Retire with MONEY

by Martha C. White When your credit is poor, it can be tempting to look for a quick fix. And if you pop on over to Google, you’ll find no shortage of services promising to goose your credit report, boost your score, and make you look like a better borrowing candidate (for a fee, of course). Experts beg to differ.

by Mallika Mitra JaVon Colbert hides his money from himself — in his car, in his room, in all his bags. Storing those dollars helps the 18-year-old feel safe from the financial struggles he experienced earlier in life. When Colbert was young, his mother went into debt after buying an apartment to rent out for some extra cash on top of her main job as a factory worker at Toyota. After a few years, though, the rentals at the apartment in Cincinnati, Ohio, dried up.

by Paul Reynolds It's corporate open enrollment season, time to look at your health and other insurance coverage. Life insurance benefits are often provided free to the employee, which makes them practically a no-lose perk — and one you may not even have to register to get. If there’s any downside to this coverage, experts say, it’s that they may make workers complacent about their long-term insurance needs, and so risk being underinsured. Here’s a plan to fight complacency.

by Aly J. Yale No homes for sale in your desired area? Then just pick out a property and call up the owner. You could also check obituaries, dive into local property records or head to social media for potential homes to buy. At least that’s what many real estate pros are doing. “Creativity is key in this type of market,” says Adrienne Allen, head of real estate at homebuying platform Homie.

by Martha C. White If you’re gearing up to borrow money for a car, home, or another big purchase, you already know how important it is to have a good credit score. What’s less clear, usually, is how to boost that score if you need money ASAP, and your current one leaves you with a less-than-ideal interest rate. It’s a tricky feat, to be sure. But it can be done. Your credit score has five components, and while all five are important, only one can be changed quickly.

by Julia Glum Amid the explosion of COVID-19 phishing emails, fake coronavirus “treatments” and pandemic unemployment scams, it’s easy to forget about the basic steps you should be taking to protect your identity online. Major data breaches are still happening.

by Mallika Mitra In 2020, the holiday season brings an extra year-end deadline to keep in mind: Dec. 31 is the last day to make penalty-free withdrawals from your 401(k) under the CARES Act. With the passage of the CARES Act in March, Americans affected by the pandemic were allowed to withdraw up to $100,000 from their retirement accounts without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty people under the age of 59½ usually face.

by Alina Dizik Maintaining a good credit score can feel like a game at times. The algorithms credit reporting agencies like Equifax use for assessing creditworthiness are confidential — making the consequences of missing a bill or taking on more debt hard to predict. Still, experts say, certain missed payments can do serious damage to your credit score, especially if you’ve got a healthy one.

by Aly J. Yale Saving enough for a down payment has long been a hurdle for hopeful homebuyers. Even at the low end — just 3% of a home’s sale price — buyers are looking at nearly $10,000 on a median-priced house. To put down 20% — and avoid the costs of private mortgage insurance — buyers would need $65,000.

by Kaitlin Mulhere The chances for major student loan relief likely shrank last week, even as the country elected a president who has promised to address the pervasive problem of debt. President-elect Joe Biden ran on a campaign loaded with education platforms, including ideas to reduce the burden of student loans on many of the country’s 45 million borrowers.

Now that the presidential race has been called for Joe Biden, Americans have more certainty about the next occupant of the White House. But what that means for pocketbook issues — like the stock market, health care and taxes — remains unclear. That's because control of Congress is still very much up in the air. Democrats went into the election hoping to hold the House of Representatives and wrest control of the Senate from Republicans.

by Ian Salisbury The stock market soared Monday after investors learned some good news about a potential COVID-19 vaccine. But some stocks are faring better than others. Traders, still digesting the results of the recent U.S. election, woke up to more big news Monday morning: Drug makers Pfizer and BioNTech said the COVID-19 vaccine they recently tested in more than 40,000 subjects had proved 90% effective.

by Chris Taylor If you had to name a handful of major events that reshaped the financial world over the past few decades, one of them would have to be the rise of index, or passive, investing. As opposed to active stock picking — or selecting individual companies you think are poised for growth — stock market index funds simply track the entire groups of securities. So if you buy shares in an S&P 500 index fund, for instance, you will own a tiny slice of all 500 companies on that list.

