Personal finance

Kevin Dodge | The Image Bank | Getty Images SEATTLE — For many families, paying for college is a financial burden, and experts say education-funding myths may be adding to the student loan debt crisis. “There’s often this perception that somehow people are being penalized for saving for college,” said Cozy Wittman, national education and

Petri Oeschge | Getty Images  SEATTLE — If you’re living together before marriage or committed long-term without plans to tie the knot, you’ll need to prepare for the future — or you may face challenges later, experts say. There are “rising rates of cohabitation,” with many couples skipping marriage because “they don’t see the benefit,”

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images In the latest inflation reading, used cars are one of the few categories with prices that are lower than they were a year ago. While the consumer price index — which measures price changes for a variety of consumer goods and services — was up 7.1% in November from

Shoppers in Troy, Michigan, on Nov. 25, 2022. Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images Inflation was lower than expected in November amid a broad-based slowdown in consumer prices that have been rising at their fastest rate in decades. The consumer price index, a key inflation barometer, jumped by 7.1% in November from a year earlier, the

Getty Images If you’re eager to file your 2022 tax return in January or early February, the IRS has a warning: You’ll need to wait for “key documents” before filing in 2023. In a release last week, the IRS urged “early filers” to watch for Form 1099-K, which reports income for third-party payment networks such

HOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 29: Students study in the Rice University Library on August 29, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images After President Joe Biden’s historic announcement that tens of millions of Americans would get up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness, borrowers’ celebrations were short-lived. Conservative groups

The Federal Reserve is expected on Wednesday to raise interest rates for the seventh time this year to combat stubborn inflation.  The U.S. central bank will likely approve a 0.5 percentage point hike, a more typical pace compared with the super-size 75 basis point moves at each of the last four meetings. This would push

Kathrin Ziegler | Digitalvision | Getty Images As inflation has kept prices high in 2022, Social Security beneficiaries may look forward to a record high cost-of-living adjustment in 2023. “Your Social Security benefits will increase by 8.7% in 2023 because of a rise in cost of living,” the Social Security Administration states in the annual

Charday Penn | E+ | Getty Images If you’ve accepted payments via apps such as Venmo or PayPal in 2022, you may receive Form 1099-K, which reports income from third-party networks, in early 2023. But there’s still time to reduce your tax liability, according to financial experts.  “There’s no change to the taxability of income,”

House and Senate champions and impacted families appear at a Dec. 7 Washington, D.C., event for expanding the child tax credit during the lame duck session. Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Millions of children were lifted out of poverty in 2021, thanks to a more generous child tax credit that included

On the cusp of the greatest generational wealth transfer in history, baby boomers are set to pass more than $68 trillion on to their children. “It’s a generation that has accumulated a greater percentage of wealth than any other generation ever has,” said Mark Mirsberger, a certified public accountant and CEO of Dana Investment Advisors, referring

The national average credit score sits at an all-time high of 716, unchanged from a year ago, according to a report from FICO, developer of one of the scores most widely used by lenders. However, this marks the first time since the Great Recession that scores did not improve year over year, the report found.

Smiling female professor reading an e-mail on a computer in the classroom. Copy space. Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images In October 2021, the Biden administration announced a one-year opportunity for student loan borrowers pursuing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness to get closer to being debt-free. Signed into law by then-President George W. Bush in

Thomas Barwick | Stone | Getty Images The share of retirement savers who withdrew money from a 401(k) plan to cover a financial hardship hit a record high in October, according to data from Vanguard Group. That dynamic — when coupled with other factors like fast-rising credit card balances and a declining personal savings rate

Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty Images Coming up with enough money for retirement is a challenge for all workers. Women are more likely, at 50%, to say they’re behind, versus 35% of men, a new report from Goldman Sachs found. What’s more, 24% said they are “very behind schedule,” compared with 14% of men.

Thomas Barwick The deadline is fast approaching for mandatory retirement plan withdrawals, which may force some retirees to sell assets in a down market. But experts say there may be ways to reduce the negative effects. Required minimum distributions, known as RMDs, are yearly amounts that must be taken from certain retirement accounts, such as

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images If you’re just out of college, you may be wondering when the right time is to get started with a retirement savings plan. The answer is now, experts say.  To that point, 55% of Americans already working think they are behind on saving for retirement, according to a

Barry Sternlicht, founder, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group. CNBC | NBCuniversal | Getty Images In Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht’s view, the Federal Reserve’s ongoing interest rate hikes are driving the U.S. economy straight into a recession. During a session of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Summit on Tuesday, Sternlicht said he thinks that an

Ascentxmedia | E+ | Getty Images The CEOs of some of the biggest American companies believe the economy may be heading for a recession. “It could be a hurricane,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning. Yet financial advisors warn against too much certainty, or pessimism, over what’s next. ‘It’s possible

Rafael Henrique | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Robinhood is bringing the concept of a 401(k)-style contribution match to its retail customers who may not have access to a retirement plan through the workplace. The retail brokerage will pay a 1% “match” on contributions its customers make to a Robinhood individual retirement account,