Personal finance

Nosystem Images | E+ | Getty Images Student loan forgiveness could be coming as soon as this month. The Biden administration is considering a number of different ways to move forward with cancelling education debt. The biggest uncertainty is how much of the debt it will relieve, if any. On the campaign trail, President Joe

Getty Images If you took out a loan earlier this year, there’s a chance you’ll be hearing from your bank about a flub that may have been part of its lending decision. One of the three big credit-reporting companies, Equifax, announced this week that a coding issue resulted in the company providing inaccurate consumer credit

In this article ZG Lacheev / Getty As today’s prospective home buyers confront high home prices and rising interest rates, there’s one thing they can do to save money — raise their credit scores. “This is one actionable thing buyers can do to save a little bit of money in this market,” said Amanda Pendleton,

zimmytws | iStock | Getty Images There are just 13 years before Social Security may not be able to pay full benefits, according to a recent annual report from the program’s trustees. In 2035, just 80% of benefits will be payable if Congress doesn’t fix the program sooner. Shoring up the program will generally mean

Anti-abortion activists demonstrate outside the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, June 13, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Residents of Georgia may now claim embryos as dependents on their state income tax returns. Any “unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat,” may qualify for a $3,000 state income tax deduction for 2022, effective

Morsa Images | Digitalvision | Getty Images While the Federal Reserve raises borrowing costs aggressively to tame stubbornly high inflation, remote work may be serving as an unlikely ally to the U.S. central bank. The Fed increased its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points last week, after having raised it by a similar amount

d3sign | Moment | Getty Images Would-be travelers looking to fly this fall may want to book their plane trips now, with travel app Hopper reporting that airfares are dropping this month from peak summertime prices. “September and early October will be the cheapest times to travel, while August and early September will be the

Insta_photos | Istock | Getty Images Many Americans are pessimistic about the future of Social Security, and the pandemic has made it even worse. A recent survey found 59% of people now worry more about Social Security running out of funding than they did before the onset of Covid-19, according to Nationwide Retirement Institute. And

Wages are rising — and yet not enough to keep up with the soaring cost of living. Although average hourly earnings are up 5.1% from a year ago, prices have been rising much faster. The Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices for consumer goods and services, jumped a higher-than-expected 9.1% in June,

Designer491 | Istock | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education is expected to lose close to $200 billion from federal student loans made over the last 25 years, due in part to pandemic-era relief pausing the bills for borrowers. Originally, the Education Department estimated these loans would generate around $114 billion in income; they

A customer shops in a Kroger grocery store on July 15, 2022 in Houston. Brandon Bell | Getty Images As experts debate whether the U.S. is on the brink of an economic downturn, many Americans are already bracing themselves for a recession. To that point, 66% of Americans worry that a major recession is right

Getty Images Are you willing to invest in your employer’s stock at a discount? If you’re working for a publicly-traded company, you may have a chance through an employee stock purchase plan, or ESPP. Nearly three-quarters of public companies offered an ESPP in 2018, according to a Deloitte survey. Workers often use these to boost

Nirunya Juntoomma | Istock | Getty Images It’s no secret that households with sufficient emergency savings are more the exception than the norm. Two proposals in the Senate aim to change that. And, experts say, tackling the problem could lend itself to workers saving more for their golden years. “One of the best ways to

Getting a job after graduation isn’t a given. While the labor market is strong and college grads are still more employable — and earn more — than their high-school counterparts, the choice of major, and degree, goes a long way toward determining how hirable you will be. A bachelor’s degree in mathematics gives students the

. Mike Segar | Reuters Sure, someone may beat the odds and land the $1.28 billion Mega Millions jackpot that’s up for grabs in Friday night’s drawing. To be clear: The chance of a ticket matching all six numbers drawn is roughly 1 in 302.5 million. Nevertheless, in between daydreaming about how you would spend

FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images As individuals and families grapple with surging prices, there’s one category that has a history of rising faster than inflation: prescription drugs. Now, the new Senate reconciliation bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., aims to help give Americans relief from

Mayte Torres | Moment | Getty Images The Covid-19 pandemic helped shed light on the need for increased access to paid leave for U.S. workers. Yet more than two years into the pandemic, there are still gaps in access to those benefits. That leaves many workers vulnerable to financial hardships, a new report from the

Getty Images Finding extra cash to set aside can be tough amid the record high prices prompted by historically high inflation. But the Federal Reserve’s announcement on Wednesday that it will again hike interest rates by 0.75 percentage point will mean savers can get better a better return on the money they sock away. The

Americans want to know: Is this a recession or not? Officially, the National Bureau of Economic Research defines recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” In fact, the latest quarterly gross domestic product report, which tracks the overall health of the economy, showed

A record number of workers have quit their jobs, looked for new ones and renegotiated along the way. But with all the opportunities the current labor market offers, there are challenges, too — especially when it comes to standing out in a sea of job applicants. About 1 in 5 workers, or 22%, said will