Andy | Saving to Invest

Schedule C (Form 1040) Explained: What Counts as Business Income and How to Get It Right in 2026

Schedule C is the form that reports income and expenses from a business you run as a sole proprietor or single-member LLC — think freelancing, consulting, an Etsy shop, or any other side hustle where you're not formally incorporated or partnered with someone else. If your business is structured as…

California SNAP Benefits: 2027 Outlook, Current 2026 Amounts Up to $994/Month

California benefits go out on the Golden State Advantage Card (EBT) 1st–10th, and California uses Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility at 200% of the poverty line, so more households qualify here than in states that stick to the federal floor. The max for a family of four in fiscal year 2026 is…

Connecticut SNAP Benefits: 2027 Outlook, Current 2026 Amounts Up to $994/Month

Connecticut's SNAP benefits load onto your Connect Card (EBT) 1st–3rd. The maximum for a family of four is $994 a month in fiscal year 2026, up from $975 last year. The open question now is what USDA sets for FY2027, expected in late summer. But 2026 is a more complicated…

2026-2027 Maximum Workers’ Compensation Weekly Benefit By State

Every state, U.S. territory, and D.C. sets its own maximum weekly workers' compensation benefit — the highest amount an injured worker can receive, regardless of how much they earned before the injury. These caps are recalculated every year (and sometimes twice a year), tied to each state's average weekly wage,…

Pennsylvania SNAP Benefits: 2027 Outlook, Current 2026 Amounts Up to $994/Month

A family of four on SNAP in Pennsylvania can get up to $994 a month in fiscal year 2026 — up from $975 last year — deposited onto the Pennsylvania ACCESS Card (EBT) 3rd–14th. The open question now is what USDA sets for FY2027, expected in late summer. But 2026…

Summer EBT (SUN Bucks) 2026: $120 Per Child — Which States Are Participating

Summer EBT — also called SUN Bucks — is now a permanent federal program that puts grocery money on a card for kids during summer break, when school meals aren't available. It's in its third year in 2026, and the benefit amount and list of participating states have both changed…

2026 Update: H&R Block Online Tax Filing Review — Solid Software at a Lower Price Than TurboTax

For tax year 2025 (filed in 2026), H&R Block is the strongest mid-market alternative to TurboTax — meaningfully cheaper across every tier, with a comparable guided interview experience and one thing TurboTax cannot offer: the option to walk into a physical office if you want a human to take over.…

Tax-Loss Harvesting Before December 31, 2026: My 3-Step Process

Every December, I go through the same three-step process on my taxable brokerage accounts: figure out where my realized gains and losses stand, decide what to sell to offset them, and recheck the numbers before December 31. It's one of the simplest, most repeatable tax moves available to any investor…

2026 Update: TurboTax Review — Great Tax Software With Live Support for a Premium Price

TurboTax is still the most widely used tax software in the country. For tax year 2025 (filed in 2026), it has made some real changes worth knowing before you pay — or decide to go elsewhere. The product lineup has been simplified, there are new deductions under the One Big…

Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Rises to $1,500-$3,000 in 2026 Under OBBBA

If you've been claiming the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) at the reduced post-pandemic level for the past few years, there's good news: it just went up again, and this time it's meant to stay. Starting with the 2026 tax year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)…

State Energy Assistance Programs in 2026: LIHEAP Funding, Income Limits, and How to Apply

Home energy costs keep climbing, and for households on the lower end of the income scale, that's not an abstract budgeting problem — it's a choice between heating the house and paying for something else. The good news is that federal and state energy assistance programs exist specifically to help.…

Don’t Panic – Understand IRS Reference Code 1242 and Get Your Refund on Track

After submitting your tax return, you may see a message referencing code 1242 and Tax Topic 151 when you check your IRS refund status. Naturally, this can cause stress and worry about what happens next. Here's what it means, next steps, and the expected timeline. Get the latest money, tax…

2026 Federal Poverty Level Guidelines: The Income Numbers That Decide Medicaid, SNAP, and ACA Eligibility

The 2026 federal poverty guideline is $15,960 for a single person and $33,000 for a family of four, effective January 13, 2026. These numbers, published annually by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are what determine eligibility for a wide range of federal and state benefit programs —…

Grocery Benefits for Seniors: How Medicare Advantage Food Cards and SNAP Are Changing for 2027

If you've seen ads for "free Medicare grocery cards" — or had one and worry about losing it — here's the straight story heading into 2027: the federal pilot program (VBID) that let many Medicare Advantage plans hand out grocery allowances based on income alone ended December 31, 2025. What…