Personal finance

Do you have your eyes on that $258 million Powerball jackpot? So does Uncle Sam. If you’re lucky enough to win the top prize in Wednesday night’s drawing, remember that the IRS gets an up-front piece of big lottery wins. And that tax withholding wouldn’t be the end of it. “There is still a sizable

Jamie Grill | Getty Images When do you plan to retire? Many individuals have an age at which they want to call it quits. And then there’s the age when you really stop working. If you’re lucky, those ages are one and the same. But research shows that they’re likely not. Transamerica Center for Retirement

Consumers would face fewer hurdles in trying to discharge debt through bankruptcy under a new plan from one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a proposal Tuesday that aims to undo parts of a 2005 law, such as higher fees and more paperwork, that she says made it harder for individuals

Collectively, Americans owe more than $1 trillion in credit card debt. After the holiday season, however, individual balances bumped up another notch. Americans, on average, racked up about $1,325 in holiday debt last month alone, according to MagnifyMoney’s annual post-holiday debt survey. Further, more than three-quarters of those polled said they won’t pay off their balances

 Hero Images | Getty Images New parents will have one new source to tap for money — their retirement savings. The Secure Act, which was passed by Congress in December, is ushering in some of the biggest changes to retirement savings since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. But experts warn that tapping your retirement

lovelyday12 | Getty Social Security benefits are helping to narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots who are approaching retirement. But they don’t go far enough. That’s according to new research from The New School Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis in New York. The analysis took a look at one age group in

Put investing on the bottom of your things-to-panic-about list. Investing isn’t difficult. You don’t have to be a math genius to understand where to put your money or be afraid of scary terms like “stock market volatility.” (That just means the prices of companies in the stock market are changing rapidly.) The more you know,

Prasert Krainukul If you think that Republicans and Democrats can’t see eye to eye these days, try sitting in a room with financial professionals who are for and against annuities. The inability to agree is real. And both sides hold steadfast to their positions. Annuities are insurance or investment contracts that give investors regular payments

For older Americans, required minimum distributions from retirement accounts are undergoing a bit of a makeover. On top of the age rising to 72 from 70½ for when those annual withdrawals must begin — effective this year, due to congressional approval of the Secure Act — updated life expectancy tables proposed by the IRS for

kate_sept2004 It’s about to get a little easier for you to figure out how to break even or get a bigger tax refund from Uncle Sam. The IRS kicked off the new year with a revamp of its tax withholding estimator tool, a calculator that helps you fine-tune the amount of federal income taxes that

Should you stay or should you go? Deciding whether you should renovate your current home or buy a new house isn’t easy. It comes down to asking yourself three big questions, according to Drew and Jonathan Scott, the stars of HGTV’s “Property Brothers” and “Property Brothers: Forever Home.” “Am I in the right location? Can

In the few short weeks leading up to the holidays, Americans went all out on spending. It will take much, much longer to pay it off. The surge in spending last month may have contributed to the best holiday shopping season in years. Through Dec. 24, holiday retail sales rose 3.4%, while online sales jumped

Jamie Grill | Blend Images | Getty Images A new retirement law could soon put annuities in front of more 401(k) investors — and some financial experts question whether that’s a good thing. The Secure Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month, eases rules for employers offering a 401(k) plan around how

Ponte de Lima, Portugal THEGIFT777 | iStock Unreleased | Getty Images Didn’t save enough for retirement? One solution: Spend your golden years in a country where life is less expensive than it is in the U.S. More Americans are doing just that. The number of retirees who are collecting Social Security abroad rose 40%, to

Thomas Jackson Treat money with respect. Don’t crumple it. Think of it as an ally and a force for good, not evil. Your beliefs can affect your finances. If you don’t believe it, check out the experiences of personal finance bloggers who started with nothing (or very little) and now have hundreds of thousands of

Traffic is at a near standstill heading into New York City via the Holland Tunnel from New Jersey. Andria Patino | Corbis Documentary | Getty Images Blame it on brutal winters, high taxes or the New Jersey Turnpike: The Garden State is the last place where people want to be. More two-thirds of all New

Daniel Grizelj The stock market surged in 2019, closing out the end of the decade by posting its best annual gain in six years. But investors hypnotized by the prospect of big profits should temper any knee-jerk reaction to load up on stocks as the new year gets under way. Charlie Fitzgerald, a financial advisor

Rolf Bruderer Living in another country is a save-your-retirement move that few people consider. For Edd and Cynthia Staton, it was a lifesaver. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, they took a hard look at what retirement might look like if they remained in the U.S. Staying would have meant severe belt-tightening. After some research and

For those considering a career change, the year ahead looks particularly promising. With the unemployment rate at a 50-year low and U.S. companies adding many more jobs than expected, 2020 could be the year to land a new job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But not just any job will do. Job seekers

Rawpixel | Getty Images Rawpixel | Getty Images 1. Create a budget Not having a budget is probably what got you here in the first place. Keeping track of how much you bring in versus how much you spend is vital to prevent future budget busts. Some experts recommend looking at three to six months’