Personal finance

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:

Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images Most states are re-imposing a requirement to look for work as a condition of getting unemployment benefits — and the holdouts may soon do the same. So-called “work search” rules have long been a condition for the jobless to receive income support from the government. It

Marko Geber You’ve reached your emergency fund savings goal, and have the capacity to continue saving even more. Where should you put the money? For younger investors, it’s especially important that they’re putting some of their longer-term savings into the stock market. With years and even decades until they need that money, they stand to

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, left, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., speak at a July 28, 2021 news conference in Washington, D.C. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images As U.S. Senators hammer out the $1 trillion bipartisan federal infrastructure bill, a provision in the measure seeks to raise funds with a crackdown on cryptocurrency tax reporting.

ArtMarie | E+ | Getty Images ‘Vaccine hesitancy’ has become a popular term as public officials urge unvaccinated Americans to protect themselves against the latest Covid-19 outbreak. Now it turns out there’s also another uncertainty — ‘tax hesitancy’ — that is taking hold among some parents over the expanded monthly child tax credit payments. The

In this article BTC.CB= DOGE.CM= DASH Eva-Katalin | E+ | Getty Images The incredible performance in the stock market following the coronavirus selloff has enticed new investors. For many, the gains have been just too good to pass up. Christian Nassif, 24, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is one such investor. Nassif, who drives for both

In this article AXP The South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Summer travel is back, big time. That’s according to a survey released Tuesday by American Express Travel, where consumer travel bookings have reached 95% of May 2019 levels. But while affluent Americans are itching to

pcess609 If nothing changes, the federal government’s break from payments for student loan borrowers will come to an end next month. For the first time since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and crippled the economy, millions of borrowers will have to resume paying their monthly bills. The typical federal student loan

Los Angeles County Regional Food Bank workers help with food distribution in Willowbrook, California on April 29, 2021. FREDERIC J. BROWN | AFP | Getty Images Millions of jobless Americans are poised to lose Covid-era income support in about a month’s time. This impending “benefits cliff” appears different from others that loomed this past year,

Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images You’ll probably have to use cryptocurrency to pay off that ransomware hacker who froze your laptop, but where else might you put all your bitcoin, ethereum and other digital coins to actual use? Tesla may still be unsure about accepting bitcoin for its electric vehicles again, yet cryptocurrency

As the delta variant drives new Covid cases across country, the pandemic’s economic impact continues to weigh heavily on college enrollment. Now, with another class of undergraduates set to start classes in the fall, families are once again struggling with the cost. Nearly two-thirds of parents, or 63%, said their child’s post-high school plans have

A career fair in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 23, 2021. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Unemployment benefits are still not reaching people quickly, over a year into the Covid pandemic. About 38% of workers who got their first payment of benefits in June had waited more than 21 days for the funds to arrive, according

Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images The IRS began issuing another 1.5 million tax refunds this week to people who received unemployment benefits in 2020. That adds to the nearly 9 million refunds, worth about $10 billion, the agency sent since May. Funds delivered by direct deposit this week started hitting bank accounts on Wednesday, and

d3sign | Moment | Getty Images Around 4 million children in low-income families are at risk of not getting a monthly payment of the expanded child tax credit this year, according to a report published Thursday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The IRS began issuing monthly payments of the tax credit on

Yury Karamanenko | iStock Editorial | Getty Images The national ban on evictions will expire in two days, leaving the millions of Americans who are still behind on their rent at risk of being forced out of their homes. But some states will continue to limit the proceedings beyond July 31. In California, where as

VALERIE MACON | AFP | Getty Images The Covid-19 pandemic prompted the Social Security Administration to suspend in-person services in March 2020. Now, a new report from the Social Security Office of the Inspector General finds that the agency is still behind with regard to processing some mailed applications and requests for Social Security cards.

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi arrives at a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Wednesday that people who believe President Joe Biden can forgive student debt on his own are

People line up outside a newly reopened career center for in-person appointments in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., April 15, 2021. Amira Karaoud | Reuters There’s good news for some who claimed unemployment benefits in 2020. The IRS is sending another 1.5 million refunds to people who were taxed on unemployment income last year before a portion

Palantir Technologies co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel at a Tokyo news conference on Nov. 18, 2019. Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel did it. Now, new data shows other investors are doing it, too. Figures released by the Joint Committee on Taxation finds that so-called mega individual retirement accounts, those