Personal finance

Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images Most states are re-imposing a requirement to look for work as a condition of getting unemployment benefits — and the holdouts may soon do the same. So-called “work search” rules have long been a condition for the jobless to receive income support from the government. It

mphillips007 | iStock Unreleased | Getty Images When it comes to the lottery, it’s been a good year so far for Uncle Sam. Winners of Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots — worth an advertised $2.9 billion in all — have collectively paid roughly $515 million to the IRS in 2021 taxes. And that won’t be

ArtMarie | E+ | Getty Images ‘Vaccine hesitancy’ has become a popular term as public officials urge unvaccinated Americans to protect themselves against the latest Covid-19 outbreak. Now it turns out there’s also another uncertainty — ‘tax hesitancy’ — that is taking hold among some parents over the expanded monthly child tax credit payments. The

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, left, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., speak at a July 28, 2021 news conference in Washington, D.C. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images As U.S. Senators hammer out the $1 trillion bipartisan federal infrastructure bill, a provision in the measure seeks to raise funds with a crackdown on cryptocurrency tax reporting.

In this article AXP The South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Summer travel is back, big time. That’s according to a survey released Tuesday by American Express Travel, where consumer travel bookings have reached 95% of May 2019 levels. But while affluent Americans are itching to

pcess609 If nothing changes, the federal government’s break from payments for student loan borrowers will come to an end next month. For the first time since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and crippled the economy, millions of borrowers will have to resume paying their monthly bills. The typical federal student loan

Samuel Corum | Getty Images News | Getty Images States’ early withdrawals from federal unemployment programs in recent weeks are helping Senate lawmakers finance upgrades to the nation’s infrastructure, according to legislative text unveiled Sunday. Twenty-six states, largely Republican, have pulled out of pandemic-era programs since mid-June. The American Rescue Plan offered federal unemployment assistance

Los Angeles County Regional Food Bank workers help with food distribution in Willowbrook, California on April 29, 2021. FREDERIC J. BROWN | AFP | Getty Images Millions of jobless Americans are poised to lose Covid-era income support in about a month’s time. This impending “benefits cliff” appears different from others that loomed this past year,

Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images You’ll probably have to use cryptocurrency to pay off that ransomware hacker who froze your laptop, but where else might you put all your bitcoin, ethereum and other digital coins to actual use? Tesla may still be unsure about accepting bitcoin for its electric vehicles again, yet cryptocurrency

As the delta variant drives new Covid cases across country, the pandemic’s economic impact continues to weigh heavily on college enrollment. Now, with another class of undergraduates set to start classes in the fall, families are once again struggling with the cost. Nearly two-thirds of parents, or 63%, said their child’s post-high school plans have

Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images The IRS began issuing another 1.5 million tax refunds this week to people who received unemployment benefits in 2020. That adds to the nearly 9 million refunds, worth about $10 billion, the agency sent since May. Funds delivered by direct deposit this week started hitting bank accounts on Wednesday, and

teekid | E+ | Getty Images Although the national ban on evictions that’s been in effect for almost a year will expire tomorrow, there’s still time for struggling renters to apply for federal aid. Congress has allocated more than $45 billion in rental assistance to address the crisis, and only a sliver of the money

d3sign | Moment | Getty Images Around 4 million children in low-income families are at risk of not getting a monthly payment of the expanded child tax credit this year, according to a report published Thursday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The IRS began issuing monthly payments of the tax credit on

Yury Karamanenko | iStock Editorial | Getty Images The national ban on evictions will expire in two days, leaving the millions of Americans who are still behind on their rent at risk of being forced out of their homes. But some states will continue to limit the proceedings beyond July 31. In California, where as

In this article HOOD Getty Images In one of the most anticipated initial public offerings this year, Robinhood shares will start trading on Thursday. However, the buzz around the online trading platform’s debut as a public company doesn’t mean investors should forego expert advice: Proceed with caution when it comes to IPOs. “There’s the potential

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi arrives at a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Wednesday that people who believe President Joe Biden can forgive student debt on his own are

People line up outside a newly reopened career center for in-person appointments in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., April 15, 2021. Amira Karaoud | Reuters There’s good news for some who claimed unemployment benefits in 2020. The IRS is sending another 1.5 million refunds to people who were taxed on unemployment income last year before a portion

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Workers saw their hourly pay in June jump at the fastest clip in over a decade. Yet some of them saw those gains erased by high levels of inflation. “Real wages” — a measure of income after accounting for the cost of goods and services people buy — fell

A visual representation of digital currencies. Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images Even though it’s a highly volatile asset, cryptocurrency can help investors build wealth, especially if they invest in digital coins over the long-term.   It’s a portfolio play that’s gained traction in recent months and is catching up to stock trading as something that

andresr | E+ | Getty Images Millions of Americans are feeling a financial boost from federal stimulus checks and monthly child tax credit payments. Those direct checks were made possible by tax credits that were created or expanded through legislation aimed at helping the U.S. economy bounce back from Covid-19. And as Americans get used