Rebecca Bush started her home search in January of 2020.. Home values increased nearly 20 percent across the U.S. between September 2020 and September 2021, according to Real Estate Witch. Then came inflation and the Federal Reserve's attempt to combat it, which pushed some interest rates on mortgages to above 7 percent.

For 2023, you can put an extra $1,000 in your IRAs and an extra $7,500 in a 401 plan. Once you turn 55, you can put an additional $1,000 in an HSA each year. For instance, instead of wages, which are 100% taxable, at least 15% of your Social Security benefits are tax-free, and lower-income seniors won't pay any federal tax on their benefits.

Approximately 70 million Americans will see an 8.7% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments in 2023. On average, Social Security benefits will increase by more than $140 per month starting in January. But if you want to know your new benefit amount sooner, you can securely obtain your Social Security COLA notice…

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell was asked what was in store for the economy after yet another rate hike intended to tame inflation. "I don't think anyone knows whether we're going to have a recession or not and, if we do, whether it's going to be a deep one or not," Powell said on Dec. 14, after the Federal Open Market Committee's final meeting for 2022. "It's just not…

This is the conundrum consumers, investors and central bankers with the Federal Reserve keep struggling with— slowing, yet still fast inflation. Then, due to lots of factors, prices didn’ t just accelerate, they blasted off about one year into the COVID-19 pandemic that started in March 2020. That was the spring and summer of 2021, as consumer inflation sped up on its…

Lawrence Isen, age 69, of California, was sentenced to five years behind bars in federal court in Central Islip Friday, Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors said between 2014 and 2016, Isen and others worked with a Melville- based "boiler room" to artificially inflate the price and trading volume of stock in struggling companies with poor prospects. Islen was accused of…

The fraud trial of former First NBC Bank CEO Ashton Ryan, Jr. is set to begin Monday in federal court in New Orleans, the culmination of a sprawling investigation by federal authorities into the local bank following its descent from post-Hurricane Katrina financial darling to the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The trial comes more…

Last week, President Joe Biden signed the Secure 2.0 Act into law, which not only created changes to retirement savings plans but also impacted student loan payments. For example, some companies may match 50 cents for every $1 employees contribute to their 401 s up to 6% of their salaries. So for people making $60,000 a year, 6% of their salaries is $3,600.

Question: I have a question about the family maximum SS retirement benefit. As I understand it, if the breadwinner is drawing retirement benefits or is deceased, the family maximum is calculated from a formula that yields a figure between 150 percent and 188 percent of the breadwinner's primary insurance amount— his or her monthly benefit if claimed at full…

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting show that some companies actually borrowed more in October and November, even though interest rates on their bonds have been rising. "There's always a certain percentage of debt that matures in any given year that will need to be refinanced," said Winnie Cisar, global head of strategy at CreditSights.

The New York attorney general’ s office on Thursday filed suit against the ex-CEO of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Networks for defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors— including 26,000 New Yorkers— out of billions of dollars. Attorney General Letitia James’ case against Alex Mashinsky, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accuses him…

Lee is president of Lee Investment Management in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The majority of small and midsize U.S. business leaders anticipate a recession in 2023, according to JPMorgan Chase’ s 2023 annual Business Leaders Outlook survey released today. In total, 65% of midsize businesses and 61% of small businesses expect a recession in the year ahead. “Inflation has been a challenging headwind impacting businesses of all sizes,…

The Fed might raise interest rates higher than some investors expected and leave them higher for longer than some anticipated. This seemed to be the message from the Federal Reserve's minutes of its meeting in December. In other words, it appears that the Fed will raise interest rates higher than some investors expected and leave them higher for longer than…

Since last January, the global crypto market cap has sunk nearly 65%, falling from $2.2 trillion to $803 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Chad Harris, chief commercial officer of Riot Blockchain, which is building a crypto mining facility in Corsicana, Texas, felt the change in industry sentiment this year, he said at a recent Texas Blockchain Summit.