Personal finance

If you’ve discovered your 2021 Medicare Advantage Plan is not a good fit for you, now is the time to do something about it. Through the end of March, Advantage enrollees can either drop their plan and return to basic Medicare (Part A hospital coverage and Part B outpatient care) or switch to another Advantage

Ika84 | E+ | Getty Images Private health insurance through the nation’s public exchanges is set to become more affordable — at least for a couple of years. The $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, which received final congressional approval Wednesday and will soon head to President Joe Biden for his signature, includes provisions that will

Ting Shen/Xinhua via Getty Images The IRS will be able to send money electronically for taxpayers who filed returns with direct deposit or bank account information. The government will send paper checks or debit cards to those households for which Treasury cannot determine a bank account. The IRS will use information on 2020 tax returns

Robert Knopes/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is almost law — meaning additional unemployment benefits for millions of workers should soon be on the way. The Covid relief bill, passed Saturday by the Senate, extends jobless benefits through Labor Day and raises them by $300 a week. The

Ika84 | E+ | Getty Images It could become more affordable for laid-off workers to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance, thanks to a provision in the Covid relief bill making its way through Congress. As part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the government would pay for former employees to maintain health coverage from their

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Congress may soon offer a tax break to unemployed Americans. States may not be so generous. The Senate passed a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill on Saturday that waives tax on up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits per person received in 2020. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the

VioletaStoimenova | E+ | Getty Images Out of sight, out of mind. For many people, that’s how their employer-offered 401(k) plan works. The employee chooses from a limited menu of investment options and, as long as the account continues a generally upward trajectory, the average investor has no reason to question their investment strategy nor any

Thomas Tolstrup The Senate has passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, helping to clear the way for millions of Americans to potentially receive $1,400 stimulus checks. But the new checks won’t be official until the House of Representatives and President Joe Biden give their final approval, which is expected to happen this week. The

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan has inadvertently created a conundrum for the unemployed this tax season. The pandemic aid measure, which passed the Senate on Saturday, offers $1,400 stimulus checks and waives federal taxes on a portion of unemployment benefits received last

In many ways, the coronavirus crisis has paved the way to better budgeting. Consumers are paying down debt and saving more than they have in decades. Many are leveraging low interest rates to refinance and lower their monthly bills. Federal relief, such as stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits and an extended pause in loan repayments, have even given some a chance to catch up on

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVA) removes his mask to speak as bipartisan members of the Senate and House gather to announce a framework for fresh coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief legislation at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 1, 2020. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia, said

New York City housing advocates and tenants march to demand Gov. Andrew Cuomo cancel rent amid the pandemic on Oct. 10, 2020. Andrew Lichtenstein | Corbis News | Getty Images The new federal coronavirus relief bill that’s poised to be approved on Capitol Hill could put unprecedented sums of money into the hands of American

MoMo Productions | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education has offered most federal student loan borrowers the option of pausing their payments, without interest accruing, through September because of the financial fallout of the pandemic. Most have accepted. In fact, just around 10% of the country’s 44 million student loan borrowers are currently repaying

It’s been one year since the coronavirus crisis brought the economy to its knees, and some people may never financially recover. Despite recent signs of improvement — including modest job gains and progress on Covid-19 vaccine shots, which paves the way to a more open economy — about half of working adults in the U.S. said

Getty Images If you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling financially because of the coronavirus pandemic, more relief is on the way. Included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package working its way through Congress and expected to be signed into law by mid-March will likely be direct payments of up to $1,400, an extension

Food is loaded as drivers in their vehicles wait in line on arrival at a “Let’s Feed LA County” food distribution hosted by the Los Angeles Food Bank on Dec. 4, 2020 in Hacienda Heights, California. FREDERIC J. BROWN | AFP | Getty Images Long-term joblessness is nearing a record, as Washington lawmakers rush to

Volunteers load shopping bags with food assistance for laid off workers at a food distribution event on Dec. 12, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images Democrats are poised to send more unemployment benefits to laid-off workers. Meanwhile, some workers are still waiting on the last tranche, authorized months ago. A $900 billion

Tetra Images | Tetra images | Getty Images It would be normal to want to spend a minimal amount of time planning for your own death. Yet there’s a key aspect of creating an estate plan that experts say you shouldn’t gloss over. For instance, choosing who would carry out the wishes outlined in your

Wind turbines operate at the Gouda wind power facility alongside a road at dusk in Gouda, South Africa, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images ESG growth Investor demand for ESG funds has grown sharply in recent years. Investors poured $51.1 billion of net new money into such funds in 2020, a

You’ve probably received a phone call claiming your Social Security number has been compromised. For people who fall for such scams, the experience can add up to big financial losses. One elderly woman in Massachusetts lost more than $900,000 to a Social Security imposter scam operation, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for