Personal Finance

Fg Trade | E+ | Getty Images If you’re planning a wedding this year, you’re in good company. A record number of weddings — about 2.5 million — are expected in 2022, the most since 1984, according to wedding market research firm The Wedding Report. That’s up from 1.9 million in 2021 and 1.3 million

Gas prices in Westchester are above six dollars as prices at the pump continue to raise across the Southland on Sunday, March 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA. Jason Armond | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Some Washington lawmakers are seeking to help curb prices at the gas pump by temporarily suspending the federal

Alexanderford | E+ | Getty Images Americans are paying more for a broad swath of household goods these days. Even items without a higher sticker price may still cost more — it’s just hard to notice at first glance. That’s because some companies have reduced the contents of their packaging. A cannister that used to

Forty-eight percent of respondents told Kind Traveler their greatest challenge in traveling sustainably is finding accommodations that are both “sustainable and socially conscious.” Klaus Vedfelt | Digitalvision | Getty Images Everyone likes a bargain when it comes to booking travel, but many also want the money they spend to do some good where they’re headed,

The Federal Reserve raised its target federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point from near zero at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday. The first increase in the benchmark rate in three years will lay the groundwork for six more hikes by year’s end. “The war in Eastern Europe gives the Fed reason to act more cautiously, but

Yongyuan | E+ | Getty Images Workers who save in a 401(k) plan offered by a small business pay fees that are twice as high as those paid by employees who work at the largest companies in the U.S. The smallest workplace retirement plans (those with less than $25 million in aggregate savings) charge total

In this article AVD Pixelfit | E+ | Getty Images Vanguard Group and its executives created big tax bills for some investors in its target-date funds, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in aggregate, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The lawsuit, filed in a Pennsylvania federal court by three investors, claims the investment

Oliver Strewe | The Image Bank | Getty Images Investors who sell gold, silver and other precious-metal exchange-traded funds may find their profits taxed at a higher rate than other holdings like stocks and bonds. The IRS treats ETFs backed by physical precious metals as collectibles for tax purposes, according to accountants. Collectibles — like

In this article WFC A shopper bags fruit inside a supermarket in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on Feb. 7, 2022. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images Inflation is costing the average U.S. household an additional $296 per month, a Moody’s Analytics analysis found. The figure is based on the latest reading on consumer prices, which

Getty Images Most Americans carry some debt, be it from student loans, a mortgage, credit card or a car loan. But what happens to debt management when you’re in or near retirement? While many Americans were able to pay off some of their debt in the early days of the pandemic when restrictions on activity

Sevdha Thompson, digital producer of marketing for Coalition Technologies, spent a few weeks working in Costa Rica last year. Courtesy: Sevdha Thompson Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible hours,

Signage outside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The IRS plans to hire 10,000 workers to tackle a massive backlog of more than 20 million unprocessed returns, including filings from previous years. They hope to fill 5,000 open positions in the coming months, with another 5,000

skaman306 | Moment | Getty Images Millions of underbanked people around the world are finally getting access to financial products such as savings accounts, investing and loans. They have technology to thank. “There’s this new type of excitement about putting your money to work for you,” Flori Marquez, the founder and senior vice president of

Fg Trade | Istock | Getty Images If your three-year auto lease is coming to an end soon, be aware that your car may be worth far more than you realize. The 2022 average trade-in value for 2019 model-year vehicles is 33% higher ($7,208) than the predetermined residual value — a vehicle’s worth at the

People wear face masks outside a supermarket on the Upper West Side in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Government data shows that inflation has broken another 40-year plus record. And even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicted higher prices could be with us for the rest of this year. “We’re likely to see

Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and other digital assets like non-fungible tokens, pose “significant risks and challenges” to 401(k) investors, including fraud, theft and financial loss, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. The labor agency warned that employers that add crypto investments to their company

David Sacks | Getty Images Consumer prices are rising at their fastest pace in decades — and that inflation has been most acute in household staple items like food, housing and transportation, making it hard to escape the budgetary sting. The Consumer Price Index jumped 7.9% in February relative to a year earlier, the largest

Anchiy | E+ | Getty Images Lawmakers are considering a proposal to let 401(k) plans include annuities as a “default” investment option. Under a bill in the House, as much as 50% of a participant’s contribution could be put in an annuity, under certain circumstances. The idea, said supporters of the provision, is to help

Richiesd | E+ | Getty Images If you want to change careers, you are not alone. It turns out the “Great Resignation,” also known as the “Great Reshuffle,” has many Americans rethinking the type of work they are doing. Some 53% of employed U.S. adults who quit their job in 2021 changed their occupation or

The U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Caroline Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education has directed the companies that service federal student loans not to send out notices about payments restarting in May, according to two people familiar with the matter. Servicers that would have sent out

Nine-year-old student Roberto Nieves Fernandez studies personal finance topics on his laptop using online resource center SmartPath. SMARTPATH Florida is poised to become the largest state to make a financial literacy course mandatory for high school graduation. The Florida Senate on Friday unanimously passed SB 1054 and sent it to the state House of Representatives,

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images If you have a flexible savings account for health-care expenses, it’s probably worth checking whether any of that money is on the verge of disappearing. An estimated $1 billion in those accounts could be forfeited in 2022, according to an estimate from FSAstore.com. Some forfeitures could

With gasoline prices at a 14-year high, it’s hard to imagine paying even more at the pump. Yet prices are only heading higher. On Sunday, the national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.009, the highest since July 2008, according to data from AAA.  An increase in demand along with a reduction in supply

LinkedIn employees are treated to “surprise and delight” moments through the tech company’s LiftUp program. LinkedIn Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible hours, four-day workweeks, compensation and more.

The Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images The IRS on Friday unveiled a new Taxpayer Experience Office as part of a long-term plan to improve customer service issues. The office will focus on “all aspects of taxpayer transactions,” working closely with the Taxpayer Advocate

A ‘help wanted’ sign is posted in front of restaurant on Feb. 4, 2022 in Los Angeles. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images The big raises that many Americans got over the past year are starting to get smaller. Workers in the private sector saw average wages grow by 5.1% in the past

Getty Images Federal student loan payments are currently set to resume in May after a pause that’s been extended for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, borrowers might not be ready to restart payments and could therefore fall behind on their loans, according to a recent blog post from the Federal

Jbyard | Istock | Getty Images President Joe Biden made no mention of student loan forgiveness at his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Yet a spokesman for the administration says cancellation remains on the table. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said a decision on whether to forgive student debt through executive

You can use buy now, pay later for just about everything these days. Since the start of the pandemic, installment payments have exploded in popularity along with a general surge in online shopping. In some cases, spreading out the cost of a big-ticket purchase — like a Peloton, for example — makes financial sense, especially at 0%.

Whyframestudio | Istock | Getty Images Anyone who has felt burdened by medical debt may be familiar with that initial bout of panic when a big bill arrives. What may be worse, though, is what can happen to your long-term financial picture if you disregard it. Generally speaking, that debt can end up haunting you.