Daniel Kim

You contribute to your 401(k) each payday, your balance grows, and you can still be missing part of your employer’s match. In the most common match formula, applied to a $60,000 salary (an example, not your numbers), contributing 3% brings $1,800 from your employer, while contributing 5% brings $2,400. That $600 gap is an illustration; this article shows you how to check whether you have one of your own. Two sources report that a share of workers miss part of the match. A Financial Engines study of 4.4 million participants across 553 companies found that 1 in 4 employees (25%) missed the full match. Fidelity data reported about 1 in 5 workers leaving match on the table, with a match capture rate of 81.2%. My read: the two figures draw on different groups of participants, so treat them as context, not as a benchmark for your plan. Missing part of the match does not have to mean you saved too little. It could be a default rate you did not choose, a formula you were not shown, a vesting ...

Medicare Open Enrollment 2026: 6 Things to Check Before December 7 By Daniel Kim | Information as of Oct 15, 2026 If you like your Medicare plan and expect to do nothing this fall, keeping the same plan is not the same as keeping the same benefits. Your plan may change its premiums, benefits, networks, or drug coverage for the new year, and the annual window to act closes Dec 7, 2026. Below are six checks to run before you decide to stay or switch. This is general information, not a recommendation of any specific plan. The dates and what this window allows Annual Open Enrollment (AEP) runs from Oct 15, 2026 through Dec 7, 2026 ( Medicare.gov Open Enrollment ). Date What happens Oct 15, 2026 AEP begins Dec 7, 2026 Your plan has to receive your enrollment request by this date for the usual annual change Jan 1, 2027 Coverage under a plan selected during AEP generally begins, and changes to a plan you keep can also take effect During AEP you can generally: Switch between Orig...

By Daniel Kim December 15, 2026 is the deadline to apply on the federal platform for coverage that starts January 1, 2027, but it is not the final federal enrollment date, which is January 15, 2027. Picture a hypothetical shopper (not a real person) who read that December 15 is the last day to enroll and worries the window has closed: on the federal platform, applications from December 16 through January 15 generally start coverage February 1. A state Marketplace could run on a different calendar, so the date that counts for you is the one your own Marketplace publishes. This guide answers two questions: which date applies to your Marketplace, and what to verify before you choose a plan. It is general information for U.S. residents buying individual Marketplace coverage without employer-sponsored insurance, not tax, legal, or insurance advice. Facts are as of October 15, 2026. Know Your Actual Deadline As of October 15, 2026, federal-platform Open Enrollment for 2027 runs from No...

General information only. This article explains how different rates respond to a Fed decision. It is not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Confirm current terms with your lender, bank, or card issuer. If you are deciding what to do about a mortgage quote, a savings account or a credit card balance before the Fed's Oct 27-28 meeting, the decision itself matters less than the three different speeds at which those rates respond to it. Where our previous post explained what a 3.7% September CPI means, this playbook covers what to do before Oct 28: how each rate moves, who controls it, and which numbers and documents to check first to protect your monthly cash flow. Miniature house models and keys. Photo: Jakub Zerdzicki / Pexels 1. Who Sets Each Rate, and How Fast It Moves The Fed controls one rate directly: the target range for the overnight federal funds rate, now 3.75-4.00% after the Sept 16 increase. Your mortgage, savings account and credit card are each pr...

September CPI 3.7%: What It Means for Your Mortgage, Savings, and Grocery Bill Data as of Oct. 15, 2026. Every figure carries its date because rates and prices change daily. Figures shown with a formula are my own arithmetic. Photo: Pexels September CPI came in at 3.7%, and here's what that means for your mortgage rate, your savings account, and your grocery bill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that prices rose 3.7% over the last 12 months, up from 3.4% in August, while core CPI rose to 2.6% from 2.4%. Economists had expected 3.6% and 2.5%. Gasoline alone accounted for more than half of the month's 0.6% increase. Your grocery bill is not where the pain is. Food at home fell 0.1% in September and is up 1.8% over 12 months, less than half the headline rate. The squeeze is somewhere else: what a new mortgage costs, the gap between what your savings account pays and what prices are doing, and the pump. Mortgage: 7.40% Is the Number, and CPI Day Barel...

September inflation report delivered a split verdict. The gasoline call was right, almost exactly right. Headline inflation came in where forecasters expected, driven by a sharp jump in gasoline prices. But underneath that headline, core inflation did not cooperate. It came in hotter than expected, shelter reaccelerated, and the idea that inflation was quietly cooling on its own got a lot harder to defend. That is why this report matters more than a single month of numbers. It changes the conversation around the Federal Reserve October 27-28 meeting. A report that had shown both headline and core cooling would have let the Fed stay patient. A report that shows headline matching the forecast while core reheats does the opposite. It makes the October meeting live for a rate hike, not a certainty, but a real possibility that markets, borrowers, and savers cannot ignore. This post breaks down what the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on October 14, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET, why the s...