by Mallika Mitra Health care costs continue to rise, people are living longer and corporate pensions are an endangered species. What does this all mean for your money? For one thing, it’s more important than ever to save for retirement. That doesn't mean just by squirreling away money here and there, hoping that it will be enough by the time you’re ready to leave your job. To keep up with inflation, that money also needs to grow over time.

by Julia Glum After a rough spring and a touch-and-go summer, the U.S. economy is finally starting to improve. Even though the country is still in a pandemic-induced recession, experts are starting to predict what recovery might look like. They’re always throwing around letters to describe the trajectory: U-shaped, L-shaped, K-shaped. To the average listener, it probably sounds like alphabet soup.

by Elizabeth O'Brien Open enrollment began on Sunday for the 11.4 million Americans who have individual health insurance through healthcare.gov or their state marketplace, and for new consumers who want to enroll in Obamacare for the first time. A cloud of uncertainty hangs over open enrollment this year. On Nov. 10, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. A ruling is expected by June, 2021.

by Julia Glum Though the 2020 election results will undoubtedly change several aspects of Americans’ lives over the next four years, the pandemic has people asking one urgent money question: Will President Donald Trump or Joe Biden get us closer to a second stimulus check? More than six months have passed since the government first began issuing $1,200 economic impact payments to keep consumers financially afloat during the coronavirus outbreak.

by Kenadi Silcox When you ask Americans about the most important issues facing our country during an election cycle, you will almost certainly hear about “the economy.” In fact, a recent report from Pew Research found that about three-quarters of all registered voters said the economy was a “very important” issue for them.

by Mallika Mitra Many things are riding on the outcome of the Nov. 3 election. But your investment portfolio probably isn’t one of them. With issues from health care to tax policy up in the air — and uncertainty around when we’ll even know who the next president is, it’s understandable to be uneasy about what this all means for your money. Investors might be feeling particularly jittery after last Wednesday’s stock market route, when the Dow lost 3.

by Aly J. Yale Jeff and Jessica Falkowski’s homebuying journey should be a cautionary tale. The couple, along with their one-year-old son Jack, have been shopping for a home in Westchester, N.Y. since February. Though they’ve made offers on four homes, they’re yet to actually buy one. In two deals, they were outbid. The other two? They backed out after home inspectors found serious defects on the properties.

by Kristen Kuhcar More than $120 billion in federal aid is given out each year to help families pay for college. Your only shot at a piece of that pie is by filling out the FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Each October, the application opens up, and anxiety from college-bound students and their parents ensues. After all, the form has a reputation for being long, confusing and, frankly, disappointing.

by Mallika Mitra Broken as it is, unemployment insurance (UI) remains a vital lifeline for the jobless. But it takes a lot of work, ironically, to navigate the process. That’s especially true these days, when federal emergency benefits are running alongside traditional ones, broadening the scope of help, but sometimes complicating the process of getting it. Standard UI is a joint program between the federal government and states.

by Elizabeth O'Brien Protecting pre-existing conditions has become a popular campaign promise. President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, both say they support that goal, yet there’s a big gap between the two presidential candidates on the issue. And the outcome of the Nov. 3 election isn’t the only factor that could determine whether millions of Americans will be able to buy health insurance in the future, even if they have medical issues.

by Cheryl Winokur Munk The rich may have a lot of money. But that doesn’t necessarily make them great investors. At least not according to a recent working paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper reports the results of two surveys with a total sample of 2,484 U.S. individuals with at least $1 million to invest — and some with much more.

by Mallika Mitra Millions of Americans have been laid off. People are struggling to make rent, pay bills and even buy food. But average credit scores are… up? The average FICO credit score hit a record high of 711 in July — up from 706 a year earlier — according to the score’s creator, Fair Isaac Corporation, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

by Paul Schrodt If you’re thinking about shifting careers, you’re far from alone. In fact, it’s becoming the new normal: 49% of people say they’ve made a dramatic career switch, according to a recent Indeed survey. Millennials in particular are virtually turning it into a hobby: Gallup found in 2016 that 21% of those in the generation said they’d changed jobs within the past year, more than three times the number of non-millennials who reported the same.

