This Week’s Money Map:

• 💸 Student loan garnishment is back. Here's how to protect your paycheck.

•  🏦 Iran jitters and a 401(k) rule change: don't panic, do plan

• 💰 You may be wasting money on life insurance you don't need

• 🐶 Pet cancer treatment: the $10,000 diagnosis and the insurance that helps

💸 Student loan garnishment is back. Here’s how to protect your paycheck.

If you've defaulted on a federal student loan, the government can take up to 15% of your paycheck. No court order, no lawsuit, no heads-up required. It's called administrative wage garnishment, and it's one of the harshest tools any creditor has. After a five-year pandemic pause, it's back.

About 5.5 million borrowers were in default as of early 2025, with millions more sliding toward it. If you're one of them, the next few months matter more than you might think.

Where things stand right now
Most coverage misses this part. On Jan. 16, 2026, the Department of Education announced a temporary delay in collecting defaulted loans while it implements new repayment reforms. Garnishment isn't happening at full scale yet. But the pause is temporary, notices are going out in waves, and borrowers who use this window to act are the ones who'll avoid the hit entirely.

Don't wait for the letter. Acting before garnishment starts gives you far more options than acting after.

The 30-day window that changes everything
Garnishment doesn't start with money missing from your paycheck. It starts with a written notice from the Department of Education. From that date, you have 30 days to request a hearing. Do that, and the government legally can't garnish while your case is reviewed. A decision comes within 60 days, and garnishment can be paused, reduced or set at the full 15% depending on your situation.

Federal law also requires that garnishment leave you with at least $217.50 per week in take-home pay.

Your three real paths out of default
Rehabilitation is the strongest option. You agree to nine affordable monthly payments based on your income, sometimes as low as $5. After the fifth on-time payment, garnishment must legally stop. Once all nine payments are complete, the default comes off your credit report entirely. That last part is worth emphasizing.

Consolidation is faster but has a catch. You combine your defaulted loans into a new Direct Consolidation Loan, which gets you out of default quickly. The downside: it doesn't erase the default from your credit history, and you can't use it once garnishment is already active.

Income-driven repayment caps your monthly payment at a percentage of your discretionary income and can keep you out of default before it ever starts. If you're delinquent but not yet in default, this is your move.

About that credit score hit
Default is brutal on credit. The average defaulted borrower saw their score drop 91 points between late 2024 and late 2025, according to the New York Fed, and a default stays on your report for seven years. Rehabilitation is the only path that removes it, and that alone makes the nine-payment effort worth it for most borrowers.

Do this today
Check your loan status by calling your servicer or visiting studentaid.gov. Update your contact info so you don't miss a notice. Then call the Default Resolution Group at 1-800-621-3115 to start rehabilitation.

🏦 Iran jitters and a 401(k) rule change: don’t panic, do plan

Two things are rattling retirement savers right now. Iran headlines are sending the stock market on a stomach-churning ride, and a quiet new rule is changing how some workers can save in their 401(k). Both are worth understanding. Neither is worth panicking over.

Let's take them one at a time.

Why your 401(k) is bouncing around
Tensions with Iran have pushed oil prices up and stocks down in sudden swings, and watching your 401(k) balance drop in a single week is genuinely unnerving. What the scary headlines leave out: geopolitical market shocks are almost always temporary, and selling into one is how long-term investors turn a paper dip into a permanent loss.

History backs this up. Markets have weathered wars, oil shocks and crises for decades. Investors who stayed put recovered. The ones who sold in fear locked in their losses and often missed the rebound, which can come fast and without warning.

If you're years or decades from retirement, a market dip isn't a threat. It's a discount. Every paycheck you keep contributing buys shares at lower prices, quietly boosting your long-term returns. The single best move during a scary market is almost always no move at all. Keep contributing, keep your allocation steady and stop checking your balance every day.

The exception is if you're within a few years of retirement. In that case, now is a good time to make sure your mix isn't overloaded with stocks. The goal isn't to flee them entirely, but to confirm that a downturn wouldn't force you to sell at the bottom right when you need the money.

The 401(k) tax change hitting high earners in 2026
Now, the rule change. Starting in 2026, a SECURE 2.0 provision changes how catch-up contributions work for higher earners. Catch-up contributions are the extra amount workers 50 and older can add on top of the standard limit, up to $8,000 in 2026 on top of the $24,500 base.

Who's affected: if you earned more than $150,000 in FICA wages from your employer in 2025, your catch-up contributions in 2026 must be made as Roth, meaning after-tax dollars. You no longer get the upfront tax deduction on that portion. Workers ages 60 to 63 have an even larger "super catch-up" limit of $11,250, but the same Roth rule applies if you cross the income threshold.

It feels like a loss because you lose the deduction. But Roth isn't all bad. You pay tax now, that money grows tax-free, and it comes out completely tax-free in retirement. For many high earners who expect to be in a similar or higher bracket later, that trade can work in your favor.

One real catch: if your employer's plan doesn't offer a Roth option, you may not be able to make catch-up contributions at all in 2026 until it adds one. Ask your HR team or plan administrator now.

