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Getty Images For most Americans, the surging cost of living is weighing heavily on their wallets. “Wage growth has failed to match the dizzying pace of rising prices, which the Federal Reserve has effectively identified as ‘monetary policy enemy No. 1,'” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. After the Fed raised interest rates for the

Petar Chernaev | E+ | Getty Images Once the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, it’s typically too late for someone to do anything meaningful to reduce their tax bill for the previous year. However, tax season does have a way of getting people thinking about what they can do to limit what they fork

Tetra Images If you turned age 72 during the second half of 2021, the deadline for your first annual required withdrawal from retirement accounts is April 1. In many cases, it’s the last chance to avoid a hefty penalty. These required minimum distributions, known as RMDs, apply to both traditional and Roth 401(k) plans, 403(b)

Morsa Images | Digitalvision | Getty Images Health savings accounts eclipsed $100 billion by the end of January, according to Devenir, an HSA investment consultant, as more consumers use the tax-advantaged accounts to save for future health costs. The firm forecasts HSA funds will hit $150 billion by the end of 2024. “The growth is

David Dee Delgado | Getty Images News | Getty Images The bond market is flashing a warning sign for the U.S. economy. That harbinger is called an “inverted yield curve.” These inversions in the bond market have been reliable predictors of past recessions. Part of the yield curve inverted on Monday. An economic downturn isn’t

StefaNikolic | E+ | Getty Images Certified financial planner Amber Miller is used to thinking about the costs and challenges of life for her clients. It gave her a leg up when it came to preparing for the birth of her own first child last year. “We had our daughter, Zahra, in August, and we’re

Getty Images Having an emergency savings fund should be a top goal in order to be able to cushion an unexpected financial blow without going broke, according to experts. Still, many people are falling short. A Bankrate study found just 44% of people are prepared to pay for an unexpected $1,000 expense with cash. More

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, at the SEC headquarters in Washington, on July 22, 2021. Melissa Lyttle/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday unveiled a sweeping proposal to expand investors’ insight into the threat that climate change poses to public companies and how they contribute to a

Ridvan_celik | E+ | Getty Images The current stock market, highly volatile and trending lower this year, makes this a daunting time for individual investors seeking to identify companies with reasonable risk and good long-term growth potential. Concerns about overall market performance — as of mid-March, the S&P 500 Index had had the fifth-worst start

In this article SPGI dowell | Moment | Getty Images If you own an investment fund that’s “actively managed,” odds are that your returns lagged in 2021. Those chances are even worse over a multiyear time frame. Mutual and exchange-traded funds are generally “actively” or “passively” managed. In the former, a fund manager selects the

Bill Oxford | E+ | Getty Images The IRS has issued more than 45 million tax refunds worth almost $152 billion in total, as of March 11, the agency reported Friday. Nearly half of Americans expect refunds this season, according to a Capital One report, providing a needed financial boost for a large percentage of

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images After spending decades as your parents’ child, becoming the caregiver for Mom or Dad can be a jarring role reversal. Yet for an estimated 42 million Americans, providing care for a parent or other adult relative age 50 or older is a daily reality, according to a recent study