Being a middle-class worker in America is tough, especially when planning for retirement. With inflation eating away at every dollar, nearly half middle-income earners are finding themselves in a bind, cutting back or even stopping their retirement contributions altogether. A...
The Internal Revenue Service is going to get its piece of your hard-earned, tax-deferred retirement savings accounts — it’s just a matter of when. A harsh reality? Perhaps. A chance to think strategically about your retirement accounts? Absolutely. That’s because...
Keep a sharp eye on your email inbox in the coming days and weeks, student loan borrowers. Buried amongst the spam mail and coupons may be the latest information on debt forgiveness. The Biden administration has taken its next steps...
Many factors impact the cost of owning a home, such as your mortgage principal, property tax bill, homeowners insurance premium, and — this is a big one — your mortgage interest rate. We’ll discuss what determines mortgage rates. That way,...
For unsuspecting depositors of online financial start-ups, the unraveling of a little-known intermediary has separated them from their life savings. For close to a century, putting your savings into a federally insured bank has been a sure thing: If the...
In a society where discussing one’s financial status often remains taboo, understanding where you stand on the wealth spectrum can be intriguing. While most shy away from openly discussing assets, getting a sense of how net worth stacks up against...
The latchkey kids are all grown up. The oldest members of Generation X — that generation born between 1965 and 1980 and known for its irreverence, sarcasm and indifference — are hitting 59½ and eligible to start withdrawing money from...
Your net worth is like a scorecard of how you’re doing financially. Consistently moving in a positive direction means you’re making solid progress toward becoming financially independent and toward retirement. Calculating your net worth is simple. You add up all...
This budget strategy gives every dollar you earn a purpose. Budgeting gets a bad rap. But when you start to think about it as a tool you can leverage to meet your financial goals, budgeting can be helpful, exciting —...
You’ll want at least enough to cover your monthly bills. But It’s also possible to have too much money sitting in a checking account. It’s a question everybody likely wonders, from the billionaire to the person living paycheck to paycheck:...
Mint, the popular budgeting app, shut down on March 23, 2024. In its initial press release, Intuit — the parent company of Mint — invited Mint users to transition to another Intuit service, Credit Karma. Although Credit Karma offers numerous...
Job openings fell in April to their lowest level since February 2021 as the labor market shows further signs of cooling off from the hiring boom that followed the US economy reopening after the pandemic. New data from the Bureau...
Consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in May, ending three straight months of declines as Americans cheered a resilient labor market. The latest index reading from the Conference Board was 102, above 97.5 in April and higher than the 96 economists surveyed...
Fixed mortgage rates have dropped for two consecutive weeks, according to Freddie Mac. However, experts have released their latest rate forecasts over the last few days — and despite two weeks of decreases, economists’ longer-term outlooks are becoming less positive....
This popular strategy could simplify your budget and help you stay on track. If you have a complicated relationship with budgeting, the 50/30/20 rule could help. Rather than breaking down your monthly spending into dozens of tedious categories, this budgeting...
