New York City Companies Prepare to Put Pay Ranges on Job Listings

New York City employers are hustling to figure out what to do about impending salary-disclosure rules, while hoping for a delay. A sweeping pay-disclosure law requiring nearly all companies operating ...

This is where property taxes increased the most last year — it’s not in California or New York

Today’s home buyers could be in for a shock when the tax man comes calling. In 2021, around $328 billion in property taxes were imposed on single-family homes across the country, according to a new re...

A retired nurse lost $43,000 to bitcoin — watch out for red flags online

A New York retired nurse lost $43,000 of her life savings to bitcoin scammers, after transferring the money to them through a malicious computer pop-up – an unfortunate reminder to be vigilant when it...

‘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...

Mortgage rates soar to highest level in over a decade — even wealthy home buyers are feeling the pain

Mortgage rates are soaring, and no one is being spared. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5% as of the week ending April 14, representing an increase of 28 basis points from the pr...

‘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 ...

I’ve been paying my student loan for 37 years, but now I’m earning $11K a year

How to get out of student loan debt Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I have a student loan from 1984 that I defaulted on. I am 72 years old and have been paying through a deduction in my Supplementa...

‘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...

Make Estimated Quarterly Tax Payments on Roth Conversions. Or Penalties Will Bite.

Dreamstime Text size Have a question about saving for retirement or your personal financial situation? Whatever the question, Barron’s Retirement can try to help. Email [email protected], and we ...

These inflation protection funds are on sale

Actual panic about inflation seems to be spiraling upward. But investments that will try to protect us from the ravages of inflation seem to be getting cheaper. Weird, right? Only on Wall Street. But ...

Opinion: The best retirement investment strategy Generation Z can learn from boomers

Generation Z will soon surpass millennials as the most populous generation on earth, with more than a third of the world’s population counting themselves as Gen Z. And this group is motivated to retir...

Keep a Lid on Social Security Taxes and Medicare Costs. Consider Roth Conversions.

If you’ve become a 401(k) millionaire or amassed large sums in other tax-deferred retirement accounts, you can potentially shave your lifetime taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars by converting p...

As food prices hit an all-time high, more Americans have abandoned online grocery shopping and returned to supermarket aisles

More Americans are browsing again — in grocery-store aisles rather than online. With U.S. states abandoning mask mandates in public places, and more retailers dropping requirements for masks — and the...

I’m 61, left my job due to medical reasons, and made $150,000 from the sale of my home. I’d like to work for at least another 5 years. Can I still retire? If so, how?

Dear Quentin, I recently sold my house and had to leave my job due to a medical issue that was easily resolved, and I am now fine. I have approximately $150,000 in my checking account from the sale of...

Do I resist refinancing my $160,000 federal student loan at a lower rate in the hope there will be loan forgiveness? What are the chances it will happen?

I graduated from college in 2017 with more than $210,000 in federal student-loan debt thanks to out-of-state tuition, a master’s program, and not fully understanding this cost at that time. I’ve chise...

As mortgage rates surge higher, these home buyers are being pushed out of the market

The steep upward climb in mortgage rates still isn’t showing any signs of stopping. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.72% as of the week ending April 7, Freddie Mac FMCC, -0.03% ...

Millennials have solved the retirement crisis

Wow. It looks like millennials have totally solved the retirement crisis. And it turns out it was a lot easier than anyone realized. The solution? Cryptocurrencies, of course. A new survey of 4,000 pe...

CEO of Robinhood rival shines fresh light on what retail investors are doing. Wall Street needs to pay attention.

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, a newish crowd of retail investors emerged, pouring extra cash into equity markets and steering Wall Street into places they never dreamed, such ...

My wife and I have $750,000 in savings and earn over $144,000 a year. Can we afford to spend $5,000 per month on housing?

Financial advisers recommend spending no more than 30% of take-home pay on housing. I have always lived by this rule and now have $750,000 in cash savings. But now I need to make a big move. Is there ...

Is a yield curve inversion a foreboding sign for mortgage rates? Does it really signal a recession? Economists weigh in.

For a moment this week, the bond market flashed a signal that some associate with impending recessions. Home buyers need not worry just yet, according to economists. On Friday, the 2-year rate, which ...

Is the Housing Market Going to Crash? With Rising Mortgage Rates and Sky-high Home Prices, First-Time Buyers Are Being Locked Out

When Kellie Stofko and her fiancé, Liam McRae, started house hunting last August, it was with the vision of trading their 800-square-foot Atlanta apartment for a roomier home of their own in time for ...

My husband and I bought a retirement condo in 2008, and he died two years later. The condo is worth $50,000 more than we paid. Should I sell it now or wait?

Dear MarketWatch, I have a condo in Palm Desert, Calif., that my husband and I were going to retire to. We also have another primary residence in nearby Riverside. We bought the condo in 2008 for $363...

‘We’re headed for a family feud’: My father offered his 3 kids equal monetary gifts. My siblings took cash. I took stock. It’s soared in value — now they’re crying foul

Dear Quentin, Several years before my father’s death, he offered me and my two siblings each an early “cash gift” from his estate in the amount of whatever the maximum non-taxable amount was at the ti...

Biden says latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve release could cut gas prices 10 to 35 cents per gallon — but some experts worry about long-term costs

President Joe Biden announced Thursday the daily release of 1 million barrels of oil from the country’s reserves for the next six months as a way to bring down gas prices that have been breaking recor...

Mortgage rates zoom past 4.5% — here’s what home buyers need to know

Mortgages rates keep climbing, and that poses a major challenge for families looking to score a deal during the busy spring home-buying season. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.67%...

Robinhood extends trading hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. — 3 rookie mistakes when trading stocks after hours

At 7 a.m., it can be the time for a morning coffee while 8 p.m. can be time to have supper, watch your favorite television shows, or even enjoy a glass of wine. If you have a Robinhood account, it’s a...

‘Is this a good deal, or should I run for the hills?’ My boyfriend of five years wants me to give him a $165,000 loan using his house as collateral

Dear Quentin, I would like your advice on giving a hard-money loan to the man I’ve been dating for five years. He pressed me on this issue three years ago. I didn’t do the loan then, and it was a seri...

Opinion: Social Security benefits should not be cut

The American Academy of Actuaries — a group of usually sober and sensible people — recently issued a brief making the case for “Raising the Social Security Retirement Age.”     Their argument is strai...

You could be getting the wrong Social Security benefit check – here’s how to fix it

Want to get the most out of your Social Security retirement benefits? Make sure your work history and statements are correct.  Retirement Tip of the Week: Look over your Social Security statements to ...

Opinion: The economy is in much better shape than the headlines would tell you

Inflation is through the roof. There’s an oil crisis. A looming food crisis. You name it. War is raging in Europe. Russia’s president is starting to sound unhinged. And headlines are now linking him w...

Larry Fink says globalization is over — Here’s what it means for the markets

BlackRock founder Larry Fink declared that the Russia-Ukraine war is bringing the era of globalization to an end, but investors should keep in mind that the global economy and the financial system can...