‘My girlfriend owes $200,000 in medical and credit-card debt’: She wants me to settle it — by paying a portion of the outstanding amount

Dear Quentin, My girlfriend owes over $200,000 in medical and credit-card debt, but she believes it can be settled for 5% of the total amount if someone else will pay that. She reasons that her credit...

EV sales are getting hotter, these are the cars catching up to Tesla

Americans bought more than 200,000 electric cars in the third quarter — a first. Electric car sales grew faster than any other segment of the auto industry. Americans bought 67% more electric cars in ...

Do you have problems with the IRS — or does the IRS have a problem with you? Read this before you act.

How do you deal with a problem like the Internal Revenue Service? And how do you deal with your own tax problems as they pertain to the IRS? To be clear, I’m not talking about major problems like righ...

‘Mass layoffs’ of Meta bus drivers lead to pleas for Facebook to bring workers back to the office

Protesters on Thursday urged Meta Platforms Inc. to call its Silicon Valley-based engineers and other employees back to the office, after Facebook’s parent company continued to dismiss service workers...

Workers are disengaged from their jobs — but don’t blame remote work. The real cause lies elsewhere.

Worker disengagement is increasing no matter where a person does their job, whether that’s in the office, at home, or a hybrid of both. And just because people are showing up to the job in person, it ...

How to save a bundle on your tax return

This is Part Two of our list of suggested year-end strategies. Part 1 discusses gaming the federal standard deduction, and managing capital gains and losses. The tax environment is getting friendlier ...

Netflix will crack down on password sharing next year — here’s how it will work

Netflix Inc. executives on Tuesday detailed their plans to crack down on users sharing their accounts on the streaming service, which is expected to arrive early next year. In a letter to shareholders...

This U.S. pension plan faces a bigger crisis than the U.K.’s

Could the U.S. pensions behemoth be hit by the kind of crisis that just swept across the U. K.? Don’t bet on it, says ratings agency Fitch. This kind of turmoil is “unlikely,” it says. We can only add...

Foxconn Unveils EVs. The Apple iPhone Maker Is Pushing Into the Car Business.

Not all car companies want to build their own vehicles anymore. The reason is that they don’t have to. Tuesday, the contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan), an Apple (ticker: AAPL) i...

Retirement can mean a loss of identity — how to bring happiness to your next act

For many people transitioning into retirement, the famous lines from the start of “A Chorus Line” resonate: “Who am I anyway? Am I my résumé? That is a picture of a person I don’t know!” Struggling wi...

Why Zelle moves twice as much money as Venmo and the Cash App combined

Zelle may not have its own clothing line or suggest emojis when you pay your friend, but the peer-to-peer payment service is moving serious money, and that seems to be raising eyebrows these days. Sen...

Social Security COLA, Gen X and boomer money woes, and more retirement news and research

From MarketWatch: Social Security COLA 2023 benefits are rising 8.7% — here’s what that means for recipients: The cost-of-living adjustment for 2023 will be the largest increase for Social Security be...

Social Security’s ‘taxable maximum’ inches higher—but will it make a dent in the trust fund?

Social Security’s payroll tax cap was raised nearly 9% for 2023, meaning more income will face Social Security taxes next year, but the rise is unlikely to affect the solvency of the trusts underpinni...

TSMC Reports Record Profit, Gains Exemption From U.S. Chip Curbs on China

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said that its third-quarter net profit rose 80% to a new record, and that it had been granted a one-year exemption from new U.S. restrictions on China’s chip sec...

A shocking number of baby boomers and Generation X plan to work past 70—or forever

Almost half of baby boomers and more than one-third of Generation X expect to work past age 70 or do not plan to retire at all, highlighting the need for backup plans in case life’s unexpected events ...

Cruise stocks soar to pace the S&P 500, as Norwegian is upgraded to buy

Shares of cruise operators were the top-3 gainers in the S&P 500 SPX, -0.33% in afternoon trading Wednesday, with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH, +11.61% getting bullish backing from UBS...

