What changed.
Tax figures and content updates, by date.

April 2026

Pages added

• /cash-management/ Where to keep money you are not investing.
• /open-a-roth-ira/ Click-by-click Roth IRAIndividual Retirement Account (IRA)A personal retirement savings account with tax advantages. Two main types: Traditional (tax now, pay later) and Roth (pay now, tax-free forever).Full definition setup at Fidelity.
• /brokerage-comparison/ Fidelity vs Vanguard vs Schwab.
• /how-to-find-a-fiduciary/ NAPFA, XYPN, fee-only vs commission.
• /rule-of-55/ Early-401(k) access at 55.
• /72t-sepp/ IRA early access via SEPP.
• /roth-5-year-rules/ Two separate Roth 5-year clocks explained.
• /irmaa/ Medicare income surcharge.
• /whole-life-vs-term/ Term + invest the difference math.
• /annuity-guide/ When annuities make sense (and when they do not).
• /bitcoin-ira/ Three ways to hold BTCBitcoin (BTC)The ticker symbol for Bitcoin, used on exchanges and in price quotes.Full definition in a tax-advantaged account.
• /sparrow-wallet-guide/ Complete Sparrow Wallet setup.
• /silent-payments/ BIP 352 explained.
• /coinjoin-landscape/ What replaced Samourai in 2024.
• /state-domicile/ Changing state tax residency.
• /tsp-federal-employees/ The Thrift Savings Plan.
• /teachers-finance/ 403(b), 457(b), and the pension question.
• /changelog/ This page.

Pages updated

• /wills-and-estate-planning/ Added 1031 exchange, Donor-Advised Fund, Qualified Charitable Distribution, and Special Needs Trust sections.
• /budgeting/ Added "Where the money actually goes" section using verified BLS CEX 2024 data ($78,535 average household spending) and Census 2024 median household income ($83,730).
• /financial-planning-by-decade/ Added net-worth-by-age section with Federal Reserve SCF 2022 medians.
• /social-security/ Added "The retirement savings reality" section with the corrected 54% figure (more than half have no retirement account).
• /personal-finance/ Added "Simple budget frameworks" section comparing 50/30/20, 60/20/20, and the fixed-floor approach.
• /financial-qa/ Added 3 new Q&A entries: average net worthnet worthEverything you own (assets) minus everything you owe (debts). The most comprehensive measure of financial health.Full definition, average household spending, and how much to save.
• /bitcoin-scams/ Added 6 new sections: address poisoning, fake hardware wallets, SIM swap, phishing, exchange failures, and "what never happens."

Tax figures updated to 2026

• 2026 401(k) employee deferral: $24,500 (catch-up at 50+: $8,000).
• 2026 IRA contribution: $7,500 (catch-up at 50+: $1,100).
• 2026 HSAHealth Savings Account (HSA)A tax-advantaged account for healthcare costs, available with a high-deductible plan; contributions, growth, and qualified withdrawals are all tax-free.Full definition: $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family.
• 2026 Solo 401(k) total: $72,000.
• 2026 standard deductionstandard deductionA fixed dollar amount that reduces your taxable income without itemizing. Most people claim this instead of listing individual deductions.Full definition: $16,100 single / $32,200 MFJMarried Filing Jointly (MFJ)A tax filing status where a married couple combines their income and deductions on one tax return. / $24,150 HOH.
• 2026 Social Security wage base: $184,500.
• 2026 Roth IRA phase-outs: Single $153,000-$168,000; MFJ $242,000-$252,000.
• TCJATax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)The big 2017 federal tax law. It nearly doubled the no-questions-asked tax deduction everyone gets, limited the deduction for state and local taxes to $10,000, and cut corporate and individual tax rates. Most of the personal tax cuts expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress extends them.Full definition: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025) made most TCJA individual provisions permanent. The site was rewritten to reflect this throughout.

Yields and rates

• SPAXX/HYSA references updated from "4-5% APYAnnual Percentage Yield (APY)The real return on savings after the bank pays interest on top of interest. A 5% APY savings account turns $1,000 into $1,050 after one year.Full definition" to "approximately 3-4% APY (as of April 2026)."
• Federal funds rate references updated to 3.5-3.75% as of April 2026.
• Average credit card APRAnnual Percentage Rate (APR)The yearly cost of borrowing money, shown as a percentage.Full definition updated to approximately 21% (Federal Reserve G.19 Q1 2026).
• M2 money supply current snapshot added: approximately $22.4 trillion as of January 2026.
• Australia super rate updated to 12.0% (the legislated final step from 1 July 2025).
• SS benefit cut framing updated to CBOCongressional Budget Office (CBO)A nonpartisan federal agency that provides economic and budget analysis to Congress. Feb 2026 projection (approximately 7% in 2032 deepening to ~28% by 2036) with the SSASocial Security Administration (SSA)The federal agency that manages Social Security retirement, disability, and survivor benefit programs. Trustees June 2025 alternative also disclosed.

Q1 2026 (earlier)

• Major site expansion: Phase 6 added 16 new pages including /cbdc/, /stablecoins/, /lightning-network/, /run-a-node/, /home-mining/, /multisig/, /mempool-guide/, /austrian-economics/, /gold-vs-bitcoin/, /bitcoin-in-inflation-economies/, /accounts/hsa/, /health-insurance/, /mortgage-math/, /index-funds/, /kids-money/, /about/.
• RSS feed launched at /rss.xml.
• Bitcoin scams page expanded with 6 technical-attack sections.