Scott Olson | Getty Images You may face long odds of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot — now worth $1.35 billion — but the taxman is always guaranteed a slice when there’s a winner. The jackpot jumped again after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night to land the grand prize. If won
Personal finance
D3sign | Moment | Getty Images With day-to-day expenses staying high due to inflation, more Americans are relying on credit cards to make ends meet. As the personal savings rate sank near an all-time low, credit card balances jumped 15% year over year, according to the latest quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New
Ascent/ Pks Media Inc. | Photodisc | Getty Images Current Social Security beneficiaries are poised to receive an 8.7% boost to their benefits for 2023 starting this month, thanks to the highest cost-of-living adjustment in 40 years. If you’re at or near Social Security’s retirement benefit eligibility age of 62, you may wonder if you
Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education proposed regulations Tuesday that would reduce the monthly bills for certain federal student loan borrowers. Under the proposal, the administration of President Joe Biden would overhaul one of the existing income-driven repayment plans, known as Revised Pay As You Earn or REPAYE, which
The IRS building in Washington. Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images The IRS has issued tax refunds to 12 million people eligible for a tax break on unemployment benefits received in 2020, when the pandemic caused joblessness on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. The refund payments — which totaled $14.8
Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images New year, new you? Probably not. One of the revelations that will likely come in 2023 is that you’re largely the same person as last year. You don’t suddenly love running or taking vitamins. But sometimes it’s good when things don’t change, and the fact that many of the
vitapix | E+ | Getty Images New government jobs data shows the U.S. labor market is still strong, with a record low unemployment rate of 3.5%. “The unemployment rate is the lowest in 50 years,” President Joe Biden said on Friday. ”We have just finished the two strongest years of job growth in history.” Yet as
Getty Images With President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on hold and headed to the Supreme Court, tens of millions of Americans are wondering if they’ll ever see the relief they were promised. Legal experts say the president’s policy, which would cancel up to $20,000 for borrowers, faces a narrow path to survival with
Amazon and Salesforce are among the latest tech companies to announce job cuts, after rapid hiring over the last several years. For every company announcing layoffs, senior leaders and managers must keep the remaining employees motivated and productive. Among U.S.-based companies, announced layoffs were up 172% in the fourth quarter of 2022 — with more
Dragos Condrea | Istock | Getty Images If you’re signing up for Medicare, you’ve likely discovered that there are a lot of out-of-pocket costs that come with your coverage. For about 23% of Medicare’s 65.1 million beneficiaries, the solution for covering those outlays is a so-called Medigap plan. These policies, sold by private insurance companies,
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 21, 2022. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images The bond market suffered a significant meltdown in 2022. Bonds are generally thought to be the boring, relatively safe part of an investment portfolio. They’ve historically been a shock absorber, helping buoy portfolios when
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot, which is now $940 million, is 1 in more than 300 million. While very few will experience that kind of windfall in their lifetime, the lottery isn’t the only chance to come into sudden wealth. Whether it’s an inheritance, sale of a property, bonus or even a