Personal finance

SuperStock | Getty Images Finding someone to turn to for financial advice should be as easy as finding a doctor. But it turns out the credentials which financial professionals use to represent themselves are often not clear. And getting the wrong guidance can be costly. Misguided advice costs investors about $17 billion in wealth annually,

Retirement is not what it used to be. Whether by choice of necessity, many Americans anticipate extending their working years, according to recent research from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. A majority of workers said they expect to stop working sometime after age 65 or never retire at all, the research found. A separate

kate_sept2004 The legal and financial fortunes of gay and lesbian Americans have changed beyond recognition. That’s largely thanks to the legalization and rapid public acceptance of same-sex marriage and antidiscrimination protections, as well as other civil rights shifts, for LGBTQ people across the U.S. in recent years. Whereas same-sex couples, unable to marry, once had

Halley Bondy and daughter Robin, 2 Halley Bondy Halley Bondy loves being a freelance writer. And the 35-year-old journalist, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, earns more working for herself than she did as a full-time employee. Now, a proposal in New York state that could require companies to classify more of their freelancers as

Older Americans heading toward retirement can face a conundrum: They’ll need income when they leave work, yet they want to delay taking Social Security for as long as possible so they can maximize those benefits. For clients who have other assets available, some advisors recommend that instead of gradually withdrawing from those accounts — i.e.,

The tween and early teen years can be a tricky time for kids. Not only are they encountering new social situations and gaining more responsibility, they are also forming a big part of their relationship with money. “Kids this age are old enough to really understand how money works,” said Chantel Bonneau, a wealth management

If you beat the odds stacked against hitting the Powerball jackpot, there’s an estimated $277 million waiting for you in Saturday night’s drawing. The top prize has been climbing for more than two months of twice weekly drawings with no ticket matching all six numbers. And while the chance of winning the jackpot is about

Florida, Fort Myers, Publix, supermarket Gift Card Display. Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Did you receive a gift card from someone over the holidays? Well, it’s time to go shopping. That sounds like the right move. Many people, however, let the dollars on their plastic go to waste: Each year, up

Peter Cade | Getty Images It’s the challenge many retirees face: How to turn lifetime savings into a steady income stream and not run out of money. To solve that dilemma, some financial experts suggest annuities, financial products that provide regular payments in return for one upfront lump sum. But the problem is that many

Michelle and Donald McCulloch bought a house using their ABLE savings. Michelle and Donald McCulloch Most people take being able to save money for granted. But for people with a disability, whether developmental or physical, a previous $2,000 limit meant not being able to plan and save for a house, a car or a vacation.

katleho Seisa The new year is just over a week old, but it’s almost time to get cracking on those 2019 tax returns. Proactive taxpayers can start submitting last year’s tax returns to the IRS as early as Jan. 27. As always, you have until April 15 to file your 2019 tax return. While you

Whether you have a side hustle or you’re running your own business, you’re a week away from a major tax deadline. Individuals who pay their estimated taxes every quarter — including independent contractors and members of partnerships — are expected to make their fourth and final payment for 2019 on Jan. 15. The quarterly deadlines

Fstop123 | E+ | Getty Images There are more ways than ever to buy things you shouldn’t. Described as the “new layaway,” companies like Affirm, Quadpay and Afterpay allow consumers to spread out their payments on a purchase over weeks or months. The offers are hard to refuse. That $140 plaid tunic from Anthropology could

Do you have your eyes on that $258 million Powerball jackpot? So does Uncle Sam. If you’re lucky enough to win the top prize in Wednesday night’s drawing, remember that the IRS gets an up-front piece of big lottery wins. And that tax withholding wouldn’t be the end of it. “There is still a sizable

Jamie Grill | Getty Images When do you plan to retire? Many individuals have an age at which they want to call it quits. And then there’s the age when you really stop working. If you’re lucky, those ages are one and the same. But research shows that they’re likely not. Transamerica Center for Retirement

Consumers would face fewer hurdles in trying to discharge debt through bankruptcy under a new plan from one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a proposal Tuesday that aims to undo parts of a 2005 law, such as higher fees and more paperwork, that she says made it harder for individuals

Collectively, Americans owe more than $1 trillion in credit card debt. After the holiday season, however, individual balances bumped up another notch. Americans, on average, racked up about $1,325 in holiday debt last month alone, according to MagnifyMoney’s annual post-holiday debt survey. Further, more than three-quarters of those polled said they won’t pay off their balances

Put investing on the bottom of your things-to-panic-about list. Investing isn’t difficult. You don’t have to be a math genius to understand where to put your money or be afraid of scary terms like “stock market volatility.” (That just means the prices of companies in the stock market are changing rapidly.) The more you know,

lovelyday12 | Getty Social Security benefits are helping to narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots who are approaching retirement. But they don’t go far enough. That’s according to new research from The New School Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis in New York. The analysis took a look at one age group in

 Hero Images | Getty Images New parents will have one new source to tap for money — their retirement savings. The Secure Act, which was passed by Congress in December, is ushering in some of the biggest changes to retirement savings since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. But experts warn that tapping your retirement