Personal Finance
Twins Ellen and Arthur were both married, each with two children, living what would generally be described as solid middle-class lives. They had steady incomes, mortgaged homes, and retirement savings that had not grown as quickly as planned. Like many households at this stage of life, they were doing fine…
You open the food delivery app hungry. A banner ad promises 40% off. Then you build your order, hit checkout — and that discount has melted into a stack of fees, markups and a total that’s higher than if you’d just called the restaurant yourself. Sound familiar? You’re not imagining…
If you haven’t claimed your potential COVID-related tax refund yet and aren’t sure you’ll be able to file for it before the drop-dead July 10 deadline, you may have just been thrown a lifeline. The IRS quietly added a tool to its website to allow electronic filings of the form…
Gold is no longer a niche asset tucked away in central bank vaults or elite family offices. Today, ordinary Americans are increasingly purchasing the metal through exchange-traded funds, coins, digital platforms, and mining stocks to protect their hard-earned cash. That widespread access is useful. However, it can also be dangerous…
In the market for a chair or kitchen table? Instead of new, why not try new-to-you? Buying secondhand is one of the best ways to save big on furniture. Thrift stores, online marketplaces and estate sales are loaded with well-built furniture that’s served families for generations. Finding the best pieces just…
Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your workplace questions each week for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of SHRM, the world’s largest trade association of human resources professionals, and author of “Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval.” Question: My employer supported me during a…
You want to protect your home, and the pitch is incredibly seductive. A salesman stands in your driveway and promises that if you write a check for $3,000 today, you will never have to climb a ladder again. They tell you their patented helmet or reverse-curve system uses liquid adhesion…
My parents followed all the traditional rules, and it almost cost them their retirement. It is painful to watch hardworking people struggle because they missed simple opportunities. I realized they didn’t need more hard work; they needed a better plan. We identified the exact checkpoints that make the difference between…
If you shopped at Costco over the past year, you paid more than you should have. Not because Costco got greedy — because tariffs drove up the cost of nearly everything imported, and much of that cost landed on your receipt. Then the Supreme Court said those tariffs were illegal.…
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on The Penny Hoarder. With all the spending we do on Amazon, have you ever wondered how to make money on Amazon? Whether it’s adding affiliate links, writing a book or something else entirely, there are a lot of ways to get a piece…
