Milorad Kravic | E+ | Getty Images For many consumers, buying a car increasingly comes with a hefty monthly bill. The share of new-car buyers who pay $1,000 or more per month for their auto loans rose to a record 20.3% of all new vehicle purchases financed in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to…
Retail investors may already be preparing for the start of the 2026 tax filing season, which the IRS announced this week will begin on Jan. 26. Using tax-efficient investing strategies throughout the year can help minimize an investor’s tax burden and optimize their portfolio’s value for years to come, says Bill Harris, the founder and…
Damircudic | E+ | Getty Images As more older Americans near retirement, many are eager to boost 401(k) savings to combat the rising cost of health care and other day-to-day expenses. And for 2026, there are key 401(k) changes that investors need to know, financial experts say. This year, “small 401(k) details matter more than…
Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images A cooling labor market, characterized by sluggish hiring and anemic job creation, made it hard for job seekers to find work in 2025, according to economists. “It’s fair to say that 2025 was a hiring recession in the United States,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union,…
Aj_watt | E+ | Getty Images Travelers who were briefly stranded abroad after the U.S. operation to extract Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro got a hard lesson in the limitations of travel insurance. Travel insurance policies offer a financial backstop to buyers for various unforeseen snafus, like having to pay for medical care abroad or for…
Ascent/ Pks Media Inc. | Photodisc | Getty Images Many Social Security beneficiaries will soon receive their first benefit checks for 2026. Jan. 14 marks the earliest date beneficiaries can receive January payments, depending on the Social Security Administration’s schedule based on date of birth. Those checks will include a 2.8% benefit boost, thanks to…
Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images As part of an ongoing effort to give 401(k) investors more access to guaranteed income in retirement, a bipartisan bill in Congress would allow some workers to use their retirement savings to buy annuities outside of their plan. The Retirement Simplification and Clarity Act, or H.R. 6324, would…
Miodrag Ignjatovic | E+ | Getty Images After Beth Pinsker’s father died, she had her mother set up a new estate plan that included a power of attorney, a legal document that gives permission for someone to make financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Yet it wasn’t until years later, when her…
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the media during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on January 03, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images President Donald Trump said the U.S. is going to temporarily take over governing Venezuela after launching a large-scale surprise attack on the country overnight. “We are going to run…
Sean Anthony Eddy | E+ | Getty Images As investors who use exchange-traded funds know, the cost can be a tiny fraction of the assets you invest. Sometimes, ETFs from different providers — i.e., Vanguard, State Street, Charles Schwab, etc. — track the same index (say, the S&P 500), which can make it tempting to…
