Money, decoded
Guides written by people who actually read the fine print: cited, dated, and linked to the calculators that do the math.
The 2026 deferral limit is $24,500. Catch-up rules lift it to $35,750 between 60 and 63 and then drop it back at 64, a window worth $13,000 that cannot be claimed late.
The tables show 0%, 15% and 20%. The 3.8% surtax starts at $200,000 while the 20% rate waits until $545,500, so the widest band in between is really 18.8%.
Federal tax and FICA leave $79,180 of a $100,000 salary wherever you live. Nine states take nothing after that, and Oregon takes $8,176.
Good credit is a defined FICO band, 670 to 739. The average American score is 714, which sits inside it. What each band changes, and why our US data will not support a score ladder.
The median American family is worth $192,700 and the average is $1,059,457. Why the gap makes the average useless, and what the top 10% actually holds.