Cruise Stocks Don’t Lead to Buried Treasure

Cruise-line stocks have been taking on water since Covid-19 hit, but lately investors have really abandoned ship. Hovering over $6 a share, Carnival stock hasn’t been this cheap since Boyz II Men, TLC...

Baby boomers, Generation X expect to work past 70 — or forever

Almost half of baby boomers and more than one-third of Generation X expect to work past age 70 or do not plan to retire at all, highlighting the need for backup plans in case life’s unexpected events ...

Opinion: Florida’s insurance rates have almost doubled over five years, yet insurance companies are still losing money — and the reason is more insidious than hurricanes

Hurricane risk might seem like the obvious problem, but there is a more insidious driver in this financial train wreck. Finance professor Shahid Hamid, who directs the Laboratory for Insurance at Flor...

Not Ready to Go Full EV? Some Car Companies Bet Bigger on Hybrids

Demand for hybrid vehicles is hot, reinforcing the view from Toyota Motor Corp. and other auto makers that the gas-electric approach will play an important role even as the industry races toward fully...

Opinion: How you can save $60k for a home down payment without risk or waiting forever

Yes, starting from zero and trying to save a bit each month will take a while. To put together that princely sum, you’d have to save $500 a month for around nine years in a high-interest savings accou...

Americans are souring on the housing market and California is now giving residents up to $1,050 of ‘inflation relief’ — here’s who is eligible

Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. September jobs report highlights major shift in white-collar work — as Labor Department plans changes to jobs questionnaire ‘The old question was beco...

Sticking with your Medicare plan this open enrollment season? You could pay a hefty price.

Even Medicare beneficiaries happy with their plans should take the opportunity this open enrollment season to comparison shop — and review their current coverage.  Medicare’s annual open enrollment pe...

Opinion: 4 predictable retirement problems — and how to solve them

​When modeling out retirement, people often apply rules of thumb for income timing. The classic one is the “​4% rule,” which many people now think is a bit optimistic as a “safe” withdrawal rate. ​Bey...

How credit cards ruined the airport lounge

This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet.  Years ago, there were business travelers and there were leisure travelers, and nary did the perks of the high-flying former trickle down to th...

Over 50% of CEOs say they’re considering cutting jobs over the next 6 months — and remote workers may be the first go to

Alarm sirens from the C-Suite about a looming recession are gaining volume in America and elsewhere, but calls back to the office for full-time work are a lot softer. Most CEOs across the globe shared...

Carnival’s Pricing Problems Are ‘Company Specific,’ Analyst Says

“Not all cruise operators are created equally,” wrote Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski, saying he is upbeat about the sector despite grim news from Carnival that dragged the stocks lower last week Car...

The Next Big Battle Between Google and Apple Is for the Soul of Your Car

A few years from now, in addition to deciding your next vehicle’s make and model, you may have another tough choice: the Google model or the Apple one? Other options may include “car maker generic” an...

Young people shouldn’t save for retirement, new research says

Most financial planners advise young people to start saving early — and often — for retirement so they can take advantage of the so-called eighth wonder of the world – the power of compound interest. ...

Carnival Stock Sinks as Discounting Dings Earnings

Sept. 30, 2022 12:44 pm ET Listen to article (2 minutes) Carnival shares lost more than a fifth of their value Friday as the cruise giant struggled to win over travelers without offering discounts. Ca...

Medicare premiums are decreasing in 2023 – this is how much older Americans will save if they’re on Part B

Medicare beneficiaries will see their Part B premiums go down for the first time in more than a decade, President Biden said during a White House event on Tuesday.  Monthly Part B premiums, which are ...

‘I would not have been able to do it without him’: I built a property portfolio with 23 units while we were dating. How much should I give to my fiancé in our prenup?

I’m about to marry a wonderful man. I built an investment portfolio of 23 units while we were dating. Now we’re questioning how to create a prenuptial agreement. Over the years, I have identified, pur...