Personal finance

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

The top source of financial stress is saving enough for a comfortable retirement, a worry that is trending upward as a result of the pandemic, according to a newly released nationwide survey by Charles Schwab of 1,000 currently employed 401(k) plan participants between the ages of 25 and 70.  The survey, conducted between May 28 and

Residents of Imperial County, California, line up in front of a bookkeeping shop in Calexico to fill out unemployment claim forms on July 24. Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images Millions of Americans are getting a big cut in their unemployment checks after the expiration of a policy that offered an extra $600

Courtney Davis Source: Courtney Davis In a few weeks, Courtney Davis will give birth to her first child, a son, Bentli Jaymes. In the meantime, she’s afraid that she won’t have a home to bring him back to.  “My biggest concern is becoming homeless right now,” Davis, 23, said. Without an extension of a federal

This guide lays out the seven key steps to focus on to get you working toward long-term financial security. Step 1: Set short-term and long-term goals Step 2: Create a budget Step 3: Build an emergency fund Step 4: Pay off costly credit card debt Step 5: Save for retirement Step 6: Invest for retirement

Joshua Roberts | Reuters Capitol Hill lawmakers seem to agree on one thing: Sending a second round of stimulus checks to help Americans weather the economic storm brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic is is  worthwhile. But the conditions around who gets those checks could still be subject to change, particularly when it comes to

New Yorkers pick up free groceries at a Food Bank For New York City distribution event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on July 30. Scott Heins | Getty Images News | Getty Images Most of the relief measures delivered to Americans in the first stimulus package have dried up.  The weekly $600 federal unemployment checks

Timothy Young and his family Source: Timothy Young On Monday, July 27, two days after the eviction moratorium in Maryland expired, Timothy Young, his wife, Tammy, and their two children, Hermione, 8, and Negan, 2, scrambled to move out of their duplex. They’d received their notice to vacate.  Young estimates that he’s applied to more

Couple buying a new house. PeopleImages | Getty Images A Roth individual retirement account is often cited as a way to save for your golden years. It could  also help you buy a house. In a nutshell, up to $10,000 in earnings can be withdrawn from such an account — free of both taxes and

Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims. John Sommers II Individuals receiving unemployment benefits this year could face a tax surprise in 2021: owing Uncle Sam or receiving smaller refunds. Some 1.43 million people filed for unemployment last week, according to the