Biden open to canceling $10,000 in student loans per borrower — what that means for your budget, credit score and tax bill

If $10,000 vanishes from your student debt, you may want to celebrate. This is a question millions of student loan holders may be facing soon if President Joe Biden proceeds with a controversial plan ...

‘I am a 53-year-old single man with very little savings’: I want to take out a 30-year mortgage, but pay it off in 7 years. Is that possible?

I am a 53-year-old single man with very little in savings. I paid off all my credit-card debt a couple of years ago. I have now decided to purchase a home. My rent has increased to the point where it ...

After 2 stormy years of ‘moonshot’ house prices, don’t hold out hope for a major correction. Why COVID-era property values may be here to stay.

There is hope for first-time buyers looking to enter the U.S. housing market, but observers say they will have to be patient. After a two-year surge in home prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ho...

‘I have great plans for myself’: My girlfriend doesn’t understand how her student loan works and rents a pricey apartment. What if we marry — and divorce? 

My girlfriend and I have been in a relationship for seven months, and it is getting more serious. I don’t expect us to get married in the next year but I like to plan ahead and if things keep working ...

Bank of America is raising its hourly minimum wage to $22 — here’s how many people don’t even come close to pay like that

Bank of America workers are getting a pay bump at the end June when minimum wages climb to $22 as a part of the major bank’s longstanding plan to get its starting rate to $25 by 2025. It’s good news f...

The Great Resistance is here. Companies and employees are in a battle of wills over returning to the office.

Amy Faust Liggayu, 32, a market-research project manager based in Tinley Park, Ill., and mother of a 7-month-old son, never imagined she would have a life where she could spend five days a week with h...

‘The dip is your friend’: Why some advisers are telling young investors to buy stocks, despite stagflation fears roiling markets

How low can stocks go? This question has made investors nervous, as they fear one bottom after another. The answer: Pick a number. Some analysts say brace for further drops, others expect a bounce. Wa...

‘I partially support my partner of 12 years as his business is, sadly, failing’: I’m 33, and have $300,000 in company stock. Should I sell those shares to pay off my debt of $56,000?

I am 33 years old, I currently make just over $120,000 a year, including an annual bonus, and my company has gifted me with around $300,000 in equity in the firm, although our stock is brand new, so i...

China ADSs are flying as fading regulatory headwinds send iQIYI, NIO and Alibaba stocks surging

The U.S.-listed shares of China-based companies, surged Tuesday, particularly in the internet sector, as an apparent reduction of regulatory scrutiny has emboldened Wall Street analysts and investors ...

Gloomy Goldman offers 20 ‘safety’ stocks with valuations below the previous 2 bear markets

It’s tight quarters in Wall Street’s bear sleuth these days. Goldman Sachs just downgraded their 2022 U.S. growth forecast (to 2.4% from 2.6%) and 2023 (to 1.6% from 2.2%), as senior chairman Lloyd Bl...

‘What are the chances? I retire and the stock market crashes. All my plans are upside down.’ I want to draw on my 401(k) to renovate my new home. What options do I have?

Dear Quentin, I’m due to retire in two months and I have already moved to my new home in the sun. I have not sold my apartment in a major U.S. metropolitan area on the east coast, as I wanted to see h...

Beyond Meat’s stock slides 20% on weak sales, heads lower than IPO price for first time

Beyond Meat Inc.’s not-so-good 2022 took an ugly turn for the worse Wednesday with quarterly results that lacked sizzle. The maker of plant-based meat products BYND, -13.83% reported a net loss of $10...

Dutch Bros. stock spills 37% lower after forecast cut due to inflation

After its third quarterly earnings report since going public, coffee chain Dutch Bros. Inc.’s shares were slaughtered in late trading Wednesday after executives revised their annual outlook to predict...

‘We do not plan on getting married’: I’m moving into my boyfriend’s home. He bought it a year ago and paid off 25% of his mortgage. How do I get a stake in his home that’s fair to both of us?

My boyfriend and I would like to move in together in the next year or so. He bought his house about a year ago, and he has paid off about 25% of it. We both would like for me to gradually become a par...

Most Americans were feeling gloomy even before last week’s dramatic dive in stocks — and now they fear a prolonged bear market

In a matter of hours, promising signs of a stock market rally turned into pessimism, even panic. For retail investors trying to get their legs during a volatile moment, Thursday’s deep downward lurch ...

‘She has no ambition’: I’m 41 and make $100,000. I’m buying a home before getting married. My fiancée earns $50,000 and has $20,000 in student debt. What’s a fair prenup?

I have been in my current relationship for almost three years. I’m a young woman, 41, have a great, stable career and make about $100,000 a year. I am ambitious and my prospects have me increasing my ...

