Personal Finance

Richard Sharrocks A case before the Supreme Court has the power dramatically reshape how the U.S. government polices financial fraud and other misdeeds against consumers — which many experts fear would weaken existing protections and expose the public to more harm. The case, which concerns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, could ultimately lead to the

You probably know you’re supposed to have money set aside for the unexpected. Now, a new online tool may help you figure out exactly how much you need.  Created by the JPMorgan Chase Institute and based on its recent research about income volatility among U.S. households, the tool lets you sort by income and age

Thomas Barwick If you’re a Vanguard investor who is hoping to file your taxes early, you may be disappointed. Clients at The Vanguard Group who switched from the firm’s mutual fund platform to its brokerage account in 2019 will receive two sets of tax forms for that year, the company confirmed. These Form 1099s will

katleho Seisa Lawmakers have diluted a retirement tax break popular among wealthy Americans, leading many to consider a strategy known as a Roth conversion for individual retirement accounts to try softening the blow. A Roth conversion involves the owner of a traditional IRA, which is funded with pretax contributions, moving that money into an after-tax

Former Vice President Joe Biden (L) greets Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) before the Democratic presidential primary debate at Drake University on January 14, 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa. Scott Olson | Getty Images Top Democratic presidential candidates all want to boost Social Security benefits. But two of the candidates — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and

Sarah Wilson, of GoBudgetGirl, recommends looking for cheap or free alternatives before actually buying. Source: Sarah Wilson You’re not the only one with spending sorrows. In recent years, some popular YouTube bloggers have started making videos confessing their biggest money mistakes, running the gamut from spending thousands of dollars on interior design for a rental

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | Getty Images Lawmakers passed a bill last week that would allow seniors to fight age discrimination in the workplace more easily — and that could help protect older Americans at a precarious time in their financial lives. The House of Representatives passed the Protecting Older Workers against Discrimination Act on

If you think bringing a new human into the world is daunting, wait until you see what he or she will do to your budget. It will cost a middle-income married couple an average of $233,610 to raise a child from birth through age 17, according to 2015 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Conversations with kids can be adversarial at the best of times. Combine teens, money and something they want, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a situation. If your family hasn’t been in the habit of holding regular financial chats, the risk is even higher for the talk to turn negative, says Thomas Henske, a

Anastasia Usenko Student debt is consuming an ever larger share of household budgets. Today, more than two-thirds of college graduates have student debt, compared with less than 50% in the early 1990s. And, back then, the average balance was $9,000 – now it’s $30,000. The typical monthly bill is nearly $400. Americans are more burdened

Most American adults own life insurance, yet the buying process can be perplexing and pose traps for the unwary — and cause financial problems years down the road. Around 57% of adults in the U.S. own a life insurance policy, according to a joint study by Limra, a trade group, and Life Happens, a nonprofit

Tera Images If you play your cards right, small everyday purchases put on plastic can add up to big savings over time. That’s thanks to increasingly generous credit card cash-back rewards programs — provided you pay your bills promptly — according to one credit-card comparison website. In addition, the right card for you likely depends

Tip 1: Put your savings on autopilot When it comes to saving, the first step is to make it a habit. Many financial advisors recommend beginning with an emergency fund, which is the key to keep from reaching for a credit card when something unexpected pops up, such as a broken appliance or a medical

Getty Images Earlier this month, scores of high school seniors submitted their applications to college. Now comes the worst part: waiting. In the wake of a college admissions scandal and as the super-low admission rate at many top colleges receives widespread attention, the business of getting in to college is more intense than ever. However,

Jacobs Stock Photography Worried about your debt? Consider this: The U.S. is $23 trillion in the red. Today, the country owes over four times more than it did in 2000, when the national debt stood at around $5 trillion. How did we get here? “Like any budget that you have in your household, we have

If you waited more than a month for the IRS to process your tax return and get a refund last year, you’re in good company. While the IRS prevented $2.7 billion in refunds from being issued to fraudsters between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2019, more than a few legitimate tax returns were held up

People line up outside the Social Security Administration office in San Francisco. Getty Images If you collect Social Security benefits, you’re probably already eagerly waiting to see what your cost-of-living adjustment will be next year. New, early estimates from The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group, point to a possible 1.5% COLA increase for

Ariel Skelley Personal finance website WalletHub is out with another list of the best states in which to spend your retirement. Factoring in affordability, quality of life and health care, Florida came in first. Yet a recent ranking by Business Insider dubbed Mississippi the winner. Nebraska took the title in another list last year compiled

Guido Mieth Americans are spending more with digital payments and credit cards than ever before, as convenience and technology have relegated cash and checks more to the periphery. Online shopping has proliferated on retail websites such as Amazon, mobile payment apps like Venmo have become more popular, and banks have made it as easy to

Rene Carillo, 51, regrets not investing more when the stock market dropped. Rene Carillo We all have financial regrets. Things we bought, bills we paid late, decisions we didn’t research. Turns out, according to personal finance site MagnifyMoney, investing brings a host of bad feelings. The top one is not investing at all, according to

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to guests during a campaign stop at Fisher Elementary School on January 12, 2020 in Marshalltown, Iowa. Scott Olson | Getty Images Presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Tuesday that she would begin to forgive student loan debt on the first day of her administration, using

Retirees can boost their Social Security payments substantially by avoiding one costly, yet common, mistake. Americans can claim Social Security benefits as early as age 62. While it may be tempting to begin receiving that monthly income as soon as possible, retirees could leave a lot of money on the table by doing so. That’s

Sam Edwards | Getty Images Retirement is often called the golden years. Many elderly Americans probably wouldn’t describe it that way. Recent research from the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the University of Massachusetts Boston found that many older Americans don’t have enough money to get by. The report estimates that

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

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,

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

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

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