Sand Mountain in northeast Alabama is one of the last places in the country where a handful of churches still sing straight from the Sacred Harp during a regular Sunday service. Homecoming season used to fill Alabama’s country churches with the same handful of rituals, year after year. These are the church homecoming traditions Alabamians…
Many Florida retirees spent years lining up the math before they left the office for good, planning out property tax bills, Medicare premiums, and their 401(k) withdrawal plan. But many of them didn’t plan for the Tuesday morning with nothing on the calendar. Roughly a third of American retirees say they struggle to find a…
Texas had around 388 drive-in movie theaters when the outdoor movie craze peaked in the 1950s and ’60s. Fewer than 20 are left running today. That’s a brutal survival rate. These are the Texas drive-in theaters still selling tickets today. 1. Graham Drive-In Graham Drive-In has run movies on the same lot since 1948, longer…
A Pittsburgh retiree calls her gas company in January, braced to negotiate a shutoff notice, and hangs up enrolled in a program that’ll forgive her old balance a payment at a time. She didn’t know that program existed until she asked. Pennsylvania’s utilities run assistance that chips away at old debt month by month once…
Virginia hasn’t done a full rewrite of its legal code since 1950. That’s a 76-year gap, and a lot of old language hasn’t gotten a second look in the meantime. These are Virginia laws still sitting in the Code of Virginia today, verified straight from the state’s own text. Note: This is general information, not…
A house that sold for $667,000 in Austin in May 2022 is worth closer to $577,000 today. That’s a $90,000 hole. These are the costs landing on Texas homeowners who bought into Austin right at its peak. Note: This is general information, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Home values, interest rates, and property tax…
A retired teacher in Athens takes a part-time tutoring job at 63 and watches her Social Security check shrink the next month. She assumes that money is gone for good. It isn’t, and neither are many of the other Social Security assumptions some Georgia retirees believe. These are the things too many Georgians get wrong…
A retired couple in Naples opens their homeowners insurance renewal, and the number is up again. They start pricing homes in other states. These are the states pulling Florida’s retirees somewhere else. Note: This is general information, not financial or tax advice. State tax rules, property values, and migration figures are subject to change. Understanding…
A three-month certificate of deposit (CD) paid close to 18% back in 1981. Banks don’t pay anything close to that anymore. Baby boomers who learned to trust a savings account, a pension, or a 65th birthday are running those old habits against a completely different set of numbers now. These are the financial rules Pennsylvania…
One state stretches a $100,000 salary to cover 129% of what a typical household spends there in a year. Another state’s exact same $100,000 covers barely 60%. That’s nearly a 70-percentage-point gap on the identical paycheck. These are the states where a $100,000 salary goes furthest, and here’s where Texas lands among them. Note: This…