by Cheryl Winokur Munk President Donald Trump has long promised to boost America’s coal, oil and gas industries. As it happens, the top-performing stock of the Trump era isn’t a fossil fuel producer. It’s just the opposite. Fremont, Calif.-based Enphase Energy helped revolutionize the home solar panel market with hardware that makes solar panels more efficient.

by Mallika Mitra Tech and communication stocks like Facebook and Apple have had a really good year — and could be taking up way more space in some of your mutual funds than you realize. On average, the tech and communications sectors make up about 34% of U.S. large blend funds, according to Morningstar. That’s slightly shy of their 39% share of the S&P 500. But that hasn’t stopped some fund managers from upping the exposure even more, in some cases well above benchmarks.

by Daniel Bortz The pandemic’s latest effect on the housing market could be a good one for borrowers: Fewer mortgages are requiring a home appraisal, which is making it a whole lot easier for some people to purchase a home or qualify for a loan refinance. According to a September report from the public policy think tank American Enterprise Institute, appraisals were waived on 42% of all government-sponsored purchase and refinance mortgages in July, up from roughly 20% in December.

by Mallika Mitra Commuting from your bedroom to your kitchen table may have granted you some creature comforts, like staying in your pajamas until noon or snuggling with your dog instead of fighting for a seat on a packed train. It’s probably also saved you some serious time. The daily commute — which, back in 2015, was 26 minutes each way for the average U.S. worker — has been squashed for many, at least for now.

by Carla Fried Older adults will get a 1.3% increase in their Social Security benefit in 2021, the Social Security Administration was expected to announce Tuesday morning. That works out to about a $20 monthly bump in the average Social Security benefit, to nearly $1,540. While something is better than nothing, the cost-of-living adjustment (widely known as the COLA) for 2021 is lower than the rising expenses many retirees face — particularly for health care.

by Noel Davila Money is a fiction. That doesn’t mean that the bills in your wallet or the numbers in your bank account aren’t real — it just suggests that the only reason money has value is because we believe it does. At least that’s how Jacob Goldstein, host of NPR’s Planet Money, explains it in his recently-released book, "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.

by Julia Glum Many Americans desperately need a second stimulus check in order to financially survive the rest of 2020. But as Election Day draws nearer, the chances of those payments going out anytime soon seem to get lower and lower. Especially if you look at President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

by Ingrid Case If insurance that covers one peril is good, a policy that covers two is even better — or so the growing number of people who are buying hybrids of life insurance and long-term care insurance seem to believe. Yet financial advisors say these two-for-one products may offer dubious value for many consumers. Long-term care insurance helps pay for your care when you are no longer physically or mentally well enough to live independently.

by Charlotte West Derek Sykes should be finishing his last year at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UMN). Instead, he is starting his third year of college after having to take last year off to work to pay off thousands of dollars in unpaid tuition and fees. The summer before what would have been his junior year, Sykes withdrew from half of the classes he had enrolled in for the summer semester due to schedule conflicts with his job.

by Kenadi Silcox While there are plenty of high-flying stocks in 2020, so far the S&P 500’s top-performer isn’t some gadget maker or drug company rushing to save the world. It’s a marketplace for dainty crafts and elegant artwork. Etsy, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based e-commerce platform for small-time sellers of vintage and hand-made goods, is having its best year since going public in 2015 thanks in large part to the coronavirus pandemic.

by Chris Taylor The stock market seems to be shrugging off COVID-related economic pain. Well, some parts of the stock market. And it’s not just industries like airlines and hotels that are struggling, banks are also having one their worst years since recovering from the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The year 2020 is ugly indeed for the nation’s banks, and not for one particular reason.

by Chris Taylor Mark Mandel may live in Green Valley, Arizona, about halfway between Tucson and the Mexican border. But in his mind, he’s already strolling the streets of Paris. Like many of us, the semi-retired software engineer has been pretty much stuck at home the last seven months or so, with most nations around the world not even admitting American travelers due to the COVID-19 crisis. But that doesn’t mean Mandel can’t dream — and plan.

