Personal finance

In this article SBNY EFX Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Some consumers who tried to deposit an Equifax settlement check in recent days got a surprise: It bounced. The checks, a result of a legal settlement over the credit-reporting firm’s 2017 data breach, were written against an account

A protest sign outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2023. The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images There’s no precedent in recent history for the sweeping federal student loan forgiveness policy President Joe Biden is trying to carry out. A look at the math of the program shows

Matthew Hatcher | Afp | Getty Images Retail egg prices retreated in February, according to federal data issued Tuesday, delivering relief to consumers who saw prices spike at the grocery store in recent months. Average egg prices fell almost 7% in February relative to January, according to the consumer price index, a key barometer of

Brandon Bell | Getty Images Timing is everything, especially when it comes to real estate. But finding the perfect time to sell your home — especially if it’s your first time — may be a challenge as the residential real estate market fluctuates. A recent survey from Zillow finds 84% of first-time home sellers wish

Viorel Kurnosov | Istock | Getty Images With roughly two more months before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ends the three-year Covid public health emergency, more than 5 million of the nation’s households remain behind on their rent. All together, tenants continued to owe nearly $11 billion in rental debt during the

miodrag ignjatovic | E+ | Getty Images Some Medicare beneficiaries will begin paying less next month for 27 prescription drugs whose prices have increased at a rate that outpaces inflation, government officials announced Wednesday. Depending on their individual coverage, beneficiaries could save between $2 and $390 per average dose for these drugs starting April 1,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Photo: Bloomberg / Getty Images) With an acceptance rate of just under 4%, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is considered the ultimate dream school, according to a new survey of college-bound students and their families. However, it’s not only one of the hardest schools to get into

Luc MacGregor | Bloomberg | Getty Images The latest crypto rally may be good news for digital currency investors. But if you’re still recovering from last year’s losses, it may be possible to score a tax break on your 2022 return. The crypto market plunged by nearly $1.4 trillion in 2022 after a series of

In this article AMZN YOU 9201.T-JP UAL AAL SAVE LUV DELTACORP-IN DAL JBLU TRV TNL SSVC NTFL MHI-AU C WFC BAC DFS COF MA V AXP CCF Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Having multiple credit cards and playing the rewards game can save you hundreds of dollars each year — if you’re smart about

Damircudic | Getty Images One of the ground rules for individual retirement account contributions is you must have “earned income,” such as wages or salary from a job or self-employment earnings. But there’s a special exception, known as a spousal IRA, which allows you to contribute based on your spouse’s earnings if you file taxes

A customer shops at a grocery store in Brooklyn on Feb. 14, 2023. Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images The annual inflation rate in February continued its gradual cooling trend, though it remained well above policymakers’ target. Inflation is a measure of how quickly prices are rising or falling in the U.S. economy. related investing news

A customer stands outside of a shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images After two bank failures and dramatic moves from U.S. regulators to protect depositors, financial advisors have a message for consumers: Don’t panic. The U.S. government on Sunday approved plans to

Employees stand outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images For small businesses that have been keeping their money at Silicon Valley Bank — which collapsed last week — the good news is that they will be

Starting in community college and then transferring to a four-year school is a proven pathway to getting a degree for significantly less money. Yet fewer students are going this route. Transfer enrollment from two-year colleges to four-year schools fell again in the fall of 2022 compared to the previous year, this time sinking nearly 8%.

Grady Hendrix Albert Mitchell After Louise’s parents unexpectedly die in a car accident, she returns home to Charleston, where her plans to get her childhood home ready for sale are soon complicated. There’s her parents’ endless stuff, including the hundreds of dolls her mother owned. There’s her estranged brother, Matt, trying to cheat her out

In this article WU Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The author in Argentinian Patagonia in February 2023. Here, the Spegazzini Glacier cascades into Lago Argentino, the third largest lake in South America. Waiting in an hourlong line at a Western Union wasn’t on my initial itinerary when planning a recent trip to Argentina. Yet

Visualspace | E+ | Getty Images Small business owners today may feel they’re getting pulled in two directions: stuck between wanting to offer a retirement benefit to their workers but feeling unable to afford costs associated with a 401(k) plan. But entrepreneurs scared by the affordability of maintaining a 401(k) plan can instead consider an

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images The pace of wage growth seems to be decelerating, according to the February jobs report issued Friday — but workers still have bargaining power in a cooling but strong job market, economists said. “Workers have a very strong negotiating position,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “The

gilaxia If you’re in the market for a new car, be prepared for the possibility of paying more than sticker price. The average new-car price in February was $45,296, compared with the average manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP, of $41,637, according to new research from iSeeCars.com. An estimated 31% of new vehicles were sold

Sinem Buber is a labor economist at ZipRecruiter. She’s reviewed the data on how lack of affordable care options is affecting the U.S. labor force. She’s seen 1.2 million fewer women show up in the workforce data since the pandemic started, in part due to child-care issues. And as the mother of two boys, now