Personal finance

Choreograph | iStock | Getty Images For Medicare beneficiaries wondering whether their Part B premiums could be reduced, the waiting continues. More than three months after Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra ordered a reassessment of this year’s $170.10 standard monthly premium — a bigger-than-expected jump from $148.50 in 2021 — it remains uncertain

Golibtolibov | Istock | Getty Images Taxing the wealthy is a big topic in Washington these days. President Joe Biden recently proposed in his 2023 annual budget a so-called billionaire minimum income tax that would increase levies on the country’s wealthiest households. Under the plan, people with a net worth of $100 million or more

Getty Images If you’re eligible for health savings account contributions, you can deposit more money starting in 2023, thanks to an inflation adjustment from the IRS. In 2023, you can save up to $3,850 with an individual health insurance plan, up from $3,650 in 2022, the IRS announced Friday. And you can soon contribute up

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images The surge in worker pay that was a key feature of the 2021 labor market showed signs of fading early this year, as businesses’ demand for workers has moderated a bit from last year’s record levels. Wages and salaries in the private sector grew by 5% in the

Building wealth is cool. That’s a mantra of Modern Blk Girl, a community aimed at teaching Black women the importance of investing and wealth creation that was founded by Tiffany James when she was just 25. Like most newly minted college graduates, James had student loan debt and was living just barely within her means

Mint Images | Mint Images Rf | Getty Images Americans may be getting more information about a big financial choice regarding pension benefits. Pension plans traditionally pay retirees monthly streams of income that last for the rest of their lives. Companies may also offer a lump sum to current and former employees, allowing them to

U.S. President Joe Biden announces additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as well as fresh sanctions against Russia, during a speech in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, April 28, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he’ll have his answer on student loan forgiveness within

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the jobs report for the month of March from the State Dining Room of the White House on April 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images The tens of millions of Americans saddled with student loans may finally hear soon what the

Most adults in the U.S. support guaranteed access to personal finance education for high school students. Eighty-eight percent of adults surveyed by the National Endowment for Financial Education said their state should require either a semester or year long personal finance course for graduation. The survey of 1,030 adults was conducted in March. More from

Consumers are putting more purchases on plastic — and paying more for the privilege. Rising prices have caused many Americans to feel suddenly cash-strapped and more dependent on credit cards to make ends meet. After consumers paid off a record $83 billion in credit card debt during the pandemic, helped by government stimulus checks and fewer opportunities

Getty Images Some investors may soon be able to add cryptocurrencies to their 401(k) accounts. Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday it will begin allowing investors to put cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin in 401(k) retirement accounts, making it the first provider to do so. The offering will be available midyear for the 23,000 companies that use Fidelity

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Fidelity Investments is offering bitcoin to 401(k) investors. But before retirement savers get access, employers must give the green light — and that’s often much more complicated than it sounds. Fidelity administered almost $2.9 trillion of 401(k) and other workplace retirement plan assets (representing over a quarter of the

Your end-of-life experience may be very different depending on where you live, according to a Policygenius report that ranks the country’s best and worst places to die.  The report gave each state and the District of Columbia a numerical score based on seven factors, including funeral costs and services, green burials, palliative care, Medicare providers,

Gece33 | E+ | Getty Images In the continuing war for talent in the American workplace, employers have been adding more perks to attract and retain employees. That includes paying more attention to the financial well-being of their workers. “I’m seeing greater interest in financial-wellness programs because of the Great Resignation, coupled with an increasingly

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images There’s a chance — a tiny one — that a Powerball player will manage to turn $2 into $421 million on Monday night. That’s the jackpot amount heading into the week’s first drawing, which comes on the heels of 29 pulls — three weekly — with no one

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 04: Supporters of The Debt Collective convene near the U.S. Department of Education to demand full student debt cancellation on April 04, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for MoveOn & Debt Collective) Leigh Vogel | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Nearly 9 in 10 young Americans

Benjamin Gibson, a pharmacist in San Antonio, Texas, makes more than $100,000 a year and owns his own home. And yet, Gibson, 40, struggles to afford basic necessities, including groceries and gas. “When you are used to spending a couple of dollars on fruits and vegetables and then you’re paying a lot more, it stresses

Casarsaguru | E+ | Getty Images With a background of high inflation and the war between Russia and Ukraine still unfolding, April has been an unhappy month for stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.89% for the past month to date as of Friday, for example, while the S&P 500 Index was down

Liudmila Chernetska | Istock | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a number of massive changes to the federal student loan system, which it says could bring millions of borrowers closer to debt forgiveness. Federal student loan borrowers have long run into serious issues, including misinformation from their servicers, too many choices

cdwheatley | E+ | Getty Images People have wide-ranging views of what it means to be “high net worth,” according to a survey from digital wealth manager Personal Capital. Yet most people — 74% — don’t see themselves ever fitting into that category. When 2,209 adults were asked what they would consider high net worth,