Personal finance

vitapix | E+ | Getty Images Your credit score can make or break your ability to open a credit card or buy a new car or home at attractive interest rates. To boost your score, you need to know where you need to improve. Keeping tabs on your credit report — which outlines your debts,

Zinkevych | iStock | Getty Images If you inherited a retirement account in 2020 or 2021, the IRS is waiving penalties for some heirs who needed to start taking required minimum distributions right away, according to a notice issued Friday. The new rule won’t apply until 2023. Typically, there’s a 50% penalty when you skip

Tom Brenner | Reuters There’s still a decent chance that changes to the U.S. retirement system will be enacted before the end of the year. Despite there being just a few months left before the next Congress convenes Jan. 3 — the midterm elections will be Nov. 8 — the push to improve Americans’ ability

Sollina Images | Tetra Images | Getty Images Retirees who are confronting higher prices due to record high inflation may get some welcome news this week when the Social Security Administration announces the cost-of-living adjustment for 2023. The bump to benefits is slated to be announced Thursday along with new consumer price index data for

Luminola | E+ | Getty Images It’s natural to fixate on portfolio losses, especially with the S&P 500 down more than 20% for the year. But you may still have gains after years of growth, and the profits could qualify for a 0% tax rate, depending on your earnings. The thresholds may be higher than

In this article TGT AMZN Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Amazon‘s two-day “Prime Early Access Sale” starts soon, spurring a number of holiday deals coming earlier than ever before. “October is really going to be the month of unprecedented deals,” said Deborah Weinswig, the founder and CEO of Coresight Research. Indigenous People’s Day or Columbus

Parents and caregivers with the Economic Security Project gather outside the White House to advocate for the Child Tax Credit in advance of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on Sept. 20 in Washington, DC. Larry French | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images When Natacha Chavez began receiving monthly child tax

The Good Brigade | DigitalVision | Getty Images Up to 23 million California residents are about to receive tax refunds of as much as $1,050, thanks to one-time stimulus payments the Golden State began deploying Friday. The payments, which will total $9.5 billion, mark the largest program of its kind in the state’s history. The

Tempura | E+ | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education has said its application for student loan forgiveness will go live in early October, suggesting it could be ready any day now. With legal challenges to President Joe Biden’s historic move to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for millions of Americans mounting, experts

A storefront in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Aug. 18, 2022. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Long-term unemployment declined again in September amid a continued strong labor market for job seekers. The number of Americans unemployed at least 27 weeks — the official barometer of long-term joblessness — fell

JGI/Jamie Grill Cold, hard cash could be going by the wayside for many Americans when it comes to routine transactions like paying for groceries or gas. Even so, it’s still important to keep some cash in your wallet, experts say. The cashless economy trend is not necessarily new, but it is gaining momentum, according to

JGI | Jamie Grill | Blend Images | Getty 401(k) plans hold a whopping $7.7 trillion in retirement savings. But cash-outs of small accounts pull billions from the system each year and can harm investors’ chances of a secure retirement, research shows. A trio of the industry’s largest 401(k) administrators — Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group

Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images A growing share of car buyers are signing up for monthly loan payments of $1,000 or more amid rising interest rates and elevated auto prices, new research shows. Overall, 14.3% of consumers who financed a new vehicle in the third quarter committed to payments at or above that amount,

Increasingly, high school students are rethinking the value of college, with a growing number of them questioning the return on investment. Some have decided against a four-year degree. To be sure, undergraduate enrollment was falling even before the pandemic, but remote learning — coupled with the sky-high cost of college — triggered a nosedive. The

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questions IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig at a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Tom Williams | Pool | Reuters Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has outlined five priorities for the nearly $80 billion in IRS funding enacted in August through the Inflation Reduction Act.  Wyden shared expectations for

One of the biggest credit card misconceptions is that carrying a balance month to month will give your credit score a boost. To that point, 46% of Americans incorrectly believe that leaving a small balance on their card is better for their credit score than paying off the balance each month, a recent NerdWallet study

Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards TreasuryDirect With record demand for Series I bonds, an inflation-protected and nearly risk-free asset, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has unveiled a front-end makeover for TreasuryDirect, the online platform investors use to buy assets. While the Treasury still plans future system upgrades, Tuesday’s revamp focuses on website navigation, more concise information

A primary election voter enters a Tampa, Florida, polling place on Aug. 23, 2022. Octavio Jones | Getty Images Most women ages 50 and up plan to vote in this November’s midterm elections, but half of them have not decided which candidates they will vote for, a new AARP poll finds. One key issue they

Finding the right financial advisor to help with your financial needs and goals can be a very complicated process. There are so many things to consider. Every financial advisor has their own area of expertise. The services provided by financial advisors will vary based on the type of advisor but, overall, a financial advisor will

The tens of millions of Americans who’ve been celebrating news of student loan forgiveness are now stuck in limbo as Republicans mount legal challenges to the Biden administration’s plan. In August, President Joe Biden announced that most federal student loan borrowers will be eligible for some forgiveness: up to $10,000 if they didn’t receive a Pell Grant,