Gilbert

Every election cycle has its talking points. Jobs numbers. Inflation. Taxes. Housing. Healthcare. These issues dominate speeches, debates, and policy platforms. Yet there is a quieter economic squeeze shaping daily life for millions of Americans that rarely gets named, let alone addressed. It’s not a single statistic or...

Ask most Americans how they feel about money right now, and the answer isn’t just “stressed.” It’s tiring. Not the short term anxiety that comes with a big bill or an unexpected expense, but a deeper fatigue that builds over years. The constant need to make financial decisions....

For decades, insurance in the United States followed a familiar division of labor. Private insurers dominated the market, setting prices and coverage terms based on risk, while public insurance programs filled narrow gaps for the elderly, the poor, or the truly uninsurable. That balance is quietly shifting. As private...

Debt relief has always lived in the margins of the financial system. It expands during periods of stress and retreats when households regain footing. What’s different in 2026 is that the stress hasn’t receded, and the industry is no longer behaving like it’s waiting for relief to...

For years, home renovation culture sold a familiar promise. Spend now, build your dream space, and recoup the value later. Open kitchens, spa bathrooms, and full scale remodels weren’t just lifestyle upgrades. They were framed as smart financial moves. That logic is breaking down. Across the U.S., homeowners are...

For much of the past year, the headline story has been resilience. Jobs numbers look solid. Consumer spending hasn’t collapsed. Markets keep finding reasons to rally. On the surface, the U.S. economy appears sturdier than many expected. A recession, when it comes, is unlikely to look like a...

By many headline measures, the U.S. economy looks solid. Unemployment remains low. GDP growth hasn’t collapsed. Corporate earnings continue to surprise on the upside. On paper, this is what resilience looks like. But talk to households, and you hear a very different story. Beneath the surface of a “strong”...

Insurance is supposed to be boring. When it works, no one notices. You pay the premium, renew once a year, and move on. But when insurers retreat, the disruption is anything but quiet. Across the country, consumers are discovering that coverage they once took for granted is suddenly...

There was a time when financial stress came in waves. A job loss. A medical emergency. A recession. You tightened your belt, adjusted, and waited for things to stabilize. For millions of American households today, that sense of “temporary strain” is gone. Financial stress is no longer a...

For decades, insurance sat in the background of American life. You paid the premium, hoped you never needed it, and assumed it would be there when things went wrong. It was boring by design and affordable by expectation. That assumption is starting to break. Across auto, home, health, and...

For much of the past century, homeownership was framed as the ultimate financial upgrade. Renting was temporary. Owning was security. Today, that narrative is quietly unraveling. Across the country, many households including those who could technically afford to buy are choosing to rent longer than planned. Not because renting...

On paper, the United States is a nation of insured households. Employer plans, marketplace policies, and Medicare, Medicaid coverage are widespread by historical standards. And yet, medical bills remain one of the leading sources of financial distress. This is the contradiction at the heart of modern healthcare: more coverage...