Personal finance

The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed higher yet again. With no one hitting all six numbers on Tuesday, the top prize is an estimated $340 million for Friday night’s drawing. And while the odds are stacked against hitting the jackpot — your chance is 1 in about 302 million — at some point, someone will

The Federal Reserve‘s decision Wednesday to keep interest rates steady put the cap on a tumultuous year for consumers. After raising the federal funds rate nine times in three years, with the last hike just one year ago as financial markets were melting down, concerns about a slowing economy and a looming U.S.-China trade war

PeskyMonkey | iStock | Getty Images The bull market in U.S. stocks rolls on. From the trade war between the U.S. and China and the slowdown in global economic growth, to Britain’s messy exit from the European Union and the potential impeachment of President Trump, nothing has dampened the enthusiasm for stocks. The American economy

Alistair Berg | DigitalVision | Getty Images It’s officially crunch time for older savers who must take mandated withdrawals from their retirement accounts. Individuals who turned 70½ this year — and those who are older — are responsible for taking required minimum distributions from their individual retirement accounts and from each of their 401(k) plans.

New York, New York E+ | Getty Images There are three weeks left in the year, and House Democrats are taking a last shot at ending the $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y, along with Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Mike Thompson, D-Calif., proposed the “Restoring Tax Fairness for

Jamie Grill | Getty Images Why is it so difficult for people to do the right thing when it comes to money? We know what we should do — save for the future, track our spending and avoid credit card debt, for example. But for many of us there is a gap between what we

Lauren Schaefer, 31, was managing events for the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism when she quit to start her own wedding coordination company. Source: Lauren Schaefer When Lauren Schaefer started planning weddings, she never imagined it would become a full-time job. The 31-year-old worked in the events management industry for 10 years before she

Jim McGuire | Getty Images A new proposal in Congress aims to resurrect an old tradition: mailing Social Security statements to your home. Since 2011, the Social Security Administration has cut back on the number of paper statements it puts in the mail in order to save money. A new bill, called the Know Your

The final few weeks of the year aren’t just for last-minute shopping and holiday parties. It’s also a crucial time for tax savings. While the 2017 tax overhaul did put a whole new spin on year-end planning, it did not eliminate the need to do it altogether. In fact, from making an 11th-hour charitable donation

Allison Shelley | Getty Images News | Getty Images When it comes to Social Security, the question on most people’s lips is: “Will it still be there for me when I retire?” The answer is generally yes. But the system will pay less in benefits if nothing is done to repair it. In April, the

College is a significant investment that comes with the hope of a better, richer life. It doesn’t always work out that way. Some experts say the value of a bachelor’s degree is fading. Starting salaries for new college graduates have grown less than 1% over the past two years, remaining at around $50,000. Worse yet:

Hero Images | Getty Images Add to your end-of-year to-do list: check your health flexible spending account. These accounts help you save money on some health-care costs, because you pay for them with pretax dollars, yet not everyone uses them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39% of workers in 2015 had access to

RubberBall Productions | Brand X Pictures | Getty Images At 2 a.m. on Oct. 17, Helen Ramos tried to wake up her son, Michael Bowen. Something about the 37-year-old looked strange. Ramos, 65, uses a wheelchair, and running errands can be a struggle. The day before, Bowen had gone grocery shopping for her. Later, Ramos

The arrival of a new baby can be one of the most joyous occasions in life. It also should be a time of careful planning for the little one’s arrival, everything from picking out baby clothes to furnishing their nursery and planning for longer-term needs — such as health care, child care, and education. According

CNBC | Jaden Urbi Outstanding education debt has outpaced credit card and auto debt. The average college graduate leaves school $30,000 in the red today, up from $10,000 in the 1990s. Nearly 40% of students who took out loans in 2004 will default on their debt by 2023, according to the Education Department’s own figures

More than a quarter-billion dollars is up for grabs in the next Mega Millions drawing. After 10 weeks with no one hitting all six numbers, the jackpot has climbed to $285 million for Friday night’s drawing. And while the odds are stacked against a jackpot win — your chance is 1 in about 302 million

Ah, the joys of new marital bliss. Now … about those tax returns. If you tied the knot this year (or plan to this month), it’s worthwhile evaluating what getting married will mean for your 2019 tax situation. While many couples will see their taxes drop, some will face a “marriage penalty” — paying more

Before the calendar flips to 2020, you might want to see if there are some moves you can make to take advantage of the tax breaks for medical expenses. Experts say it’s worth exploring, as the cost of health care continues its upward climb. The U.S. spent about $3.5 trillion on health care in 2017,

JGI/Jamie Grill | Tetra images | Getty Images Make 2020 the year you nail your taxes: The IRS has released the final version of its new tax withholding form. The new Form W-4 goes into effect for 2020. Employees use it to tailor the amount of income tax that’s withheld from their paychecks. The document

Investment expert Mellody Hobson is the epitome of the American Dream. The youngest of six kids, she was raised by a single mother. “We had a lot to overcome financially when I was a child,” she said in a recent interview with CNBC’s Wilfred Frost. Her childhood included frequent evictions from their homes in Chicago