Articles by

Andy

Andy has run Saving to Invest since 2008, covering personal finance topics around tax credits & refunds, retirement accounts, and government payments/benefits. Every figure and deadline here is sourced from primary data -- the IRS, SSA, USDA, and Department of Labor -- and re-verified before each update. Questions or corrections are always welcome.

What a Strong or Weak Dollar Actually Means for Your Money in 2026

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) — a measure of the dollar against a basket of six major currencies — has been trading around 100 to 101 in mid-2026, after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.50%-3.75% at its June 17 meeting. That's a meaningfully stronger dollar than the…

10 Car Buying Tips to Get a Great Deal in 2026

The average new car now sells for around $50,000, and the average auto loan carries a 6.4%-7% interest rate in 2026. Used car prices aren't much of an escape either, averaging roughly $26,000 nationally. That combination makes negotiating harder to skip than it used to be — a few smart…

Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs): How They Work and Whether They’re Worth It

A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) takes the cash dividend a stock or fund pays you and automatically uses it to buy more shares — instead of depositing it in your account as cash. It's been around since the 1960s, and most brokerages now offer it as a free, one-time setting…

Facing Higher Taxes? Four Strategies That Actually Move the Needle in 2026

Tax bills go up for a lot of reasons — a raise, a bonus, selling an investment, or just bracket creep as your income grows. Whatever the cause, there are concrete, legal strategies that reduce what you actually owe, separate from whatever political debate is happening in Washington about future…

Reverse Mortgages in 2026: Pros, Cons, and the New $1,249,125 Lending Limit

Reverse mortgages let homeowners age 62 and older convert home equity into cash without selling or taking on a monthly payment. The federally insured version — a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) — is still the most common way to do this, and the program looks meaningfully different than it…

21 Signs You’re Losing Interest in Your Job (and What to Do About It)

We've all hit that wall — a stretch where work feels more like a chore than anything close to engaging. Feeling uninterested for a few days is normal. It becomes worth paying attention to when it drags on for weeks and starts showing up in your actual behavior. Here are…

The A to Z of Good Personal Finance: My Saving and Investing Philosophy

I wrote the first version of this list back in 2008 — which tells you something: the fundamentals of good personal finance don't change much. What changes is the context around them. Interest rates, tax rules, available tools. But the underlying principles? Still the same. A — Avoid paying credit…

How to Teach Kids to Invest: Money Lessons by Age, From First Allowance to First Index Fund

Kids learn investing in the order they can feel it: waiting, then growth, then ownership. A five-year-old can't grasp a stock index, but they can feel the difference between a toy today and a better toy in three weeks. This guide goes age by age. Each stage uses real money…

My Tipping Philosophy for 2026: What to Tip After the Post-COVID Tipping Surge

Are you a generous tipper or do you give the bare minimum? Do you tip extra for great service, or nothing at all for bad service? Do you tip the same for a to-go order as you would for a table you sat at for two hours? I first wrote…

Portfolio Diversification in 2026 — How Much Is Actually Enough?

Diversification won't stop you from losing money, and it won't guarantee a profit either. What it does is limit how much damage any single stock, sector, or asset class can do to your overall portfolio when things go wrong — and something always eventually goes wrong somewhere. Here's how to…

Seven Ways to Avoid Banks Taking Your Money in Fees and Charges

We have all read about and surely experienced the ever increasing fees and charges that banks and other financial institutions charge us. Bank fees add up to billions of dollars in revenue for banks every year, and late fees, over-the-limit charges and overdraft fees make up a large share of…

401(k) Basics — How Your Plan Works, 2026 Limits, and Getting Every Dollar of the Match

The 401(k) is the workhorse of American retirement saving — and for 2026, you can contribute up to $24,500 of your own pay, more if you're 50 or older. Yet the number that matters most for most people isn't the maximum. It's whatever percentage unlocks your full employer match, because…