Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Reddit users and other retail investors who piled into GameStop stock aimed to take down Wall Street. Pension funds, which support ordinary Americans in retirement, may be an unintended casualty. Some hedge funds have sustained big losses as a result of bets against GameStop stock. Melvin Capital, for example, lost
Personal finance
Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty Images It can be hard to look away from the constant stream of financial success stories and tips on TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and other social media platforms. Users on WallStreetBets and other forums brag about the tens of thousands of dollars they’ve made over short periods of time by
Home ownership has long been considered a staple of the American dream. During the pandemic, it has also become a dividing line between the haves and have-nots. As the coronavirus outbreak and rise of remote work pushed Americans to move from the city to the suburbs, those who could afford a single-family home have been
Juanmonino | E+ | Getty Images If you are counting on a tax refund, you could be sorely disappointed this filing season. A new W-4 form and a pandemic-dominated 2020 may have millions of Americans receiving smaller refunds, or even owing money to the government, this year. “I’ve already seen people upset that they owe
Stimulus checks printed at the Philadelphia Financial Center in Philadelphia. Jeff Fusco | Getty Images Many Americans are waiting for their second stimulus check and others want to know when they could possibly get a third payment. The $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan pushed by President Joe Biden includes a third round of $1,400 stimulus
The headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C. JHVEPhoto | iStock Editorial | Getty Images The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to become a more aggressive consumer watchdog under the Biden administration and while the coronavirus pandemic hurls financial challenges at millions of Americans. Consumer advocates say the bureau was almost
Serhii Shleihel | iStock | Getty Images Here’s what you probably shouldn’t do with that extra money now that you don’t have to pay your student loan bill until October: Sink it all into shares of GameStop. But there are financially sound actions you can take with the additional cash, and you’ll likely thank yourself
Aimee Dilger | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images Maybe you’ve heard by now that an army of retail investors has managed to use one of hedge funds’ common investment strategies against them. That is, short-selling. It generally involves selling borrowed shares of a stock with the belief that the price will drop, at
Not wanting to touch anything is having a dramatic impact on consumer habits. Amid the coronavirus crisis, Americans are abandoning cash almost entirely in favor of “tap and go” transactions and have finally embraced contactless and digital payment methods after years of reluctance. Fewer and fewer adults use printed or minted U.S. currency at all any more.
martin-dm | E+ | Getty Images Vacations may be back on Americans’ calendars later this year — especially if vaccines help suppress the Covid-19 pandemic — but business travel won’t bounce back for quite some time, according to a forecast from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are likely
Digital Vision | Photodisc | Getty Images If you tied the knot last year, it may be worthwhile checking what your new status will mean for your 2020 taxes. While many couples see their tax bill drop post-nuptials, some face a “marriage penalty” — that is, paying more in taxes than if they had remained
Gabriela Bhaskar | Bloomberg | Getty Images If you’ve been holding shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment or other so-called “meme” stocks that have shot up to the stratosphere recently, it may be time to take the gains and move on. While it’s uncertain where those stocks will go from here in the short-term, experts say
Ariana Drehsler | AFP | Getty Images A shift in federal health-care policy appears to be underway. As early as Thursday, President Joe Biden is expected to issue executive orders to temporarily reopen the health insurance exchanges and to address roadblocks encountered when low-income households try to access Medicaid. Although details are slim, the actions
Signage stands in a GameStop Corp. store in Peru, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images It’s the stock rally no one quite predicted. In recent years, GameStop, a video game retailer, has been shrinking its retail presence by closing hundreds of stores. Yet this week, its stock popped dramatically. On Wednesday, GameStop shares
In times of financial distress, credit cards are one of the easiest ways to access cash. During the coronavirus crisis, more than half, or 51%, of adults with credit card debt — roughly 51 million people — added to their balances, according to a report by CreditCards.com. And 44% blame the pandemic, the report found.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images What a long year of Covid it’s been. Twelve months after the first case was confirmed in the U.S. in January 2020, American life and family finances continue to look different than they did pre-pandemic. While wealthier households — mostly college-educated and White — have largely rebounded
President Biden delivers remarks before signing a “Made in America” Executive Order at the White House on Jan. 25, 2021. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images A new $1.9 trillion plan pushed by President Joe Biden includes a host of initiatives aimed at shoring up Americans’ finances as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on. That
Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Joe Biden wants to avoid another unemployment benefits cliff. Instead of an abrupt end to jobless benefits, as occurred for millions of Americans the day after Christmas, Biden wants to gradually phase out aid over time. The mechanism to achieve this goal is known as an “automatic stabilizer,” in
fizkes | iStock | Getty Images It’s a new year, which means new Medicare costs. For Medicare’s 63 million beneficiaries, certain parts of the program change yearly and can affect premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing. While the upward adjustments don’t necessarily involve huge dollar amounts, they can become challenging for some beneficiaries. “Though the increases
FG Trade | Getty Images Tax filing season is swiftly approaching, and many Americans may be able to file their returns for free. About 70% of people filing taxes in the U.S., equal to roughly 100 million Americans, are eligible for a free program through the IRS, according to the agency. Even more may be