Personal finance

miodrag ignjatovic | E+ | Getty Images Up to 254,000 Medicare beneficiaries’ personal information may have been compromised in an online ransomware attack at a government subcontractor, officials warned this week. Letters are being sent to the beneficiaries who were impacted by the potential data breach, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Those

As rising prices continue to weigh on households, more families are feeling stretched too thin. As of November, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a monthly LendingClub report — up from 60% the previous month and near the 64% historic high hit in March. Even high-income earners are under pressure, LendingClub found. Of

Joos Mind | Photodisc | Getty Images Long Covid results in $9,500 of total average medical costs for workers and their employers in the six months following a diagnosis, according to a study by Nomi Health. Long Covid is a chronic illness that can carry potentially debilitating symptoms, which may last for months or years.

Tommaso79 | Istock | Getty Images If you’ve opted into your company’s group disability insurance plan, you may assume there’s sufficient income protection if you can’t work due to illness or injury. But experts say your workplace coverage may not be enough.   John Ryan, founder and CEO of Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants, urges employees to

Natalia Gdovskaia | Moment | Getty Images In an environment of high inflation, health insurance costs are doing the opposite: They’ve begun to deflate, and are poised to continue dropping each month until fall 2023, economists predict. Health insurance prices fell by 4% in October and 4.3% in November, according to the consumer price index,

FamVeld If you don’t have health insurance lined up for next year, there’s still time to get private coverage through the public marketplace. The deadline is Dec. 15 — Thursday — to sign up on Healthcare.gov for a health plan to take effect Jan. 1. Otherwise, you have until Jan. 15 to enroll with coverage

Kevin Dodge | The Image Bank | Getty Images SEATTLE — For many families, paying for college is a financial burden, and experts say education-funding myths may be adding to the student loan debt crisis. “There’s often this perception that somehow people are being penalized for saving for college,” said Cozy Wittman, national education and

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images In the latest inflation reading, used cars are one of the few categories with prices that are lower than they were a year ago. While the consumer price index — which measures price changes for a variety of consumer goods and services — was up 7.1% in November from

Shoppers in Troy, Michigan, on Nov. 25, 2022. Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images Inflation was lower than expected in November amid a broad-based slowdown in consumer prices that have been rising at their fastest rate in decades. The consumer price index, a key inflation barometer, jumped by 7.1% in November from a year earlier, the

Getty Images If you’re eager to file your 2022 tax return in January or early February, the IRS has a warning: You’ll need to wait for “key documents” before filing in 2023. In a release last week, the IRS urged “early filers” to watch for Form 1099-K, which reports income for third-party payment networks such

HOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 29: Students study in the Rice University Library on August 29, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images After President Joe Biden’s historic announcement that tens of millions of Americans would get up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness, borrowers’ celebrations were short-lived. Conservative groups

Cn0ra | Istock | Getty Images The end of the year is an important time for making financial decisions that can have an impact in the year ahead — and for years to come. From your work to your savings and investments to spending and giving back, here are five moves you should consider making

Kathrin Ziegler | Digitalvision | Getty Images As inflation has kept prices high in 2022, Social Security beneficiaries may look forward to a record high cost-of-living adjustment in 2023. “Your Social Security benefits will increase by 8.7% in 2023 because of a rise in cost of living,” the Social Security Administration states in the annual

Charday Penn | E+ | Getty Images If you’ve accepted payments via apps such as Venmo or PayPal in 2022, you may receive Form 1099-K, which reports income from third-party networks, in early 2023. But there’s still time to reduce your tax liability, according to financial experts.  “There’s no change to the taxability of income,”

House and Senate champions and impacted families appear at a Dec. 7 Washington, D.C., event for expanding the child tax credit during the lame duck session. Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Millions of children were lifted out of poverty in 2021, thanks to a more generous child tax credit that included

On the cusp of the greatest generational wealth transfer in history, baby boomers are set to pass more than $68 trillion on to their children. “It’s a generation that has accumulated a greater percentage of wealth than any other generation ever has,” said Mark Mirsberger, a certified public accountant and CEO of Dana Investment Advisors, referring

Smiling female professor reading an e-mail on a computer in the classroom. Copy space. Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images In October 2021, the Biden administration announced a one-year opportunity for student loan borrowers pursuing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness to get closer to being debt-free. Signed into law by then-President George W. Bush in

Thomas Barwick | Stone | Getty Images The share of retirement savers who withdrew money from a 401(k) plan to cover a financial hardship hit a record high in October, according to data from Vanguard Group. That dynamic — when coupled with other factors like fast-rising credit card balances and a declining personal savings rate

Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty Images Coming up with enough money for retirement is a challenge for all workers. Women are more likely, at 50%, to say they’re behind, versus 35% of men, a new report from Goldman Sachs found. What’s more, 24% said they are “very behind schedule,” compared with 14% of men.

Thomas Barwick The deadline is fast approaching for mandatory retirement plan withdrawals, which may force some retirees to sell assets in a down market. But experts say there may be ways to reduce the negative effects. Required minimum distributions, known as RMDs, are yearly amounts that must be taken from certain retirement accounts, such as