Personal Finance

Given today’s ongoing high inflation, many Americans worry they may not have put away enough money for retirement. They fear that sharp increases in food and energy prices and transportation and medical care costs could significantly affect their retirement savings. Yet there’s another important factor to consider: your life expectancy. A new report from the

Sturti | E+ | Getty Images Whether you have access to a retirement plan through work increasingly depends, at least partly, on where you live. Within the last decade, 16 state legislatures have adopted retirement-savings programs targeting workers whose employers don’t offer a 401(k) plan or similar option. Some programs are up and running, while

Hoxton/Tom Merton | Hoxton | Getty Images If you don’t have health insurance for 2023, you may still be able to get it through the public marketplace. Open enrollment for the federal health-care exchange ends Sunday, with coverage taking effect Feb. 1. If your state operates its own exchange, you may have more time. Most

Kentaroo Tryman | Maskot | Getty Images The inflation rate declined in December as consumers saw prices plummet at the gasoline pump, providing another hopeful sign for households that price pressures are continuing to ease from their highest level in decades. Inflation closed out 2022 with a 6.5% annual reading, as measured by the consumer

Kate_sept2004 | E+ | Getty Images It will soon be the Year of the Rabbit, according to the Chinese calendar, but it might as well be the year of the new job. A whopping 96% of workers are looking for a new position in 2023, largely in search of better pay, according to a recent

In this article JPM Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The JP Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters, The JP Morgan Chase Tower in Park Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan, New York. Tim Clayton – Corbis | Corbis Sport | Getty Images Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase shut down college financial aid platform, Frank, which it acquired in

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Inflation popped in 2022 to a level unseen in four decades. But prices ballooned more rapidly for certain items than others, largely concentrated among food, fuel and airfare. Some of those swings were due to outlying factors that extended beyond broad inflationary pressures such as snarled supply chains, labor

Activists hold a student loan forgiveness rally near the White House on April 27, 2022. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images Although they call President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan “unlawful,” two university law professors are urging the Supreme Court to reject the legal challenges that have been brought against it.

Hobo_018 | E+ | Getty Images New government inflation data shows the measurement used to calculate Social Security annual cost-of-living adjustments was up 6.3% for the past 12 months as of December. That’s as this year’s 8.7% COLA kicks in for more than 65 million Social Security beneficiaries this month. That new data indicates Social

Valentinrussanov | E+ | Getty Images The Biden administration rolled out a new proposal this week to dramatically lower monthly payments for some federal student loan borrowers. If and when the overhauled income-driven repayment plan becomes available, some people could see their bills decrease by as much as a half, according to the U.S. Department

Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty Images Starting this month, more than 65 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive benefit checks that include a record-breaking 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment. Social Security benefits are slated to increase by more than $140 per month on average, according to the Social Security Administration. The average retiree benefit will increase

Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education proposed regulations Tuesday that would reduce the monthly bills for certain federal student loan borrowers. Under the proposal, the administration of President Joe Biden would overhaul one of the existing income-driven repayment plans, known as Revised Pay As You Earn or REPAYE, which

Ascent/ Pks Media Inc. | Photodisc | Getty Images Current Social Security beneficiaries are poised to receive an 8.7% boost to their benefits for 2023 starting this month, thanks to the highest cost-of-living adjustment in 40 years. If you’re at or near Social Security’s retirement benefit eligibility age of 62, you may wonder if you

The IRS building in Washington. Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images The IRS has issued tax refunds to 12 million people eligible for a tax break on unemployment benefits received in 2020, when the pandemic caused joblessness on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. The refund payments — which totaled $14.8

Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images New year, new you? Probably not. One of the revelations that will likely come in 2023 is that you’re largely the same person as last year. You don’t suddenly love running or taking vitamins. But sometimes it’s good when things don’t change, and the fact that many of the

Getty Images With President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on hold and headed to the Supreme Court, tens of millions of Americans are wondering if they’ll ever see the relief they were promised. Legal experts say the president’s policy, which would cancel up to $20,000 for borrowers, faces a narrow path to survival with

Former U.S. President Donald Trump claps as he announces that he will once again run for U.S. president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, November 15, 2022. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters When former President Donald Trump’s tax returns were released last week, the line

Amazon and Salesforce are among the latest tech companies to announce job cuts, after rapid hiring over the last several years. For every company announcing layoffs, senior leaders and managers must keep the remaining employees motivated and productive.  Among U.S.-based companies, announced layoffs were up 172% in the fourth quarter of 2022 — with more

Dragos Condrea | Istock | Getty Images If you’re signing up for Medicare, you’ve likely discovered that there are a lot of out-of-pocket costs that come with your coverage. For about 23% of Medicare’s 65.1 million beneficiaries, the solution for covering those outlays is a so-called Medigap plan. These policies, sold by private insurance companies,

Jamie Grill | Getty Images It’s not easy to prioritize financial goals, especially when choosing between two essentials in an unsteady economy: saving for retirement or building your emergency fund.  While there are higher 401(k) contribution limits for 2023, you shouldn’t skip rainy day savings to max out your retirement plan, experts say.  Indeed, more

Getty Images Collectively, workers may have forfeited an estimated $1 billion in their health-care flexible spending accounts last year. Yet depending on your employer’s rules for those FSAs, which let workers save pre-tax money to pay for qualifying health expenses, you may have sidestepped being part of that cohort — at least for now.  While

Credit card interest rates reached record highs last year and there is still more to come in 2023, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. Credit card rates are now more than 19%, on average — an all-time high — after rising at the steepest annual pace ever, in step with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes to combat

Financing a new or used car is more expensive than ever, new research shows. Amid rising interest rates and elevated auto prices, the share of new car buyers with a monthly payment of more than $1,000 jumped to a record high, according to Edmunds. For the first time, just over 15% of consumers who financed a

Filadendron | E+ | Getty Images The share of workers who quit their jobs jumped in November for the first time since last spring — and they’re getting a big pay bump for moving, data shows. The “quits rate” among U.S. workers was 2.7% in November, up from 2.6% the prior month, according to U.S.

Valentinrussanov | E+ | Getty Images As the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates, you may assume you’re earning more on the money in your savings account. But that may not be the case. related investing news Baird upgrades Block, says ‘The Street loves a comeback story’ Samantha Subin 12 hours ago 2023 looks

Designer491 | Istock | Getty Images If you’re eager to boost your retirement savings, there’s good news for 2023: higher 401(k) contribution limits. And now is the time to adjust your deferrals, financial experts say. You can funnel $22,500 into your 401(k), 403(b) and other such plans for 2023, up from the $20,500 limit in

FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images Anyone without health insurance has about two weeks left to get 2023 coverage through the public marketplace — and subsidies could make it affordable. Open enrollment for the federal health care exchange runs through Jan. 15, with coverage taking effect Feb. 1. (If your state has its own exchange,

Creatas | Creatas | Getty Images It’s been a strange time for people with federal student loans. The bills have been on pause for nearly three years, and we still don’t know exactly when they’ll resume. President Joe Biden in August announced that he would be forgiving up to $20,000 for tens of millions of

Malerapaso | Istock | Getty Images With the national average interest rate on credit cards at historic highs, many Americans are being dinged with higher monthly charges than ever on on their balances. As a result, they may be wondering if it’s a good idea to tap their retirement savings to pay off the debt.

Xavier Lorenzo | Moment | Getty Images When it comes to financial resolutions for 2023, there’s one goal at the top of many people’s lists: building an emergency fund. A recent survey from Personal Capital found that 31% of respondents want to increase their emergency savings, topping other goals like purchasing a car, with 15%;