Personal finance

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images More households got a monthly payment of the child tax credit in August, reaching an additional 1.6 million kids relative to July, the Treasury Department and IRS said Friday. The IRS disbursed $15 billion to families in the second round of payments, issued Friday to households with about

Every working parent was put to the test in 2020. Managing job responsibilities along with remote school and other household tasks caused some to fall behind professionally, at least temporarily, while others remain sidelined. “At the beginning, I thought he could work alongside me, but it proved to be really difficult,” said Sara Abate Rezvanifar,

andresr | E+ | Getty Images “The Great Resignation” is apparently still going strong across America. In fact, some people want to quit their jobs so badly, they are willing to go into debt to do it, a survey from Credit Karma found. Currently, 38% of U.S. workers are seeking employment elsewhere and 41% are

Getty Images Having a big wad of cash to invest means not only deciding what to buy, but when. If you’re debating between investing the money all at once or through regular deployments at set intervals (known as dollar-cost averaging), be aware that you’re more likely to end up with a higher balance down the

10’000 Hours | DigitalVision | Getty Images New Consumer Price Index data points to a possible 6.2% cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security recipients for 2022, according to the latest estimate from the Senior Citizens League. That’s up from a 6.1% estimate the nonpartisan senior advocacy group projected last month. Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment is

skynesher | E+ | Getty Images People with federal student loan debt have about six more months of freedom from repayment and seeing interest accrue on their outstanding balances. In the meantime, they can put the money they would be paying towards those loans to work. The U.S. Department of Education in August extended the

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 22, 2021. Demetrius Freeman | Pool | Reuters The Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday after 14 hours of debate. Voting along party lines, Democrats blocked an amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,

Getty Images Young investors are flocking to social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit for financial advice. In fact, one-third of Americans trust social media to help them make financial decisions, and 32% trust social media influencers and celebrities’ financial advice, a survey from investment firm TIAA found. Navigating the slew of recommendations can

Alex Potemkin | E+ | Getty Images Being ultra-tech-savvy apparently isn’t enough to protect you from online scams, a new report suggests. The number of individuals age 20 or younger — members of Generation Z who have grown up on smartphones and the internet — reporting they are victims of cyber-fraud has surged 156% over

Customers at the bar in Philadelphia restaurant Martha, which requires customer proof of vaccination, on Aug. 7, 2021. Hannah Beier | Reuters Business are getting creative in their efforts to attract and retain workers amid a labor shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Ray Bales, president of a Seniors Helping Seniors franchise in Knoxville, Tennessee,

Sue Barr | Image Source | Getty Images Families with children would be major winners if the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint released Monday by Democrats holds up. The package instructs Senate committees to invest trillions of dollars to boost the social safety net for families through programs and services such as an expanded child tax

Halfpoint | iStock | Getty Images Many Americans are looking to Labor Day with dread. That’s when some 7.5 million of them will stop receiving their unemployment benefits. The number is more than five times the 1.3 million people who lost aid in December 2013 as the country walked away from the Great Recession. Although

FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images There’s about a week left for anyone who’s uninsured to see if they qualify for free or low-cost private health insurance through the public marketplace. A special enrollment period that will end on Aug. 15 allows you to use healthcare.gov to sign up for a plan, which could come

Hunter Hastings / 500px | 500px | Getty Images Although everyone wants to leave the pandemic behind, the loss of the financial relief many families received because of the crisis will be less easy to part with. Stimulus checks, more generous jobless benefits, expanded money to feed children and other aid and protections kept the

T-Mobile Weeks after applying for public service loan forgiveness, a federal program that forgives student loan debt for eligible workers, Kathleen Young got a phone call. The woman on the other end said she could help Young forgive her student debt. Young, an elementary school teacher in Palo Alto, California, assumed it was the U.S.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., second from right, speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2021. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images As the Senate races for its summer recess, Democrats hope to pass two priorities: a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget resolution allowing them to skirt Republican

Sam Edwards | Getty Images One type of annuity may be poised to get a bit of a makeover. Under bipartisan retirement legislation pending in both the House and Senate, the rules applying to qualified longevity annuity contracts, or QLACs, would be changed. Although the two chambers’ provisions differ somewhat, both would remove the 25%

Those who hire a lawn-care company will reap time and energy savings for a relatively small monthly cost. davidf | E+ | Getty Images During our working years, saving for the future is critical to one day achieving financial independence. At the same time, we are working to meet other financial goals, such as paying

With schools and parents divided on mask and vaccine requirements, many school districts are planning to be fully in person in the fall — and hoping for the best. “We are all in this together,” said Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent of North Shore School District, just north of Chicago.   Lubelfeld said he will follow Illinois

Tara Moore | Getty Images When the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic sent shock waves through the U.S. economy, its also prompted worries about how the ensuing downturn could affect Social Security. The program’s trust funds were already running low. At the same time, the Social Security Administration was faced with the unprecedented task of