Personal Finance

Washington, D.C.-area residents Cara Baldari and her 9-month-old daughter Evie (left) and Sarah Orrin-Vipond and her 8-month-old son Otto (right), join a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13, 2021. Alex Wong | Getty Images Bringing back the enhanced child tax credit with monthly checks would help lift millions of children out

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the state during a speech in Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 8, 2020. Michigan Office of the Governor via AP Michigan is now officially the 14th state in the U.S. to guarantee that its students have access to a personal finance education course before high school graduation. On Thursday, Gov. Gretchen

Nosystem Images | E+ | Getty Images A college education was supposed to help close the wealth gap for Black Americans. Yet, researchers are finding the opposite is true, thanks to student loan debt. Black families’ median wealth is less than 15% of that of white families, according to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of

Students participate in the Global Climate Strike march in New York City. Johannes Eisele | Afp | Getty Images As the bull market flourished in 2021, many investors took a shine to investments that reflected their values. Environmental, social and corporate governance — or ESG — investments attracted record levels of new assets. Last year,

Thomas Barwick Finding a broker or financial advisor you can trust may, at times, seem a daunting task. That’s especially true when investors see sensational stories of brokers fleeing the police in an underwater getaway or faking their death in an airplane crash. Then there are the high-profile fraudsters such as Bernie Madoff, who masterminded

Getty Images For homeowners, big projects and purchases may be another casualty of rampant inflation, new research suggests. Overall, 60% of homeowners in a recent survey are less comfortable making large purchases for their home or household because of rising prices, according to Hippo Insurance’s 2022 Homeowner Preparedness Report. And 43% either strongly (14%) or

Nosystem Images | E+ | Getty Images The latest stock market decline may be troublesome if you’re relying on a now-smaller 529 plan balance to cover college tuition this fall. But crafting a multi-year tax strategy may be one way to lighten the burden, experts say. The major stock market indexes have seen double-digit losses

Mstudioimages | E+ | Getty Images There’s a lot to figure out after graduating from college. In addition to landing a job and finding a place to live, building your credit score is one of the most important things you can do to start down the path of financial success. The three-digit number represents your

The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, D.C. Sarah Silbiger | Reuters The Federal Reserve on Wednesday hiked its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points, the largest increase in nearly three decades. It’s the latest move from the U.S. central bank to combat the highest inflation in roughly 40 years, which

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell sharply as investors dump risk assets. A crypto lending company called Celsius is pausing withdrawals for its customers, sparking fears of contagion into the broader market. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Cryptocurrencies have had a rough year. Bitcoin has plunged more than 52% year to date and is now

“I’m telling my clients to be very defensive,” said certified financial planner Ivory Johnson, founder of Delancey Wealth Management in Washington, D.C. Flamingoimages | Istock | Getty Images Financial advisor Ivory Johnson doesn’t sugarcoat what’s unfolding in the stock market and economy for his clients. “It’s a very bad time,” said Johnson, a certified financial

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington on Feb. 23, 2022. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Charles Schwab agreed to pay $187 million to settle an SEC investigation into alleged hidden fees charged by the firm’s robo-advisor, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, according to an agency announcement on Monday. “Robo-advisor” is shorthand for a digital

Piksel | Istock | Getty Images Many people who have turned to Social Security for help in recent years have found long waits for service. The pandemic made those delays worse. But the issue actually dates back to before the onset of Covid-19. Congress has cut Social Security’s core operating budget by 17% since 2010,

Image Source | Getty Images New government inflation data came in hotter than expected on Friday. If record high prices don’t subside, that will lead to a higher Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in 2023. Yet even with a more generous boost to benefits next year, there’s a growing campaign to change the way those annual

Prasit photo | Moment | Getty Images If you are ready to jump into the market, there are a few things experts want you to know. Investing is a great way to grow wealth, but you have to be smart about it, said certified financial planner Cathy Curtis, founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning

In the face of rising inflation, higher interest rates and slowing economic growth, there’s more competition than ever for consumers’ dollars — and even how their purchases are made. During the pandemic, most shoppers showed a preference for buy now, pay later when it came to payment and still do: Installment buying has exploded in popularity along with a

People rally during a demonstration in support of Covid-19 relief, organized by Shutdown DC, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25, 2021. Al Drago | Getty Images When the U.S. began to shut down the wake of the onset of Covid-19, it meant millions of families were suddenly without the income they

Fuel prices at a Shell station in Menlo Park, California, US, on Thursday, June 9, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Americans are still grappling with the worst inflation in roughly 40 years, and many are changing their spending habits to keep up. In May, prices were 8.6% higher than they were

Catherine Mcqueen | Moment | Getty Images Inflation is eroding the value of consumers’ savings at the fastest pace in four decades. The Consumer Price Index, which gauges how quickly costs are rising for a basket of goods and services, jumped 8.6% in May from a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday.

A man shops for meat at a Safeway grocery store in Annapolis, Maryland, on May 16, 2022, as Americans brace for summer sticker shock as inflation continues to grow. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images The highest inflation in roughly 40 years is prompting people to shift their shopping habits, especially at the grocery

Kieferpix | iStock | Getty Images For retirees who want to put their charitable dollars to work right away but worry about giving away a large sum all at once, there’s a relatively easy strategy that may be a good fit. It’s called a charitable gift annuity. It’s basically is a contract with a nonprofit

Svetikd | E+ | Getty Images Annuities are on track for a banner year as consumers flee stock volatility and insurers offer more attractive rates. Limra, an insurance industry group, forecasts annuity sales of $267 billion to $288 billion in 2022, eclipsing the record ($265 billion) set in 2008. Consumers pumped $255 billion into annuities

Allison Shelley | Getty Images News | Getty Images The clock is ticking when it comes to how long Congress has to act to repair Social Security’s trust funds. New projections from the program’s trustees show the combined trust funds will be depleted in 2035, at which point 80% of benefits will be payable. That’s

Charnchai | Istock | Getty Images If you’re heading to a new job and still owe money on a 401(k) plan loan from your former employer’s retirement savings plan, be sure you know what will happen to that outstanding balance. While you may be permitted to continue paying off the loan in installments, most companies

Demonstrators participate in a protest asking U.S. senators to support the continuation of unemployment benefits on July 16, 2020 in Miami Springs, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images The nation’s unemployment system suffered multiple failures during the Covid-19 pandemic, including delayed payments, elevated fraud and “substantial” disparities in receipt of benefits along racial and ethnic

Westend61 / Josep Rovirosa | Getty Images Social Security beneficiaries saw the biggest cost-of-living adjustment in about 40 years in 2022, when they received a 5.9% boost to their monthly checks. Next year, that annual adjustment may even go as high as 8%, according to early estimates. That is despite the fact the annual Social

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House on June 2, 2022. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Biden administration is unlikely to announce a decision on student loan forgiveness until later this summer, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The more than 40 million Americans saddled with

In this article LC With inflation still hovering near 40-year highs, it’s getting harder for workers across all income levels to make ends meet. The Consumer Price Index, a key inflation metric, increased 8.3% in April from a year ago, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Although it was down slightly

The White House, Washington, D.C. Joe Daniel Price | Moment | Getty Images Tens of millions of Americans are waiting anxiously for word from the Biden administration on what it plans to do on broad-based student loan forgiveness. Most recently, the White House was reported to be leaning toward a cancellation plan of $10,000 per

Peter Cade | Getty Images After a rough period for municipal bonds, also known as muni bonds, investors may be returning. But there’s a hidden tax retirees need to consider before piling in. While weekly inflows for U.S. muni bond funds have been negative for most of 2022, outflows dropped significantly last week, according to