Personal finance

Cynthia Pineda lost her accounting job in early April. Without the $600 weekly unemployment boost, she’ll get just $275 each week in aid from Florida. Meanwhile, finding a new job has proven extremely challenging. Cindy Pineda was the breadwinner of her family before the coronavirus pandemic hit. But Pineda, 60, lost her accounting job in

“My stomach is growling and I have a headache,” said Sheila Ritter, 51. Sheila Reiter Sheila Ritter was laid off from her job as a security guard on March 14, the same day as her oldest daughter’s birthday. Affording enough food to feed her family has been a struggle for Ritter, who lives in Denver,

People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment benefits, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Arkansas Workforce Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. April 6, 2020. Nick Oxford |File Photo | REUTERS In mid-March, Erin Madden was furloughed from her job as a bartender at the Hollywood Burbank

Blank Social Security checks are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility February 11, 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. William Thomas Cain | Getty Images Congress won’t move on the next round of stimulus legislation this week. Despite that, however, a second set of stimulus checks is still on the table. Draft legislation

10’000 Hours The ask First, take your pre-Covid-19 job description and evaluate how your position has changed since. “You have probably taken on way, way more responsibilities,” said Jaras, author of “Know Your Worth, Get Your Worth” and host of the podcast, Her Career Talk. Take a “red marker” to that job description and underline

A view of the Capitol’s Rotunda is seen reflected in an ambulance as negotiations on a COVID-19 economic bailout continue on Capitol Hill March 24, 2020, in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images Congress is expected to make some big decisions that will affect how much money flows to Americans in the

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives to the Capitol for a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the COVID-19 relief plan, on Thursday, July 23, 2020. Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Unemployed workers may see about $200 or $300 a week in extra jobless benefits when the current $600-a-week

RyanJLane | E+ | Getty Images If you want to lose weight, you can’t crash diet for a week. And if you want to save money, cutting your spending to the barest essentials temporarily won’t help.  Monica Sipes, a certified financial planner and senior wealth advisor at Exencial Wealth Advisors in Frisco, Texas, never recommends

With declining enrollments, reduced giving and state funding cuts, colleges are resorting to last-ditch efforts to stay afloat. Now teachers are the latest victims of extreme cost cutting. The University of Akron, Boston University and the University of Arizona are just a few of the schools to lay off or furlough staff in response to the

All theater performances in New York are suspended through the remainder of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Pictured, shuttered Broadway theaters. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images Great Depression levels of unemployment have hit some of the country’s biggest cities. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the jobless rate in New York, Los Angeles and other

Nearly all college students think distance learning should cost less. Very few schools agree. After most colleges and universities moved online in the spring, three-quarters of all college students were unhappy with the quality of the education they received. Now, roughly 93% of undergraduates said tuition should be lowered if classes continue remotely in the fall, according to a

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a “Build Back Better” Clean Energy event on July 14, 2020 at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images An overhaul of your tax planning could be around the corner if former Vice President Joe Biden wins the

Melissa da Silva, president of tour operators Trafalgar Tours, Brendan Vacations and Costsaver, divisions of Cypress, California-based The Travel Corporation. Trafalgar Tours/The Travel Corporation One of the biggest disappointments of the pandemic lockdown of 2020 — and there are many — has to be the eagerly awaited vacations and getaways that millions of Americans have

Rob Daly | OJO Images | Getty Images Households aren’t too happy with the U.S. consumer financial ecosystem these days, a report suggests. Complaints made to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were up 50% from March through June this year compared with the same time period in 2019, according to research from consumer advocacy

U.S. President Donald Trump’s name appears on the coronavirus economic assistance checks that were sent to citizens across the country April 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Many Americans hope a second stimulus check is on the table in the next coronavirus relief package. Starting this week, we get to see

Getty Images High-income households will come out ahead – at the possible expense of the poor – if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act. Last month, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to do away with the health-care measure, arguing that the law became unconstitutional when Congress eliminated the penalty for not

Resist the urge to shove your completed 2019 tax return into a drawer. It could help you save money next spring. Taxpayers and tax professionals were focused on the sprint to July 15 – the new deadline for 2019 federal income tax returns and payments. Indeed, the IRS received 147.1 million individual income tax returns

One of the trickiest parts of retirement planning is knowing whether you’ll need long-term care down the road — or how much it might cost. While not everyone will need such care — help with daily living activities like bathing or dressing — those who do can face a big tab. Medicare — relied on

Yellow Dog Productions | Getty Images Medicare might become a bit easier to navigate. A congressional measure that would help prevent costly enrollment mistakes cleared a House committee on Wednesday as part of a group of bipartisan-backed health-care bills. The next step would be a vote by the full chamber, although it’s uncertain when that

Glenda West was hoping to retire in comfort with her wife, Juliana. Yet like many Americans, the 60-year-old has seen her retirement plans thrown out of whack by the coronavirus pandemic. “We had a clear plan on how much to put away every year,” said West, who owns a small construction company with her wife