Personal finance

Jessie Casson | DigitalVision | Getty Images Stocks are sliding. But there may be a silver lining for investors. An investment loss poses an opportunity to trim your annual tax bill, via a mechanism called tax-loss harvesting. Here’s the basic premise: You sell an investment that’s in the red, and then use that investment loss

Kevin Dodge | The Image Bank | Getty Images About 14,470 students may have been underpaid $59.5 million in Social Security benefits, according to estimates from the Social Security Office of the Inspector General in a recent audit. The organization, which provides independent oversight of the Social Security Administration’s programs and operations, conducted an investigation

Sam Edwards | Getty Images Those annoying required minimum withdrawals from retirement accounts that kick in at age 72 may come with a silver lining: helping you make your money last through your lifetime. Generally speaking, if you were to take only your yearly RMDs it would mean those accounts wouldn’t be depleted in your

Nirat | Istock | Getty Images It’s no secret the Covid-19 pandemic has been tough on millions of moms. Trying to juggle work amid ongoing child care uncertainties has left many mothers frustrated into the third year of the pandemic. While tough choices between work and parenting were a shock for middle- and upper-income women,

Jeff Farschman, 72, is a serial cruiser from Delaware who spends months at sea in retirement. Jeff Farschman For nearly two decades, Jeff Farschman, 72, has spent his golden years like many other adventurous retirees — enjoying leisure cruises to exotic ports of call. But unlike many of his fellow cruise passengers, Farschman basically lives

Guido Mieth | DigitalVision | Getty Images Banks are starting to pay a higher return on your cash — good news for savers who’ve seen their stockpiles languishing from a gruesome combination of low interest rates and high inflation. However, some banks are moving faster than others. Some, particularly traditional brick-and-mortar shops, may not budge

For decades now, the country’s outstanding student loan debt balance has only trended in one direction: Up. Today, around 44 million Americans owe a combined $1.7 trillion for their education. But it didn’t have to be this way. Legislation like the GI Bill, the National Defense Education Act, and Higher Education Act of 1965 paved the way for

Bymuratdeniz | E+ | Getty Images Workers continue to see pay increases at a fast clip, but there are signs of a slowdown ahead. Average earnings for all workers grew by 0.3% in April, to $31.85 an hour, the Labor Department said Friday. That’s a modest reduction from the 0.4% pace in March. It also

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images The IRS may have the ability to automate nearly half of tax returns, according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The agency could correctly auto-fill an estimated 62 million to 73 million returns with information it already has, covering 41% to 48% of

Prasit photo | Moment | Getty Images U.S. stocks have a case of whiplash. Stocks slumped Thursday in one of the worst sessions seen so far this year. During intraday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,000 points or 3%, while the S&P 500 lost 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped

A customer purchases lemons at a supermarket on April 12, 2022 in San Mateo County, California. Liu Guanguan | China News Service | Getty Images Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell may have said it best when he addressed the public at a Wednesday press event following the Federal Open Market Committee’s half-point rate hike. “Inflation

Parents and children participate in a demonstration organized by the ParentsTogether Foundation in support of the child tax credit portion of the Build Back Better bill outside of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13, 2021. Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took to the Senate floor Wednesday to decry the

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is seen in the U.S. Capitol during a Senate vote on Feb. 10, 2022. Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The federal government has no business interfering with the ability of American workers to invest their 401(k) plan savings as they see fit. Sadly, that’s not the Biden

Guido Mieth | DigitalVision | Getty Images Catch-up contributions for retirement savers could get more generous for certain savers, if legislation proposed in Congress becomes law. But the benefits of the increased limits will likely be concentrated among higher-income plan participants. Today, preretirees ages 50 and up can put away an extra $6,500 toward retirement

The Federal Reserve raised its target federal funds rate by a half point at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday, notching the largest increase in the benchmark in more than 20 years. “The Federal Reserve is behind the curve,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “They have to raise interest rates a lot

JohnnyGreig | E+ | Getty Images When stocks gyrate, stock investors invariably hear this advice: “Stay the course.” In other words, don’t sell in a gut reaction; stick to your financial plan. This counsel generally makes sense for long-term investors. Stocks are likely to recoup losses by the time owners need the money many years

Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) questions Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the CARES Act, at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, September 28, 2021. Kevin Dietsch | Pool | Reuters A bill to change Supplemental Security Income benefits for

Peter Dazeley | The Image Bank | Getty Images The pandemic-era trend known as the “Great Resignation” is still red-hot, as workers enjoy the perks of record-high demand for their labor. However, economic headwinds mean those benefits may not last much longer, according to economists. A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in March,

President Joe Biden returns to the White House from a day trip to Minneapolis on May 1, 2022. Stefani Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images President Joe Biden recently said that he’d be making his decision around student loan forgiveness within weeks. That means borrowers uncertain of the future of their debt, who’ve been hearing

Camille Tokerud Photography Inc. | Stone | Getty Images A federal benefits program for blind, disabled and elderly individuals could get a long-overdue update if a proposal in Washington is approved. Two Ohio senators — Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. Rob Portman — have teamed up to introduce a bill to update the