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Teenagers with part-time or seasonal jobs earn some spending money while gaining valuable work experience. They also have the chance to contribute to a Roth IRA : a tax-advantaged account that can…

A sound retirement plan should be based on your particular circumstances. No one strategy is suitable for everyone. Once you’re retired, your income plan should strive to address four basic objectives: earn…

Helping a grandchild obtain a college degree could be a lifelong gift, but grandparent giving has often required fiscal gymnastics to avoid reducing a student’s financial aid eligibility. That is changing with…

Can Consumers Keep Carrying the Economy? Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), so it plays an outsized role in driving economic growth or slowing it down.1…

Mutual funds pool investment dollars from many individual investors to purchase a group of selected securities aimed at meeting a particular objective. This offers a convenient way to invest across a wide…

Transformative Tech: Will AI Upend the American Workforce? A chatbot with uncanny human-like writing abilities has become the poster child for artificial intelligence (AI) since it was released in late 2022, inspiring…

Have you noticed that packages are smaller at the grocery store? If so, you’re not alone. A survey of consumers taken in 2022 found that a majority of U.S. adults have noticed…

More than 37 million U.S. adults are living with some hearing loss, but only about one-fourth of those who might benefit from a hearing aid have used one.1 One big obstacle is…

Retirees face several unique challenges when managing their income, particularly when it comes to taxes. From understanding how taxes relate to Social Security and Medicare to determining when to tap taxable and…

A recent AARP study found that nearly half of all private sector employees ages 18 to 64 had no access to a retirement plan at work. It also found that small businesses…

What’s Happening in the World of Higher Education? A 2023 survey revealed a notable shift in public opinion over the past decade about the value of a college degree: 56% of Americans…

To say the economy has been uneven over the past few years is an understatement. Amid these bumpy economic times, why buy life insurance? Here are a few reasons. Protection for Loved…

The SECURE 2.0 Act, included in the federal spending bill passed in late 2022, dramatically changed the landscape for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from tax-deferred retirement accounts. As part of the effort…

In December 2022, Congress passed the SECURE 2.0 Act. It introduced two new rules relating to 529 plans and student debt that will take effect in 2024. The first provision allows for…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers child-care costs to be affordable when they are at or below 7% of annual household income : but many families face costs that…

Publicly traded companies are required to disclose their financial performance to regulators and shareholders on a quarterly basis. News organizations and investors pay close attention to these reports because they tend to…

Headline inflation, which refers to the 12-month increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased 9.1% in June 2022 : the highest rate since 1981 : before the U.S. economy began the…

The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2023 was 8.7%, the largest benefit increase since 1981. Obviously, the COLA helps current beneficiaries, but you may wonder whether it will make a difference…