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
Class of 2026 graduates expect to earn $80,000 — their actual average starting salary is $56,153
Ask a college senior what they expect to earn at their first full-time job, and the answer, on average, is $80,004. Ask the labor market...
Credit card debt hit $1.28 trillion and the average APR is 22.3% — one of the highest rates in 30 years
When Maria Torres, a home health aide in Dallas, checked her Chase Visa statement last spring, the number that stopped her was not the balance....
Class of 2026 graduates expect to earn $80,000 — their actual average starting salary is $56,153
Ask a college senior what a typical new graduate earns, and odds are they will land close to the right number. Ask that same senior...
Credit card debt just crossed $1.33 trillion — and the average APR is 21.52% for anyone carrying a balance
Carry a $5,000 credit card balance for a year at today’s rates and you will hand your bank more than $1,000 just in interest. Not...
Credit card debt hit $1.33 trillion — and 55% of cardholders say they’re carrying balances just to cover gas and groceries
Somewhere between the egg aisle and the gas pump, millions of Americans quietly crossed a line: they stopped paying off their credit cards each month...
Used EVs are outselling projections by 25% this year — because at $4.39 a gallon, it costs 60% less to charge than fill up
A three-year-old Chevy Bolt EV with 35,000 miles on the odometer now lists for about $14,500 at dealerships across the Midwest and Southeast. Plug that...
75% of millennials have put off building an emergency fund because of credit card debt — and the average balance just hit $6,580 at 21.52% APR
Roughly three out of four millennials say credit card debt has delayed or derailed their efforts to build an emergency fund, according to Bankrate’s annual...
Credit card debt crossed $1.33 trillion while the savings rate hit 3.6% — both numbers haven’t been this bad since 2008
The last time Americans were saving this little and borrowing this much on credit cards, Lehman Brothers still had a stock ticker. Federal Reserve G.19...
Home insurance is rising for the 5th straight year — and Florida homeowners now pay $10,240 a year, 189% above the national average
When Maria Gonzalez opened her homeowners insurance renewal notice in April, the number stopped her cold: $11,400 for a three-bedroom concrete-block house in Hialeah that...
Credit card debt crossed $1.33 trillion while the savings rate hit 3.6% — both numbers haven’t been this bad since 2008
The last time Americans owed this much on their credit cards and saved this little of their paychecks, Lehman Brothers was still a going concern....
Eli Lilly’s weight loss pill attracted 20,000 patients in its first month — before any advertising — at $149/month without insurance
No commercials. No billboards. No influencer campaigns. Within 30 days of reaching pharmacy shelves, Eli Lilly’s oral weight loss drug Foundayo had been prescribed to...
Retiring at 55 without LTC insurance could mean steep health costs
A 55-year-old who hands in a resignation letter in May 2026 starts a financial countdown that most people underestimate. Social Security retirement benefits are off...
Baby boomers’ debt load grows as credit cards and loans pile up
A 68-year-old who expected to enter retirement debt-free but is instead juggling a credit card balance, an auto loan, and a lingering medical bill is...
Report: Americans are canceling streaming subscriptions as costs rise
A household subscribing to Netflix, Disney+, Max, and Peacock now pays north of $55 a month before taxes, more than many basic cable packages cost...
Higher gas prices push 50%+ of buyers to EVs, hybrids
By the third week of March 2026, filling up a midsize SUV cost north of $65 in most of the country. The national average for...
Divorce can reshape kids’ money habits, from saving to risk-taking
Adults who experienced parental divorce as children accumulate less wealth, save at lower rates, and tolerate more financial risk than peers raised in continuously intact...
Health insurance premiums are rising twice as fast as inflation — employer-sponsored plans up 6–7%, adding $617 to the average family’s annual share
Open your next pay stub and look at the health insurance line. If your employer sponsors a family plan, there is a good chance that...
Credit card debt holds at a record $1.277 trillion — and consumer revolving credit is now rising faster than inflation
Americans owe a record $1.277 trillion in revolving consumer credit, according to the Federal Reserve’s G.19 statistical release, and the balance has barely budged from...
How much $4-a-gallon gas actually costs your household per year — and 3 ways to offset it right now
Gas flirting with 4 dollars a gallon is more than a psychological threshold; it quietly reshapes a household budget over the course of a year....
Record credit card debt tops $1.277 trillion as average APR climbs to 22.13%
If you carry the average American credit card balance, roughly $6,360 according to recent industry estimates, your monthly interest bill now runs about $117 before...