Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images New Year’s Day luck could end up making a Powerball player a few hundred million dollars richer. No ticket matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday, which means the jackpot has climbed higher: It’s an advertised $483 million for Saturday night’s drawing, up from $441 million. The top prize
Personal finance
President Joe Biden walks to the Oval Office upon his return to the White House on Dec. 20, 2021. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters When Scott Heins heard that the Biden administration was giving student loan borrowers another three months before they’ll have to start making their payments again, he had mixed feelings. On one hand,
Samuel Corum/Bloomberg Democrats seem to have nixed the idea of taxing returns on unsold stock and other assets, favoring other ways to raise revenue as part of a nearly $2 trillion social and climate bill. Scrapping that tax on “unrealized capital gains” would primarily benefit the richest Americans, who hold the bulk of the country’s
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images Coming off several years of outsized gains in the stock market, investors may be hoping 2022 is like deja vu again. Don’t count on it. While future performance is impossible to predict with certainty, many financial advisors expect returns will come back down to Earth. “We
More Americans got into the spirit this holiday, even if it meant spending more than they could afford. Between buying presents, plane tickets and party supplies, 36% of consumers went into debt, owing an average of $1,249, according to a survey by LendingTree. Most holiday borrowers with debt put it on their credit cards, although
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images After making payments on her student loans since 2005, Karen Tongson is finally free of her debt. In November, Tongson, an English and gender studies professor, signed into her loan account and discovered her balance had fallen from $47,000 to $0, thanks to
FatCamera | E+ | Getty Images Open enrollment for the public health insurance marketplace lasts a month longer than usual this year — which means there’s still time to get coverage. Through Jan. 15 — unless your state has a different closing date — you and your family can sign up for a plan through
Portra Images | Getty Images Many Americans may be experiencing a spending hangover after the holidays. This year, it may have been easier than ever to spend more than intended. Some families were able to gather together after being apart last year, and inflation and supply chain issues have driven up the cost of many
Victoria Popova | iStock | Getty Images Student loan borrowers got some happy news this holiday season: They’ll have an additional three months before they have to start making their payments again. The payment pause, which has been in effect since March 2020, was scheduled to expire Jan. 31, but the Biden administration announced it
Integrity Pictures Inc | The Image Bank | Getty Images The share of employers allowing Roth 401(k) savings surged last year, giving more workers access to the financial benefits that accompany such contributions. A Roth is a type of after-tax account. Workers pay taxes up front on 401(k) savings, but investment growth and account withdrawals
Shoppers at a Black Friday sale at the King of Prussia mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Nov. 26, 2021. Rachel Wisniewski | Reuters As the year comes to a close, many Americans may be looking at getting serious about their personal finances in 2022. Some may even be wondering if they have a spending
Whenever Anne Helen Petersen and her partner Charlie Warzel, both journalists, were on a trip, they’d find themselves talking about moving to wherever they were visiting. “It would happen when we went to Santa Fe and to the Catskills,” Petersen said. “It was every single place.” That told them that they weren’t happy in New