Personal finance

Clemens Porikys | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images If you’re in your 40s, you probably have seen articles on how much you should have saved by now to comfortably retire. One guideline from Fidelity Investments calls for having three times your starting salary saved by 40, with the aim of growing that to six

Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images Retirement savers who want a taste of bitcoin without owning the cryptocurrency coins directly could soon gain the access they’ve been craving. The Jan. 10 deadline is nearing for U.S. regulators to decide whether to allow a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which would attempt to track the real-time

Andersen Ross Photography Inc | Digitalvision | Getty Images Some colleges offer and push financial products to students that can be exploitatively pricey, a new report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finds. “This analysis indicates that hundreds of colleges are paid by financial institutions to market certain products to students,” the bureau writes. “This

Betsie Van der Meer | Getty If you’re a last-minute holiday shopper still checking off the remaining gifts on your list, beware: You could be putting yourself at risk for fraud. “Procrastination is, quite frankly, one of the keys to success for crooks,” Paul Fabara, chief risk officer at Visa, recently told CNBC. “They assume that

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Brendan McDermid | Reuters More than a year after single-stock exchange-traded funds hit the U.S. market, risk-seeking investors continue to dive in. Single-stock ETFs were first introduced in Europe in 2018. There are now nearly four dozen single-stock ETFs in the U.S., many of

Maskot | Maskot | Getty Images Both new and used car purchases were expensive for drivers this year, as limited inventory and high borrowing costs affected affordability. “Interest rates have taken such a toll on purchasing power,” said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds. Yet, consumers might begin to see lower prices in 2024,

Almost half, 43%, of unmarried American adults want to get married in the future, according to a 2022 Harris Poll survey. But only 28% said they want to have a child. This trend has contributed to the growth of a household configuration popularly referred to as DINKs: “dual income, no kids.” “This idea and household

Medianews Group | Getty Images The Powerball jackpot has soared to an estimated $572 million — and the big winner may wonder when the best time is to claim their prize. It’s the fourth Powerball jackpot to exceed $500 million in 2023, and there have been 29 consecutive drawings without a winner. The next Powerball

GlobalStock | Getty Images Workers who turn 62 years old might be tempted to increase their income by claiming Social Security retirement benefits. But those claimants should understand that their Social Security benefits may be temporarily reduced due to the income they earn. That Social Security rule — the retirement earnings test — is “poorly

Inflation may be cooling, but households are still feeling squeezed. After its last policy meeting of the year, the Federal Reserve said inflation has “eased over the past year” while maintaining that prices are “elevated.”  However, the number of households stretched thin has barely budged. As of November, 62% of adults said they are living

Catherine Falls Commercial | Moment | Getty Images The page has almost turned on 2023 — and that means time is running out to make certain tax moves by year’s end, or else risk missing out on their benefits. Here are some tax strategies to consider before ringing in the new year, according to advisors

Srdjanpav | E+ | Getty Images When it comes to the holidays, there’s one thing most workers don’t want to receive: a pink slip. But that’s exactly what some employees are getting this year. Citigroup is in the midst of layoffs as part of a corporate overhaul. Other companies to recently shed workers include e-commerce

CNBC’s senior personal finance correspondent Sharon Epperson speaks with high school students as part of Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee’s Finance Park financial literacy program. Sam Wiseman High schools are increasingly offering real-world financial lessons to students — and soon more than half of U.S. high schoolers will be required to take a personal finance

A patient waiting for an appointment at a medical clinic. Drs Producoes | E+ | Getty Images Most employees sign up for the workplace health-care plan during open enrollment, and then don’t think much about it afterward. But there are steps you can take at the start of the new year to get the most

Bymuratdeniz | E+ | Getty Images In October, the pandemic-era pause on student loan payments expired, and the bills resumed for some 22 million people. Just 60% of those borrowers had made a payment by mid-November, new U.S. Department of Education data shows. In a recent blog post on the findings, U.S. Department of Education

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images While some recent reports have painted Generation Z as taking a relaxed “soft saving” approach to retirement, new research finds this generation is the most confident they’ll be able to retire. Gen Z women are especially optimistic.  Almost two-thirds, 65%, of Gen Z respondents are confident they’ll be

These days, fewer people feel financially comfortable, let alone rich. The average household’s net worth has soared in recent years, rising 37% between 2019 and 2022, according to the survey of consumer finances from the Federal Reserve. Yet, even as households became wealthier, inflation and instability have left more people in the bucket of so-called

Thomas Barwick | Stone | Getty Images The S&P 500 index has been a winner in 2023. The index on Wednesday closed above 4,700 for the first time since January 2022.  Year to date, the index is up about 23%. Its average annual return is more than 10%. That performance may now prompt some investors

The Powerball jackpot hit $1.2 billion on Oct. 3, 2023, the third-biggest prize in the game’s history. Scott Olson | Getty The Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $535 million — and with the year-end approaching, the winner may wonder whether it’s better to claim the prize in 2023 or 2024. There have already

Andresr | E+ | Getty Images Are you expecting a package delivery this holiday season? If so, scammers may try to dupe you with bogus emails or text messages about a shipment to steal your personal information, the Federal Trade Commission warned in a consumer alert. People who buy items online typically get several notifications