by Ingrid Case No cat or dog is quite like the one we own and love, and the policies to protect their health are almost as varied. Pet-insurance coverage ranges widely, and understanding those differences will help you make the right choice for your animal. The decisions begin with the type of policy to buy, which determines the general coverage you can expect from your coverage.

by Cheryl Winokur Munk For small investors, a slice of a stock might be better than none at all. That, at least, is the theory behind the purchase of fractional shares, investments that represent less than a full share in well-known companies trade on major exchanges like the NYSE or Nasdaq.

by Julia Glum The explosive New York Times report that President Donald Trump didn’t pay income taxes in 10 of the 15 years before winning the election has left Americans scratching their heads. How could a self-proclaimed billionaire with such a wide-ranging empire pay only $750 in taxes his first year in the White House? How did he write off $70,000 for his hair? The confusion is understandable.

by Daniel Bortz Mortgage rates keep falling, yet many homeowners are still sitting on the sidelines waiting to refinance. Rates have been dropping steadily since the coronavirus crisis began, spurring a refinancing boom. According to mortgage data firm Black Knight, servicers originated more than 2.3 million refinance loans in the second quarter of 2020, the highest volume in nearly 17 years. With rates below 3%, a recent Black Knight study found that 19.

by Martha C. White You’re probably eager to put 2020 behind you, but unfortunately, at least one aspect of this tumultuous year is going to linger into the next one. Tax season 2021 is primed to be a confusing one, with a laundry list of new considerations to take into account.

by Mallika Mitra Stock market investors may be shrugging off the Coronavirus, happy to buy shares at prices well-above recent March lows. But data suggest executives who lead the companies that make up the S&P 500 are a lot more cautious. They’re saving for a rainy day.

by Kristen Bahler Thirteen years ago, Thomas Nitzsche was working night shifts in the customer service department of a global financial services company — tasked, mainly, with helping clients wire cash from credit cards to casino ATMs in the wee hours of the morning. Nitzsche lost that job when the 2008 recession rolled around, and as a brand new homeowner, he had to fight tooth and nail to keep from losing a lot more.

by Mallika Mitra You’ve probably come across all sorts of tips for “maximizing productivity” while working from home. From going on midday walks to actually eating breakfast for a change, there’s no shortage of advice for how to make the most out of your workday. But according to a new study, being productive isn’t so much about what you’re doing as when you’re doing it.

By Chris Taylor For tech investors this month, the smartest buy of all might have been some Dramamine. That’s because the technology sector, which has seemed so bulletproof for most of 2020, has been whipsawing around pretty violently. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, for example, plummeted almost 10% in a week, before recovering some of those losses in recent days.

by Kenadi Silcox Back in mid-March, the Sept. 30 deadline for student debt relief outlined in the CARES Act may have seemed a long way away. Now that the date is fast approaching, what’s going to happen with your student loans? The answer: relatively little. The Education Department and its loan servicers have announced more guidance in recent weeks about how they will implement President Trump’s executive order to pause student loan payments through the end of the year.

by Mallika Mitra The tell-tale signs of fall are already knocking at our door. Temperatures are dropping, school is starting, and seasonal jobs are popping up ahead of the holidays. But those temporary employment opportunities are going to look pretty different in the age of coronavirus — and they’re going to be hard to land.

by Julia Glum The stock market has been all over the news lately, thanks to the Apple and Tesla stock splits, the race for a coronavirus vaccine and the fluctuations in the Dow. Even amateur investors are paying attention — and, in many cases, wondering if now is the perfect time to wade into the stock market. It’s not a decision to make lightly. Buying individual stocks can be profitable, but as you might guess from the recent market volatility, it can be risky.

by Martha White Whoever coined the phrase “you can’t go home again” clearly never lived through a 21st-century pandemic. As unemployment ranks grow and colleges continue to push distance learning, young adults are squeezing back into their childhood bedrooms in unprecedented numbers. Families accustomed to living apart are suddenly thrown together again, and are facing a host of spatial—and financial—complications as a result.