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We offer a holistic comprehensive services to help clients prioritize and attain their life goals by making smart financial decisions.

10/19/2026

Is your workplace using AI yet?

In the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey, published October 8, 2026, 23.8% of U.S. employer businesses said they used AI in the two weeks ending September 20. Another 66.4% of businesses said they did not use AI, and 9.8% were not sure.

At the end of December 2025, the figure was 17.7%. In the same October 8 release, 27.7% of businesses said they expect to use AI in the next six months.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (published October 8, 2026)

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10/16/2026

If you or a parent plan to change Medicare coverage, Monday, December 7 is the open enrollment deadline.

Open enrollment started October 15. During it, you can join, drop, or change a Medicare Advantage Plan (a plan offered by a private company), add or drop drug coverage, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Coverage starts January 1, and the plan has to get your request by December 7.

Already in a Medicare Advantage Plan? You get a separate window, January 1 to March 31.

If you are sorting this out with a parent, the Medicare Plan Finder on Medicare.gov is a good place to see plans in your area. Adding every regular prescription gives the most accurate cost estimate. For free one-on-one help that is not tied to any insurance company, contact your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

Source: Medicare.gov

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10/15/2026

AI is cited in many layoff announcements. The numbers add some context.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas tracks announced layoffs and the reasons employers give. Its report released October 1, 2026 shows AI is the top reason through September, at 120,136 of 573,195 announced cuts. That is about 1 in 5. The other 4 in 5 cite something else, and in September alone AI ranked fifth.

Worth remembering: this is what companies announce, not a study of what caused each cut. Employers also announced 210,612 planned hires through September, up 3% from 2025.

Andy Challenger, the firm's workplace expert and chief revenue officer, described the employer climate this way in the report: "Companies are in a wait-and-see period right now."

What is one skill in your line of work that keeps showing up in job postings, no matter what the headlines say?

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, October 1, 2026

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10/14/2026

One thing to know about a tax extension: it was only ever for filing the return. The IRS says an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay, and the tax was due on the April filing date.

So there are two different penalties. Failure to pay is one-half of one percent of what is unpaid for each month or part of a month, up to 25 percent. Failure to file is usually 5 percent per month, also up to 25 percent. Interest keeps running on top of both until everything is paid.

If a penalty does apply, the IRS has relief options, including First Time Abate and reasonable cause.

Source: IRS, Tax Topics 304 and 653; IRS, Get an extension to file your tax return

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10/13/2026

Does a business exist the moment someone applies for a tax ID?

Census treats them as two separate counts. It tracks new business applications (based on IRS applications for a federal tax ID, called an EIN), and it separately projects how many will turn into startups with payroll tax liabilities within four quarters.

For August 2026, that is 531,728 applications and a projection of 28,501 payroll startups. About 5.4 percent, or roughly 1 in 19 (IMC arithmetic).

Year to date, applications are up about 13.5 percent over the same months of 2025 (IMC calculation, not seasonally adjusted). People are clearly applying. The open question is how many grow into employers.

If you've built something, what made it feel like a business to you: the first customer, the first dollar, something else?

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, release of September 11, 2026 (August 2026, seasonally adjusted)

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10/12/2026

Can a fund go up and still trail its benchmark? Yes.

S&P Dow Jones Indices' SPIVA U.S. Mid-Year 2026 Scorecard, published in September 2026, found that in the first half of 2026, 67% of active large-cap funds (funds that hold the biggest U.S. companies by market value) trailed the S&P 500. For mid-cap funds it was 74%, and for small-cap funds 69%.

The comparison is against a benchmark. Say a fund gains 6% and its benchmark gains 8%. It counts as trailing, even though the fund made money.

When you see a performance number, what do you ask first: compared to what, or over what period?

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices, SPIVA U.S. Mid-Year 2026 Scorecard (September 2026)

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10/09/2026

Most households have never written down their net worth.

Assets minus liabilities. What you own, minus what you owe. That is the whole formula.

The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances puts median U.S. household net worth at $192,900. The mean is $1,063,700. The gap between those two numbers tells you how concentrated wealth is at the top of the distribution.

Tracking your own net worth, even once a year, gives you a feedback loop that income tracking alone cannot provide. A pay raise that gets spent does not show up as wealth. Consistent investing at any income level does.

Source: Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances (2022)

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10/08/2026

Social Security's 2027 cost-of-living adjustment will be announced on October 14.

Current projections: around 3.5%.

What that means in practice: a $1,800 per month benefit would increase by roughly $63 per month, or $756 for the year. A $2,500 per month benefit would go up approximately $87.50 per month.

The adjustment uses the average CPI-W for July, August, and September 2026. It takes effect with the January 2027 payment.

COLA exists to hold purchasing power steady. Whether it actually does that depends on what you are spending money on.

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10/07/2026

MLB's Division Series is underway, and the postseason pool is one of the most misunderstood pieces of a professional athlete's income.

MLB announces a total postseason pool each year. Teams vote internally on how to divide their share, including partial shares and cash awards.

In 2025, the pool was nearly $128.2 million. A full share for the champion Dodgers was $484,748.

The 2026 numbers will be confirmed after the World Series, which starts October 23.

The financial trap: that income is taxable at ordinary rates, in the year it is paid, on top of regular-season salary. Without planning, a significant portion disappears to taxes, and what remains often gets absorbed into spending rather than a long-term financial picture.

Windfall income needs a plan. That is true for athletes and non-athletes alike.

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10/06/2026

39 states now require personal finance education before students graduate high school.

The Council for Economic Education's 2026 Survey of the States, released March 18, 2026, found four newly mandating states: California, Colorado, Delaware, and Hawaii. That reaches an estimated 2.3 million high school students.

Progress is happening. The gap for everyone who graduated before it was a requirement is still there.

Source: CEE, Survey of the States 2026

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Birmingham, AL
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