Personal finance

Regardless of where the Supreme Court comes out on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, education debt isn’t going away. College is only getting more expensive. Tuition and fees plus room and board at four-year, in-state public colleges rose more than 2% to $23,250, on average, in the 2022-23 academic year; at four-year private colleges, it increased

Economists have been forecasting a recession for months, and that looming downturn is one of the most anticipated in U.S. history. But it’s not yet materialized, in part due to strong consumer spending. “Consumer spending represents more than half of the economy,” said Curt Long, chief economist at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions.

Sunrise at Laguna Torre in Patagonia, Argentina. © Marco Bottigelli | Moment | Getty Images Travel in 2023 has been expensive. Indeed, some prices — like those for international flights — have hit record highs. Americans are unleashing their wanderlust en masse after a few years of pandemic-era trip delays, making for a busy —

For soon-to-be college grads without a job lined up, the future is daunting. “I’m definitely pretty stressed about it,” said Naomi Watson, 22, a senior at Santa Clara University in California. The political science major plans to move back in with her mom while she continues her search. With student loan payments on the horizon

A shopper in Greenville, New York, on April 30, 2023. Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images News | Getty Images Inflation in April notched its lowest reading in two years, as price pressures for consumers continue to moderate from multi-decade highs and costs for household staples appear to be in retreat. The consumer price index, a

Bernardbodo | Istock | Getty Images New government data shows inflation is cooling, and that means Social Security beneficiaries will likely see a lower cost-of-living adjustment next year. The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2024 could be 3.1%, according to a new estimate from The Senior Citizens League. That’s well below the 8.7% increase to

Damir Khabirov After years of low returns, money market mutual funds have recently become more attractive, thanks to a series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. But some investors worry about increased risk as the debt ceiling debate intensifies. Money market funds — which are different than money market deposit accounts — typically

New college grads negotiating their first salary may be in for a rude awakening. In the midst of a historically strong job market, characterized by low unemployment, rising wages and a high degree of job-seeker confidence, those armed with a degree are feeling relatively good about their earning potential. In fact, today’s undergraduates expect to make $84,855

Ja’crispy | Istock | Getty Images As the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member on the Business Cycle Dating Committee, James Poterba helps determine when a recession officially starts and ends. Why is that important? What do those dates tell us? When the NBER was founded in 1920, its economists

Enes Evren Many investors are bracing for the economic fallout of the deadline for the U.S. to raise the debt ceiling or default on its obligations. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said that failing to raise the debt ceiling will cause a “steep economic downturn” in the U.S., reiterating the country’s early June deadline.

Orna Guralnik Source: Showtime Not long after I began working as a personal finance reporter at CNBC in 2018, I started psychoanalysis. The form of therapy had long intrigued me, with the intensity of its three sessions a week and its search for answers among our dreams and pasts. Because I’d heard that psychoanalysis was

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on raising the federal minimum wage outside the U.S. Capitol on May 4, 2023. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not changed in nearly 14 years. Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., unveiled a new plan to update

Protestors take part in a May Day demonstration on Rennes, France, on May 1, 2023. Damien Meyer | Afp | Getty Images An increase in pension retirement age to 64 from 62 in France has sparked ongoing protests. The U.S. could be poised for a similar change with the Social Security retirement age. That shift

Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images The following is an excerpt from “This week, your wallet,” a weekly audio show on Twitter produced by CNBC’s Personal Finance team. Listen to the latest episode here. Costs have been off the charts this year for many aspects of travel.   Why? Americans are

Hero Images | Hero Images | Getty Images Whether you’re building an emergency fund or short-term savings, finding the best place for your cash isn’t easy — especially as the Federal Reserve weighs a pause in interest rate hikes. The central bank on Wednesday unveiled another quarter percentage point interest rate increase, with signals that

Getty Images If you’re one of the millions of taxpayers who paid for TurboTax when the filing software should have been free, you may soon receive a settlement check, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Thursday. TurboTax owner Intuit in May 2022 agreed to pay $141 million to lower-income Americans who were “unfairly

Rawf8 | Istock | Getty Images Higher education often costs more than most families can afford. A new report by NerdWallet shows the high school class of 2023 is facing a little more than $37,000 in student loan debt to receive a college bachelor’s degree. Tuition and fees plus room and board for a four-year

Thomas_eyedesign | E+ | Getty Images This story is part of CNBC’s College Money Guide 2023, a series to help students and recent graduates understand their money and start their adult life off on a solid financial path. Buying your first car as an adult is always a little daunting. But trying to buy in

The U.S. may default on its debt within a month — an event that could threaten severe financial harm for American households and the economy at large, experts warn. To avoid that outcome, lawmakers are trying to find a path forward to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, which would enable the U.S. to pay

The Federal Reserve Bank building Kevin Lamarque | Reuters The Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate by another 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday. This marks the 10th time the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate over the past year or so, the fastest pace of tightening since the early 1980s.  Even though the Fed’s rate-hiking