Many people who wind up with a smaller Social Security check because they claim their benefit early could have waited longer to file, thanks to funds in their individual retirement account. That’s the finding from a recently published study in the Journal of Pension Economics & Finance. “It seems like there is a significant portion
Personal finance
Late filers: Don’t shred those receipts just yet. You might be able to nab a break on your state tax return. We are closing in on the final days of the 2018 filing season. It’s the first time taxpayers are submitting returns under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This overhaul of the federal tax
A pending lawsuit in Florida is a good example of why jackpot winners need to choose wisely when deciding who manages their windfall. The suit, filed on behalf of Gloria Mackenzie, age 90, alleges that her son and his financial advisor mismanaged her winnings after she won the Powerball jackpot in 2013. Her after-tax haul
People were recently asked in the CNBC and Acorns Invest In You Savings Survey how they would spend an unexpected $5,000 bonus. Good intentions abound: More than a third of respondents said they’d pay off debt. Many others claimed they’d save for short-term expenses (22%) or invest for long-term goals (15%). A measly 2% said
Say what you will about presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but it looks like she’s getting some good tax advice. Warren released her 2018 tax return Wednesday. She filed jointly with her husband Bruce H. Mann, a professor at Harvard Law School. The two reported total income of $905,742 and paid total taxes of
A dozen Democratic senators introduced a bill on Thursday to overhaul the popular but challenged Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The legislation, the What You Can Do for Your Country Act, would dramatically expand the pool of student loan borrowers who are eligible to have their debt cancelled. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts),
Here’s a home improvement project nobody looks forward to: replacing a sewer line. For homeowners, the mortgage, property taxes and insurance only account for a portion of the cost of owning an abode. It’s those surprise emergency repairs that can destroy your budget. Indeed, 18% of homeowners polled by HomeServe USA said that they had
The lack of financial understanding by consumers has been signaled as one of the main reasons behind savings and investing problems faced by many Americans. To that point, a variety of financial research and reports have made it clear that we, as a country, need to focus on financial literacy. The TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance
As student debt grows, so do the plans to squelch it. A new federal program offers up to $75,000 in student loan relief for those who work for three years in the health-care field, battling the opioid epidemic. South Korean automaker Hyundai announced this month that it will give $900 to people with student debt
Relationship advice — “be honest, talk it over, respect each other’s feelings” — often goes right out the window when you’re in an actual relationship. Take money. Who talks about it honestly? Who can have calm discussions when tempers are running high over someone’s spending habits? “We don’t talk about money with anyone, even our
On Sept. 28, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law a bill allowing people with cancer to put their student loan payments on hold. The rollout of the new program has been rocky. The Education Department, in a notice in the Federal Register, writes: “The law was immediately effective, meaning that borrowers can immediately request
One day, you may look back on your 20s and wonder how you did it. The word “busy” doesn’t begin to describe the different things most people juggle in the years following graduation from college. If you type “your 20s are” into Google, autofill helpfully suggests “hard,” “lonely,” “the worst,” “confusing” and, perhaps most fittingly,
If you’re looking for a new home in an urban area, you might be attracted to some more up-and-coming areas. But buyer beware: Some of those areas come with big risks. That is according to a new study from GOBankingRates, which evaluated cities based on multiple criteria: percentage of homes with mortgages in negative equity,
Requiring high school students to take a personal finance course reduces their likelihood of taking out expensive payday loans down the road. That’s the takeaway from research being released by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation in conjunction with April financial literacy month. The short-term loans, typically due by your next payday, can come with interest
You know you need to save for retirement and you know how you need to do it. But what happens when you get to your retirement years? Do you know how to turn your life savings into a steady, tax-efficient stream of income? For many individuals, the answer is no. And you’re not alone. Most
It’s no secret that some areas of the country are more expensive to live in than others. Or that salaries, housing costs and taxes can vary. To help figure out how far your money will go based on where you live, new research looks at the amount needed to cover necessities — housing, health care,
People with student debt may soon have another way to pay their monthly bills. What’s unclear is how much of a help that new method will be. The House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month unanimously passed the Secure Act, which would expand 529 accounts to cover costs beyond college to those associated with
When it comes to making plays, NFL linebacker Brandon Copeland is no stranger to risky moves. Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, Copeland has gained notoriety with the Detroit Lions and the New York Jets, where he recently re-signed for the upcoming season. Off the field, he plays it very safe. “I
About half of American households over the age of 55 have nothing saved for retirement. Those were the findings in a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In all, 48 percent of those individuals have no savings in a workplace retirement plan or in an IRA as of 2016, the GAO found. The
Your 401(k) and IRA need help, and you might be missing an opportunity to give them a boost. Across the board, workers of all ages are falling behind in their retirement savings, according to a new survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Baby boomers, the oldest of whom are in their 70s, have