IT’S A REAL PROBLEM that never seems to fully be solved – how much should you spend on your groceries? Unless you’re on a fixed income and have a set routine where you buy the same meals every week, the dollar amount you spend at the supermarket is probably going to vary, possibly by a lot. […]
A solid credit score is required to rent an apartment, buy a home or a car or move toward many other financial milestones. But given the complexity of credit scores — and how they’re calculated — fabrications, myths and half-truths about them exist. Maybe your mom told you that checking your credit score will cause […]
Statistics on the average American’s retirement plan are usually pretty dire. Many people struggle to save as much as they’d like to, and an alarming number of people haven’t begun saving for retirement at all. But the news isn’t all bad. American workers’ confidence in their retirement plans is rising, according to a recent Employee […]
Looking around her one-bedroom apartment, Andrea Contreras gazes from the guitar collection on the wall to the Gucci-inspired sweatshirt her Yorkie mix, Kuzco, wears. She can’t believe it’s all hers. “Five years ago, I had nothing,” the 31-year-old remembers. Years of partying in her early 20s landed Contreras in a dark place: She had no […]
Don’t throw away that debit card that just arrived in the mail — it could be your coronavirus stimulus payment. Instead of a paper check, the Treasury Department is sending economic impact payments in the form of prepaid debit cards to around 4 million people in order to expedite the arrival of the stimulus payments […]
In 2016, after accumulating close to $1 million in savings, I quit my six-figure job in software development and retired at 35. A few months later, my wife Courtney joined me in early retirement. Not everyone will be able to retire in their 30s, but achieving financial independence is within grasp for many. It may not be […]
Saving for retirement has long been a source of concern for many Americans. It’s a difficult task, especially with costs rising, pensions fast becoming a thing of the past, and the future of Social Security looking uncertain. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic slowing our economy to a crawl, some people are writing off retirement as […]
June 1 is days away, and for the millions of Americans who are out of work, pressing questions about making rent on your apartment home are inevitable. What happens if you can’t make rent in June, July or August, for that matter — will you get evicted? What kinds of resources and protections are available […]
Never has the money sitting in your 401(k) retirement savings plan looked so enticing. Thanks to the CARES Act stimulus package Congress passed in March, if you’ve been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, you can pull up to $100,000 from your retirement account through the end of the year, without being dinged the usual […]
It’s natural to have retirement concerns under normal circumstances, but during a pandemic, those worries can surely escalate. In fact, 69% of Americans in their 50s are more concerned about retirement today than they were a year ago, as per the May 2020 Simplywise Retirement Confidence Index. If you feel similarly, here are a few important […]
In light of the continuing pandemic, Congress has temporarily changed the rules on hardship withdrawals from your 401(k). It’s easier to take money out penalty-free, up to $100,000, and you can pay it back and avoid the tax hit. But should you even think about raiding your 401(k) plan? Vanguard, the investment firm founded by […]
WASHINGTON — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week as the key 30-year home loan marked an all-time low for the third time in the last few months since the coronavirus outbreak took hold. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan tumbled to 3.15% from 3.24% last week. […]
