Guides for real money decisions

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): A surviving spouse steps up to the higher earner’s benefit, including any delayed retirement credits it earned. That makes the higher earner’s claiming age a joint-life decision measured over two lifetimes, not one. The higher earner is choosing for two lifetimes When one […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): A COLA is applied to whatever base you have, so a larger delayed benefit compounds from a higher starting point. At a 2.5% assumption the 62-versus-70 breakeven moves EARLIER, from about 80.3 to about 78.4, strengthening the case for waiting. Inflation assumptions belong […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Standard breakeven math assumes early cheques earn nothing. Charge a 5% opportunity cost on a 62-versus-70 comparison and the breakeven moves from about 80.3 to about 89.8 – past most people’s planning horizon, and a genuinely different decision. The right discount rate is […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): A spousal benefit reduces at 25/36 of 1% per month for the first 36 months, not 5/9, and earns no delayed retirement credits at all. Delaying past full retirement age raises a worker’s own benefit and does nothing for the spousal one. Two […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): The widest spread available: a 30% reduction against a 24% increase, so $1,400 versus $2,480 – a 77% difference in the monthly cheque. Undiscounted breakeven is about age 80.3. A 77% difference in the monthly cheque deserves more than a rule of thumb. […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Waiting from 67 to 70 adds 2/3 of 1% per month, 24% in total: $2,000 becomes $2,480. This pairing has the latest breakeven of the three – about 82.4 undiscounted – because you give up three full years of cheques to get it. […]

Guides › Social Security Timing Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 is a permanent 30% reduction: 36 months at 5/9 of 1% plus 24 months at 5/12 of 1%. On a $2,000 benefit that is $1,400 versus $2,000, and the undiscounted breakeven is about […]

One more case: if health or family history argues for a shorter horizon, the breakeven math inverts — claiming with a shorter life expectancy works through it. Guides › Social Security Timing Stopping work and starting benefits are separate decisions that only feel like one — the mistake that makes them one. Before you model […]

Guides › Home Sale Taxes Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Depreciation taken after May 6, 1997 is never excludable under Section 121(d)(6) and is taxed as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25%. It applies whether or not the deduction was actually claimed. Recapture is predictable, which means it is plannable. It […]

Guides › Home Sale Taxes Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Section 121 applies only to a principal residence, so a vacation or second home gets no exclusion and the whole gain is taxable. Which home is ‘principal’ is a facts test, not an election. Which property is ‘principal’ is decided on facts you […]

Guides › Home Sale Taxes Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Under 24 months with no qualifying reason, the exclusion is zero, not reduced. A $152,000 gain at a 15% rate costs $22,800. Held twelve months or less, the gain is short-term and taxed at ordinary rates. If the sale has not happened yet, […]

Guides › Home Sale Taxes Updated July 30, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Selling before two years does not forfeit the exclusion when the move is for employment, health, or unforeseen circumstances. Section 121(c) prorates the CAP by months over 24 – it does not prorate the gain. Whether your reason qualifies is worth confirming before […]