Personal finance

A customer shows purchased tickets for the Powerball lottery at a lotto store in San Bernardino County, California, January 9, 2016. Gene Blevins | Reuters If you’re one of those people who only buys a lottery ticket when the jackpot climbs into the stratosphere, you could be waiting a while. The Mega Millions jackpot for

Trump and Biden would approach the student loan crisis very differently. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images Whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the presidency may have a significant impact on the country’s 42 million student loan borrowers. Student loans have outpaced credit card and auto debt as a burden to Americans, and

As if getting in to a top college wasn’t hard enough, Covid-19 adds a new challenge. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many would-be freshmen have decided to postpone college rather than start their education online.   As a result, colleges and universities are well below their enrollment numbers for the 2020-2021 academic year, a report shows. Overall,

In mid-September, the envelope finally arrived. As Erin Madden opened it and pulled out the debit card with her unemployment benefits on it, all she could think about was the half a year she’d waited for this moment. She had come to feel it would never happen. “I almost didn’t believe that it had finally

Morsa Images | DigitalVision | Getty Images Chances are, you aren’t seriously thinking about how to pay for long-term care when you are older. Most people only think about it at two points in their lives: when their parents need it or when they start to get much older and realize they need to have

Joe Biden and Donald Trump speak during the first U.S. presidential debate on Sept. 29, 2020. Kevin Dietsch/UPI | Bloomberg | Getty Images President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have diverging views on the economic rebound that has played out after the coronavirus pandemic upended the country last spring. Trump and administration

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. Sarah Silbiger | CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images Americans are hurting financially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and that includes the nation’s seniors. Now, two House Democratic lawmakers are hoping to help retirees with a bill to increase next year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., is introducing a

izusek | E+ | Getty Images The Social Security Administration announced this week that the cost-of-living adjustment for benefits in 2021 will be 1.3%. For the average retirement benefit, that amounts to just a $20 increase per month. Now, two Congressional Democrats — Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and John Larson, D-Conn. — plan to propose

AJ_Watt | E+ | Getty Images This year, don’t just cram your completed 2019 income tax return into a drawer. Use it as a guideline to help you save more money. Oct. 15 is the deadline for taxpayers who sought additional time to complete the prior year’s return. Bear in mind, the taxes you owed

Amazon Prime Day, which was originally slated for July but postponed due to the pandemic, is turning into one of the biggest shopping events of the year. In fact, even I had to get in on the 48-hour extravaganza before it ends at 3 a.m. ET Thursday. Not surprisingly, Amazon devices, such as the Ring

Prisoners are getting a second chance at receiving the $1,200 stimulus checks the government sent this spring. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently ruled that the government should not withhold those checks from people solely because they are incarcerated. There are roughly 1.5 million incarcerated

Getty Images Social Security beneficiaries will see a 1.3% increase to their monthly checks in 2021. The amount was announced on Tuesday by the Social Security Administration, and was in line with previous estimates. Last month, The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan advocacy group for older Americans, projected a 1.3% boost, based on available Consumer

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images It’s now easier for older savers to continue socking money away for retirement. Just be aware that unintended consequences may follow — and they could cost you. That’s due to the Secure Act, legislation that was signed into law late last year and took effect in 2020. The measure

Millions of Americans are hoping another $1,200 stimulus check will make it to their bank accounts. Whether that happens or not depends on Congress. Republicans, Democrats and the White House still have not been able to strike a compromise on how much to spend and where to provide aid for the next coronavirus stimulus package.

It’s that time of year again — open enrollment season is approaching, giving many Americans an opportunity to sit down and go over their employer-sponsored workplace benefits for next year. This year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, more than 70% of employees plan to spend more time reviewing voluntary benefit options offered by their employer, according

James M. Dahle, MD, founder of The White Coat Investor. James M Dahle, MD It has been recognized for years that our health can be affected by our wealth, or lack thereof. Stress is a major contributor to both mental and physical health, and financial issues are one of the biggest stressors around. In my

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law on Aug. 14, 1935. FPG | Archive Photos | Getty Images Many people think of Social Security as the program their parents and grandparents rely on for financial support in retirement. For James Roosevelt, Jr., it has a special significance.  His grandfather created it.

Remote schooling remains a struggle for many families. Yet there is still a real risk in returning to the classroom. As of a recent tally, 87% of institutions have combined in-person and virtual learning in response to the public health crisis, according to a report by the Institute of International Education that was based on data collected

Online shopping is surging in the pandemic. martin-dm | E+ | Getty Images The other night, I was feeling a little more tired and burned out than usual. I smelled the candle on my desk to see if I could pick up its scent. What if I was coming down with Covid-19? I got a

U.S. President Donald Trump waves upon return to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 05, 2020 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images Millions of Americans have been waiting for Congress to pass another stimulus package that would deliver them financial relief during one