and McNeff provide to the Ohio State Bar Association (“OSBA”) a list of…

Reality Check: Trump DOGE Dividend Check Could Much Less Than $5000 Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s bold promise of handing out a $5,000 “DOGE Dividend” check has captured headlines over the last week, but a closer look at the numbers suggests a far less generous reality. Simply put, Americans shouldn’t budget on receiving a DOGE Dividend check for anything close to $5,000. The idea behind the DOGE Dividend check is simple: use 20% of the savings generated by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and return it to eligible taxpayers. Initially introduced by James Fishback, the plan calculated that…

A recent poll by Monmouth University found that 61 percent of Americans view illegal immigration as a very serious issue, a jump of more than a third in just the last few years. The Trump administration has identified mass deportation as the most effective strategy to manage this issue. Still, experts say it would come at an enormous cost to taxpayers and the U.S. economy. The American Immigration Council, for instance, estimates that a one-time mass deportation process will conservatively cost around $315 billion, which does not account for the economic impact on individuals, businesses, and government revenues. Undocumented Immigrants…

Various memes in social media, like a finger-wagging open letter to Alan Simpson in 2010, are again kicking up about Social Security: how it’s close to bankruptcy, how politicians mismanaged the economy, and how, as a result, Congress took money out of Social Security and wasted it elsewhere. Social Security is complex and works differently from how many assume. One of the most common misconceptions is that the program acts like a collection of savings accounts that pay interest until someone is old enough to receive benefits. Where Social Security came from. The history of the program goes back to…