When inflation rates in the U.S. hit a 31-year high, as the government reported on Wednesday, another concern quickly emerged among observers: the wage-price spiral. The forces at work are clear to anyone who's shopped recently. Rising commodity costs, supply...
As Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives look to advance their $1.75 trillion social spending package this week, wealthy individuals are already planning ways to avoid paying for it. The package would be the biggest expansion of the U.S....
In February, Zillow appeared so confident in its ability to use artificial intelligence to estimate the value of homes that it announced a new option: for certain homes, its so-called "Zestimate" would also represent an initial cash offer from the...
Buying a home is a huge undertaking, and for some people, the idea of having to cover a mortgage payment every month is quite stressful. In a recent survey by Ally Financial, 44% of home buyers said they feel anxious...
Market Review Overall, the markets remained relatively flat or even slightly positive heading into September. However, volatility picked up once Congress got back in session. September was a negative month bringing the S&P 500 +.58% and the Dow -1.46% for...
Many people cite staggeringly low interest rates as a reason to skip an emergency fund. Others cite the threat of continuous inflationary pressure. Regardless, it's still a good idea to keep a solid cash reserve on hand for a number...
Pandemic-related mortgage bailouts are ending, and foreclosures are now rising. Foreclosure starts jumped 32% in the third quarter of this year from the second quarter and were 67% higher than the third quarter of 2020. The foreclosure numbers should stay...
Covid-19 has been a financial boon or bust for workers, depending on their personal situations. Now, those effects are changing when many Americans say they expect to retire. As anticipated retirement ages shift, younger generations expect to reach that finish...
Fantasia Holdings Group Co., a developer of luxury apartments in China, said it didn’t make a $206 million U.S. dollar bond payment that was due Oct. 4, adding to the malaise surrounding the country’s highly indebted property companies. The company,...
Fannie Mae says it expects U.S. home sales to end 2021 a bit higher than they were the year before and the multiple economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic to dampen the market well into next year. "A lack of...
A reader has just written in urging me to take another look at Roth IRAs. This follows my previous column, in which I said I was wary of them, partly because I figured I’ll be paying a lower tax rate...
Following a budget is a smart financial decision. If you stick to a budget, you may be less likely to land in debt, and you may have an easier time padding your savings account on a regular basis. But a...
Evergrande I am very far from an expert on the situation at giant indebted property company China Evergrande Group, but I will say that two things that appear to be true are: It owes 1.6 million apartments to people who...
Tucked into the House Democrats’ tax plan to raise $2.2 trillion in tax revenue is a new tax on the country’s wealthiest Americans — but other, earlier proposals that target the rich have been scaled down or eliminated altogether. The...
A line of 60 uniformed security guards stretched across the entrance to ailing Chinese property giant Evergrande’s gleaming Shenzhen tower on Monday as dozens of angry investors demanded answers – and their money – from the company. The protesters, who...
