Personal finance

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

Getting into the Super Bowl spirit usually entails some sort of wager. This year, however, gambling on the big game looks a lot different than it has in the past. Altogether, more than half of Americans said they’ll bet on this Sunday’s Super Bowl LV, according to a report from LendingTree. Despite widespread job losses,

Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth enters training camp field in Thousand Oaks, California, on Aug. 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 was a kid, he volunteered to bag

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

Signs calling for more relief, a second Paycheck Protection Program and more as part of a campaign by Goldman Sachs supporting small businesses near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI | AFP | Getty Images Millions of Americans who want to see more direct aid from the federal government amid the Covid-19

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

It’s tempting to tell the world as soon as you receive a coveted Covid shot. But there’s reason to rein it in. For starters, sharing a photo of your vaccination card on social media makes you a potential target of identity theft, according to the Better Business Bureau. Not only does the personal information on

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

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

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 via Getty Images Reddit users and other retail investors who piled into GameStop stock aimed to take down Wall Street. Pension funds, which support ordinary Americans in retirement, may be an unintended casualty. Some hedge funds have sustained big losses as a result of bets against GameStop stock. Melvin Capital, for example, lost

Amanda Nicholls made extra cash during the pandemic by selling other families’ items online for a commission. Source: Amanda Nicholls When Amanda Nicholls was laid off from her sales job last summer, she had to get creative. The 34-year-old, who was bringing in about 75% of the family’s income, pivoted to selling second-hand goods for

Home ownership has long been considered a staple of the American dream. During the pandemic, it has also become a dividing line between the haves and have-nots. As the coronavirus outbreak and rise of remote work pushed Americans to move from the city to the suburbs, those who could afford a single-family home have been

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

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

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

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