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Deadline- Sept. 25. 2026 3PM
Seeking household finance expert on AARP report about adults 50+
Query: Radio reporter seeking expert to discuss AARP research on rising costs and older Americans
I’m a reporter with WTOP News in Washington, D.C., working on a story based on new AARP research examining how price pressures are affecting consumer spending and financial decisions among Americans age 50 and older.
The report is “Price Pressures and Consumer Spending,” by Bryan Miller, AARP Research, August 2026.
Report:
https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/work-finances-retirement/financial-security-retirement/price-pressures-and-consumer-spending/
I’m looking to speak with an economist, consumer finance expert, retirement researcher or other qualified expert who can discuss the findings and put them into context, including what continued cost pressures could mean for household spending, savings and retirement decisions.
The interview would be brief, approximately 10 to 15 minutes
Deadline: Sep 28th, 2026 01:25 PM (May close early)
This deadline has passed, and new answer submissions are no longer being accepted.
Publisher:
W
WTOP News
This deadline has passed
New answer submissions are no longer being accepted for this question.
A
Acorn FinanceAcorn Finance is working on an article about job costing for contractors, specifically how tracking costs at the project level reveals which jobs actually make money and which only appear profitable on the surface. Revenue alone does not tell the full story: a contractor can stay busy all year while losing money on certain project types without realizing it.
This piece will cover the basics of job costing, what to track, and how the data can improve estimating, pricing, and decisions about which work to pursue.
This requires a 30-minute Google Meet interview. We are not accepting written responses.
We're looking to interview a contractor who tracks job costs, or a construction-focused CPA, bookkeeper, or business consultant who works with small contracting businesses, who can speak to:
- What job costing actually means in practice for a small contractor and why revenue alone is misleading
- The core cost categories contractors should track per job, including labor, materials, subcontractors, and overhead allocation
- How a contractor who has never done job costing should start
- Common surprises contractors discover when they start tracking profitability by project type
- How job costing data should feed back into estimating and pricing future work
- Whether certain project types, such as kitchens, additions, or service work, tend to be more or less profitable and why
- The role of software versus spreadsheets and what tools work at different business sizes
- Mistakes contractors make when implementing job costing, such as overcomplicating it, inconsistent tracking, or ignoring overhead
Source requirements:
- Residential contractor, remodeler, or construction business owner who actively tracks job costs; OR a CPA, bookkeeper, or business consultant who specializes in construction or home service businesses
- Must be U.S.-based
- Minimum five years of experience preferred
- Must be available for a 30-minute Google Meet video interview; written responses will not be used
Please include your title, company, years of experience, types of clients or projects, and availability for a video call in the coming weeks.
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EDsmartEDsmart is publishing an original analysis of Federal Student Aid's September 2026 data. Matching two FSA files, we found 1,799 colleges with a 0% official cohort default rate (the rate that can cost a school federal aid) even though at least 25% of their evaluated borrowers are more than 90 days behind. The official rate is 0% at 4,603 of 4,635 schools. Nonpayment is 36% where former students typically earn under $30,000 and 7% where they earn $75,000+.
We will only quote verified experts. Please meet at least one of these:
- Economist, professor, or researcher with published work on student loans, college costs, or accountability (Questions 1–3 and 5)
- Policy analyst or fellow at a research or policy organization who has written on default rates or repayment (Questions 1–3)
- Former Education Department, Federal Student Aid, state higher-education agency, or accreditor staff who worked on accountability, default, or servicing (Questions 1–3)
- Financial aid director or associate director, or default-prevention staff, with 5+ years in financial aid (Questions 1, 3, and 4)
- Attorney with federal student loan experience, including legal aid and law school clinic faculty, or a Certified Student Loan Professional (CSLP) (Question 4)
Questions (answer the ones that match your expertise):
1. Why is the official default rate near 0% now, and what does that mean for college accountability?
2. Should the Education Department or Congress use the nonpayment rate, or change the default rate, until pandemic effects wash out?
3. What could happen to schools when post-pause default rates are published?
4. What should a borrower 90+ days behind do before the loan defaults?
5. Why would a school's typical earnings track so closely with nonpayment?
Required: full name, exact title, organization, your website and LinkedIn URLs, and any financial ties to lenders, servicers, or schools. Answer in 100–200 words per question, in your own words, responding to our findings, not general talking points. We verify every source before publishing. Quoted experts are credited with a link to their website and LinkedIn.
Not wanted: refinancing lenders, debt-relief or settlement companies, anyone who charges for forgiveness help, financial coaches or marketers, PR-written or AI-generated answers, generic budgeting tips, or anyone without a verifiable credential.
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MoneywiseWe're writing a story on tax wars between U.S. generations and want to focus on the tax, demographic, housing, and generational-equity consequences involved. We believe the underlying tension is especially interesting because older Americans are more likely to vote, while younger and middle-aged households increasingly occupy the high-tax/low-benefit portion of the lifecycle. We need these questions answered for the story.
1. Are America’s tax systems becoming increasingly tilted by age rather than ability to pay? With states expanding property-tax breaks, pension exemptions, and other benefits for older residents, are younger homeowners and workers effectively being asked to make up the difference—and how significant is that transfer?
2. What happens to state and local finances as America gets older? If the share of residents receiving senior tax exemptions keeps rising while the working-age population grows more slowly, can communities continue funding schools, infrastructure, and other public services without substantially raising taxes elsewhere?
3. Could senior property-tax breaks actually make homeownership harder for Millennials and Gen Z? If older homeowners receive large exemptions while younger buyers pay the full tax bill, how might that affect monthly housing costs, affordability, home values, and the ability of younger households to build wealth?
4. Is age even the right way to determine who deserves tax relief? Would policymakers be better off replacing broad senior tax exemptions with income- or wealth-based programs—such as property-tax “circuit breakers”—that protect cash-strapped retirees without also subsidizing affluent older homeowners? The source specifically raises this alternative.
5. How could changing demographics intensify this generational tax conflict over the next 10 to 20 years? As Americans live longer, birth rates decline, and Social Security and Medicare face greater financing pressure, what happens to the tax burden on a comparatively smaller working-age population—and at what point does the current system become fiscally or politically difficult to sustain?