Personal finance

10’000 Hours | Digitalvision | Getty Images A popular student loan forgiveness program may be at risk with the reelection of former President Donald Trump. During Trump’s first term, he called for the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness initiative. Since then, Project 2025, a set of proposals developed by The Heritage Foundation and

Americans tend to overspend during the holiday season. In fact, some borrowers are still paying off debt from last year’s purchases. To that point, 28% of shoppers who used credit cards have not paid off the presents they bought for their loved ones last year, according to a holiday spending report by NerdWallet. The site polled more

  A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Money 101 newsletter with Sharon Epperson, an eight-week series to improve your financial wellness with monthly updates. Sign up to receive these editions, straight to your inbox.  Stocks soared in the days after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election, and the Federal Reserve announced

Mixetto | E+ | Getty Images The share of Americans with credit-card debt in retirement has jumped considerably — a worrisome financial trend, especially for those with little wiggle room in their budgets, experts said. About 68% of retirees had outstanding credit-card debt in 2024, up “substantially” from 40% in 2022 and 43% in 2020,

Trump supporters take photographs near the U.S. Capitol building as the sun sets the day U.S. President Elect Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election in Washington, U.S., November 6, 2024.  Leah Millis | Reuters Now that Donald Trump has been elected president, many individual investors are wondering what that means for

Parade attendees wave Puerto Rican flags on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan during the annual Puerto Rico Day Parade.  Luiz C. Ribeiro | New York Daily News | Tribune News Service | Getty Images Young adults in Puerto Rico are on shaky financial ground, a study finds. About 47% of respondents in the U.S. territory are

Some consumers have been weighed down by a “vibecession” for a while now — and those feelings might get worse, experts say. A vibecession is the disconnect between consumer sentiment and economic data, said Kyla Scanlon, who coined the term in 2022. Scanlon is the author of “In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really

Bernd Vogel | Stone | Getty Images Brad Klontz was drawn to financial psychology after the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s. Klontz had tried his hand at stock trading after seeing a friend earn more than $100,000 in one year. But he felt immense shame after the market crashed and his investments evaporated.

Businessperson reviewing pie charts and data analysis documents in an office setting. Freshsplash | E+ | Getty Images The trend is clear: Investors continue to seek out lower fees for investment funds. The mass migration to cheaper funds has been a key driver of falling costs, according to Zachary Evens, a manager research analyst for

dowell | Moment | Getty Images Before the election, some advisors increased Roth individual retirement account conversions for clients amid the threat of higher taxes after 2025. Now, tax hikes are less likely under President-elect Donald Trump. However, demand for Roth conversions will continue as investors seek long-term tax planning strategies, experts said. “In general,

Nopphon Pattanasri | Istock | Getty Images Investors have been able to get the best returns on cash, as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to bring down the pace of inflation. Now that the central bank is lowering rates — with a new quarter point rate cut announced by the Fed on Thursday —

Laylabird | E+ | Getty Images Most Americans will have a lower tax burden in retirement than during their working years. However, that may not be the case for some retirees, especially for higher earners and big savers, which could have a significant impact on their financial plans, according to financial advisors. “Substantial evidence” suggests

The Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C. Joshua Roberts | Reuters The Federal Reserve announced it will lower its benchmark rate bya quarter point, or 25 basis points, days after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election. Economic uncertainty was a prevailing mood heading into Election Day after a prolonged period of high inflation left many

Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Nov. 5, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump won Tuesday’s presidential election partly by addressing Americans’ economic anxieties over higher prices. Nearly half of all voters said they were worse off financially than they were four years

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak at his rally during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, in Palm Beach County Convention Center, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024. Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters On the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a notable promise to retirees:

Courtneyk | E+ | Getty Images First-time homebuyers in the U.S. are getting older. The median first-time homebuyer has reached an all-time high of 38 years old — three years older than in July 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report. This summer, NAR polled 5,390 buyers

A person arrives to vote at a polling station on Election Day, in The Villages, Florida.  Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | Afp | Getty Images In a heated presidential race, there’s one age cohort — voters ages 50 and up — who may help decide the ultimate winner. “We expect the 50-plus electorate to be

Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images Retail therapy is thinly coating voters’ anxieties from the presidential election — and their wallets know it. About 27% of polled shoppers say they are “doom spending” — that is, spending cash despite concerns about the economy and foreign affairs — according to a new report

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, there could be some clear winners for exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, experts say.  Whoever becomes president next — former President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris — will leave their mark on U.S. policy, and that poses challenges to the status quo going

Karrastock | Moment | Getty Images People are using artificial intelligence for tasks like writing and editing resumes and cover letters — and even to get personal finance advice. While some of those insights can be valuable, financial advisors caution that AI shouldn’t be your only resource. A new report by Experian found that 67%