The takeaway

Don't let Iran headlines push you into selling, and don't let the Roth rule scare you out of catch-up saving. Both reward a calm, deliberate approach. While you're reviewing your retirement plan, it's also worth checking that your life and disability coverage still match your income, so a market scare isn't the only thing standing between your family and a financial gap.

💰 You may be wasting money on life insurance you don’t need

Life insurance gets marketed as a financial necessity for every adult. It's not. For some people, a policy makes complete sense. For others, it's an expensive monthly bill that covers no one. The right question isn't "Should I have life insurance?" It's "Would anyone take a real financial hit if I died tomorrow?"

If the honest answer is no, you may be paying for coverage you don't need. Here's how to tell.

Nobody depends on your income
Life insurance exists to replace lost income and cover dependents financially. If you have no spouse or children, little debt, enough savings for final expenses and no one who relies on your paycheck, a large policy adds cost without value. A small final-expense policy ($10,000 to $25,000) is often plenty.

You can already self-insure
If your investments, savings and retirement accounts could fully support your family without your income, paying premiums for decades is rarely worth it. This often applies to retirees with paid-off homes, high-net-worth households and people with steady passive income.

Your kids are financially independent
Most parents need life insurance while their children are young. Once those kids are adults, the mortgage is paid down, and retirement savings are stable, the original reason for coverage often disappears. Many people forget to revisit this and keep paying for coverage that no longer matches their life.

Your employer policy may be enough
Many employers offer group term life insurance worth one to two times your salary, plus low-cost supplemental options. For people with limited financial obligations, that coverage is often enough on its own.

Permanent life insurance is oversold
Whole life and universal life policies get marketed as wealth-building tools. They’re also expensive, complex and loaded with commissions that eat into returns. For most households, buying a 20-year or 30-year term policy and investing the premium difference produces far better long-term results. A healthy 35-year-old can get $500,000 of term coverage for around $25 a month. The same amount of whole life can run $400 or more.

Premiums are blocking bigger goals
Life insurance is supposed to cover your finances, not strain them. If premiums are stopping you from paying off high-interest debt, building an emergency fund, contributing to retirement or covering everyday bills, the policy is creating the problem it’s meant to solve.

You need coverage only for a season
Life insurance needs are rarely permanent. You may need it only during the years your kids are dependent, your mortgage is large or your family is leaning hard on your income. Once those risks shrink, your coverage needs should shrink too.

A 20-year term policy that ends when your youngest finishes college is often a better fit than a permanent policy you keep paying into for life.

The smarter approach
Life insurance is a tool, not a rite of passage. Run the honest math once a year: who depends on your income, what would they need and for how long. Compare your term life options so the policy matches your life, not a salesperson's commission.

🐶 Pet cancer treatment: the $10,000 diagnosis and the insurance that helps

About one in four dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime, according to the Veterinary Cancer Society. Among dogs over age 10, that number jumps to nearly half. A single round of diagnostics, surgery or chemo runs $489 to $1,783 on average. A full treatment course can cost between $5,000 and $20,000 or more.

The right pet insurance policy can cover 70% to 90% of that. The wrong one, or no policy at all, leaves you choosing between your savings account and your pet's care.

What real treatment costs in 2026
Surgical tumor removal runs $500 to $5,000. Chemotherapy for a full protocol costs $3,000 to $10,000, sometimes higher for aggressive cancers. Radiation therapy ranges from $5,000 to $10,000 or more, with individual sessions at $250 to $500. Immunotherapy can reach $15,000.

What the best plans cover
Strong policies treat cancer as the long, complicated condition it is. Look for plans that cover diagnostics (blood work, biopsies, imaging), surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, hospitalization and follow-up medications. All of this falls under accident-and-illness coverage. Accident-only plans won’t help with cancer.

The numbers that matter
Three features quietly decide whether a policy pays off.

1. High annual or unlimited coverage limits. Cancer treatment spans months or years. A plan capped at $5,000 a year will run out mid-treatment.

2. Reimbursement rate. Most insurers reimburse 70% to 90% of covered costs. The difference between 70% and 90% on a $10,000 treatment is $2,000 in your pocket.

3. Per-condition limits. Some policies cap how much they pay per condition, on top of the annual limit. A $5,000 per-condition cap turns a great-looking policy into a partial payment.

The timing rule that can’t be undone
Pet insurance is forward-looking. Pre-existing conditions are excluded, and most policies impose waiting periods of two to 30 days before illness coverage kicks in. If your dog shows symptoms before you enroll, cancer-related treatment will almost certainly not be covered.

The window to insure is when your pet is healthy and shows no signs of illness. Waiting until a lump appears is almost always too late.

Real-world value, not just monthly cost
Monthly dog premiums range from $35 to $75, depending on age, breed and location. Compare that to the $8,000 you’d get back on a $10,000 treatment at 80% reimbursement. Even three or four years of premiums come in far below a single serious diagnosis.

The goal isn’t to eliminate vet costs. It’s to make sure a cancer diagnosis isn’t also a financial crisis that affects what treatment you can offer.

Common gaps to watch
Read past the headline numbers. Watch for breed-specific exclusions (some plans exclude conditions common to certain breeds), per-condition annual caps, exclusions for experimental treatments and separate limits for diagnostics versus treatment.

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The MoneyGeek Team

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