Personal finance

shapecharge | E+ | Getty Images With the number of deaths from the coronavirus continuing to mount, your own mortality may be more on your mind than usual. In fact, The Covid-19 pandemic has produced a rise in estate planning, according to certified financial planner Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial.  Pandemic or

More than 40 million Americans have student loan debt, and outstanding student loans nationwide total more than $1.5 trillion. Soon, the government’s pause on federal student loan payments will expire, leaving millions of borrowers grappling with how they’ll pay what they owe in 2021. But Brandon Leake, a 28-year-old husband and father, figured out a

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images As news of several effective Covid-19 vaccines offers some light at the end of the tunnel that is 2020, will a beleaguered travel and tourism industry — one of the hardest hit by the pandemic — soon begin to recover? Possibly, say sources, but they caution that travel

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images “If we are going to get another round of stimulus, I can’t imagine that won’t be included in it,” said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute, of a new weekly subsidy. Strain added, however, that he thinks “it’s

Demonstrators display signs calling for an end to evictions and foreclosures during a rally at Boston Housing Court outside the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse on Oct. 29, 2020. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Expiring state eviction bans have led to hundreds of thousands of additional coronavirus cases, new research finds, raising alarm

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Remote workers — especially those who have been hopping to different states — could be on the hook for additional taxes when they file their returns next spring. It’s been nine months since the coronavirus pandemic first gripped the U.S. and led to many workers punching in each day

VioletaStoimenova | E+ | Getty Images Occasionally, a financial advisor grabs national attention by swindling clients out of millions, evading arrest via a bizarre escape plan or, sometimes, both. Luckily, there are ways investors can guard against high-profile cons or more under-the-radar criminality, according to financial experts. “These guys are very convincing in a very

Black Friday — the biggest shopping day of the year — is no longer the day after Thanksgiving. Instead of one-day doorbuster deals, retailers like Walmart and Home Depot have been rolling out discounts in the days, or even weeks, ahead of the official start of the holiday season. And many of the best bargains

Lisa Lickers, her husband and their blended family before the arrival of their baby. Source: Lisa Lickers Navigating the terrain of a blended family’s financial life is tricky enough in normal times. Add a pandemic into the mix, and things can get downright exhausting. “Stressful financial situations bring to the surface underlying family dynamics,” said

Cars line-up as the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank distributes food outside a church in Los Angeles on Nov. 19, 2020. Mike Blake | Reuters Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, a temporary drive-through to distribute food to those in need was set up near Lancaster, California, north of Los Angeles, on Tuesday. At least 2,000

Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. DEA / M. BORCHI | De Agostini | Getty Images Nearly 14 million American workers are collecting unemployment benefits through programs that will lapse at the end of the year without congressional action. Expiring aid would leave many without income at a time when protections for renters, homeowners and student

AJ Watt | Getty Images Are you stocking up on cold and flu meds for the winter? Buying an at-home Covid-19 test kit? If so, you are running out of time to use this tax-advantaged account for those purchases. Health-care flexible spending accounts, which may be available at your job, allow you to stash pre-tax

‘Tis the season to shore up your savings. In the days leading up to Black Friday, financial experts caution against overspending, particularly amid an economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic — and consumers are listening. One campaign, called “In the Black Friday,” spearheaded by the National Financial Educators Council, encourages consumers to avoid debt

Mary Roberts has been working five jobs since August to stay afloat after the coronavirus pandemic decimated the cruise industry, where she was a director and choreographer. Mary Roberts Mary Roberts is not immune to the hustle as an artist. But the coronavirus pandemic has presented a challenge like she’s never seen before. Roberts, 39,

Elisabeth Reynolds MIT The predictions were scary. Half of the jobs in industrialized countries could, one day, be taken over by robots. What would workers do? How would they earn a living? In 2018, a taskforce at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to answer these questions. Over the next two years, more than

Thomas Barwick Some types of mutual funds carry a bigger price tag than others — but that doesn’t necessarily mean investors should avoid them. In fact, there are certain areas where actively managed funds, which carry higher costs, tend to yield a greater net return over the long term than index funds, their lower-cost counterparts.

Getty Images If you receive a text, email or phone call purporting to be from the Social Security Administration, think twice before responding. The people on the other end are likely fraudsters. And they’re looking to catch individuals off guard and take advantage of their fears. The November Retirement Confidence Index from SimplyWise, a technology

Amid one of the worst public-health crises in history, a record number of Americans are without health insurance. John Fedele It’s open enrollment season, meaning it’s again time for many Americans to sit down and go over their employer-sponsored workplace benefits for next year. The coronavirus pandemic has made health benefits top of mind for

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images Don’t let the holidays distract you from last-minute opportunities to reduce your 2020 tax bill. There are about five weeks left in the year, which means the clock is ticking on tax-planning strategies. Some tactics are only in play for 2020, thanks to the federal CARES

“As soon as I heard that that the freshmen class would be invited back, I decided to go,” said Ahmad Alsheikh, 18, of his decision to attend college in person this fall. But even though Alsheikh has been on campus since September, he still communicates with his classmates largely online. The Harvard freshman says he is