Financial related news.
Talk of student loan forgiveness has borrowers looking forward to 2021. But many already benefited from some unprecedented events in 2020: An administrative forbearance has paused most federal loan payments interest-free since March. The forbearance has also halted collections on defaulted loans. Interest rates fell to historic lows. It's unclear how long these breaks will [...]
In a holiday season that many of us will spend apart from loved ones, gift-giving might feel even more important than usual. After all, if you can't travel to see family, at least you can see them unwrap gifts over a video call, right? And just as many families will use a video service for [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — While lockdown life has kept time standing still for nearly everyone through 2020, Wall Street has been locked in at super fast-forward. The stock market tumbled through years' worth of losses in just over a month this spring, only to turn around and pack an entire bull market's worth of gains [...]
It's the time of year to start thinking about taxes — but the upcoming filing season is going to be a bit trickier for many Americans due to rampant unemployment, working from home and general upheaval due to COVID-19. Here are a few pandemic specific conditions — good and bad — to be aware of. [...]
LOS ANGELES — Wall Street has rolled out the welcome mat for companies going public this year, boosting proceeds from initial public offerings to the highest level in six years. IPOs slowed sharply in the spring due to the pandemic, but they surged in the summer as the market recovered from a steep slump and [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped Americans from keeping up with their credit card payments, thanks in large part to government relief programs passed by Congress earlier this year. For some, however, the ability to keep buying things with plastic and then pay the bill likely depends on whether current negotiations in [...]
Job loss, business failure, involuntary retirement, divorce, disability or the death of a breadwinner — these are just some of the ways our finances can force us to come up with a Plan B. That's never as simple as downloading a list and ticking off completed assignments, however. Checklists can be helpful, for instance when [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — The economy's growth is likely slowing as 2020 comes to a close, but a growing number of economists expect it to claw back to its pre-pandemic strength by the second half of next year. That's the view from the latest survey of the National Association for Business Economics, which found that [...]
I'm a "be prepared" kind of person. I like having money in the bank and a good stock of emergency supplies. But I wasn't prepared to see empty shelves at the supermarket, or thousands of cars lined up at a Texas food bank, or nurses dressed in garbage bags because there wasn't enough protective equipment. [...]
Your estate plan may be your last words to those you leave behind. If you're a parent, you should think carefully about the message you'll be sending. Parents who leave their children unequal inheritances risk fueling family feuds. But strictly equal bequests also can cause resentment if the heirs don't see the distribution as fair. [...]