Personal finance

AJ Watt | Getty Images In early March, U.S. health officials had a stark warning for older Americans: You are more at risk for complications if you contract Covid-19, so avoid leaving your home. For Medicare’s 62.5 million beneficiaries — the majority of whom are 65 or older and more likely to use medical services

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House on Monday, Aug. 10. Stefani Reynolds/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Trump’s executive order to boost unemployment benefits would give jobless Americans $708 a week in total aid, on average. Yet some may get less or none at all, given many caveats to the

seksan Mongkhonkhamsao Americans should be wary of fraud as Washington lawmakers debate the contours of another round of potential financial relief, according to an alert issued Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers should be cautious of solicitations asking them to pay for access to certain financial assistance, like stimulus checks and job opportunities, according

Alaina Lattin and her family Alaina Lattin was served an eviction notice last month at her home in Conroe, Texas. “It was a very loud banging,” Lattin, 32, said. “They just kept screaming, ‘Leasing office! Leasing office!'” Now, the single mother is worried that she and her four children will become homeless.  Lattin is one

A Social Security Administration office in San Francisco. Getty Images President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a payroll tax holiday is prompting many to ask: What does that mean for the future of Social Security? Whether the president’s move ultimately will hurt the program depends on who you ask. Payroll taxes are taken from

Justin Horrocks | Vetta | Getty Images You probably heard that President Trump signed an executive order to provide an extra $400 a week in unemployment benefits. Be aware that it’s not a done deal. And, based on the contents of a Department of Labor memo sent out Sunday and reviewed by CNBC, that amount

A banner against renters eviction reading no job, no rent is displayed on a controlled rent building in Washington, DC on August 9, 2020. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images) ERIC BARADAT | AFP | Getty Images The executive action President Donald Trump took on Saturday doesn’t give

Many Americans are struggling to meet their credit card mills during the pandemic. zenstock | iStock | Getty Images Amid one of the worst downturns in U.S. history, nearly 80% of credit card holders say they’re worried they won’t be able to continue making even the minimum payments on their debt.  The figure comes from

Tenants and housing activists in Brooklyn, New York, protested in a Bushwick park on July 5. Erik McGregor | Getty Images Negotiations over the next coronavirus stimulus package on Capitol Hill ended the week in a stalemate. But there’s one form of help lawmakers reportedly agree on: a second set of stimulus checks. This week’s

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are coming closer to an agreement about a second set of stimulus checks, although who will get them, and when, is still being debated. Democrats and Republicans have both called for $1,200 payments in their legislative proposals but, for millions of Americans, that may not be enough.   “There are over 3 million

Fancy/Veer/Corbis | Getty Images Bianca Thomas was always working. Except on Sunday — that was church day. But in March, everything changed. Thomas lost her job as a prep cook in an eatery catering to Boston Bruins and Celtics season ticket holders. Singing in the church choir, a joy of hers for 13 years, wasn’t possible

Alistair Berg | Getty Images College students can now receive unemployment benefits, provided they can prove they had paid work last year. The reason is the CARES Act, which became law in March and made assistance for unemployment more widely available through Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. This is a separate program from a state’s traditional unemployment

“I’m on Indeed every single day, looking for jobs,” Lafauci, 36, said. “There’s nothing.” Source: Sarah Lafauci It’s now been over a week since tens of millions of Americans have stopped receiving the $600 federal unemployment boost.  Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over what to replace those payments with have turned into an increasingly protracted and bitter

Tetra Images | Getty Images Maybe you know one: the person who saves boatloads for retirement, manages to follow a budget and even has a fat emergency fund. In other words, a “super saver.” While perhaps an enviable position, it’s one that typically involves making some sacrifices, according to a report from Principal Financial Group

Getty Images You’ve probably heard someone say they wish they had bought such-and-such stock when it first started trading publicly way back when. Remember that hindsight is usually 20-20, including when it comes to how shares in an initial public offering will fare.  “With an IPO, you never know which way things are going to

Cabania | iStock | Getty Images Plus When the U.S. government sent out urgent stimulus checks this spring, some people who had already died received money. Now it seems another ineligible group may be getting checks: foreign workers. Reports surfaced this week that a number of those recipients are now living in their home countries.

This fall will be anything but normal for parents and children across the country. Many Americans are grappling with decisions about school, money and fears about the coronavirus. For Jordana Horn Gordon, a 47-year-old mother of six, the situation has her feeling like she’s “walking on the razor edge of a cliff.” “It’s really tough

A Social Security Administration office in San Francisco. Getty Images Washington lawmakers are deciding the financial fates of millions of American families with the next coronavirus stimulus package. But there’s one unintended consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic they have yet to fix: potential reductions to Social Security benefits for one particular cohort of Americans. The

Getty Images Some Americans who qualified for stimulus checks received an unwelcome surprise when the $500 payments for their children under 17 were not included. Starting today, the U.S. government plans to send out the missing cash. That applies to those individuals and couples who are not required to file a tax return and used

OLIVIER DOULIERY | AFP | Getty Images Millions of Americans went back to work in May and June as states started reopening and a federal loan program helped ailing small businesses rehire workers.   But the economic recovery is sputtering, some states have re-imposed shutdown measures and many businesses have run out of loan funding — conditions