August 26, 2026

Disclaimer

Last updated 25 August 2026.

This is journalism, not advice

Everything on The Personal Finance Report USA is general information about money in the United States. It is not personalised financial, investment, tax, accounting or legal advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or apply for any product.

We do not know your income, your debts, your tax position, your health, your dependants, your risk tolerance or your plans. Advice requires knowing those things. An article cannot, so it does not give advice, and reading one does not create an advisory or fiduciary relationship between you and us.

We are not licensed advisers

Nobody writing here holds themselves out as a certified financial planner, chartered financial analyst, certified public accountant, registered investment adviser, attorney or tax agent, and nothing on this site should be read as implying otherwise. Where a decision has significant consequences, the right step is to speak to a licensed professional who can look at your actual circumstances.

Figures change

Interest rates, tax brackets, contribution limits, benefit thresholds and lender criteria change, sometimes with little notice. An article reflects the position as at its publication or update date. Before acting on a number, confirm it against the primary source — the IRS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Social Security Administration, or the institution concerned.

The calculators

The calculators on this site are teaching tools. They run simplified models: fixed rates, fixed payments, no fees, no missed payments, no change in circumstances. Real products rarely behave that cleanly. Use them to understand the shape of a decision and the direction a change pushes it, not to predict an exact figure or date. Each calculator states its own assumptions on the page.

Third-party sources and links

We link to outside sources because sourcing matters, and we choose primary and official sources wherever possible. We do not control those sites and cannot guarantee their accuracy or availability.

Commercial relationships

Where a commercial relationship exists, we disclose it on the page it applies to. See our Affiliate Disclosure, Sponsored Content Policy and Advertisement Policy for the current position on each.

Use of AI

How machine assistance is and is not used in producing this content is set out honestly on our AI Content Disclosure page. It is worth reading.

Your decisions are yours

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss arising from action taken on the basis of anything published here. We would rather say that plainly than bury it. If something on this site is wrong, tell us at [email protected] and we will correct it publicly.