Following a period of record inflation, Social Security’s latest cost of living adjustment (COLA) means retirees will see the biggest bump to their benefits checks in 40 years. While this move will pr...
Tag: Opinion
One reason the rich get richer
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald disagreed about the rich. Fitzgerald, who had stars in his eyes, supposedly said, “The rich are different from the rest of us.” “Yes,” repli...
‘It’s a touchy subject’: My in-laws live in our basement. They gave us our 20% down payment. Should we charge them for renovations?
Last year, my husband and I approached my in-laws to see if they wanted to live with us. We had learned that my father-in-law had terminal cancer but could still live five to seven years in remission,...
Opinion: It’s Ok to be Disappointed ABOUT Crypto, Not IN It
A topic we have repeatedly covered over the past several weeks is how crypto continues to falter. Crypto Is Still a Tough and Resilient Industry The price of bitcoin, for example (the world’s number o...
Opinion: A switch to ‘premium’ can keep you invested amid the tech wreck in stocks
It seems as if the stock market is punishing all technology companies regardless of performance. That underlines a set of opportunities for long-term investors. There were many eyes on this cycle of t...
Would DeFi Have Fewer Failed Projects If It Had Better Regulation? (Opinion)
The decentralized finance industry has seen its fair share of incidents, either due to human error or otherwise. As a result, the call for regulation has never been louder, even if it may not necessar...
If I sell my rental I can pay off my primary mortgage and be debt-free. Is that a good idea in this housing market?
Dear MarketWatch, I have a rental property that’s worth $175,000, and I owe $53,000. My primary home is worth $265,000 and has $108,000 left on the mortgage. My question is this: Should I sell my ren...
Elon Musk’s New Tool To Shape Public Opinion
Like media moguls before him, the world’s wealthiest person now owns a personal mouthpiece with Twitter. It may prove more potent at influencing public opinion than traditional news outlets. As long a...
‘This has gone on too long’: The bank paid itself $18,000 in fees. My late father’s trust has not been distributed. What recourse do I have?
My father’s father set up a trust at a major bank with my father and the bank’s trust department as co-trustees. My father died at the end of last year; upon his death, the trust was supposed to be di...
‘Am I being ripped off?’ I moved into my husband’s home. I pay for groceries. The rental income from my apartment goes into our joint savings.
I read one of your previous columns regarding the boyfriend who wants the letter writer to move in. My case is similar, but we have already made a decision on how to structure our finances as they rel...
Public Opinion On An Accurate Vote Count
There are more than 10,000 election jurisdictions in America. For most people, that means their local county, but in New England and parts of the upper Midwest, often very small cities, towns, and tow...
U.S. Treasury sweetens the pot on I-bonds by adding a fixed rate
After record-breaking sales of I-bonds in October, the U.S. Treasury is dangling another good deal in front of savers for the next six months. Starting Nov. 2, when I-bonds will be available again af...
Opinion: Oil companies can’t just ‘drill baby drill’ at will. Here’s what it really takes to ramp up energy production.
As energy prices rage, President Biden and Republicans have urged companies to increase drilling to lower oil and gasoline prices from 14-year highs. But it’s not that simple. Even after permits are a...
Opinion: Forget the $22,500 limit, some workers can supersize their tax-deferred retirement savings up to $265,000 in 2023
If you really want to rev up your retirement savings and minimize income taxes, the best thing to be is a late-career professional in private practice. When you’re making a lot of money and are close ...
Opinion: Your HSA can be an extra retirement savings — how to make smart choices during open enrollment
It’s open enrollment season, which means it’s time for most workers to choose benefits for the year ahead. Health insurance is one of the most popular benefits that workers review yearly, but there is...
Opinion: A seasonal stock market trade that tends to be reliable begins Thursday
The stock market has broken through technical resistance, and as a result the rally is trying to extend itself. Specifically, the S&P 500’s SPX, +2.46% close above 3800 points was a strong technic...
Why I don’t want I-bonds
There’s been such a rush to buy “I-bonds,” inflation-protected bonds from the U.S. government, that the TreasuryDirect website crashed. I-bonds have been one of the hottest investments of the year. Pe...
‘When we dated for 5 years, he implied he was financially secure’: My husband was always hesitant about his finances. Now I know why.
Dear Quentin, My husband and I make about the same salary, and live modestly. Six months after we married, I found out my husband’s net worth is virtually zero. He owes more money than he has assets (...
Opinion: Lagging Customer Service Is Hurting the Crypto Space
Customer service is the heart and soul of any business. Without it, a company is doomed to fail. No Customer Service? No Company! When someone has questions about your products, what do they do? They ...
Flashbots co-founder resigned after a difference of opinion with the team over censorship
Stephane Gosselin, the co-founder of flashes, resigned from maximal extracted value(MEV) Stephane Gosselin said that he was very proud of what the project had achieved. After all the criticism, Flashb...
Opinion: There’s a rush to buy I-bonds to lock in a high yield, but there may be an even better deal next week
It’s hard to imagine that there could be a better deal for parking up to $10,000 in savings than Series I bonds, at this very moment. The 9.62% yield is top-notch, and you can count the hours before i...
Opinion: Pain and losses in crypto will clear out the losers and strengthen the case for bitcoin
Cryptocurrency is a mess right now. And rightly so. I wrote about buying bitcoin for MarketWatch in 2013 when it was trading for $100, but I’ve spent the past year or so warning that most newer crypto...