Personal finance

Hinterhaus Productions After boosting paid parental leave during the pandemic, many companies are now cutting or reducing the popular employee benefit.   In 2022, organizations with paid maternity leave dropped to 35% from 53% in 2020, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s employee benefits survey. And fewer than one-third, 27%, now provide paid paternity

In this article GS AAPL The Apple Card is getting a lot of attention lately. It doesn’t hurt that the credit card can score you a discount on the newest iPhone 14 and other devices purchased directly from Apple. Apple’s new iPhones are available to order starting Friday, and although there was no price hike

Damir Khabirov | iStock | Getty Images Young adults in majority Black and Hispanic communities tend to have lower average credit scores compared with those who reside in majority white communities, according to new research from the Urban Institute. The research found 25- to 29-year-olds in majority Black communities have a median credit score of

Marko Geber | DigitalVision | Getty Images If you’re one of the millions of Americans expecting student loan forgiveness, you won’t owe federal taxes. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook at the state level. Indiana is the latest to confirm forgiveness will trigger state income taxes, and some borrowers may owe county levies

Inflation is a Scrooge. Although the holiday season is still months away, consumers are already concerned about how they will afford this year’s gifts as prices continue to rise, several studies show. Roughly 40% of holiday shoppers said inflation is changing the way they shop, with most trying money-saving strategies, according to a new Bankrate.com

Kateryna Onyshchuk | iStock | Getty Images If you get your health insurance through the public marketplace, you may want to keep an eye out for a check from your insurer. Insurance companies are distributing $1 billion in rebates to 8.2 million policyholders, beginning this month. Of those, the majority — an estimated $603 million

As prices rise, Americans are increasingly finding new ways to make ends meet. But with some necessary purchases, such as groceries, there are fewer options that don’t involve taking on debt. That makes the option to pay later — through companies such as Klarna, Zip, Zilch, Affirm and Afterpay — look increasingly attractive.   More

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich suggested student loan borrowers shouldn’t bank on forgiveness yet, despite President Joe Biden’s announcement last month that he’d cancel up to $20,000 for many. “I think there’s a lot of people celebrating prematurely,” Brnovich said. “A lot of other people are very upset about this, not only because of legal

Getty Images The amount of money you drop on subscriptions may be more than you realize, recent research suggests. More than half of consumers (54%) underestimate how much they spend monthly on subscriptions by at least $100, according to a survey commissioned by market research firm C+R Research. For 24%, the difference was $200 or

A Social Security Administration office in Sebring, Florida. Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Those who sought help from their local Social Security Administration office recently may have been met with a new challenge — long outside lines in the summer heat. That prompted congressional lawmakers to write to the federal agency

At the height of the Covid pandemic, many young adults moved back in with mom and dad. It was an unprecedented moment of uncertainty; college campuses were closed, and jobs were scarce. More than two years later, 67% of millennials and Gen Zers who moved home are still there, according to a recent report by

Nirunya Juntoomma | Istock | Getty Images If you’re feeling unsteady amid stock market volatility, high inflation and rising interest rates, you may wonder how much cash you really need to have handy. But the right amount to have in your emergency fund depends on your family’s situation and needs, financial experts say.   Still, with

Chaay_tee | Istock | Getty Images Student debt can make it harder for people to start a business or purchase a home — and one reason for that is that lenders take into account your existing financial obligations. Now that President Joe Biden has announced he plans to cancel up to $20,000 for millions of

Student-loan debt activists rally outside the White House a day after President Biden announced a plan that would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 a year in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2022. The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images Federal student loan borrowers could get

Caroline Purser | The Image Bank | Getty Images The Biden administration is firing back at Republicans considering bringing a legal challenge against President Joe Biden’s historic move to forgive the student debt of tens of millions of Americans. A White House spokesman, Abdullah Hasan, accused the GOP of double standards that punished the middle

Sebastian Rothe / Eyeem | Eyeem | Getty Images Households may soon be able to claim thousands of dollars in tax breaks and rebates if they take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. But eco-friendly consumers must wait until 2023 — perhaps even 2024 or later — to see many of those financial benefits. The

Jose Luis Pelaez | Getty Images Married women may want to make sure they consider the possibility of unplanned singlehood when it comes to retirement preparations. Among women retirees, 51% of those who are divorced or widowed stepped away from the workforce earlier than planned, according to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research

In this article ZG A for-sale sign in front of a home listed for more than $1 million on April 29, 2022 in San Francisco. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Grocery shoppers aren’t the only ones who have to contend with the phenomenon known as “shrinkflation,” which is what happens when the price of something

Newsday Llc | Newsday | Getty Images In pre-pandemic years, Labor Day sales events offered generous discounts on new cars as dealerships aimed to clear out current-year models and start selling the next year’s versions. These days? Not so much. related investing news Goldman Sachs says brace for an even bigger housing downturn Carmen Reinicke

In this article BAC Morsa Images | Digitalvision | Getty Images To help narrow a homeownership gap among Black and Hispanic-Latino communities, Bank of America is launching new zero down payment, zero closing cost mortgage products to help people in minority communities buy their first homes. The program — called the Community Affordable Loan Solution