Personal Finance

The Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate for the eighth time in a row on Wednesday, in its continued effort to tame persistent inflation. At its latest meeting, the central bank approved a more modest 0.25 percentage point increase after recent signs that inflationary pressures have started to cool. “The easing of inflation pressures

Shoppers in San Francisco on Dec. 21, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Months of high inflation have weighed heavily on households. As of December, 64% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — up from 61% a year earlier and in line with the historic high first

Westend61 When homeowners look for ways to fund home improvement projects or other expenses, sometimes a home equity line of credit emerges as an option. HELOCs, as they’re called, let you borrow money against a portion of your home’s equity — the difference between your mortgage balance and the house’s appraised value — up to

Simpleimages | Moment | Getty Images Long Covid is keeping people out of work and may reduce on-the-job productivity for others, contributing to a labor shortage and weighing on the U.S. economy at large, according to a new study. Long Covid — also known as long-haul Covid, post-Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome — is a

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall on Thursday, January 12, 2023. Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images Social Security and Medicare should be “completely off the table” when it comes to debt ceiling negotiations, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a

Bloomberg Creative | Bloomberg Creative Photos | Getty Images It’s possible that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, leading to a reversal for the millions of Americans who had been expecting the debt cancellation. President Joe Biden in August announced that he’d forgive at least $10,000, and

In this article META AMZN Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Thomas Barwick | DigitalVision | Getty Images Big-name tech firms like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are undergoing mass layoffs, but job prospects for applicants in the broader tech ecosystem are poised to be among the best of any industry in 2023, according to

Wirestock | Istock | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education has “fully approved” more than 16 million people for federal student loan forgiveness and sent their applications to loan servicers, the Biden administration announced Friday. The administration gave a state-by-state breakdown of the number of borrowers who have applied and been approved for its

By most measures, the U.S. economy is in solid shape. Although the first half of 2022 started off with negative growth, a strong labor market and resilient consumer helped turn things around and give hope for the year ahead. related investing news A further stock rally will be ‘like bathing in lava’ for market bears,

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images As congressional lawmakers in the House slog through the early stages of negotiating over the debt ceiling — the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow — there’s been concern that those discussions could include spending cuts to Medicare. However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has now made assurances

A woman shops for chicken at a supermarket in Santa Monica, California, on Sept. 13, 2022. Apu Gomes | AFP | Getty Images For those who fear a recession may be coming, the only question is when. Many economists and CEOs, in fact, expect a recession may be on the horizon this year A recession

Housing rights activists and tenants protest against evictions and the poor condition of their apartments outside the offices the landlord Broadway Capital in Chelsea, Massachusetts on April 25, 2022. Brian Snyder | Reuters The Biden administration announced on Wednesday new actions to protect renters across the U.S., including trying to curb practices that prevent people

Suze Orman speaks during AOL’s BUILD Speaker Series at AOL Studios In New York. Jenny Anderson | WireImage | Getty Images An unexpected bill is never convenient. But there are even more reasons now that an unforeseen event — such as a car repair or medical expense — could put Americans on unstable financial footing.

In this article AAPL Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT In the face of inflation, rising interest rates and slowing economic growth, there’s more competition than ever for consumers’ cash — and even how their purchases are made. Now, several of the large banks behind Zelle are teaming up to create their own digital wallet in a bid to

Source: Getty Images Rising credit interest rates have made it even more expensive to carry debts. But a proposal in Congress that would cap rates on consumer loans at 36% may not be an effective way of curbing those higher costs of borrowing, according to new research from the Urban Institute’s Financial Well-Being Data Hub.

Eggs for sale at elevated prices in New York on Jan 21, 2023. Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Egg prices soared to historically high levels in 2022 — and one group is alleging the trend is due to something more nefarious than simple economics. Across all egg types, consumers saw average prices jump 60%

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., speaks to the cameras about the reconciliation bill in the Hart Senate Office Building on Monday, August 1, 2022. Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images Now that the U.S. has hit the debt ceiling, lawmakers need to revisit the federal budget and find ways to make cuts,

domoyega | E+ | Getty Images When it comes to money matters, what you don’t know can hurt you. A report from the National Financial Educators Council shows that 38% of individuals in a recent survey said their lack of financial literacy cost them at least $500 in 2022, including 15% who said it set

Prasit Photo | Moment | Getty Images Your investment ego may be costing you big bucks. “Overconfidence bias” is the behavioral principle of overestimating one’s own abilities, including financial acumen. And while confidence isn’t a bad thing, it can have damaging results — if you don’t have the chops to back it up. related investing

Whether by choice or necessity, many workers will change jobs in the months ahead. Some companies, particularly tech giants, have been announcing deep cuts to their workforces as they face ongoing challenges due to rising interest rates and inflation. related investing news Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the market Friday: Google job

Mstudioimages | E+ | Getty Images To maintain your standard of living in retirement, the rule of thumb is you need to be able to replace at least 70% of the income you had while you were working. But many retirees fall short of that retirement income goal, according to research from Goldman Sachs Asset

Iona Studio | Istock | Getty Images More people in the U.S. are deciding to hold off on medical care for financial reasons. The share of Americans who say they or a family member delayed medical treatment due to cost rose to 38% in 2022 from 26% in 2021, according to the results of a

Allison Michael Orenstein | Getty Images Social Security recipients are just starting to see the record 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment in their monthly checks. But come tax time, they could see surprises resulting from last year’s 5.9% increase, which at the time was the biggest COLA in four decades. Last year’s 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment was like

Generally speaking, the higher your credit score, the better off you are when it comes to getting a loan. FICO scores, the most popular scoring model, range from 300 to 850. A “good” score generally is above 670, a “very good” score is over 740 and anything above 800 is considered “exceptional.” Once you reach that 800

Fotostorm | E+ | Getty Images There’s still a ways to go before used car prices come back down to earth. While prices were 8.8% lower in December from a year earlier, consumers continue to pay more for used cars than they would if typical depreciation expectations were in play, according to car-shopping app CoPilot,

Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images Between rents rising and most pandemic-era eviction bans having expired, the number of tenants coming home to find notices on their doors is picking up. In just the first week of January, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has counted more than 9,300 evictions in the nine states

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Jan. 10, 2023 in Washington. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.S. may be about to hit its debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that the U.S. would likely hit the ceiling Thursday. Absent steps taken by Congress, the event may “cause

Silverkblack | Istock | Getty Images In the new student loan repayment plan proposal rolled out Jan. 10 by the Biden administration, more borrowers could see their monthly payments drop to $0. The new option revises one of the four existing income-driven repayment plans, which cap borrowers’ bills at a share of their discretionary income

sturti Even with broad availability of free checking services, more than a quarter of checking account holders — 27% — are paying fees every month. For consumers who aren’t taking advantage of free checking, those fees add up to an average of $24 per month, or $288 per year, according to a new survey from

Hillary Kladke | Moment | Getty Images Before looking forward to 2023, we should pause to reflect on 2022. The following quote from Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal sums up this very difficult year for investors: “Investing isn’t an IQ test; it’s a test of character.” Indeed, the most successful investor is not