Personal Finance
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What if you can’t pay back your student loans when payments start again? These are your options.
With the pause on student-loan payments set to end in October, many student-loan borrowers may be asking themselves, “What can I do if I can’t afford to pay my student-loan bill?” Don’t panic — you have options. There are ways to either lower your payment obligations or to defer payments, albeit temporarily, according to the…
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My brother and I will inherit our mother’s house. It’s appreciated in value by $700K. Will we have to pay capital-gains tax?
Dear MarketWatch, I am the trustee for my mother’s revocable trust, and my brother is a backup trustee. When she passes, I plan to sell her house and distribute the proceeds. My younger brother currently lives in the house and takes care of her. I want to sell the house as it is very neglected,…
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Bobby Bonilla Day: How the former Mets player’s financial feat illustrates the magic of compound interest
If you see Bobby Bonilla popping up all over your social media feeds on Saturday (as it tends to this time of year), it’s because July 1 marks the annual $1.2 million payday for the former third baseman — an event that has increasingly attracted interest from average Americans, even some who don’t know anything…
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USPS issues warning over check fraud: Go directly to the post office to mail a check
The U.S. Postal Service has issued a new warning: be careful when mailing checks. The USPS reported a recent surge in attacks on letter carriers and mail fraud, stating that 305 mail carriers were robbed in the first half of fiscal-year 2023, compared with 412 last year. Many of the USPS’s thefts occurred when mail…
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‘Retirement is so traditional,’ try periodic retirement to figure out what’s next
During the recovery from the pandemic several workplace catchphrases generated buzz, including quiet quitting, great resignation, and hybrid work. Expressions like these in the aggregate reflect a much larger conversation rethinking work, purpose, and the good life in the postpandemic economy. I’d like to throw another term into the mix that I hope will gather…
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Don’t become a landlord — own these REITs instead
Who would be a landlord? The costs are high, the risks are huge, and the so-called passive income is uncertain. I did it once, and the paperwork alone was enough to drive me nuts. Even before considering the various hassles of finding good tenants; managing the property; and dealing with leaks, disputes, broken washing machines…
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A breakfast-cereal giant’s grumbles about prices could be music to the Fed’s ears
General Mills the megamanufacturer behind your morning Cheerios, reported a drop in earnings that might make it question whether continuing to raise prices is worth it. General Mills GIS, +0.52% CEO Jeff Harmening acknowledged during the company’s fourth-fiscal-quarter earnings call this week that consumers responded to higher prices by making fewer purchases. “As you look…
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Biden’s student loan ‘on-ramp’ explained: Missed payments won’t hurt credit, but interest keeps adding up
President Joe Biden said he was “discouraged” and “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision to block his student loan forgiveness plan on Friday — but there could still be some relief in sight for the roughly 40 million borrowers who would have benefited from seeing $10,000 to $20,000 of their debt disappear. Biden announced “a…
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Why U.S. taxes must increase
“ The U.S. needs to pay for the structural increases in spending that demographics, climate change and intra- and intergenerational fairness will require. ” Now that the brinkmanship over the U.S. federal debt limit has been suspended until January 1, 2025, two major, interdependent fiscal-policy challenges demand attention. First, America’s public debt must be put on…
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A global recession is coming, Nouriel Roubini says. Stock and bond investors should get ready.
There are currently four scenarios for the global economic outlook. Three of these entail potentially serious risks with far-reaching implications for markets. The most positive is a “soft landing,” where central banks in the advanced economies manage to bring inflation back down to their 2% targets without triggering a recession. There is also the possibility…