Personal finance

Kevin Dodge | The Image Bank | Getty Images College is one of the biggest purchases you’ll make in a lifetime, yet few families have a solid plan for how to pay for it. Most often, parents are on the hook for the bill, according to Sallie Mae’s annual How America Pays for College report. For

Bernardbodo | Istock | Getty Images New government data shows inflation is cooling, and that means Social Security beneficiaries will likely see a lower cost-of-living adjustment next year. The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2024 could be 3.1%, according to a new estimate from The Senior Citizens League. That’s well below the 8.7% increase to

Ja’crispy | Istock | Getty Images As the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member on the Business Cycle Dating Committee, James Poterba helps determine when a recession officially starts and ends. Why is that important? What do those dates tell us? When the NBER was founded in 1920, its economists

New college grads negotiating their first salary may be in for a rude awakening. In the midst of a historically strong job market, characterized by low unemployment, rising wages and a high degree of job-seeker confidence, those armed with a degree are feeling relatively good about their earning potential. In fact, today’s undergraduates expect to make $84,855

Halfpoint | Istock | Getty Images As of the latest tally, 1.4 million more Americans have dropped out of college — although some “stopouts” may reenroll if the Supreme Court affirms President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and their education debt is forgiven, a new report shows. Overall, college enrollment declines have begun to

Orna Guralnik Source: Showtime Not long after I began working as a personal finance reporter at CNBC in 2018, I started psychoanalysis. The form of therapy had long intrigued me, with the intensity of its three sessions a week and its search for answers among our dreams and pasts. Because I’d heard that psychoanalysis was

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on raising the federal minimum wage outside the U.S. Capitol on May 4, 2023. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not changed in nearly 14 years. Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., unveiled a new plan to update

Protestors take part in a May Day demonstration on Rennes, France, on May 1, 2023. Damien Meyer | Afp | Getty Images An increase in pension retirement age to 64 from 62 in France has sparked ongoing protests. The U.S. could be poised for a similar change with the Social Security retirement age. That shift

Hero Images | Hero Images | Getty Images Whether you’re building an emergency fund or short-term savings, finding the best place for your cash isn’t easy — especially as the Federal Reserve weighs a pause in interest rate hikes. The central bank on Wednesday unveiled another quarter percentage point interest rate increase, with signals that

Getty Images If you’re one of the millions of taxpayers who paid for TurboTax when the filing software should have been free, you may soon receive a settlement check, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Thursday. TurboTax owner Intuit in May 2022 agreed to pay $141 million to lower-income Americans who were “unfairly

Rawf8 | Istock | Getty Images Higher education often costs more than most families can afford. A new report by NerdWallet shows the high school class of 2023 is facing a little more than $37,000 in student loan debt to receive a college bachelor’s degree. Tuition and fees plus room and board for a four-year

The U.S. may default on its debt within a month — an event that could threaten severe financial harm for American households and the economy at large, experts warn. To avoid that outcome, lawmakers are trying to find a path forward to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, which would enable the U.S. to pay

Thomas_eyedesign | E+ | Getty Images This story is part of CNBC’s College Money Guide 2023, a series to help students and recent graduates understand their money and start their adult life off on a solid financial path. Buying your first car as an adult is always a little daunting. But trying to buy in

Fatcamera | E+ | Getty Images Now that a pandemic-era policy that guaranteed Medicaid enrollees wouldn’t be dropped from their coverage has come to an end, affected parents may be worried about how to keep their children insured. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, states were required to provide continuous Medicaid coverage to enrollees in order

Fotostorm | E+ | Getty Images Most Americans nearing retirement expect Social Security to be their biggest source of income. Yet many of those people, ranging in age from 55 to 65, are unaware of the basics about the program, according to new research from MassMutual. About 43% of the 1,500 people surveyed do not

Some consider April 5 equal pay day for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women, marking the point into the new year that the average AAPI woman has to work to make the same pay white men earned in 2022. In other words, an AAPI woman has to work 15 months to earn what

Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images The job market is still hot but is clearly slowing from the scorching levels seen during much of the past two years, according to labor experts. Job openings and voluntary worker departures (or, quits) declined in March, while the layoff rate increased, according to data issued Tuesday by the

Zeynepkaya | E+ | Getty Images It’s an especially expensive time for people with credit card debt, and the pain will likely only worsen with another expected interest rate hike coming from the Federal Reserve this week. Interest charges on credit cards tend to move with the Fed’s benchmark rate. The current national average rate

Steve Prezant | The Image Bank | Getty Images May 1 is College Decision Day, the deadline many schools set for students to decide which college they will attend. One key consideration should be picking a school that doesn’t require taking on too much student debt, experts say. “Families are increasingly getting price-sensitive when choosing

Experts predict the Federal Reserve likely will approve a quarter-percentage-point interest rate increase this week. This 0.25 percentage point hike will mark the 10th time the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate over the past year or so, the fastest pace of tightening since the early 1980s.  Consumers are now paying more to borrow while still