Key takeaways While your home’s value is determined by many factors, some home improvements could help increase its worth. There are multiple ways to pay for upgrades, including cash-out refinancing, a home equity loan or home improvement loan. If you plan to sell your home, it’s important to determine not…
Key takeaways Tapping into home equity carries several risks, including losing the property, the potential to fall into significant debt and the dilution of a valuable asset. The unpredictable nature of the housing market and high interest rates are also reasons not to borrow against a home’s worth. Financial experts…
I’ve recently accepted a hard truth: I will never experience true pay equality in my career. Neither will most women my age. If the gender wage gap follows its historical pace, many women working full time won’t reach pay parity with men until 2059 — 33 years from now, according…
The fight for equal pay was supposed to be won by now. But generations after Eleanor Roosevelt championed the cause, women are still waiting for their paychecks to catch up. A Bankrate analysis of government data shows, in fact, that pay equality remains a dream that most women won’t reach…
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The nation’s 75 million Social Security recipients will receive a 2.8% cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase in their benefits…
Historically Black colleges and universities are on the frontlines of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new limits on parent…
The big new fees JPMorgan Chase is planning to charge some financial technology companies may well trickle down to consumers,…
With artificial intelligence beginning to eat away at many white-collar entry-level jobs, and the unemployment rate for recent college graduates…
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Martinns/GettyImages; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate A money market account is a type of savings deposit account that tends to offer check-writing privileges and a debit card for ATM access to your savings. Typically, savings accounts usually don’t let you write checks from the account, making…
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The decision of which debt to start paying off first is a personal one, but starting with high-interest debt is generally considered the…
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Lawrence Golub, billionaire founder and CEO of private credit firm Golub Capital, emphatically dismissed fears that the rapid growth of private credit, specifically…
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For the first half of my 20s, I thought about money in the same way you might think about grocery shopping or laundry — a chore, but not requiring more brain space than necessary to get food on the shelves or clean clothes in the closet. As long as there…
Key takeaways Both the Chase Freedom Rise® and the Discover it® Student Chrome are strong starter credit cards that can help students build credit while earning cash back. The Chase Freedom Rise®, while offering flat-rate rewards, provides long-term benefits such as broader redemption options and potential pathways to premium Chase…
Key takeaways The SIPC is a federally mandated, private nonprofit organization that helps protect securities and cash in brokerage accounts against the risk of the brokerage becoming insolvent. The SIPC protects specific types of securities, such as stocks, bonds (including Treasurys), money market mutual funds and CDs. The SIPC and…
Here’s something credit card experts know but you might not: it’s getting much tougher for the average person to find a great travel credit card that unlocks luxury experiences without the price tag. Major credit card issuers have steadily made premium credit cards more exclusive in recent years. Before, they…
Image by GettyImages; Illustration by Bankrate A sharp pullback in home equity rates, one week after the Fed’s highly anticipated quarter-point rate cut. The $30,000 home equity line of credit tumbled 17 basis points to 7.88 percent, its lowest level in about a year-and-a-half, according to Bankrate’s national survey of…
Key takeaways You can cancel an annuity at no cost during the “free-look” period, but after that point it can be much harder and more costly. Some annuities have limited withdrawal provisions and most will let you cash out your investment, though there are penalties. You could also consider selling…
If you need retirement funds for living expenses now, paying taxes on a Roth conversion may cost more than it saves. But, if you plan to keep the money for growth or pass it on to heirs, a conversion can help you avoid future required minimum distributions (RMDs) and provide…
If it feels like your car is eating more of your paycheck than ever, you’re not imagining it — car ownership costs are rising faster than inflation. Bankrate’s latest Hidden Cost of Car Ownership Study reveals that the average driver now spends $6,894 in hidden expenses per year on their…
How much you can lose by retiring at 62 depends on Social Security, savings growth, and pensions. Starting Social Security at 62 usually cuts monthly benefits by 25% to 30% compared to waiting until full retirement age. Retiring early also means fewer years to save and less time for investments…
Retiring early is possible for many people, but it requires smart planning and reliable income sources. Dividend-paying investments offer one path by providing consistent cash flow while still allowing your portfolio to grow. By reinvesting dividends during your working years and later using them to cover living expenses, you can…
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