Personal finance

Starting in community college and then transferring to a four-year school is a proven pathway to getting a degree for significantly less money. Yet fewer students are going this route. Transfer enrollment from two-year colleges to four-year schools fell again in the fall of 2022 compared to the previous year, this time sinking nearly 8%.

gilaxia If you’re in the market for a new car, be prepared for the possibility of paying more than sticker price. The average new-car price in February was $45,296, compared with the average manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP, of $41,637, according to new research from iSeeCars.com. An estimated 31% of new vehicles were sold

Visualspace | E+ | Getty Images Small business owners today may feel they’re getting pulled in two directions: stuck between wanting to offer a retirement benefit to their workers but feeling unable to afford costs associated with a 401(k) plan. But entrepreneurs scared by the affordability of maintaining a 401(k) plan can instead consider an

In this article WU Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The author in Argentinian Patagonia in February 2023. Here, the Spegazzini Glacier cascades into Lago Argentino, the third largest lake in South America. Waiting in an hourlong line at a Western Union wasn’t on my initial itinerary when planning a recent trip to Argentina. Yet

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images The pace of wage growth seems to be decelerating, according to the February jobs report issued Friday — but workers still have bargaining power in a cooling but strong job market, economists said. “Workers have a very strong negotiating position,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “The

Parents and children participate in a demonstration organized by the ParentsTogether Foundation in support of the child tax credit portion of the Build Back Better bill outside of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13, 2021. Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty Images President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal 2024 includes a host of proposals

In the wake of the pandemic, there’s one topic that’s suddenly a lot less taboo, according to Lee Baker, a certified financial planner based in Atlanta. “We get more calls around estate planning,” said Baker, founder, owner and president of Apex Financial Services and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council. “The last 36 months shifted the

In this article AUTO-GB LNC MSFT AMZN GOOGL AAPL META Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Several large companies have announced significant job cuts in recent months: Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech companies collectively laid off more than 70,000 employees in the last year and there are no signs of that trend slowing down.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about his budget for fiscal year 2024 at the Finishing Trades Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 9, 2023. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Days after introducing a new plan to shore up Medicare, President Joe Biden called for “protecting and strengthening” Social Security with the introduction of his fiscal 2024

More consumers are leaning on credit cards to afford increasingly expensive necessities such as food and rent. That helped propel total credit card debt to a record $930.6 billion at the end of 2022, an 18.5% spike from a year earlier, according to the latest quarterly report by TransUnion. The average balance rose to $5,805

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his plan to protect Americans access to affordable health care in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Feb. 28, 2023. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images President Joe Biden this week called for higher taxes on wealthy Americans to boost Medicare as part of his 2024 budget, aiming to help

Willie B. Thomas/Hinterhouse Productions | Getty Images When it comes to retirement security for women, marriage may not give them the leg up it once did. Women who have spent the majority of their adult life single — whether due to divorce or never marrying — are now generally as well prepared for retirement as

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters The fate of the Biden administration’s sweeping plan to cancel $400 billion in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans may hinge on the newest conservative member of the Supreme Court: Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett was the conservative justice who

During the coronavirus pandemic, child reading and math competency rates plummeted across the country. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found two decades of improvements were wiped away. The declines were widespread, but were most pronounced among the students who had already been struggling well before 2020. In a race to overcome the Covid-19 learning

In this article FIS Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT In the end, 2022 was not kind to retirement savers. Average 401(k) balances plunged 23% over the course of the year to $103,900, according to a report by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. Individual retirement account average balances sank 20% year

D3sign | Moment | Getty Images The April 18 federal tax deadline is only six weeks away and if you haven’t filed yet, you may qualify for free preparation. While many prefer a paid preparer, free filing options may be worth exploring for simple returns, such as filings with only a couple of W-2 forms,

Demonstrators in favor of canceling student debt gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images As the Supreme Court deliberates whether or not to allow the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan to go through, tens of millions of Americans are stuck in an

Drakula & Co. | Moment | Getty Images After a year of soaring prices, the IRS made annual inflation adjustments for dozens of tax provisions, including the federal income tax brackets for 2023, which may affect next year’s taxes, experts say. While the rates didn’t change, the brackets show the federal income taxes you’ll owe

Adamkaz | E+ | Getty Images Many Americans claim Social Security retirement benefits at the earliest age possible but see their monthly benefit checks reduced for life for doing so. Now, a bipartisan group of senators is proposing two changes to help encourage retirees to wait. The lawmakers include Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Chris Coons,

Getty Images Roughly six weeks into the tax filing season, IRS improvements are underway with more staffing and technology upgrades as the agency begins deploying its nearly $80 billion in funding.  While processing may be faster this year, experts say there are some key things to know before filing your return. “Every tax season has