Money
Practical ways to earn more, and keep more of what you earn.
24 stories
Estimated taxes are due September 15. The IRS charges 7% to miss.
The IRS assessed $12.1 billion in estimated tax penalties last year. Skipping the September 15 payment costs 7%, compounded daily, and January won't fix it.
The Editors · 9 min read
The ACA repayment cap is gone. Freelancers now repay every dollar.
Insurers want 15% more for 2027 plans. The bigger change: a freelancer who underestimates income now repays the whole subsidy, where the cap was $1,625.
The Editors · 8 min read
How much do Upwork and Fiverr actually take in 2026?
Upwork posts a 0% to 15% freelancer fee and collects 19.6%. Fiverr pays sellers 80% and collects 28%. Where the gap goes, with sources and dates.
The Editors · 8 min read
X now pays US creators only into X Money. Read the 6% conditions.
On 2 September X moved US creator payouts off Stripe. The money lands instantly in an account X runs, and the 6% rate carries conditions worth reading.
The Editors · 7 min read
The 1099 threshold went to $2,000 in 2026. You still owe at $400.
Clients stopped filing 1099s under $2,000 in 2026, ending 26.7 million forms. The self-employment tax line held at $400. Read where the gap lands.
The Editors · 8 min read
Are Upwork and Fiverr dying? What the 2026 filings show
Fiverr's buyer count fell 21.9% in a year. Upwork cut its own 2026 revenue forecast by $102 million. Both filings point at the same shrinking end.
The Editors · 11 min read
Saver's Match starts in 2027. At $30,000 income it pays 19%.
Treasury will match retirement contributions 50% from 2027. But the IRS's own worked example pays a single filer earning $30,000 just $285 on $1,500.
The Editors · 8 min read
What X pays creators in 2026: rules, thresholds, payouts
X replaced Revenue Sharing with Original Content Rewards on August 8, 2026. The thresholds, the $30 minimum, and the rate X does not publish.
The Editors · 10 min read
YouTube Shorts pay needs 10M views per 90 days. Read which ones count.
YouTube gates Shorts pay at 10 million qualified views a quarter from February 2027. The counter on your channel page is not the one that decides it.
The Editors · 10 min read
X ended creator revenue sharing. Read who the new rules pay.
X closes Creator Revenue Sharing on September 7 and will pay only for original posts that verified Premium users see. The eligible audience just shrank.
The Editors · 7 min read
Fiverr lost a fifth of its buyers to AI. The survivors pay more.
Fiverr's Q2 marketplace revenue fell 15.5% as active buyers dropped 21.9%. The buyers who stayed spent 15.6% more. Read what AI actually deleted.
The Editors · 6 min read
beehiiv pays $1M a month to 60,000 newsletters. Do the division.
beehiiv launched programmatic ads on July 16. The network pays about $17 per publisher a month, and ad access starts at $43. Subscriptions still pay more.
The Editors · 7 min read
Upwork says AI freelancers earn 34% more. Its own filings disagree.
Upwork's new index says AI freelancers earn 34% more and freelancing is booming. Its own quarterly filings show flat volume, fewer clients, a 24% staff cut.
The Editors · 8 min read
How to invest money in 2026: the options, ranked by risk
No picks and no promises. A plain map of where money can go in 2026, from 4% cash to volatile crypto, what each pays now, and what it costs you in risk.
The Editors · 9 min read
How to make money with stablecoins in 2026: the honest version
A stablecoin pays its holder nothing, by law. The 4 to 9% you see advertised is a risk premium wearing a yield costume. Here is where it comes from.
The Editors · 8 min read
AI data labeling demand jumped 154%. Read what it pays.
Upwork says data-labeling demand rose 154% in a year. The nominal wage sits near $25 an hour, and after unpaid training many labelers clear $4 to $7.
The Editors · 6 min read
The median side hustle earns $200 a month. Read the AI math.
Survey data puts the median side hustle at $200 a month and participation falling. The AI income pitch sells the tail. Here is how to read the gap.
The Editors · 6 min read
Getting paid in stablecoins: what creators actually keep
Meta and YouTube now pay some creators in USDC and PYUSD. A stablecoin payout is not a raise. Check your off-ramp cost and tax tracking before you opt in.
The Editors · 8 min read
AI hit young workers first. Read the entry-level data.
ADP data shows 22-25 workers in AI-exposed jobs are down 13% versus less-exposed peers, while older workers in the same roles stayed flat or grew.
The Editors · 7 min read
AI freelance pay in 2026: what Upwork and Fiverr actually report
Upwork and Fiverr both shrank in buyers and grew in spend per buyer in Q2 2026. Read the side-by-side numbers, and what neither company discloses.
The Editors · 9 min read
Why 401(k) savings hit a record while cash savings cratered
Fidelity's Q1 2026 retirement savings rate hit 14.4%, a record. Personal cash savings fell to 2.6%, the lowest since 2022. The defaults did the work.
The Editors · 6 min read
Pledging Bitcoin for a mortgage: should you do it?
Fannie Mae now lets you pledge Bitcoin for a down payment instead of selling. The structure keeps your crypto, but it charges you. Here is the math.
The Editors · 7 min read
The boring money moves that compound
Most of the gain comes from a few dull habits, repeated.
The Editors · 3 min read
How to get paid what you're worth
The raise tends to go to the person who asks with evidence, not the one who waits.
The Editors · 4 min read