Personal finance

Maskot | Maskot | Getty Images For savers, choosing how to best allocate money among a stream of account types may seem an impossible task. There are 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts, 529 plans, high-yield savings accounts, taxable brokerage accounts, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts and so on — a veritable hodgepodge of letters,

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testifies before the House Small Business Committee on July 17, 2013. James Lawler Duggan | Reuters The IRS is shifting how it examines tax returns of lower earners as part of its broader effort to fix inequity in enforcement.  Starting in fiscal year 2024, the agency will “substantially” reduce the number

Woman going over her finances Damircudic | E+ | Getty Images Ready or not, student loan bills are restarting in a matter of weeks. Most borrowers haven’t made a payment on their education debt since Donald Trump was president and the coronavirus was starting to spark concerns. The pause on the bills and the accrual

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Pay transparency is on the rise for job applicants — and momentum suggests that trend will continue, experts said. In August, 50% of online job listings advertised salary, up from 18.4% in February 2020, according to Indeed Hiring Lab, the economic research arm of career site Indeed. Such businesses

Artistgndphotography | E+ | Getty Images The Federal Reserve is likely to pause its aggressive interest rate hikes when it meets this week, experts predict. But consumers may not feel any relief. The central bank has already raised interest rates 11 times since last year — the fastest pace of tightening since the early 1980s. Yet recent

Suriyapong Thongsawang | Moment | Getty Images Inflation is broadly retreating in the U.S. economy. But starting in October, health insurance is poised to act as a countervailing force that buoys inflation for about a year, economists said. That’s significant at a time when policymakers are using inflation data to determine how to set interest

To be sure, 529 college savings plans already had a lot going for them. Now, thanks to ”Secure 2.0,” a slew of measures affecting retirement savers, they’re about to be even more attractive. Starting in 2024, savers can roll unused money from 529 plans over to Roth individual retirement accounts free of income tax or tax penalties. Among other limitations,

Peopleimages | Istock | Getty Images Unable to come up with the cash for steep college tuition bills all at once, many families opt to pay the tab over time. However, a new report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns of a number of risks associated with these payment plans, including snowballing charges and

Juan Algar | Moment | Getty Images Student loan payments are restarting in October after a pause of more than three years — and scammers are trying to take advantage, the Federal Trade Commission warned Thursday. Fraudsters may try mislead borrowers by offering assistance and asking them to pay for it, Ari Lazarus, consumer education

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images A federal program that provides monthly income to elderly, blind and disabled Americans to provide for their basic needs has not been updated in about 40 years. On Tuesday, Washington lawmakers renewed a push to update rules associated with the program known as Supplemental Security Income, or SSI.

mapodile / Getty After several interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, many have braced for stock market volatility in their 401(k) plans. But experts say some plans could face another risk: employer bankruptcy. Generally, your 401(k) is safe from creditors in the case of bankruptcy, based on protection from the Employee Retirement Income Security

Sporrer/Rupp | Image Source | Getty Images New government inflation data points to a 3.2% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in 2024, according to a new estimate from The Senior Citizens League. That would raise the average monthly retirement benefit by about $57.30, according to the nonpartisan senior group. The Senior Citizens League’s calculations are based

DusanManic | iStock | Getty Images Almost half of Americans — 47% — say achieving retirement security will take a miracle, according to a new survey from Natixis Investment Managers. That is up “quite a bit” from about 40% of respondents who said the same two years ago, according to Dave Goodsell, executive director of

Gasoline was priced from $4.29 a gallon at a fuel station in Virginia on Aug. 16, 2023. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Inflation jumped in August on the back of higher gasoline prices, according to the consumer price index. But there’s good news for Americans: That increase is likely temporary, economists said.

Lauren Rosenberg, right, of Portland, Maine, and her nanny, left, play set out toys for Rosenberg’s children. Portland Press Herald | Portland Press Herald | Getty Images Child care is already scarce and expensive — and the stakes are about to get higher. The federal government provided states with nearly $24 billion in stabilization funds

Jeffrey Coolidge | Photodisc | Getty Images The IRS is launching plans with boosted technology and artificial intelligence to collect unpaid taxes from higher earners, partnerships and large corporations, which could transform tax compliance or spark challenges for the agency, experts say.  After past criticisms of low audit rates among the wealthy, the IRS on

Squaredpixels | Getty Images When it comes to saving and investing, many investors tend to think of two key goals — funding emergencies that could crop up in the short term or retirement that may be years away. But as many individuals continue to reconsider their goals following the Covid-19 pandemic, experts say that that

Used car sales are soaring all over the U.S., and companies from Autonation to CarMax, Carvana and Buffalo, New York-based used car start-up ACV Auctions are benefitting. Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images During the pandemic, shoppers splurged on higher-end new cars. Now, given the current high car costs and interest rates, drivers

Xavier Lorenzo | Moment | Getty Images Not long ago, it was common to earn low returns on cash — less than 1%. But after the Federal Reserve embarked on a series of interest rate increases to tamp down inflation, that has changed. Now, investors may get as much as 5% or more interest on

Odilon Dimier | PhotoAlto | Getty Images Even though more students feel priced out of college entirely, there are efforts to improve access to higher education that seem to be working. In 2011, San Francisco made headlines when it became the first city in the nation to kick off a college savings account with $50