Personal finance

Whether it’s due to belt-tightening or the promise of federal student loan forgiveness, suddenly families are paying closer attention to financial aid for college. More than half of parents with college-bound students, or 58%, didn’t plan on applying for federal aid, but have now changed their minds, according to a new report by Discover Student Loans.

Forget getting a deal; these days, anyone in the market for a new car could pay thousands over the sticker price before they drive off the lot. Limited inventory due to a persistent shortage of computer chips, along with other supply-chain challenges, helped propel new car prices up 10% from a year ago, according to

The Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points for the third time in a row, in an effort to cool down unrelenting inflation. Fed officials have raised the benchmark short-term borrowing rate a total of five times this year, including 75 basis point increases in June and July, marking an unprecedented pace.

Polina Lebed | Istock | Getty Images In just a few weeks, tens of millions of Americans may be able to apply for student loan forgiveness. The U.S. Department of Education has said an application will be ready by “early October.” It said its application will be simple, but the federal student loan system is famously

Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images The White House released an analysis on Tuesday of how many people in each state stand to benefit from its student loan forgiveness plan, including a count of borrowers who received a Pell Grant. More than 3.5 million people are eligible for debt cancellation in California,

Enes Evren It’s been a rough year for the stock market, and some consumers are closing investment accounts due to inflation and volatility concerns, according to a recent survey from Ally Financial.  As investors brace for another major interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, inflation is still hovering near a 40-year high and the

Shapecharge | E+ | Getty Images Certain married couples may qualify for federal student loan forgiveness even if their income appears too high to do so at first blush.   That’s due to how married couples file their annual tax returns and how the federal government is interpreting income qualifications for debt forgiveness. President Joe

hept27 | iStock | Getty Images Student loan debtors are poised to get some breathing room after President Joe Biden unveiled a plan last month to forgive up to $20,000 per borrower in federal student loans. But some experts say the one-time presidential pardon will not do much to alleviate the student debt crisis affecting

This week, the Federal Reserve will likely raise rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point for the third consecutive time in an effort to cool down the high cost of living.  The U.S. central bank has already raised interest rates four times this year, for a total of 2.25 percentage points.  related investing news

Fabio Formaggio / 500Px | 500Px Plus | Getty Images Last year, I moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. At 28, I was living alone for the first time. It was tremendously exciting, but I also had a problem: I had no furniture. For weeks I slept on an air mattress that would be

The party may be over for “buy now, pay later.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that these installment payments come with “several areas of risk of consumer harm,” including data harvesting, debt accumulation and “loan stacking” — or juggling multiple payment plans at once. Buy now, pay later lenders — including companies such

Sporrer/Rupp | Image Source | Getty Images As talk of Social Security reform heats up heading into the November election, one congressional proposal to expand the federal program has received a new endorsement from California lawmakers. In August, a joint resolution passed both the state’s senate and its assembly. Now, it goes to Capitol Hill

A Social Security Administration office in San Francisco. Getty Images The Social Security Administration’s average wait time for an initial disability decision hit an all-time high in August of more than six months, or 198 days — almost three times higher than it was a decade ago. That is just one of many signs that

Cecilie Arcurs | Getty Images There’s about one month until the Oct. 17 tax deadline extension, and experts say filers need to prepare, especially for more complicated returns. An estimated all-time high of 19 million American taxpayers filed an extension for their 2021 returns, according to the IRS. Kevin Brady, a certified financial planner and

If you’re expecting relief from President Joe Biden‘s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans, you may have state income tax liability, depending on where you live.  While legislation is evolving, it’s possible that seven states — Arkansas, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina and Wisconsin — may tax student loan forgiveness, according

Pekic | E+ | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education continues to put out new information on how President Joe Biden’s historic student loan forgiveness plan will work. Some of the latest details include how forgiveness will be applied to your balance: which federal student loans can get the relief, and in what order.

Andresr | E+ | Getty Images For retirement “super savers,” good financial habits appear to go far beyond fattening up their nest eggs, a new study shows. Most of these workers — whose 401(k) contributions are at least 15% of their pay or 90% or more of the maximum allowed — also pay their bills

Going to the grocery store isn’t getting any cheaper. Rising food costs helped push inflation higher again last month, despite a drop in gas prices. The food index alone rose 11.4% over the past year, according to the latest consumer price index figures — marking the biggest 12-month jump since May 1979. The food-at-home index, a measure

Fizkes | Istock | Getty Images There’s good news for the millions of people with federal student loans who’ve made payments on that debt during the Covid pandemic: many of them will be eligible to get the money back. The U.S. Department of Education says that many borrowers eligible for President Joe Biden‘s student loan

Getty Images If you haven’t been sending part of your income to the IRS in recent months, this week is the last chance to avoid a tax penalty. The deadline for third-quarter estimated taxes is Sept. 15, applying to income from self-employment, small businesses, investments, gig economy work and more, according to the agency. “It’s