Personal finance

mediamasmedia The stock market is acting strangely these days, with headlines about market rallies next to ones about historic unemployment figures and companies filing for bankruptcy.  You can’t figure it out. But you may be wondering if you should take advantage of the upswing and pull some money out of the market. After all, before this recent rally,

States facing revenues in sharp decline amid the coronavirus pandemic have tough choices ahead – and you might be shelling out more in state and local taxes as a result. State and local governments were left out of the $484 billion coronavirus relief bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last week. “Our costs

Image Source | Getty Images When it comes to coronavirus stimulus checks, many say $1,200 isn’t enough. Millions of those one-time payments are still on their way to Americans. The coronavirus shutdown, however, could have economic effects for months. Now, political leaders are turning to proposals for putting more income in Americans’ hands. “Others have

Local residents line up outside the food pantry Bed Stuy Campaign Against Hunger to receive free food during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 23, 2020 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Due to increased levels of unemployment, the lines at the daily food pantry have been getting longer. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via

Pedestrians walk through Harvard Yard on the closed Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on Monday, April 20, 2020. Adam Glanzam | Bloomberg | Getty Images “Many schools are tuition-dependent,” said Robert Franek, editor in chief of The Princeton Review and author of “The Best 385 Colleges.” “That really does change their financial make up

Annie Nova Annie Nova | CNBC I was raised by a single mother who had no time for the kitchen, and although I wanted to be different, I wasn’t. I became dependent on Grubhub, and the tiny oven in my Manhattan apartment could go months unused.  Since I never had a teacher, cooking intimidated me.

Ziga Plahutar If you’ve had trouble accessing the Get My Payment tool to check on the status of your coronavirus stimulus payment, you may want to try again. The IRS announced on Sunday it had made “significant enhancements” to the web portal, which first went live on April 15. The changes are aimed at creating what

PhotoAlto/Dinoco Greco American teens are worried about the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their family — and on their future. According to a survey by Junior Achievement, 57% of teenagers said they were concerned about how Covid-19 will affect their life after high school. Of the high school juniors and seniors polled, 27%

Father-daughter team Steve and Leah Kim model the masks their New York City alterations business, Master Tailor, started making when the coronavirus hit. When New York City largely shut down last month due to the spread of Covid-19, it was a devastating blow for some businesses. That included the Master Tailor, an alteration shop on

When a loved one passes away, it’s not unusual for the person to leave some unpaid debt behind. The question for the surviving spouse or other heirs is often: What happens to those obligations? Generally speaking, it depends on both the type of debt and applicable state laws. When someone dies, their assets — no

Fabian Videla Source: Fabian Videla In March, Fabian Videla realized that his 20-year-old construction and renovation company, Smarter Remodeling,in Jacksonville, Florida, might not survive the coronavirus outbreak.  “People started canceling sales appointments,” Videla, 49, said. “Current customers were apprehensive about letting crews in their houses. All of a sudden, it was a massive shutdown.” Soon,

Employee Linda Tarkenton holds a blank U.S. Treasury check before it’s run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility in Philadelphia. Getty Images People who receive benefits through either the Department of Veterans Affairs or Supplemental Security Income who have children have a new deadline if they want to get all of the

Images By Tang Ming Tung The financial hardships many Americans are now facing may have an unintended effect on their children — it may actually help their kids develop a money mindset very early. Just like children of the Depression emerged as frugal spenders, those experiencing the coronavirus pandemic may also learn important financial lessons.

Getty Images More than 88 million individuals received a stimulus check from the IRS in the last three weeks, according to data from the federal agency. The Treasury Department and the IRS have distributed a total of $157.9 billion in so-called Economic Impact Payments. The federal government began depositing the cash into taxpayers’ bank accounts

Wild market swings have taken a toll on retirement savers. The average 401(k) balance plunged 19%, to $91,400, in the first quarter of 2020, according to a new report by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. The financial services firm handles more than 30 million retirement accounts altogether. The average individual retirement

(Credit: Getty | PeopleImages) When the government launched a web tool on April 15 so that eligible Americans could find out the status of their coronavirus stimulus payments, Jake Koepke was eager to log on. But the central Wisconsin resident, 34, was disappointed to find himself shut out after three failed attempts to get onto

eclipse_images If you’re awaiting a federal stimulus payment and you haven’t filed tax returns, beware: Hackers have set their sights — and sites — on your $1,200 check. Scammers have set up more than 180,000 coronavirus-themed websites in an attempt to steal data or misinform consumers, according to data from Checkphish by Bolster. The security

The IRS isn’t processing paper returns right now as they deal with distributing coronavirus stimulus checks. While that’s not an issue for most taxpayers, who currently have until July 15 to turn in their 2019 federal income tax returns and pay any amounts owed, it is a big problem for people who have to file

U.S. households that already were less prepared to weather a financial storm are getting hit hardest from the recent rash of job losses across the country, research shows. Adults with lower income (under about $37,500 annually) and middle income ($37,500 to $112,600) comprise a greater share of those who have lost their job or taken

The sun sets behind a crude oil pump jack on a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S. November 24, 2019. Angus Mordant | Reuters Stay-at-home orders aren’t only hitting mom-and-pop businesses. They’re also a driver behind the cratering price of oil. For example, the cost of a futures contract for