This trader predicted the bond meltdown, tech selloff and oil’s surge. Here’s what she says is coming next.

Fade the Fed anyone? Stocks are headed south, following a big Wall Street rally stemming from perceptions Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and co. may be less hawkish than markets think. A short-li...

‘My aim is to have a net worth of at least $100,000’: I’m 29 and live with my mom in a rented mobile home. I have a $25K emergency fund and $26K in a Roth IRA. What do I save for next?

I am doing OK financially as a single 29-year-old who unfortunately is still roommates with my mom. We split everything down the middle and I mainly stay with her since it is very expensive to live on...

Boomers are leaving the stock market. Here’s what comes next, says this strategist.

Stocks are in the green for Thursday, with Facebook parent Meta Platforms in the driver’s seat after less disastrous than feared results. Gains are a bit less than what stock futures were promising th...

‘I’m spending a fortune on home maintenance. I realize my second husband is essentially living in my house for free’: What is a fair way to split costs?

I am a retired 62-year-old woman. I was widowed in 2006 at the age of 46 and raised my two children (now 24 and 27) on my own. I used my husband’s life insurance money (about $500,000) to maintain our...

‘The issues with the IRS are still present and very real’: Millions of Americans are racing to file their tax returns, and filing extensions

Tax Day came and went earlier this week, so if your upcoming weekend plans are just chilling after the last-minute tax time bustle, you might have company. April 18 marked the deadline in most states ...

‘I feel deceived’: After 20 years of paying my student loan, I discovered I don’t qualify for forgiveness. My loans total $167,000. What can I do?

I took out loans for professional/graduate school during the years 1993 to 1996. I took out about $54,000 in loans. In 2002, I consolidated all my federal loans. The balance is approximately $167,000....

How to prepare your finances for another recession: ‘We think a hard landing will ultimately be unavoidable’

Two years after the short, sharp pandemic-related recession, Wall Street is once again warning of a new recession on the horizon. That’s not a lot to go on, but financial-planning experts say it ought...

Netflix sheds subscribers and CNN+ will shut down amid competition from Disney, Hulu, HBO, Amazon Prime and Apple. Have we finally hit peak streaming?

Media companies keep dueling for more streaming subscriptions, but viewers might be tapping out in the clash for their attention — and their cash. Netflix on Tuesday reported a first-quarter net loss ...

‘I’m already feeling guilty’: My uncle is leaving me a large inheritance, but excluding my siblings. Should I gift them money every year, or set up a trust?

Dear Quentin, I am soon to inherit a sizable sum of money from an uncle with whom no one in my family still speaks; I’m the only one who has stayed in contact with him. While it seems a bit grotesque ...

‘Life is measurably better without the burden of this debt’: As Biden reviews student-debt cancellation, young people with debt delay buying a house and even having kids

Young Americans are buckling under the weight of their student debt. A large majority (74%) of Generation Z (ages 18 to 25) and 68% of millennials (ages 26 to 41) who took on student debt delayed a ma...

‘The graveyard shift is the most understaffed:’ I work as a waiter on the Las Vegas Strip. We are overworked, underpaid, and our drunk customers often don’t tip

Dear Quentin,  I currently work at a fast-casual restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip. I have worked at the company for three years. I work at the busiest outlet of this restaurant in the world. During t...

Financial Face-Off: Should you use your tax refund to buy I bonds or crypto? One of these options could get a 9.6% return. Let us explain.

Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh financial decisions. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. A...

‘Please help!’ It seems like I have been paying my child’s student loan forever. How much longer must I pay it off?

Dear Quentin, It seems like I have been paying my Parent PLUS Loan forever. Someone told me that when my husband passed away, even though we were divorced at the time, I wouldn’t have to keep paying t...

‘The weight of this debt is crushing’: I’m 74, and a retired speech-language pathologist with a student-loan debt of $200K. Am I obliged to pay it off?

Dear Quentin, I have not seen anyone address student-loan debt for people over 70 years of age. I am a 74-year-old retired  speech-language pathologist with a student-loan debt of $200,000.  I’m on a ...

Procter & Gamble hikes dividend by 5%

Procter & Gamble Co. PG, -0.30% said late Tuesday its board approved a 5% dividend hike for its 66th straight year of dividend increases. The consumer products maker said it will pay a quarterly d...

‘It put everyone in a weird position’: Our waitress said a 20% service fee was added to cover benefits and health insurance, but that it was not a tip. Is this normal?

I went to brunch last weekend and, when the server handed us the bill, she said a 20% service fee was added to cover her benefits and health insurance, but that it was not a tip.  I am absolutely supp...