Personal finance

Images By Tang Ming Tung | Digitalvision | Getty Images Parents who want to help jumpstart their kid’s credit score and credit history can take one fairly easy step, money experts say: Add your child as an authorized user to your credit card account. The goal is to have a child build credit from a

Mementojpeg | Moment | Getty Images Federal student loan borrowers who fall behind on their bills will once again face financial consequences. After the Covid pandemic-era pause on the payments expired in September 2023, the Biden administration offered borrowers another year in which they would be shielded from the impacts of missed payments. With that

Tomas Rodriguez | Corbis | Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump has made his dislike for student debt relief clear. Experts expect he will abandon or roll back many of the Biden administration’s student loan efforts — which on the campaign trail he called “vile” and “not even legal.” Assuming the Trump administration abandons the U.S.

Oscar Wong | Moment | Getty Images Americans traveling to Europe next year may be in store for some bargains. That’s due to euro-U.S. dollar exchange rates. The euro has weakened against the U.S. dollar in recent weeks and is poised to fall further in 2025 and perhaps into 2026, economists said. “That’s a good

Shoppers carry their purchases on Black Friday in New York City on November 29, 2024.  Adam Gray | AFP | Getty Images When Bernadette Joy graduated with an MBA in 2016, she and her husband had around $300,000 in debt, including student loans and mortgage balances. By 2020, they were debt free. As Joy sought

Betsie Van Der Meer | Digitalvision | Getty Images The holiday season is a time to give thanks, reflect on the past year, and spend time with family and friends. However if you’re not careful, it can also be a time you overspend on holiday purchases. About 83% of Americans plan to buy gifts for

Ascentxmedia | E+ | Getty Images Many workers dream of an early retirement. In reality, more than half of workers — 58% — retire earlier than they planned, usually due to unforeseen circumstances, according to new research from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies in collaboration with Transamerica Institute. The median age they call it quits

Xavierarnau | E+ | Getty Images If you’re retired and planning a year-end donation to charity, there’s a key move to maximize your tax break, financial experts say.   Qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs, are direct transfers from an individual retirement account to a non-profit organization. Additionally, retirees can give more in 2024, according to

10’000 Hours | Digitalvision | Getty Images As families gather for Thanksgiving this year, money is one topic that likely won’t be discussed. Yet experts say it’s a perfect time to start the conversation, particularly with aging parents. More than half of Americans — 56% — say their parents never discussed money with them, according

Shoppers walk along 5th Avenue on Black Friday in New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Retailers hype Black Friday sales, and it works. This year, the number of people shopping between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday could hit a record, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual

Blackcat | E+ | Getty Images It’s no secret that homeowners often have higher net-worth than renters. But while renters face unique affordability challenges, there are still steps they can take to improve their financial standing. In 2022, the typical renter in the U.S. had a median net worth of $10,400, according to a new

Chip Leighton’s viral ‘teenager texts’ highlight how little some kids know about money. Courtesy: Chip Leighton Chip Leighton knows how funny kids can be. Social media posts by the creator of “The Leighton Show,” which have collectively been seen more than 250 million times, hilariously highlight some of the texts teenagers send their parents. Many

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc Daniel Zuchnik | Contributor | Getty Images Warren Buffett has advice for all parents “whether they are of modest or staggering wealth”: let your kids read your will before you sign it. “Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities

Parents tend to splurge on their children during the holidays. This year, 63% of millennials, many of whom now have school-age children of their own, said they plan to spend the same or more on holiday shopping as they did last year — the highest share of any generation, according to a quarterly report by

Images By Tang Ming Tung | Digitalvision | Getty Images As some Americans struggle to save for retirement, key 401(k) plan changes could soon make preparing easier for certain workers, experts say.  Enacted by Congress in 2022, “Secure 2.0” ushered in sweeping changes to the U.S. retirement system, including several updates to 401(k) plans. Some

Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury | Caiaimage | Getty Images ‘Tis the season for giving … dupes? Buying a dupe — short for duplicates — rose to the top of this year’s holiday wish lists. A dupe gift is a gift that is a cheaper alternative to a more expensive, branded item. They were largely kept under the radar until

Stock traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images Many large U.S. companies have seen their stocks swell since the presidential election. The top 10 performing stocks in the S&P 500 index saw returns of 18% or more since Election Day, according to

Matthias Ritzmann | The Image Bank | Getty Images With the Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan is tied up in legal battles, millions of borrowers have had their monthly payments put on hold. The break from the bills is likely a relief to the many federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the Saving

Mementojpeg | Moment | Getty Images The Biden administration has forgiven a record amount of federal student debt. But in about two months, President-elect Donald Trump, a vocal critic of student loan forgiveness polices, will enter the White House. Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Education is likely to abandon its efforts to deliver wide-scale

Sporrer/Rupp | Image Source | Getty Images Most Americans are concerned about what may happen to Social Security when its retirement trust fund crosses a projected 2033 depletion date, according to a new Bankrate survey. Nearly three-quarters, 73%, of non-retired adults and 71% retired adults say they worry they won’t receive their benefits if the