Personal Finance

Narisara Nami | Moment | Getty Images With health care more critical than ever these days, it should come as no surprise that 2 out of the 3 best jobs in the U.S. are in that field. Like many industries, the health-care sector has been hit by the Covid crisis, with employment down by 542,000

Vice President Kamala Harris watches as President Joe Biden signs executive orders after speaking on racial equity in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 26, 2021. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images Just over two weeks into his administration, President Joe Biden has already made it clear

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during an event to introduce the Raise The Wage Act at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 16, 2019. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Senate Democrats passed a budget resolution early Friday, the latest step towards approving President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan by a simple majority without Republican votes.

Before the pandemic, volunteers for Creighton University’s VITA program worked closely with clients to file their tax returns for free. Tom Purcell Creighton University’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program has a new look this year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of in-person meetings, where people sit face-to-face with students volunteering to help

Dan and Grace Porte lost their jobs at Target when the Covid pandemic began. The couple, in their mid-80s, had used the income to supplement Social Security. Dan and Grace Porte Dan and Grace Porte worked together for decades. In the 1970s, they started a paint and wallpaper business. Then, after the housing bubble burst

kate_sept2004 President Joe Biden wants to get more money to certain American families by expanding the child tax credit for one year. For those who are eligible, that would mean extra cash could come their way via a refund check. Now Democrats are planning to propose a bill next week to enact a long-term change

Image Source | DigitalVision | Getty Images As Washington lawmakers work to come to an agreement on a new coronavirus relief package, one key question has emerged: Will the next stimulus checks be $1,400? President Joe Biden sought to end that debate in a press conference on Friday by re-affirming his commitment to $1,400. “I’m

The student debt crisis has hit a new milestone — soaring to $1.7 trillion in outstanding loans at the end of last year. As more than 44 million Americans grapple with this burden, the disparity in the amount of that debt held by Black and White borrowers is also growing. Studies show that young Black

THOUSAND OAKS, CA – AUGUST 18: Offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth #77 of the Los Angeles Rams enters the field for training camp on August 18, 2020. Jayne Kamin-Oncea | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images Long before Andrew Whitworth made it to the National Football League, he knew he wanted to help others. When he

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Brandon Bell | Reuters The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other Democratic legislators on Thursday, introduced a resolution again calling on the White House to forgive $50,000 in student debt for all borrowers by executive action. “During a

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images Americans have it worse than all other developed nations when it comes to benefits for workers, according to a new ranking. The U.S. places last relative to its national policies around healthcare, unemployment, retirement, parental leave, and paid vacation and sick days, according to Zenefits, a

Capitol dome Congress Mark Makela | Getty Images News | Getty Images President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are hoping to pass $1.9 trillion of additional pandemic relief, including extra jobless benefits. Still, many unemployed workers haven’t yet gotten benefit payments from the last stimulus package, which former President Trump signed more than a month

People gather together to ask the McDonald’s corporation to raise workers wages to a $15 minimum wage as well as demanding the right to a union on May 23, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Millions of workers in the U.S. could be in for a pay raise as Democrats move

Steven Heap/EyeEm/Getty Images Tax season is coming up, and this year, in particular, there’s a big reason for everyone to file a return, regardless of how much money they made last year. That’s because the coronavirus pandemic has ushered in some key changes that make filing a return critical, even if you aren’t likely to

SolStock | E+ | Getty Images When Tim Maurer’s two teenagers burst into his home office last week, excitedly talking about how a bunch of kids had taken on Wall Street, the Charleston, South Carolina, certified financial planner knew it presented a great opportunity to teach his boys about investing. Lecturing doesn’t usually work, Maurer

Tiffany Hagler-Geard | Bloomberg | Getty Images GameStop, AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry, Dogecoin and silver – all have been subject to epic rallies and falls in recent days, spurred by droves of retail investors driving up prices and then selling. While it may be tempting to pile into an asset that’s seen such rapid growth, financial

As the nation celebrates the achievements of African-Americans during Black History Month, it is also a time to look ahead. Black leaders have some advice for the next generation of African-Americans about how to bridge the racial wealth and income gap in the U.S., which has only been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. That gap

As college costs rise, financial aid is a growing necessity, yet many students still don’t apply. Now, more states are requiring that they do — and paving the way to a college degree for some who might not be able to otherwise afford it. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, serves as the

Protestors call for a $15 minimum wage outside of McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago on Jan. 15, 2021. Scott Olson | Getty Images A $15 per hour federal minimum wage may be closer than ever, as Democrats in Congress push to pass legislation that includes the pay boost through a sped-up process that doesn’t require

Miami Herald | Tribune News Service | Getty Images The next stimulus checks could be smaller than $1,400 and reach fewer people if a new plan put forward by some Republican senators is approved. The new proposal from a group of 10 GOP lawmakers calls for $1,000 checks per person, rather than the $1,400 sum

Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty Images It can be hard to look away from the constant stream of financial success stories and tips on TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and other social media platforms. Users on WallStreetBets and other forums brag about the tens of thousands of dollars they’ve made over short periods of time by

Gabriela Bhaskar | Bloomberg | Getty Images If you’ve been holding shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment or other so-called “meme” stocks that have shot up to the stratosphere recently, it may be time to take the gains and move on. While it’s uncertain where those stocks will go from here in the short-term, experts say

Stimulus checks printed at the Philadelphia Financial Center in Philadelphia. Jeff Fusco | Getty Images Many Americans are waiting for their second stimulus check and others want to know when they could possibly get a third payment.  The $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan pushed by President Joe Biden includes a third round of  $1,400 stimulus

The headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C. JHVEPhoto | iStock Editorial | Getty Images The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to become a more aggressive consumer watchdog under the Biden administration and while the coronavirus pandemic hurls financial challenges at millions of Americans. Consumer advocates say the bureau was almost

Serhii Shleihel | iStock | Getty Images Here’s what you probably shouldn’t do with that extra money now that you don’t have to pay your student loan bill until October: Sink it all into shares of GameStop. But there are financially sound actions you can take with the additional cash, and you’ll likely thank yourself

Not wanting to touch anything is having a dramatic impact on consumer habits. Amid the coronavirus crisis, Americans are abandoning cash almost entirely in favor of “tap and go” transactions and have finally embraced contactless and digital payment methods after years of reluctance.  Fewer and fewer adults use printed or minted U.S. currency at all any more.

Aimee Dilger | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images Maybe you’ve heard by now that an army of retail investors has managed to use one of hedge funds’ common investment strategies against them. That is, short-selling. It generally involves selling borrowed shares of a stock with the belief that the price will drop, at

Juanmonino | E+ | Getty Images If you are counting on a tax refund, you could be sorely disappointed this filing season. A new W-4 form and a pandemic-dominated 2020 may have millions of Americans receiving smaller refunds, or even owing money to the government, this year. “I’ve already seen people upset that they owe

martin-dm | E+ | Getty Images Vacations may be back on Americans’ calendars later this year — especially if vaccines help suppress the Covid-19 pandemic — but business travel won’t bounce back for quite some time, according to a forecast from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are likely

Digital Vision | Photodisc | Getty Images If you tied the knot last year, it may be worthwhile checking what your new status will mean for your 2020 taxes. While many couples see their tax bill drop post-nuptials, some face a “marriage penalty” — that is, paying more in taxes than if they had remained