Personal finance

Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Francis Galvin Steven Senne | AP Massachusetts investors are slated to get an extra dose of regulatory protection. But not everyone agrees that’s a good thing. Last week, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin put the finishing touches on a new fiduciary standard for broker-dealers and broker-dealer agents operating

John Fedele The annual income of older Americans could drop significantly from one year to the next for a variety of reasons. It might be retirement or the death of a spouse, perhaps, or the sale of a business. Yet it might take Medicare — which charges higher earners more for premiums — a couple

It goes without saying that death and taxes are two of life’s certainties. But what many people don’t know is that their Social Security retirement benefits might be taxed. And that means that they haven’t been using strategies proactively to reduce those levies and extend their income over their retirement years. William Meyer, founder of

Jamie Grill | Getty Images If you don’t contribute to your 401(k) plan, you may be missing out on a big wad of cash from your employer. Most companies that offer these workplace retirement plans will match your contributions up to a certain amount. Depending on your salary and the matching formula used, that could

An Austrian train was halted in Munich, Germany, after carrying two women with suspected coronavirus from Venice, Italy. picture alliance Global markets are suffering. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all traded sharply lower. Don’t hit the panic button just yet. Within six months, stocks are usually on

Oliver Furrer | Cultura | Getty Images The spread of the coronavirus helped to sink the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 900 points when the market opened on Monday. And if that decline goes past 1,000 points, it could be the biggest one-day drop since 2018. If you’re like many investors, you may be

Daniel Grill | Getty Images When it comes to retirement, it’s no secret that women face an uphill battle financially. And while women’s retirement readiness is improving, there’s room for much more, according to new research from the Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement. Women around the world share the same three career challenges: a

Swell Media Who among us has suffered an airline delay or cancellation, or even been bumped from a flight? Plenty. Who’s been compensated for the inconvenience? Probably not very many. One Berlin-based firm, AirHelp, is trying to rectify that, educating flyers around the world of their rights to compensation — and, for a fee, helping

Payday Loan Store (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images) Interim Archives You’ll find the words in Utah’s constitution: “No imprisonment for debt.” And yet more than 3,000 people in the state were served arrest warrants arising from an unpaid loan between September 2017 and September 2018, according to a new report on payday loans by the

Sally Anscombe Don’t bet the house on a proposed tax incentive from the White House for investing — at least not yet. As campaigning around the 2020 presidential election heats up, President Donald Trump is weighing a round of tax ideas, including a plan to encourage American households to invest in the stock market. One

Millions of households that hustled to get their tax returns to the IRS early could be waiting until March for their refunds. If you’re claiming the additional child tax credit or the earned income tax credit, the IRS cannot issue your refund before mid-February. An anti-fraud law requires the agency to use that additional time

Democratic presidential candidate former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg speaks during the Democratic presidential primary debate at Paris Las Vegas on February 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mario Tama | Getty Images Michael Bloomberg, billionaire and former mayor of New York, is the latest Democratic presidential candidate to turn his attention to the

If you want to improve your financial know-how, there are plenty of opportunities to do so. From short online tutorials to extensive in-person bootcamps, the number of “Money 101” classes has ballooned since the Great Recession. And yet, when it comes to financial literacy, Americans are still falling far short. According to a survey by

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg — whose wealth is estimated at $60 billion — says his tax return is probably thousands of pages long and he can’t use TurboTax to finish it. Most taxpayers don’t deal with such complications. While preparing taxes can be a headache and may involve a lot of pages, using online

James Gorman, chief executive officer and chairman of Morgan Stanley, speaks during the International Economic Forum Of The Americas (IEFA) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Wednesday June 12, 2019. Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg Financial services firms are moving out of their comfort zone. Some of the most recognizable names on Wall Street,

Thanagon Karaket / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty Images You may be overlooking one retirement investment choice. That’s the ability to put away post-tax money through a Roth individual retirement account. Recent research from TD Ameritrade finds that many individuals are confused when it comes to Roth IRAs. And that means many people are leaving

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a campaign event on February 17, 2020 in Richmond, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Justin Sullivan When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., proposed legislation last year to tax stock trades, he decried the “recklessness of Wall Street billionaires” and cited a goal of building an economy

Getty Images The IRS will soon start make house calls to high-income individuals who didn’t submit a tax return. Starting this month, the agency will send its revenue officers to visit people with income in excess of $100,000 and who failed to file Form 1040 in 2018 or in previous years. “These visits shouldn’t come

Jeremy Tooker, owner of Four Barrel Café in San Francisco. Photo: Eric Wolfinger In starting a small business, many entrepreneurs feel the need to do it all. They perform or monitor all aspects of their business, including product development, operations, sales, marketing and customer service. Early on, they may have even acted as their own

skynesher | E+ | Getty Images If you’re like many Americans, you’re carrying a balance on your credit cards. And the candidate you choose in November for president could have an affect on how well you grapple with those debts. The latest numbers from the Federal Reserve show that credit card balances climbed to $930