Personal Finance
Day-to-day money decisions for individuals and households. Practical guidance on budgeting, saving, spending, credit, debt management, and financial planning.
Latest in Personal Finance
The Earned Income Tax Credit can add thousands to a lower-income worker’s refund
The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the few federal tax breaks capable of turning a modest return into a refund worth thousands of...
COBRA can keep employer health coverage for up to 18 months after leaving a job
Eighteen months is the federal floor most workers picture when they hear the word COBRA, and the Department of Labor confirms that figure applies to...
Prepaying a funeral can lock in today’s price against years of rising costs
Funeral costs have climbed steadily for years, and a casket, service, or plot priced today will almost certainly cost more by the time it’s actually...
Airlines must now refund a canceled flight in cash, not just a voucher
For years, an airline that canceled a flight could steer a passenger toward a travel credit or voucher by default, leaving many travelers to assume...
States are holding billions in unclaimed money, and a free official search can reunite you with it
State governments are currently holding more than $70 billion in unclaimed property nationwide, money and assets that once belonged to ordinary people before contact with...
Home insurance is jumping most this year in California, Nebraska, New Mexico and Georgia, with the national average near $3,057
The average annual cost of home insurance is projected to reach roughly $3,057 by the end of 2026, a 4% increase over 2025 and the...
A no-penalty CD lets a saver lock a rate yet pull the cash if rates climb
A certificate of deposit locks a saver’s money in exchange for a fixed rate, and leaving early on a standard CD costs a penalty measured...
Open enrollment for 2027 marketplace coverage starts November 1, and skipping it can forfeit any subsidy
Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage begins November 1 and runs through January 15, and anyone who lets the window close without...
A Fed official’s talk of a rate hike is keeping top CD yields near 4%
Savers shopping for a certificate of deposit this week are still finding offers close to 4 percent, even as the broader trend in deposit rates...
The old health-subsidy cliff returns in 2027, and a late-50s couple over the line can lose up to $25,000
The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, and with them went the cushion that had, for several years,...
Long-term-care insurance premiums keep climbing, and insurers can raise them again
Long-term care insurance is marketed around a single reassuring idea: pick a benefit level, lock in a premium, and budget for it for decades. Federal...
About 4 million people could lose marketplace health coverage as enhanced subsidies vanish
About 4 million people are projected to lose Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage as the pandemic-era premium subsidies that lowered their monthly bills stay expired,...
Google is automatically paying 102 million app buyers through PayPal or Venmo, with no claim to file
A federal court in the Northern District of California granted final approval on April 30, 2026, to a $700 million settlement resolving a five-year antitrust...
A Casely power-bank recall follows a reported death, and owners can get a free replacement
Casely will send a free replacement power bank to owners of about 429,200 recalled MagSafe wireless chargers, an offer that has stayed open since mid-April...
Disputing a medical bill before it goes to collections can keep it off a credit report entirely
A medical bill does not have to reach a collection agency to threaten a credit score, but it also does not have to end up...
Walmart re-recalled 165,000 tip-over dressers and is offering full refunds
Walmart is offering full refunds on another 165,250 Mainstays nine-drawer fabric dressers after regulators discovered that dressers from an earlier recall of the same product...
The three credit bureaus still keep medical collections under $500 off reports, a voluntary change no court undid
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas erased the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule banning medical debt from credit reports on July 11,...
Medical debt is back on credit reports after a court voided the federal ban, though 15 states still restrict it
Medical collections are showing up on credit reports again across most of the country, more than a year after a federal judge in Texas erased...
Pulling a free credit report from all three bureaus each year catches errors that quietly raise borrowing costs
Federal law gives every consumer the right to one free credit report a year from each of the three nationwide bureaus — Equifax, Experian and...
Inflation-adjusted I bonds shield savings from rising prices, with a one-year lockup
A Series I savings bond pays interest in two parts, and the design is what makes it a hedge against inflation rather than a bet...