Personal finance

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 22, 2021. Demetrius Freeman | Pool | Reuters The Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday after 14 hours of debate. Voting along party lines, Democrats blocked an amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,

In this article NCLH Giacomo Augugliaro | Moment | Getty Images As the rampant delta variant of Covid-19 threatens the post-pandemic travel and tourism rebound, there’s growing acceptance of so-called vaccine passports among a one-hesitant U.S. public and increased calls for their mandated use across the industry. A survey from travel website Upgraded Points of

Customers at the bar in Philadelphia restaurant Martha, which requires customer proof of vaccination, on Aug. 7, 2021. Hannah Beier | Reuters Business are getting creative in their efforts to attract and retain workers amid a labor shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Ray Bales, president of a Seniors Helping Seniors franchise in Knoxville, Tennessee,

Alex Potemkin | E+ | Getty Images Being ultra-tech-savvy apparently isn’t enough to protect you from online scams, a new report suggests. The number of individuals age 20 or younger — members of Generation Z who have grown up on smartphones and the internet — reporting they are victims of cyber-fraud has surged 156% over

Sue Barr | Image Source | Getty Images Families with children would be major winners if the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint released Monday by Democrats holds up. The package instructs Senate committees to invest trillions of dollars to boost the social safety net for families through programs and services such as an expanded child tax

Halfpoint | iStock | Getty Images Many Americans are looking to Labor Day with dread. That’s when some 7.5 million of them will stop receiving their unemployment benefits. The number is more than five times the 1.3 million people who lost aid in December 2013 as the country walked away from the Great Recession. Although

FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images There’s about a week left for anyone who’s uninsured to see if they qualify for free or low-cost private health insurance through the public marketplace. A special enrollment period that will end on Aug. 15 allows you to use healthcare.gov to sign up for a plan, which could come

PamelaJoeMcFarlane | E+ | Getty Images The first half of 2021 was very different than the volatile first six months of 2020. To that point, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index returned 15% in the first half of this year — healthy growth in just about any full year. Yet, with the potential for inflation

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., second from right, speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2021. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images As the Senate races for its summer recess, Democrats hope to pass two priorities: a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget resolution allowing them to skirt Republican

T-Mobile Weeks after applying for public service loan forgiveness, a federal program that forgives student loan debt for eligible workers, Kathleen Young got a phone call. The woman on the other end said she could help Young forgive her student debt. Young, an elementary school teacher in Palo Alto, California, assumed it was the U.S.

Those who hire a lawn-care company will reap time and energy savings for a relatively small monthly cost. davidf | E+ | Getty Images During our working years, saving for the future is critical to one day achieving financial independence. At the same time, we are working to meet other financial goals, such as paying

With schools and parents divided on mask and vaccine requirements, many school districts are planning to be fully in person in the fall — and hoping for the best. “We are all in this together,” said Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent of North Shore School District, just north of Chicago.   Lubelfeld said he will follow Illinois

Sam Edwards | Getty Images One type of annuity may be poised to get a bit of a makeover. Under bipartisan retirement legislation pending in both the House and Senate, the rules applying to qualified longevity annuity contracts, or QLACs, would be changed. Although the two chambers’ provisions differ somewhat, both would remove the 25%

The Biden administration announced Friday it will extend the payment pause for federal student loan borrowers through January 2022. Since March 2020, borrowers have been given the option to press the pause button on their monthly bills, without interest accruing on their debt. Some 90% of borrowers have been doing so. The pause was scheduled

Tara Moore | Getty Images When the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic sent shock waves through the U.S. economy, its also prompted worries about how the ensuing downturn could affect Social Security. The program’s trust funds were already running low. At the same time, the Social Security Administration was faced with the unprecedented task of

Hunter Hastings / 500px | 500px | Getty Images Although everyone wants to leave the pandemic behind, the loss of the financial relief many families received because of the crisis will be less easy to part with. Stimulus checks, more generous jobless benefits, expanded money to feed children and other aid and protections kept the

It might be time, again, to protect your credit. An estimated 1 million U.S. and global credit cards were released by a Russian criminal organization on the so-called dark web, according to analysts at cybersecurity firm Q6. The group, which calls itself “All World Cards,” offers stolen credit card information to other criminals. Although there’s

Photo by Ariel Skelley via Getty Images Investors are piling into municipal bonds — also known as muni bonds or “munis” — ahead of President Joe Biden‘s proposed tax hikes. However, some retirees may be hit with a costly surprise: higher Social Security levies and Medicare premiums.  During the first six months of 2021, U.S.

Job seekers speak with recruiters at a Job News USA career fair in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 23, 2021. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images About half of U.S. states withdrew federal funds for the unemployed months early to encourage out-of-work residents to find a job. But mounting evidence shows that policy gambit hasn’t yet paid

kate_sept2004 | E+ | Getty Images Many Americans were financially squeezed even before the Covid-19 pandemic began. As of 2019, 41% of households ages 25 to 64 said they did not have enough saved to cover an unexpected $400 expense, according to Federal Reserve data. One reason they may have had trouble setting aside cash: