Personal finance

Golibtolibov | Istock | Getty Images Taxing the wealthy is a big topic in Washington these days. President Joe Biden recently proposed in his 2023 annual budget a so-called billionaire minimum income tax that would increase levies on the country’s wealthiest households. Under the plan, people with a net worth of $100 million or more

Lifestylevisuals | E+ | Getty Images Adjustable-rate mortgages are making a comeback. With interest rates surging, more buyers are turning to ARMs, which offer lower initial rates than fixed-rate loans. However, after a certain period, the rate on the ARM adjusts to reflect current market conditions. “You have double the number of borrowers out there

miodrag ignjatovic | E+ | Getty Images If you have a Medicare supplement plan — aka, Medigap — there may be times when it’s worth making sure it’s still the best fit for you. Medigap policies are standardized — same-named plans offer identical benefits no matter which private insurance company sells it — but the

Getty Images If you’re eligible for health savings account contributions, you can deposit more money starting in 2023, thanks to an inflation adjustment from the IRS. In 2023, you can save up to $3,850 with an individual health insurance plan, up from $3,650 in 2022, the IRS announced Friday. And you can soon contribute up

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp makes remarks during a visit to Adventure Outdoors gun shop as he pushes for a new state law to loosen requirements to carry a handgun in public, in Smyrna, Georgia, January 5, 2022. Alyssa Pointer | Reuters High school students in Georgia will soon have guaranteed access to a personal finance

Mint Images | Mint Images Rf | Getty Images Americans may be getting more information about a big financial choice regarding pension benefits. Pension plans traditionally pay retirees monthly streams of income that last for the rest of their lives. Companies may also offer a lump sum to current and former employees, allowing them to

U.S. President Joe Biden announces additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as well as fresh sanctions against Russia, during a speech in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, April 28, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he’ll have his answer on student loan forgiveness within

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the jobs report for the month of March from the State Dining Room of the White House on April 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images The tens of millions of Americans saddled with student loans may finally hear soon what the

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images If you play Powerball, there’s a good chance you’ve daydreamed about how you would spend the money if you hit the jackpot. With the lottery game’s top prize at an advertised $454 million for Wednesday night’s drawing, you may also want to give thought to what you’d actually do if

Consumers are putting more purchases on plastic — and paying more for the privilege. Rising prices have caused many Americans to feel suddenly cash-strapped and more dependent on credit cards to make ends meet. After consumers paid off a record $83 billion in credit card debt during the pandemic, helped by government stimulus checks and fewer opportunities

At the country’s top colleges, the most recent application season was the most competitive on record, but getting accepted at several schools may have been the easy part for students. Now they have less than one week to decide on which school they’ll attend ahead of National Decision Day on May 1, the deadline for

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Fidelity Investments is offering bitcoin to 401(k) investors. But before retirement savers get access, employers must give the green light — and that’s often much more complicated than it sounds. Fidelity administered almost $2.9 trillion of 401(k) and other workplace retirement plan assets (representing over a quarter of the

Getty Images Some investors may soon be able to add cryptocurrencies to their 401(k) accounts. Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday it will begin allowing investors to put cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin in 401(k) retirement accounts, making it the first provider to do so. The offering will be available midyear for the 23,000 companies that use Fidelity

Gece33 | E+ | Getty Images In the continuing war for talent in the American workplace, employers have been adding more perks to attract and retain employees. That includes paying more attention to the financial well-being of their workers. “I’m seeing greater interest in financial-wellness programs because of the Great Resignation, coupled with an increasingly

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | Getty Images As midterm elections loom, advocates for voters ages 50 and up are hoping Congress will take up one issue that could help rein in rising costs — prescription drug prices. A proposal to let the government negotiate some prescription drug prices covered under Medicare was included in Democrats’

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images There’s a chance — a tiny one — that a Powerball player will manage to turn $2 into $421 million on Monday night. That’s the jackpot amount heading into the week’s first drawing, which comes on the heels of 29 pulls — three weekly — with no one

Benjamin Gibson, a pharmacist in San Antonio, Texas, makes more than $100,000 a year and owns his own home. And yet, Gibson, 40, struggles to afford basic necessities, including groceries and gas. “When you are used to spending a couple of dollars on fruits and vegetables and then you’re paying a lot more, it stresses

Math teacher Marina White teaches Canyon High School seniors in Canyon Country, California, a lesson on investing and the power of compound interest. Helen Zhao | CNBC Millions of high school students across the U.S. will graduate in 2022 with one important course under their belt: personal finance. Recent momentum among states requiring personal finance

Liudmila Chernetska | Istock | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a number of massive changes to the federal student loan system, which it says could bring millions of borrowers closer to debt forgiveness. Federal student loan borrowers have long run into serious issues, including misinformation from their servicers, too many choices

Casarsaguru | E+ | Getty Images With a background of high inflation and the war between Russia and Ukraine still unfolding, April has been an unhappy month for stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.89% for the past month to date as of Friday, for example, while the S&P 500 Index was down