Personal finance

Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty Images Starting this month, more than 65 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive benefit checks that include a record-breaking 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment. Social Security benefits are slated to increase by more than $140 per month on average, according to the Social Security Administration. The average retiree benefit will increase

Valentinrussanov | E+ | Getty Images The Biden administration rolled out a new proposal this week to dramatically lower monthly payments for some federal student loan borrowers. If and when the overhauled income-driven repayment plan becomes available, some people could see their bills decrease by as much as a half, according to the U.S. Department

Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education proposed regulations Tuesday that would reduce the monthly bills for certain federal student loan borrowers. Under the proposal, the administration of President Joe Biden would overhaul one of the existing income-driven repayment plans, known as Revised Pay As You Earn or REPAYE, which

Ascent/ Pks Media Inc. | Photodisc | Getty Images Current Social Security beneficiaries are poised to receive an 8.7% boost to their benefits for 2023 starting this month, thanks to the highest cost-of-living adjustment in 40 years. If you’re at or near Social Security’s retirement benefit eligibility age of 62, you may wonder if you

New U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks with reporters in Washington, Jan. 7, 2023. Jon Cherry | Reuters House Republicans on Monday night voted to slash funding for the IRS, following a pledge from newly-elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy to repeal the money approved by Congress last year.    Passing along party lines, the

vitapix | E+ | Getty Images New government jobs data shows the U.S. labor market is still strong, with a record low unemployment rate of 3.5%. “The unemployment rate is the lowest in 50 years,” President Joe Biden said on Friday. ”We have just finished the two strongest years of job growth in history.” Yet as

Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images New year, new you? Probably not. One of the revelations that will likely come in 2023 is that you’re largely the same person as last year. You don’t suddenly love running or taking vitamins. But sometimes it’s good when things don’t change, and the fact that many of the

The IRS building in Washington. Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images The IRS has issued tax refunds to 12 million people eligible for a tax break on unemployment benefits received in 2020, when the pandemic caused joblessness on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. The refund payments — which totaled $14.8

Getty Images With President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on hold and headed to the Supreme Court, tens of millions of Americans are wondering if they’ll ever see the relief they were promised. Legal experts say the president’s policy, which would cancel up to $20,000 for borrowers, faces a narrow path to survival with

Former U.S. President Donald Trump claps as he announces that he will once again run for U.S. president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, November 15, 2022. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters When former President Donald Trump’s tax returns were released last week, the line

Dragos Condrea | Istock | Getty Images If you’re signing up for Medicare, you’ve likely discovered that there are a lot of out-of-pocket costs that come with your coverage. For about 23% of Medicare’s 65.1 million beneficiaries, the solution for covering those outlays is a so-called Medigap plan. These policies, sold by private insurance companies,

Traders at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 21, 2022. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images The bond market suffered a significant meltdown in 2022. Bonds are generally thought to be the boring, relatively safe part of an investment portfolio. They’ve historically been a shock absorber, helping buoy portfolios when

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot, which is now $940 million, is 1 in more than 300 million. While very few will experience that kind of windfall in their lifetime, the lottery isn’t the only chance to come into sudden wealth. Whether it’s an inheritance, sale of a property, bonus or even a

Fuse | Corbis | Getty Images When it comes to investing, you may know less than you think — and that overconfidence may be costly. Almost 2 out of every 3 investors rate their investment knowledge highly, and 42% are comfortable making investment decisions, according to a recent report published by the Financial Industry Regulatory

Amazon and Salesforce are among the latest tech companies to announce job cuts, after rapid hiring over the last several years. For every company announcing layoffs, senior leaders and managers must keep the remaining employees motivated and productive.  Among U.S.-based companies, announced layoffs were up 172% in the fourth quarter of 2022 — with more

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images Navigating the health insurance system is often difficult and overwhelming, even in the best of times. For patients with long Covid, a relatively new condition that frequently leaves patients with a lengthy and unpredictable list of debilitating symptoms, it can be especially nightmarish. “Even if you remain on

Getty Images Collectively, workers may have forfeited an estimated $1 billion in their health-care flexible spending accounts last year. Yet depending on your employer’s rules for those FSAs, which let workers save pre-tax money to pay for qualifying health expenses, you may have sidestepped being part of that cohort — at least for now.  While

Credit card interest rates reached record highs last year and there is still more to come in 2023, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. Credit card rates are now more than 19%, on average — an all-time high — after rising at the steepest annual pace ever, in step with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes to combat

Financing a new or used car is more expensive than ever, new research shows. Amid rising interest rates and elevated auto prices, the share of new car buyers with a monthly payment of more than $1,000 jumped to a record high, according to Edmunds. For the first time, just over 15% of consumers who financed a

dowell | Moment | Getty Images Investors have many options when saving for short-term goals, and those choices have become more complicated amid high inflation and rising interest rates. While there have been signs of slowing inflation, the Federal Reserve is expecting higher interest rates to continue. “It looks like this year might be a