Personal finance

A person arrives to vote at a polling station on Election Day, in The Villages, Florida.  Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | Afp | Getty Images In a heated presidential race, there’s one age cohort — voters ages 50 and up — who may help decide the ultimate winner. “We expect the 50-plus electorate to be

Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images Retail therapy is thinly coating voters’ anxieties from the presidential election — and their wallets know it. About 27% of polled shoppers say they are “doom spending” — that is, spending cash despite concerns about the economy and foreign affairs — according to a new report

When I was a teenager, I bought my first car. It was a Toyota Tercel with a few hundred miles on it and cost less than $10,000. Granted, this was 30 years ago. Now that I have a daughter turning 17, I envisioned a similar scenario. She has worked — and saved — since the

This year, a big change happened to 529 college savings plans.  As of 2024, families can roll over unused 529 funds to the account beneficiary’s Roth individual retirement account, without triggering income taxes or penalties, as long as the 529 plan has been open for at least 15 years. Some families have already taken advantage of the new

dowell | Moment | Getty Images The earnings limit for the 0% capital gains bracket will rise in 2025, which could offer tax planning opportunities, financial experts say. At sale, profitable assets owned for more than one year qualify for lower taxes — known as long-term capital gains. Those rates are 0%, 15% or 20%,

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2024.  Brendan McDermid | Reuters With the U.S. presidential election less than two weeks away, and voters decidedly split, some investors are understandably spooked. “This is likely to cause a little bit of choppiness in the

Panama is one of the most affordable places to retire abroad. Helovi | E+ | Getty Images Today’s investors face one looming question: Will I have enough money when I retire? Surveys show prospective retirees may have big lump sums in mind. To get a more accurate, personal gauge, it helps to start with your

Christopher Grigat | Moment | Getty Images Investors can generally reduce their tax losses in a portfolio by using exchange-traded funds over mutual funds, experts said. “ETFs come with tax magic that’s unrivaled by mutual funds,” Bryan Armour, Morningstar’s director of passive strategies research for North America and editor of its ETFInvestor newsletter, wrote earlier

Erik Von Weber The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates in September, the first in a string of cuts expected at least into 2025. Earnings on cash are expected to decline as a result — likely leading investors to ask what they should do in response. From a financial planning perspective, cash generally refers to

Phynart Studio | E+ | Getty Images If you’re ready to rebalance investments or harvest profits, you could shield more earnings from capital gains taxes in 2025. The IRS on Tuesday announced dozens of inflation adjustments for 2025, including long-term capital gains brackets, which apply to assets owned for more than one year. Starting in

Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Although more students are eligible for federal financial aid, fewer high schoolers are pursuing a four-year degree. Increasingly, college is becoming a path for only those with the means to pay for it, many studies show.  Although undergraduate enrollment is up overall, the number of new first-year

Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images New changes from the Internal Revenue Service may affect federal tax liabilities for families in 2025. For example, in its announcement Tuesday, the agency said it raised the maximum amount of the earned income tax credit, or EITC, and increased the income thresholds to qualify. It left the

Customers visit the Macy’s Herald Square store in New York City on Dec. 17, 2023. Kena Betancur | Corbis News | Getty Images For some shoppers, the upcoming holiday season may lead to significant credit card debt. Meanwhile, some people are still paying off debt from last year’s gift buying. In fact, 28% of shoppers who

Leopatrizi | E+ | Getty Images If you need a tax preparer for the 2025 filing season, now is the time to start looking, experts say. Finding a preparer could take longer amid the industry’s staffing shortage, particularly for areas of specialty expertise, such as cryptocurrency or international taxes. “I would absolutely 100% recommend starting

The author paid a company, Renewable Recycling, to pick up and recycle his queen-size mattress in New York City. Greg Iacurci I paid $95 to recycle a mattress. It may sound odd, silly even, to pay so much to dispose of a run-of-the-mill household item. But the economics of mattress recycling illustrate why it can

Asiavision | E+ | Getty Images Between higher prices and high interest rates, some Americans have had a hard time keeping up. As a result, many are using more of their available credit and now, nearly 2 in 5 credit cardholders — 37% — have maxed out or come close to maxing out a credit

Jacob Wackerhausen | Istock | Getty Images Starting in 2025, certain heirs with inherited individual retirement accounts must take yearly required withdrawals or face a penalty. But some non-spousal beneficiaries should consider taking distributions sooner, depending on their situation, even if annual withdrawals aren’t required, financial experts explain.  “This is about multi-year tax planning” to

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are shown on screen during a debate watch party at the Cameo Art House Theatre in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Sept. 10, 2024. Allison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images With the Social Security Administration facing a looming funding crisis over the next decade, it’s clear that the

Ivy League architecture at Princeton University. Loop Images | Getty Images At the nation’s top schools, including many in the Ivy League, acceptance rates hover near all-time lows. “College admissions only ever gets more competitive and there’s a lot of stress from families about the stakes and how to get in,” said Thomas Howell, the founder

Izusek | E+ | Getty Images Exchange-traded funds are generally known for passive strategies. But there has been a surge in actively managed ETFs as investors seek lower costs and more precision, experts say. Active ETFs represented just more than 2% of the U.S. ETF market at the beginning of 2019. But these funds have