Ngampol Thongsai / EyeEm Americans’ health may not be the only thing at stake as the coronavirus continues its unrelenting spread in the U.S. The virus could also prove financially crippling for many individuals. “There are all kinds of pathways for people to be financially affected by this,” said John Graves, an associate professor of
Personal finance
Jim McGuire | Getty Images As the market hits the skids, experts are warning that you shouldn’t make rash moves with your portfolio. And that includes one retirement income source you might turn to for safety: your Social Security benefits. A recent survey from SimplyWise, a retirement income technology provider, found that 1 in 4
Adilisha Patrom (R) speaks to a customer in her coronavirus pop-up store in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2020. NICHOLAS KAMM Are you financially prepared if you can’t go to work? As fears about the coronavirus mount, so do concerns about possible quarantines, office closures and school shutdowns. “It’s always situations like this that make
CasarsaGuru If the coronavirus has you spooked, you’re in good company. Even wealthy investors are building up their cash cushions. Global markets haven taken a beating over the last two weeks, amid worries about COVID-19. The pain continued on Monday morning as the S&P 500 tumbled by more than 7% and trading was halted. Recent
Tetra Images Like millions of American women, I’ve experienced widowhood. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2019, there were almost 15 million widows and widowers in the country. About 77% of these individuals, or 11.4 million, were women. (Some widowed people later remarry, so the total number of individuals experiencing widowhood is actually
Damircudic | Getty Images When it comes to saving for retirement, many working women are falling short. Almost one-fifth, or 19%, of working women have nothing saved for retirement, according to a new CNBC/SurveyMonkey Women at Work Survey. The poll surveyed 1,068 working women in the U.S. from Feb. 10-14. “It’s not because women don’t
Think twice before celebrating that large refund check from Uncle Sam. The IRS had doled out 45.5 million refunds as of Feb. 28, with the average refund check totaling $3,064. That amount is just $4 less than last year’s average refund. Filers have reasons to celebrate their small windfall. Most have ambitious plans for their
If you’ve been considering overseas retirement spots, the rapid spread of the new coronavirus around the globe might be giving you pause. That may not be a bad thing, say some experts. While it’s tricky to predict where and when any contagion — whether this coronavirus or another pathogen — will emerge, a key consideration
No pain, no gain … no risk, no reward. As with most platitudes, you’ve likely heard those lines so many times that by now they’ve lost their meaning. Most of us understand that to amass enough savings to buy a first home, send a child to college or retire before 70, we have to surrender
The recent stock market meltdown may have dented Americans’ retirement savings, but there’s a silver lining: The downturn made one common retirement strategy less costly for investors. The strategy, known as a Roth IRA conversion, involves changing a traditional, pre-tax retirement account — such as a 401(k) plan or a qualified individual retirement account — to an
Getty Images Recent wild market swings have led some 401(k) investors to clamber into safer assets. However, you may want to press pause before you increase your exposure to bonds or cash-type funds. Net trading activity in 401(k) saving plans was higher in the last week of February than all of the combined activity in
The gender wage gap has remained remarkably stubborn for decades. Still, gains are being made. As of 2018, women earned 85% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers in the U.S. That’s up from 67% about one generation ago. Although women continue
For everyday Americans, there’s some good news to the coronavirus fears that are driving investors to safe-haven investments likeTreasurys. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, sank more than 11 basis points to an all-time low of 0.906% on Tuesday in the wake of an emergency rate cut by the
People buy water, food and toilet paper at a store, as they begin to stockpile essentials from fear that supplies will be affected by the spread of the COVID-19, coronavirus, outbreak across the country, in Los Angeles, California on February 29, 2020. Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images Canned food is one thing. Cash
Recent market volatility may be bad news for your portfolio. The good news? Your tax bill. The recent market sell-off sent all three major equity indexes into the red over coronavirus fears. A strategy called tax-loss harvesting allows investors to use their biggest losers to reduce their taxes. This way, you deliberately incur losses in
Thomas Barwick The group that oversees certified financial planners is making it tougher for consumers looking for a new advisor to find out how a particular CFP gets paid. The CFP Board of Standards — a nonprofit that governs the CFP designation, held by 86,000 financial advisors in the U.S. — erased a part of its
Nuthawut Somsuk With the stock market tumbling amid the coronavirus outbreak, you might be worried about meeting your financial goals. And if you had hoped to tap a 529 college savings plan for an upcoming tuition bill for your child or grandchild, well, you might be really worried. Those state-sponsored investment plans allow parents to save money
Javier Snchez Mingorance / EyeEm Wild swings in the stock market may have you itching to make changes to your portfolio. Yet any expert will tell you: You shouldn’t let your emotions drive your investment decisions. “That vacillation between excitement and panic — that is what hurts people financially,” said financial psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz, associate
Zelma Brezinska / EyeEm New York’s new ban on plastic bags is, on its face, an effort to reduce consumer waste. It likely also offers an important lesson on consumer psychology and how we think about money. As of Sunday, most businesses in the state can no longer offer single-use plastic bags to consumers. Several
In a rare move, the Federal Reserve announced an emergency rate cut of 50 basis points in response to the growing threat from the coronavirus outbreak. It’s the first time the Fed has cut rates by half a percentage point since late 2008. “The fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said