Personal finance

John King. Katherine Frey | The Washington Post | Getty Images It was only after John King left office as education secretary under then-President Barack Obama that he finished off paying his own student loans. “I have spent a lot of my adult life paying it down,” said King, who studied government at Harvard and

In this article AVD Thomas Barwick | Digitalvision | Getty Images Vanguard Group captured the most new investor money in its target-date funds last year relative to other asset managers, reclaiming the top spot it’d held for over a decade before being dethroned in 2020, according to a new Morningstar report. Target-date funds, or TDFs,

Katherine Ullman spent part of her sabbatical in Colombia. Courtesy: Katherine Ullman Katherine Ullman was burned out from working intensely during the Covid-19 pandemic and was questioning her next career move. A two-month sabbatical from her job was just what she needed to reevaluate her life. In December, Ullman, who is 33 years old and

Chris Whitehead | Image Source | Getty Images The two years since the coronavirus pandemic led to sweeping lockdowns across the U.S. have hit women in the workforce especially hard. Now, the gap between their retirement savings as those of their male counterparts has widened further. Only 19% of women are confident they’re on track

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images High gas prices have put a strain on many Americans’ budgets. Now some Democratic lawmakers are proposing a possible solution: direct rebate payments to Americans. Three congressional leaders have proposed $100 energy rebate payments that would be sent to Americans during any month where the national average

The IRS has already issued more than 45 million refunds this year, at an average $3,352 each. That’s over $500 more than last year, when the average refund was just over $2,800. For most Americans, a lump-sum payment of this size is rare and fewer people want to squander it. Now, nearly half — or 46%

Gas prices stay high as people line up for discounted prices at Costco. Regular at $5.39 per gallon. Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Low-earners bore the brunt of the economic fallout after the initial onset of Covid-19. Now, as gas prices have spiked and historic high inflation drives consumer costs up,

Bloodua | Istock | Getty Images Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are among those calling on President Joe Biden to bypass Congress and forgive student debt through executive order. “You just need the flick of a pen,” Schumer has often been quoted saying on the matter. Yet there

Marko Geber | DigitalVision | Getty Images The IRS has issued a warning about how to answer the cryptocurrency question on the front page of your tax return. You’ll need to respond to a yes-or-no question about virtual currency, regardless of whether you “engaged in a transaction” in 2021, according to the agency. And the wrong

Chris Ryan | Getty Images Prices are rising, squeezing consumer budgets more than they’ve seen in the last 40 years. It also means that for many investors, it may be more important than ever to continue to put their long-term savings in the stock market. That’s because over time, investing in equities is generally a

A sign reflects the price per gallon of fuel at a gas station on March 10, 2022 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Americans are feeling the pinch of rising gas prices. Now two states — Maryland and Georgia — are temporarily suspending their gas taxes in order to help their residents save

Weekend Images Inc. | E+ | Getty Images Americans are being squeezed by higher inflation. That may have retirees on a fixed income concerned about getting by or running out of savings during their golden years. Inflation rose 7.9% in February from 12 months ago, the highest in more than 40 years, according to the

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images If you haven’t filed your taxes, there are four weeks until the federal deadline, which is April 18 for most Americans.   Some 63.5 million payers have sent returns through March 11, according to the latest IRS filing data, with an average refund of $3,352. However, millions of Americans have

A man walks past a bitcoin symbol in the window of a company that offers blockchain application services on Dec. 21, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies rose strongly in value in 2021. Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images Financial advisors have been reluctant to integrate cryptocurrency into client

Poba | E+ | Getty Images Getting financial advice online is easier than ever before. Even so, many investors are likely to discover that there is no substitute for a human financial advisor. The problem, however, is selecting the right one. One thing an investor should consider is the advisor’s investing acumen. Low-cost funds that

Eakgrunge | Istock | Getty Images Ageism is one of the most unfair paradoxes in the labor market: People put in decades of hard work and then find themselves penalized for having done so. And the problem is only worsening: Nearly 80% of older workers say they’ve seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace,

Allison Greenwald, senior product manager at The Alley Group, spent five weeks in Alaska while working a flexible schedule. Courtesy: Allison Greenwald Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible

Brauns | E+ | Getty Images Siraba Keita survived New York’s deadliest fire in decades — only to see her bank freeze the savings she needed to pick up the pieces. Her story reflects the hardship of many low-income Americans in a system that seems to prioritize debt collectors over a bank’s customers, according to

In this article TRU EXPN-GB EFX A medical worker walks past a row of ambulances parked outside of Houston Methodist Hospital amid the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). in Houston, Texas, U.S., June 22, 2020. Callaghan O’Hare | Reuters A large number of U.S. consumers will have their medical debt wiped from their

IRS commissioner Charles Rettig testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing on June 8, 2021. Tom Williams | Pool | Reuters The IRS is still digging through tens of millions of unprocessed tax returns with roughly four weeks until the 2021 filing deadline. But Commissioner Charles Rettig expects the backlog to clear by year-end. The