Personal finance

Source: Getty Images If you made a Roth individual retirement account conversion in 2022, you may have a more complicated tax return this season, experts say.  The strategy, which transfers pretax or non-deductible IRA funds to a Roth IRA for future tax-free growth, tends to be more popular during a stock market downturn because you

The clock is ticking for the U.S. to avoid a default on its debt, and some are sounding the alarm about potential disruptions to Social Security and Medicare. On Thursday, Jan. 19, the U.S. outstanding debt hit its statutory limit. The debt limit or debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. can

Whether by choice or necessity, many workers will change jobs in the months ahead. Some companies, particularly tech giants, have been announcing deep cuts to their workforces as they face ongoing challenges due to rising interest rates and inflation. Most recently, Google said that it will lay off 12,000 people, Amazon announced a fresh wave of job

Mstudioimages | E+ | Getty Images To maintain your standard of living in retirement, the rule of thumb is you need to be able to replace at least 70% of the income you had while you were working. But many retirees fall short of that retirement income goal, according to research from Goldman Sachs Asset

Iona Studio | Istock | Getty Images More people in the U.S. are deciding to hold off on medical care for financial reasons. The share of Americans who say they or a family member delayed medical treatment due to cost rose to 38% in 2022 from 26% in 2021, according to the results of a

Allison Michael Orenstein | Getty Images Social Security recipients are just starting to see the record 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment in their monthly checks. But come tax time, they could see surprises resulting from last year’s 5.9% increase, which at the time was the biggest COLA in four decades. Last year’s 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment was like

Prasit Photo | Moment | Getty Images Your investment ego may be costing you big bucks. “Overconfidence bias” is the behavioral principle of overestimating one’s own abilities, including financial acumen. And while confidence isn’t a bad thing, it can have damaging results — if you don’t have the chops to back it up. “It should

Generally speaking, the higher your credit score, the better off you are when it comes to getting a loan. FICO scores, the most popular scoring model, range from 300 to 850. A “good” score generally is above 670, a “very good” score is over 740 and anything above 800 is considered “exceptional.” Once you reach that 800

Fotostorm | E+ | Getty Images There’s still a ways to go before used car prices come back down to earth. While prices were 8.8% lower in December from a year earlier, consumers continue to pay more for used cars than they would if typical depreciation expectations were in play, according to car-shopping app CoPilot,

domoyega | E+ | Getty Images When it comes to money matters, what you don’t know can hurt you. A report from the National Financial Educators Council shows that 38% of individuals in a recent survey said their lack of financial literacy cost them at least $500 in 2022, including 15% who said it set

Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images Between rents rising and most pandemic-era eviction bans having expired, the number of tenants coming home to find notices on their doors is picking up. In just the first week of January, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has counted more than 9,300 evictions in the nine states

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Jan. 10, 2023 in Washington. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.S. may be about to hit its debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that the U.S. would likely hit the ceiling Thursday. Absent steps taken by Congress, the event may “cause

Zachary Zirlin / Eyeem | Eyeem | Getty Images In a year of soaring inflation across the broad U.S. economy, some corners of the consumer market did the opposite: They deflated in price. The largest declines, on a percentage basis, were concentrated in categories like consumer electronics, beef, and cars and trucks, according to the

Silverkblack | Istock | Getty Images In the new student loan repayment plan proposal rolled out Jan. 10 by the Biden administration, more borrowers could see their monthly payments drop to $0. The new option revises one of the four existing income-driven repayment plans, which cap borrowers’ bills at a share of their discretionary income

sturti Even with broad availability of free checking services, more than a quarter of checking account holders — 27% — are paying fees every month. For consumers who aren’t taking advantage of free checking, those fees add up to an average of $24 per month, or $288 per year, according to a new survey from

Hillary Kladke | Moment | Getty Images Before looking forward to 2023, we should pause to reflect on 2022. The following quote from Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal sums up this very difficult year for investors: “Investing isn’t an IQ test; it’s a test of character.” Indeed, the most successful investor is not

Given today’s ongoing high inflation, many Americans worry they may not have put away enough money for retirement. They fear that sharp increases in food and energy prices and transportation and medical care costs could significantly affect their retirement savings. Yet there’s another important factor to consider: your life expectancy. A new report from the

Sturti | E+ | Getty Images Whether you have access to a retirement plan through work increasingly depends, at least partly, on where you live. Within the last decade, 16 state legislatures have adopted retirement-savings programs targeting workers whose employers don’t offer a 401(k) plan or similar option. Some programs are up and running, while

Hoxton/Tom Merton | Hoxton | Getty Images If you don’t have health insurance for 2023, you may still be able to get it through the public marketplace. Open enrollment for the federal health-care exchange ends Sunday, with coverage taking effect Feb. 1. If your state operates its own exchange, you may have more time. Most

Activists hold a student loan forgiveness rally near the White House on April 27, 2022. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images Although they call President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan “unlawful,” two university law professors are urging the Supreme Court to reject the legal challenges that have been brought against it.