City Style

Tailoring, sneakers and the smart-casual line nobody explains properly.

The Social Security math married couples keep getting wrong

A spousal benefit tops out at half. A survivor benefit can be the whole check. The gap between those two numbers shapes a widow's entire budget.

GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

The Repairs Worth Making Before You Sell, And The Ones That Aren't

A new roof can move a sale. A new kitchen usually just moves your money. How to spend the last dollar before listing.

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Rewrite my CV so it actually gets read

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GuideFoodWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

The starch rules that make rice, pasta and potatoes behave

Salt, starch, and a lid. Almost everything that goes wrong with the three cheapest things in your kitchen comes down to four fixable mistakes.

Delicious.com — Nine thousand recipes and a plan for tonight

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Retirement6 min read

How One-Income Families Make Retirement Work

The spousal IRA, the survivor gap and the pension election that quietly decides whether your wife is fine at 78.

Poll

Where does your phone charge overnight?

GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

How to Buy and Sell a House at the Same Time Without Owning Two

The double-close is a scheduling problem with money attached. Contingencies, rent-backs, bridge loans, and what breaks at 3 p.m. on closing day.

GuideFoodWes DunbarSep 23, 20266 min

More salt won't fix your bland soup

Bland, flat, harsh and over-salted are four different problems, and only one of them wants more salt.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

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GuideRetirementRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

Claiming Social Security At 62, 67 Or 70

The same work record can pay three very different checks for life. Here's how the math works, and the question most couples forget to ask.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next two weeks.

GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

House hacking a duplex when your tenant shares your wall

Live in one side, rent the other, and let the loan do some of the work — plus the documents, the fees and the arguments nobody warns you about.

GuideFoodWes DunbarSep 23, 20265 min

Your roasted vegetables are steaming, not roasting

Four things turn a sheet pan of broccoli into gray mush, and every one of them is fixable before the oven finishes preheating.

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Give me something to do with my kids this weekend

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GuideRetirementRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

How to cover health insurance if you retire before 65

COBRA, the marketplace, a spouse's plan or part-time work, plus the income lever most early retirees don't know they're holding.

CancerDefying.com — The research, protocols and reading in one place

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$The Math Your First Rental House Has To Pass$

GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

The Math Your First Rental House Has To Pass

Before you fall for the kitchen, run the four numbers that decide whether a single-family rental pays you or bills you every month.

Poll

What was your first ever job?

GuideFoodWes DunbarSep 23, 20265 min

The field spot tells you more than the thump

Weight, smell and a couple of scars will get you a better melon than any knuckle test. Fruit by fruit, what to actually look at.

GuideRetirementRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

Medicare Advantage or Medigap and How to Actually Decide

One choice at 65 is easy to make and hard to undo. Know how the two paths differ before the mailers start piling up in your driveway.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

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GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20266 min

How To Screen A Tenant Without Landing In Court

Write your standards down before the listing goes live, apply them to every applicant, and keep the paper. That's most of the job.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

Food5 min

Your pan already made the sauce and you washed it off

Retirement6 min

Medicare Parts A, B, C and D Without the Alphabet Soup

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Plan a cook for eight people

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GuideReal EstateRay OkonkwoSep 23, 20265 min

The Questions That Separate A Good Agent From A Busy One

Most people hire the first agent who returns a call. Twenty minutes of real questions will tell you who actually knows your market.

Dude.com — 16 AI advisers who listen, talk and are here with you

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Food5 min read

The meat temperatures that matter and where to put the probe

Chicken, pork, burgers, fish, brisket. The real numbers, the right spot to stick the tip, and the mistakes that make a good thermometer lie.

Poll

When did you last ask for a raise?

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