Are Severance Payments Subject to FICA Tax in 2025?

Old-school assumptions vs 2025 payroll reality Old-school thinking said severance was a clean exit check, handshake, cardboard box, lump sum, and you’re out. No messy payroll stuff. That view still hangs around, and I get why. For years, CFOs and HR folks treated severance like a separate payout bucket. But 2025 payroll reality? Unless you’ve set things up very intentionally, severance is wages for payroll tax purposes, full stop. The default switch is “tax like regular pay,” and payoll systems are more aggressive about that than ever. Here’s the anchor point in black and white: in 2014 the U.S. Supreme…

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Fed Rate Cuts: How They Shift Your FI Timeline

From 5% cash to “what now?”, how planning shifts your FI date Remember 2023-2024 when your high-yield savings account paid ~5% with zero drama? A lot of FI plans were built in that window. Park cash in T‑Bills, clip 5%+, keep stacking. Easy-ish. Except, rates move. And when the Fed cuts, the math that pinned your financial independence (FI) date to a nice clean year suddenly wobbles. Here’s the before-and-after: a static plan built during the juicy-cash era vs. a plan that flexes when yields fall, inflation shifts, and debt costs re-price. Same household. Same savings habit. Different outcomes by…

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Will Jobs Revisions and PPI Lower Mortgage Rates?

Why timing your rate talk matters more than you think If you’re house hunting or refinancing in Q3 2025, the hour you ask for a quote can matter as much as the day. Sounds dramatic, I know, but here’s what keeps happening this year: mortgage rates are moving in real time with mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasuries, not just the Fed’s target rate, and when the calendar throws a data grenade, jobs revisions or PPI at 8:30 a.m. ET, lenders can reprice within hours. I’ve sat on lock desks where a 9:12 a.m. quote and a 10:47 a.m. quote were…

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Emergency Fund or Stocks When Inflation Cools? Smart Move

The hidden cost you don’t see: forced selling at the worst time There’s a line item in personal finance nobody budgets for, but it bites hardest: being forced to sell investments at the worst possible time becuase cash wasn’t ready when life showed up. Job hiccup, big medical bill, the HVAC that dies during a heat wave, these don’t sync politely with markets. They tend to crash your calendar right when stocks are down. And with inflation cooling this year (BLS has headline CPI running in the mid‑2% range over the summer of 2025, after averaging about 3.4% in 2024),…

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Where To Keep Emergency Fund After Rate Cuts

The costliest mistake: parking cash where you can’t reach it Here’s the costliest mistake I’m seeing right now: people chasing yield after this year’s rate cuts and parking emergency cash in places they can’t actually reach. It looks smart on paper. Then the promo ends, the APY sinks, or there’s a lockup/transfer delay, and, bam, you’re paying overdraft, missing rent, or swiping a 20%+ APR credit card to patch the gap. I learned that lesson the ugly way in ’08 when my “safe” CD had a six‑month lock just as my furnace died. Heat or penalty? I picked heat and…

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Should You Invest an Inheritance During a Tech Rally?

Timing is a tax on impatience (and tech rallies test everyone Timing is a tax on impatience ) and tech rallies test everyone. If you just got a windfall (inheritance, liquidity event, big bonus ) and the AI trade is running hot again, your brain is already negotiating with your gut. The market is ripping, your cash is itchy, and the voice in your head is saying, “If I don’t buy now, I’ll miss it.” Here’s the uncomfortable truth: in a hot tech tape, the cost of being wrong on timing can dwarf the thrill of being right for a…

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Claiming a Deceased Parent’s Pension When Beneficiary Dies

The hidden cost families miss: payments stop faster than you think Here’s the part nobody warns you about when a parent dies: pension payments don’t glide along while the family “figures things out.” They stop at death and they don’t automatically restart for the survivor. Most plans only resume once a valid survivor claim is filed and approved. No claim, no checks. And no, you usually don’t get a backpay windfall for the months you waited, plan documents often pay from the effective date of the completed claim, not from the date of death. I’ve watched families quietly forfeit two,…

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Will Revised Jobs Data Hit Overvalued AI Stocks?

The desk secret: traders care more about revisions than the headline Quick confession from a guy who’s stared at too many payroll Fridays: the number that moves stocks isn’t the headline print, it’s the revisions. That’s the quiet rule on desks. Why? Because revisions rewrite the history we’ve been trading for the last two months without a single new hire actually showing up, suddenly the growth arc, wage pressure, and the rate path all look different, retroactively. And when you’re sitting on AI leaders with fat multiples, that toggle isn’t subtle, it’s the whole story. Here’s the tell. The Bureau…

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How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be in 2025? Think Runway

What the pros actually do when surprises hit Here’s the blunt truth I’ve learned across two decades of crisis calls and 3 a.m. spreadsheet tinkering: the people who handle chaos best don’t think in round numbers, they think in runways. Not “$10k sounds nice,” but “I’ve got 4-7 months of essential expenses covered, no stress.” Different mindset. Cleaner decisions. And it travels well in 2025 when rates and headlines still wobble a bit. Quick scene-setter on the backdrop: inflation has cooled, but not vanished, CPI has been running around 2.6% year-over-year this summer (BLS, 2025). The Fed has eased a…

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