Americans collectively hold a record $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. But that’s not the No. 1 reason that prompts them to file for bankruptcy. Here’s what most often does drive them to the financial brink: big medical bills. Hiroshi Watanabe | Getty Images A recent academic study found that 66.5% of all bankruptcies were
A new survey of Americans from every state in the union has found that people with the greatest levels of joy are older, and further that as we age, our overall level of joy continues to grow as we believe more than ever that the world needs more joy. That’s good news for a country
Big enough for a whole baseball team and a former Secretary of State Alicia Chmielewski Keller Williams We see a pattern with former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s real estate inclinations: he likes to buy big, and buy from celebrities. Tillerson’s return to Texas steered him to Vaquero, one of North Texas’s most exclusive and private
US Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a press conference to introduce college affordability legislation outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, June 24, 2019. Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has introduced a plan to cancel all U.S. student loan debt. The debt, which currently totals $1.6 trillion,
A person uses a Juul Labs electronic cigarette device in San Francisco, on Monday, June 24, 2019. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images San Francisco on Tuesday became the first city in the country to ban e-cigarettes after city officials approved an ordinance that prohibits selling nicotine pods or devices that haven’t been
The corporate earnings picture continues to deteriorate, with companies exposed to tariffs taking a particularly strong hit. As profit reports just start to trickle in, the expectations are getting worse. Forecasters already were indicating negative earnings growth for the second quarter, but the outlook also has swung into red numbers for the third quarter, according
‘Valentine’s Day’ Episode 16 of the sitcom The Office. Pictured is the cast of the sitcome: (L to R) Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin, Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer, Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin-Vance, and Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly. Paul Drinkwater | NBCUniversal | Getty Images NBC has decided
A shopper carries an Insignia Roku TV television at a Best Buy Co. store in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images More than 300 companies are talking to government officials in Washington this month about how detrimental the trade war between the U.S. and China has been and will be to
Homeownership comes with a lot of extra expenses, mostly thanks to the tax man. Due to increasing demand and limited inventory, the nationwide median sale price has reached $226,800, according to Zillow. Values have gone up 5.4% over the past year and are expected to rise another 2.5% in the next year. On top of
“My mom is not safe by herself but she refuses help!” “My dad can’t manage alone anymore but he won’t go to assisted living”. As a consultant in the aging field working with families, I hear the complaints. The issue the adult children see is stubbornness. The aging parents see the family as intruding, and
Point House is located on Parrot Cay, a private island in the Turks & Caicos. Courtesy of Christie’s International Real Estate An estate on a private island in the Turks & Caicos is on the market for $15 million. Called Point House, the property is on Parrot Cay and is one of only twelve exclusive
As I’ve written in the past, you can’t rely on Social Security to provide accurate information on your options. In my experience, over half of what Social Security staff tell people is either flat out wrong, incomplete, or misleading. Also, as I’ve described in prior columns, Social Security is actively engaged in different ways to
Multinational companies are starting to question whether it’s time to shift production out of China due to the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing. Many firms are already making the move to other countries, with Vietnam as one of the major beneficiaries of tensions between the world’s two largest economies. President Donald Trump is set to meet with
Lennar reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the No. 2 U.S. homebuilder’s sales got a boost from lower interest rates for mortgages, sending its shares up 4% before the opening bell. Several years of rising rates had put a brake on parts of the U.S. housing market in 2018. But a moderation in
Gold bars sit in a vault at the Perth Mint Refinery, operated by Gold Corp., in Perth, Australia, on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. Carla Gottgens | Bloomberg | Getty Images Investors are piling into gold, sending the precious metal to a six-year high on Tuesday, and analysts think the commodity has established a “base” to
Chateau d’Estoublon, Provence, France Airbnb The online property rental broker Airbnb has launched a new site dedicated to high-end listings that includes castles, entire villages, and beachfront villas in the U.S. or Caribbean. One listing – an entire medieval village in Buonconvento, Italy that can accommodate 44 guests – costs around $23,140 per night while
Traders work the floor at the NYSE in New York. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Barclays believes a market “melt-up” could be on the horizon if three things materialize in the near future: A trade truce, Federal Reserve rate cuts and the economic slowdown only being a soft patch. The so-called melt-up refers to a sharp
izusek | E+ | Getty Images Eat what you kill. It’s not the most subtle description of the career path for financial advisors, but it is accurate. Historically, the financial advice industry has been built around people who can come to the job and quickly build books of business to generate revenue. Young advisors have
A recruiter for The Art Institutes, left, greets a job seeker at a National Career Fairs job fair in San Diego. David Maung | Bloomberg | Getty Images More than 150,000 former students of for-profit colleges filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday, claiming the agency
Of all the reasons to start at business after age 50, perhaps the best one is that the years are passing. Maybe it’s something you always wanted to do. For some, it’s a good strategy for getting more work years in before retirement. Sure, it’s a lot of work and a lot of hours. But