Personal finance

Getty Images Strong jobs gains and falling unemployment point to progress in the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. In June, the country added 850,000 jobs, more than expected, and is now 7.13 million below the February 2020 level. And by the end of June, weekly jobless claims slumped to 364,000, a coronavirus pandemic low, according

An IRS office building in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York. Timothy Fadek/Bloomberg via Getty Images Last December, two Atlanta tax professionals pled guilty to a scheme that defrauded the IRS of more than $250 million in taxes. The scam claimed more than $1.2 billion in fraudulent charitable deductions through so-called syndicated conservation easements,

Miami Herald | Tribune News Service | Getty Images There are no signs that Congress plans to send a fourth stimulus check to Americans. Still, many individuals and families are clamoring for more money. A Change.org petition calling for $2,000 per month for every adult American, as well as $1,000 per child, that was started

Tara Moore | Getty Images Most Americans are worried that Social Security will run out in their lifetimes, and those fears have only gotten worse amid the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s according to a survey from financial services company Nationwide, which found that 71% of adults felt that way. Fears about the benefits program were highest

Peter Cade | Getty Images While inheriting money is typically a good thing, newer individual retirement account rules may leave some heirs with a smaller windfall. Thanks to the Secure Act of 2019, certain heirs now have less time to take IRA withdrawals. The law stopped the so-called stretch IRA, which allowed non-spouse beneficiaries to

Yamiesha Bell, 27, started a book club focused on personal financial literacy and mindfulness one year ago. Yamiesha Bell In the last year, Raeshanna Mcanuff, 27, a cosmetic chemist, asked for a raise at her job. Adam Sherif, 24, who works at a music talent agency, paid off the first $30,000 of his $60,000 in

Getty Images There are signs that the U.S. is rebounding from the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic. In June, the country added 850,000 jobs, more than expected, and is now 7.13 million below the February 2020 level. The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that the economy is on track to recover all jobs lost

Shoppers in San Francisco. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Covid-19 vaccinations are increasing, states are dropping their pandemic restrictions and Americans are feeling good about going out and spending after a year and a half spent mostly inside. “We are now coming out of a cave, basically, and there’s a lot of

Allen Weisselberg, center, chief financial officer of Trump Organization, exits from criminal court in New York on July 1, 2021. David Dee Delgado | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty to tax crimes on Thursday. Experts say the illegal practices the government alleges occurred

The age at which you claim Social Security helps determine how big your monthly retirement benefit checks will be for life. If you wait until your full retirement age — generally 66 or 67 — to claim, you will get 100% of what you earned based on your contributions to the program. And if you

Jeffrey Coolidge | Getty Images Rising inflation is a concern for Kevin Linehan, 68, a retiree in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. After a heart attack at age 44, Linehan left his career with the Postal Service early, opting for reduced disability retirement income. “It wasn’t the best financial thing to do,” he said. “But at the time,

skynesher As Covid-19 restrictions lift and summer kicks off, it may be tempting to get distracted by vacations, concerts, barbecues and camping. But financial experts say it’s also the perfect opportunity for a midyear tax progress report. A tax checkup shows if you’re on track and may uncover ways to save over the next six

RealPeopleGroup | E+ | Getty Images If you’re one of the millions of Americans who have quit their job in recent months, you may be eager to move on to whatever is next for you. Yet because our work and the rest of our lives are often interwoven in a number of important ways, you’ll

Twenty/20 We may not know what stocks in the S&P 500 will do next month, or in two years, but over the decades, we have a pretty good hunch that they’ll go up. Most of us also know what a stock is, and that definition hasn’t changed in centuries. None of that is true, of

blackCAT | E+ | Getty Images If you invest through Robinhood, you may get early access to shares when the company goes public. The online brokerage is reserving 20% to 35% of shares to be sold in an initial public offering for its customers, according to its most recent regulatory filing. While it’s uncertain exactly

Three sun-and-sand spots — California, Florida and Hawaii — account for a quarter or more of all flights and car rentals this weekend. Erik Isakson | Tetra images | Getty Images As people head into the long July 4 weekend, travel bookings are at last nearing pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis from TripIt

CHUYN | iStock | Getty Images Figures from the IRS show who has received money from the third stimulus checks for up to $1,400 per person — and there are some surprises. In fact, some people with adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 received a cut. The IRS reports 127,751 payments went to taxpayers in that

In this article DNUT Biden administration says it will fall short of its Fourth of July vaccination goal All the free beer, doughnuts and baseball tickets won’t be enough to keep up the pace of vaccinations. President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one shot in the arms of 70% of U.S. adults before the

Brothers91 | E+ | Getty Images Anyone who is receiving — or already received — unemployment benefits in 2021 could discover they now qualify for no-cost or low-cost private health insurance. As of Thursday, zero-premium health plans that come with minimal or no cost-sharing — i.e., deductibles and copays — are available through the Affordable

Tourists visit the Wall Street bull statue in the Financial District, New York City. Drew Angerer | Getty Images Americans are feeling less comfortable about investing in the stock market long-term, even though it’s one of the best ways to get ahead. In 2021, 28% of Americans said that real estate was their preferred way