Category: Finance

Olga Rolenko | Moment | Getty Images There are all sorts of ways for consumers to misuse credit cards, from failing to pay monthly bills in full to running up your balance. But here’s one risky behavior that experts say you likely haven’t heard of: “credit cycling.” Credit cards come with a spending limit. Cardholders […]

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pictured at a press conference after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump’s agenda on May 22 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images House reconciliation legislation, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes changes Republican legislators said will boost families’ […]

Ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, tensions are escalating between the White House and the central bank, with consumers seemingly caught in the crossfire. On Thursday, President Donald Trump called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a “numbskull” for not lowering interest rates already. Trump has previously said the central bank should cut interest rates by a full percentage point. “Go for […]

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images Millions of Social Security beneficiaries received a 2.5% boost to their benefits in 2025, thanks to an annual cost-of-living adjustment that went into effect in January. In 2026, Social Security checks may go up by the same amount — 2.5% — based on the latest government inflation data, […]

Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange floor on Dec. 18, 2024. Spencer Platt | Getty Images For all the drama in the stock market of late, investors’ portfolio balances may not look too different from when President Donald Trump entered office. There have been some unnerving days amid the Trump administration’s tariff policies. […]

The escalating battle between the Trump administration and Harvard University over international student visas could come at a high economic cost. Altogether, international students who studied in the U.S. contributed $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy in the 2023-24 academic year, according to the most recent data by NAFSA: Association of International Educators. In Massachusetts, alone, international […]

Carol Yepes | Moment | Getty Images For many students and their families, federal student aid is key for college access. And yet, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 calls for significant cuts to higher education funding, including reducing the maximum federal Pell Grant award to $5,710 a year from $7,395, as well as […]

With more Americans job hopping in the wake of the Great Resignation, the risk of “forgetting” a 401(k) plan with a previous employer has jumped, recent studies show.  As of 2023, there were 29.2 million left-behind 401(k) accounts holding roughly $1.65 trillion in assets, up 20% from two years earlier, according to the latest data […]

A demonstrator speaks through a megaphone during a Defend Our Schools rally to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the U.S. Department of Education, outside its building in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025. Kent Nishimura | Reuters The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to lift a court […]

A few months of market swings have taken a toll on retirement savers. The average 401(k) balance fell 3% in the first quarter of 2025 to $127,100, according to a new report by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. The average individual retirement account balance also sank 4% from the previous quarter […]