Personal Finance
-
I’m 54 and the primary earner but ‘professionally, I am exhausted’ — we have $2.18 million but what about healthcare?
My wife and I are both 54 years old. I am the primary earner with a six-figure salary and equal bonus opportunity. My wife works part time for extra income. For the purposes of this, we can assume that our primary savings vehicle is my bonus, and that we live off of the paychecks. We…
-
‘It feels like a heavy burden’: My husband asked me to sell my $14,000 engagement ring to pay off our debt. Is he asking too much?
My husband and I have been together for six years, and we have made some good and, yes, some bad financial choices in that time. The early years of our relationship and marriage were the honeymoon years. We traveled a lot. We spent a lot of money on restaurants and hotels, and we have a…
-
Biden is cracking down on junk fees with the help of Airbnb and Live Nation — here’s how to avoid them
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced efforts to crack down on so-called junk fees — hidden or obscure fees that surprise consumers when they’re buying everything from airline and concert tickets to booking hotels and Airbnb rentals. Executives from Live Nation LYV, +3.74%, Ticketmaster, Seatgeek, Airbnb ABNB, +2.17% and other companies joined Biden at the…
-
‘Make friends with this technology’: Yes, AI is coming for your job. Here’s how to prepare.
Corporate leaders appear to be excited about the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence. And their employees? Not so much. It’s no surprise, perhaps, that 62% of bosses in a recent Boston Consulting Group survey said they felt optimistic about AI’s impact on work, while only 42% of employees said they felt the same way, and…
-
Fed’s interest-rate pause won’t be a reprieve for America’s almost $1 trillion of credit-card debt
The Federal Reserve’s decision to pause raising its benchmark interest rate is no pause for the anxiety of Americans eyeing ballooning credit-card bills. While it may halt the rise of many credit-card rates for now, the rates for some cards might still rise as some issuers pass on the previous Fed rate hikes, credit-card industry…
-
My brother and sister insist I share our mother’s $440K estate with their 8 children, or they’ll cut off all contact. What should I do?
Dear Quentin, We are three siblings: my brother, my sister and I. Our mom passed away from a stroke in Arizona. Her estate went to probate court as she had no will. We were all on the same page and had no issues getting everything done. Her house was sold very quickly for $420,000. There…
-
Do you have a high-yield savings account? Warning: This could stop you from accessing your cash in a hurry.
You’ve made some money by stashing funds in a high-yield savings account, and now you want to cash in to make a down payment on a home. High-yield savings accounts are having a moment. With the federal-funds rate in the range of 5% to 5.25%, consumers can earn an annual return of up to 5%…
-
Am I prepared for retirement? Most of us know — and it’s bad.
In a recent study, we used our updated National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) to see whether households have a good sense of their own retirement preparedness — do their expectations match the reality they face? That is, do households at risk know they are at risk? Understanding households’ self-assessed retirement preparedness is important because households…
-
Millions of Americans didn’t refinance their mortgage when rates were low. Now they’re paying the price.
It’s certainly a bad time to refinance your mortgage. Rates for 30-year-mortgages are the highest they’ve been in decades. But not too long ago, during the 2020 pandemic, rates dropped to below 3%, and it was a good time to refinance. About $14 trillion of outstanding mortgages were refinanced then. Lenders did well and built…
-
Food-delivery workers in New York set to earn $18 minimum wage next month and ore drivers under 30 are falling behind on car payments
Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. ‘This is something huge for us’: Food-delivery workers in New York set to earn $18 minimum wage next month Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub are not pleased with the outcome, which they call “extreme” — while some worker advocates say the city fell short. ‘Remote work doesn’t work’: David…