A young woman walks past a Bitcoin symbol in the window of a company that offers blockchain application services. Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images Bitcoin took a beating in December — but that price plunge opens a tax loophole for investors. The cryptocurrency lost about 18% this month through Thursday, with
Personal finance
One thing is for sure: 2022 is going to cost you. Between inflation and ongoing supply chain issues, prices are rising on consumer goods nearly across the board. “I really don’t think there’s any way to escape,” said Julie Ramhold, a consumer analyst with DealNews.com. But that doesn’t mean you can’t shop smarter for the
MilosStankovic | E+ | Getty Images People have the best of intentions. At the start of a new year, millions make resolutions — goals they want to reach throughout the upcoming months. Getting a handle on money issues is usually near the top of many such lists. The most financial popular goals are paying down
Ariel Skelley | DigitalVision | Getty Images Looking to be happier with your life and finances in 2022? The answer may be finding professional help. People who worked with a financial advisor were found to be nearly three times happier than those who didn’t, according to a study by Herbers & Company. Predictors of happiness
Phynart Studio | E+ | Getty Images When the calendar flips to 2022, certain Medicare costs will creep higher. For the program’s 63.6 million beneficiaries — most of whom are 65 or older — annual adjustments can affect premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing aspects of Medicare. While each change doesn’t necessarily involve a huge dollar
d3sign | Moment | Getty Images Has your grocery bill been making you do a double take? You’re not to blame. Inflation is. Rising prices are hitting almost every aisle in supermarkets across the U.S. The cost of steaks swelled by 25% between November 2020 and November 2021. Eggs and fish were up 8%, to
Marko Geber If you couldn’t max out your individual retirement account in 2021, don’t despair. There’s still time to make a contribution to traditional and Roth IRAs. The deadline for putting money into IRAs for this year is April 15, 2022, giving savers an additional four months to contribute. For 2021, the maximum contribution to
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images New Year’s Day luck could end up making a Powerball player a few hundred million dollars richer. No ticket matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday, which means the jackpot has climbed higher: It’s an advertised $483 million for Saturday night’s drawing, up from $441 million. The top prize
President Joe Biden walks to the Oval Office upon his return to the White House on Dec. 20, 2021. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters When Scott Heins heard that the Biden administration was giving student loan borrowers another three months before they’ll have to start making their payments again, he had mixed feelings. On one hand,
Samuel Corum/Bloomberg Democrats seem to have nixed the idea of taxing returns on unsold stock and other assets, favoring other ways to raise revenue as part of a nearly $2 trillion social and climate bill. Scrapping that tax on “unrealized capital gains” would primarily benefit the richest Americans, who hold the bulk of the country’s
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images Coming off several years of outsized gains in the stock market, investors may be hoping 2022 is like deja vu again. Don’t count on it. While future performance is impossible to predict with certainty, many financial advisors expect returns will come back down to Earth. “We
Narisara Nami | Moment | Getty Images You may be thinking it’s time to get into the stock market. Whether it is a resolution for the new year or you want to get in on the gains you saw others make, you’ll want to make sure you do it right. To be sure, stocks climbed
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images After making payments on her student loans since 2005, Karen Tongson is finally free of her debt. In November, Tongson, an English and gender studies professor, signed into her loan account and discovered her balance had fallen from $47,000 to $0, thanks to
FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images Open enrollment for the public health insurance marketplace lasts a month longer than usual this year — which means there’s still time to get coverage. Through Jan. 15 — unless your state has a different closing date — you and your family can sign up for a plan through
Portra Images | Getty Images Many Americans may be experiencing a spending hangover after the holidays. This year, it may have been easier than ever to spend more than intended. Some families were able to gather together after being apart last year, and inflation and supply chain issues have driven up the cost of many
Victoria Popova | iStock | Getty Images Student loan borrowers got some happy news this holiday season: They’ll have an additional three months before they have to start making their payments again. The payment pause, which has been in effect since March 2020, was scheduled to expire Jan. 31, but the Biden administration announced it
Integrity Pictures Inc | The Image Bank | Getty Images The share of employers allowing Roth 401(k) savings surged last year, giving more workers access to the financial benefits that accompany such contributions. A Roth is a type of after-tax account. Workers pay taxes up front on 401(k) savings, but investment growth and account withdrawals
John M Lund Photography Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images The “Great Resignation” may be about to pick up steam again in the new year. Kathryn Minshew, co-founder and CEO of careers website The Muse, is predicting another wave in January and then again once companies start finalizing their back-to office plans. Right now, she
Whenever Anne Helen Petersen and her partner Charlie Warzel, both journalists, were on a trip, they’d find themselves talking about moving to wherever they were visiting. “It would happen when we went to Santa Fe and to the Catskills,” Petersen said. “It was every single place.” That told them that they weren’t happy in New
The Jet offers one-by-two luxury seating in its 14-passenger coaches between New York and Washington, D.C., along with at-seat attendant service and UV air filtration. The Jet For New York City resident James Gilmer, 28, long-distance travel by bus usually means something very specific: getting to and from his hometown of Pittsburgh during the holidays.