Personal finance

Hero Images | Getty Images You may know that once you reach age 65, you’re eligible for Medicare. What surprises many people, say experts, is the cost. Even as Democratic lawmakers in Congress want to expand the health insurance program to cover dental, vision and hearing as part of their $3.5 trillion budget plan, those

InspirationGP | iStock | Getty Images It may be one of the first lines on the checklist for healthy finances: Having an emergency savings account. Can you cross it off? If so, that’s great. But even those with a cash cushion tend to make a number of mistakes, experts say. To start off, many people

Vstock LLC | Getty Images Federal stimulus and enhanced tax credits have provided benefits to millions of Americans. However, some low-income workers may not receive a boost. The earned income tax credit, known as the EITC or EIC, offers a write-off for low- and moderate-income families. To qualify, taxpayers must have earned income — wages

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images More households got a monthly payment of the child tax credit in August, reaching an additional 1.6 million kids relative to July, the Treasury Department and IRS said Friday. The IRS disbursed $15 billion to families in the second round of payments, issued Friday to households with about

andresr | E+ | Getty Images “The Great Resignation” is apparently still going strong across America. In fact, some people want to quit their jobs so badly, they are willing to go into debt to do it, a survey from Credit Karma found. Currently, 38% of U.S. workers are seeking employment elsewhere and 41% are

In this article TREE darekm101 | Getty Image Big-city dwellers may dream of slashing expenses by moving to the country. But owning a home in a small town can be just as costly as a major metropolis — and in some cases, properties may be pricier. That’s according to a study from LendingTree, which analyzed

In this article 1735-TW Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Labor Department is pumping $240 million into the nation’s unemployment system to fight ongoing fraud, part of a broader effort to fix flaws in the system exposed by the Covid pandemic. Criminals have targeted unemployment benefits at a high rate since spring 2020, after federal

skynesher | E+ | Getty Images People with federal student loan debt have about six more months of freedom from repayment and seeing interest accrue on their outstanding balances. In the meantime, they can put the money they would be paying towards those loans to work. The U.S. Department of Education in August extended the

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 22, 2021. Demetrius Freeman | Pool | Reuters The Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday after 14 hours of debate. Voting along party lines, Democrats blocked an amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,

Win McNamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images Higher taxes for the rich edged closer to reality on Wednesday morning, after Senate Democrats passed a $3.5 trillion budget plan along party lines. The blueprint would raise taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations and beef up tax enforcement to fund additional spending on education, paid

Customers at the bar in Philadelphia restaurant Martha, which requires customer proof of vaccination, on Aug. 7, 2021. Hannah Beier | Reuters Business are getting creative in their efforts to attract and retain workers amid a labor shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Ray Bales, president of a Seniors Helping Seniors franchise in Knoxville, Tennessee,

Alex Potemkin | E+ | Getty Images Being ultra-tech-savvy apparently isn’t enough to protect you from online scams, a new report suggests. The number of individuals age 20 or younger — members of Generation Z who have grown up on smartphones and the internet — reporting they are victims of cyber-fraud has surged 156% over

Getty Images Young investors are flocking to social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit for financial advice. In fact, one-third of Americans trust social media to help them make financial decisions, and 32% trust social media influencers and celebrities’ financial advice, a survey from investment firm TIAA found. Navigating the slew of recommendations can

Sue Barr | Image Source | Getty Images Families with children would be major winners if the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint released Monday by Democrats holds up. The package instructs Senate committees to invest trillions of dollars to boost the social safety net for families through programs and services such as an expanded child tax

FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images There’s about a week left for anyone who’s uninsured to see if they qualify for free or low-cost private health insurance through the public marketplace. A special enrollment period that will end on Aug. 15 allows you to use healthcare.gov to sign up for a plan, which could come

Halfpoint | iStock | Getty Images Many Americans are looking to Labor Day with dread. That’s when some 7.5 million of them will stop receiving their unemployment benefits. The number is more than five times the 1.3 million people who lost aid in December 2013 as the country walked away from the Great Recession. Although

Hunter Hastings / 500px | 500px | Getty Images Although everyone wants to leave the pandemic behind, the loss of the financial relief many families received because of the crisis will be less easy to part with. Stimulus checks, more generous jobless benefits, expanded money to feed children and other aid and protections kept the

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., second from right, speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2021. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images As the Senate races for its summer recess, Democrats hope to pass two priorities: a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget resolution allowing them to skirt Republican

Sam Edwards | Getty Images One type of annuity may be poised to get a bit of a makeover. Under bipartisan retirement legislation pending in both the House and Senate, the rules applying to qualified longevity annuity contracts, or QLACs, would be changed. Although the two chambers’ provisions differ somewhat, both would remove the 25%

Those who hire a lawn-care company will reap time and energy savings for a relatively small monthly cost. davidf | E+ | Getty Images During our working years, saving for the future is critical to one day achieving financial independence. At the same time, we are working to meet other financial goals, such as paying