Personal finance

IRS commissioner Charles Rettig testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing on June 8, 2021. Tom Williams | Pool | Reuters The IRS is still digging through tens of millions of unprocessed tax returns with roughly four weeks until the 2021 filing deadline. But Commissioner Charles Rettig expects the backlog to clear by year-end. The

Fg Trade | E+ | Getty Images If you’re planning a wedding this year, you’re in good company. A record number of weddings — about 2.5 million — are expected in 2022, the most since 1984, according to wedding market research firm The Wedding Report. That’s up from 1.9 million in 2021 and 1.3 million

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images After spending decades as your parents’ child, becoming the caregiver for Mom or Dad can be a jarring role reversal. Yet for an estimated 42 million Americans, providing care for a parent or other adult relative age 50 or older is a daily reality, according to a recent study

Alexanderford | E+ | Getty Images Americans are paying more for a broad swath of household goods these days. Even items without a higher sticker price may still cost more — it’s just hard to notice at first glance. That’s because some companies have reduced the contents of their packaging. A cannister that used to

Westend61 | Getty Images The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is degrading Americans’ financial outlook, sparking the desire to save more and postpone investing, according to a survey from MassMutual. But steering clear of stock market volatility may be a mistake, financial experts say. Two-thirds of Americans worry the conflict will hurt their wallets, with nearly half

Nine-year-old student Roberto Nieves Fernandez studies personal finance topics on his laptop using online resource center SmartPath. SMARTPATH More states are requiring students to take personal finance education courses before they graduate high school. There are currently 23 states that mandate a personal finance course for students, according to the 2022 Survey of the States

skynesher Bond investors are watching as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2018 to combat surging prices. Annual inflation rose by 7.9% in February, a new 40-year high, affecting everyday costs like groceries, housing and gasoline. The central bank’s quarter-point increase on Wednesday may set the stage for future hikes,

Forty-eight percent of respondents told Kind Traveler their greatest challenge in traveling sustainably is finding accommodations that are both “sustainable and socially conscious.” Klaus Vedfelt | Digitalvision | Getty Images Everyone likes a bargain when it comes to booking travel, but many also want the money they spend to do some good where they’re headed,

A woman wearing a protective mask walks past the New York Stock Exchange on March 12, 2020 in New York City. Pablo Monsalve | VIEWpress | Corbis via Getty Images Two years ago, on March 16, 2020, stock markets suffered a one-day 12% drop. From Feb. 19 to March 23 of that year, when the

Yongyuan | E+ | Getty Images Workers who save in a 401(k) plan offered by a small business pay fees that are twice as high as those paid by employees who work at the largest companies in the U.S. The smallest workplace retirement plans (those with less than $25 million in aggregate savings) charge total

In this article AVD Pixelfit | E+ | Getty Images Vanguard Group and its executives created big tax bills for some investors in its target-date funds, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in aggregate, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The lawsuit, filed in a Pennsylvania federal court by three investors, claims the investment

In this article CHKP As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, cybersecurity attacks have become a very real threat around the world. The number of cyberattacks being waged by both countries since the outbreak of the conflict is “staggering,” according to the research arm of Check Point Software Technologies. “The problem is kinetic warfare is

In this article WFC A shopper bags fruit inside a supermarket in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on Feb. 7, 2022. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images Inflation is costing the average U.S. household an additional $296 per month, a Moody’s Analytics analysis found. The figure is based on the latest reading on consumer prices, which

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waves to fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Sept. 9, 2021. Julio Aguilar | Getty Images Tom Brady sat on the sidelines for only 40 days before deciding to end his retirement from pro football. It is possible that more retired workers could do the

Sevdha Thompson, digital producer of marketing for Coalition Technologies, spent a few weeks working in Costa Rica last year. Courtesy: Sevdha Thompson Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible hours,

Signage outside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The IRS plans to hire 10,000 workers to tackle a massive backlog of more than 20 million unprocessed returns, including filings from previous years. They hope to fill 5,000 open positions in the coming months, with another 5,000

Anchiy | E+ | Getty Images There’s been a wave of state-level tax cuts spurred by budget surpluses, and more breaks may be coming, according to policy experts. “States have a lot of revenue on hand and they are looking to return it to taxpayers,” said Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation.

skaman306 | Moment | Getty Images Millions of underbanked people around the world are finally getting access to financial products such as savings accounts, investing and loans. They have technology to thank. “There’s this new type of excitement about putting your money to work for you,” Flori Marquez, the founder and senior vice president of

Fg Trade | Istock | Getty Images If your three-year auto lease is coming to an end soon, be aware that your car may be worth far more than you realize. The 2022 average trade-in value for 2019 model-year vehicles is 33% higher ($7,208) than the predetermined residual value — a vehicle’s worth at the

People wear face masks outside a supermarket on the Upper West Side in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Government data shows that inflation has broken another 40-year plus record. And even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicted higher prices could be with us for the rest of this year. “We’re likely to see