Personal finance

This year, 40% of Americans said they do not make financial resolutions for the new year and 68% said they do not have written financial plans at any point in the year, according to research from BMO Financial Group. However, setting a budget goes a long way in managing your personal finances. “Many people spend

mphillips007 | iStock Unreleased | Getty Images The Powerball jackpot has ballooned to an estimated $760 million — the sixth-largest prize in the game’s history — and experts have tips on what the lucky winner should do first. If you score the winning ticket, you’ll pick between one of two payouts: annual payments worth $760 million or a

Praetorianphoto | E+ | Getty Images The $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles will be easier for many consumers to claim in 2024, but it may be more difficult for others. These opposing dynamics are due to federal policies taking effect at the same time. One policy kicking in Jan. 1 will allow car

Student loan forgiveness advocates rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., after the nation’s high court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program, June 30, 2023. Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Nearly a year before federal student loan payments restarted, the U.S. Department of Education warned

Tom Werner | Digitalvision | Getty Images As the calendar turns to a new year, you may be at risk for losing money if you have a flexible spending account. Many FSA owners have a Dec. 31 use-it-or-lose-it deadline to use the funds they have set aside for the year. The average forfeit of funds

Tomasz Szulczewski | Moment | Getty Images Women continue to make great strides in the workforce, achieving increasing levels of education, and advancing into senior leadership positions. However, the gender pay gap — the difference between the earnings of men and women — has barely budged in recent years. In the U.S., women who work full

Blackcat | E+ | Getty Images Many student loan borrowers are struggling to resume their payments. When the bills restarted after a more than three-year-long reprieve, just 60% of people with federal education loans had made a payment by mid-November, U.S. Department of Education data shows. “The fact that so few borrowers have been able

Grocery items are offered for sale at a supermarket on August 09, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.  Scott Olson | Getty Images Heading into 2023, the predictions were nearly unanimous: a recession was coming. As the year comes to a close, the forecasted economic downturn did not arrive. So what’s in store for 2024? An economic

Jack Hollingsworth | Tetra Images | Getty Images As a personal finance reporter at CNBC, most days of the year, I’m at my desk talking to people about money. Although the general topic stays the same, so many of the conversations I have with sources leave me with a new perspective. When I got the

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images While tax breaks are not the main reason for charitable giving, some strategies can help investors optimize their donations. It’s too late to execute some strategies with the end of 2023 just days away. “We encourage people to start thinking about charitable giving in June,” said Julie Goodridge,

Artistgndphotography | E+ | Getty Images It’s never too early to start planning for the upcoming tax season. As the year-end approaches, it’s a good time to get paperwork organized and make a checklist of tax forms you’ll need before filing, experts say. “You really need to be your own advocate,” said certified financial planner

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

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

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,

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testifies before the House Small Business Committee on July 17, 2013. James Lawler Duggan | Reuters The IRS has unveiled a “voluntary disclosure program” for businesses that claimed a pandemic-era tax credit in error and want to pay the money back. Worth thousands per employee, the employee retention tax credit, or

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