Single-family home prices rose 2.2% from January to February, making for a record 20% gain over the previous 12 months, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index released Tuesday—the fourth record-setting month in a row in data going back to 1976.Forecasters at CoreLogic, a real estate data company, expect those increases to slow down as the year goes on, so that by February 2023, prices will only be 5% higher than they are now....

The cost of homeowners insurance, like food and gasoline, rose last year and doesn’t look to be easing up anytime soon. The nationwide average annual premium increased to $1,398 in 2021, up 4% from 2020, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. The 2020 inflation rate was about 1.2%, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. In fourth-quarter 2021, the average insurance rate increased 3.7% from the same period in 2020 for homes worth under $1 million, but 6....

That all sounds pretty good to Rebecca Rush, an advertising copywriter who rents the ground floor of a house in Boulder, Colorado, where the median-priced home sells for almost $1 million, according to Redfin. In fact, it might be the only way she’ll be able to move into a home of her own. “There’s no way in this expensive market that I can afford anything at the rates that they currently are and the prices that things still seem to be,” she said....

The slight slowdown in home price growth came as mortgage rates reached their highest levels since 2008, a result of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to rein in inflation by hiking its benchmark interest rate, the fed funds rate. While home prices will continue to rise, the rate will be only 5% by May 2023, according to CoreLogic. With mortgage rates about 50% higher than they were a few months ago, buyers are being pushed out of the market, which should lead to a rapid deceleration in price growth, CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a statement....

Review Your Unused Rewards Before you can start cashing in points, you’ll want to understand how the credit card rewards you have actually work. To take an inventory of what you have accumulated, head to your credit card apps, said Justin Zeidman, manager of credit card products at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The mobile apps for all the different credit cards you have can help you monitor both your spending and rewards earned,” Zeidman told The Balance during a phone interview....

The majority of the national debt is debt held by the public. The government owes it to buyers of U.S. Treasury notes including individuals, companies, and foreign governments. The remaining portion is intragovernmental debt. The Treasury owes this debt to its various departments that hold Government Account Series securities. The biggest owner is the Social Security Trust Fund. These Government Account Series securities have been running surpluses for years, and the federal government uses these surpluses to pay for other departments....

Real Estate Flipping For example, clients bought a foreclosure home in the Pocket area of Sacramento last fall. It had originally sold for $50,000 more than list price and had been rented before the bank foreclosed. After checking the transaction history, it appeared the agent—who was also the mortgage broker—most likely obtained an inflated appraisal. He sold the home to a relative who then rented it out and never made a single payment....

Pre-Tax 401(k) Contributions Your 401(k) contributions directly reduce your taxable income at the time you make them because they’re typically made with pre-tax dollars. That means the money you deposit into your 401(k) comes out of your gross pay, before taxes. As a result, you pay taxes on less income. Your take-home pay is lower than if you didn’t contribute to a pre-tax 401(k) because the money reduces your gross income....

Worried about being considered a job hopper if you change companies too often? You’re right to be concerned, within reason. But it is also possible to stay too long at a job and suffer professional consequences as a result. How Long Do Employees Stay at a Job? What’s the typical employee tenure? The median number of years that employees have worked for their current employer is currently 4.1 years, according to an Economic News Release from the U....

Let’s take a look at how market prices move. First, it’s important to understand that there are always two prices in a market: a bid price and an ask price. The next step is recognizing the type of price at which orders are being processed, as that will ultimately move the price. The Bid-Ask Spread Whether it is the stock, forex, futures, or options market, every market has two prices: a bid price and an ask price....

Read on to find out how millennials’ spending habits compare to other generations, from how much they spend on housing to dining out to buying clothing, even who’s more likely to spring for that fancy coffee. Housing This really depends on whether you rent or own. For example, a survey by “RentCafe.com” reports that millennials spent nearly $93,000 in rent by the time they turned 30, which is $10,400 more than Generation X and $21,600 more than Baby Boomers, adjusted for inflation....

It helps to first understand what average premiums are, how the rates have changed over the past few years, and ways you can reduce your monthly premium. How Much Is Health Insurance? The average American spent $3,704 on health insurance in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And per to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average person’s monthly premium for plans made available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA—also known as Obamacare) during open enrollment for 2022 was $594 compared to $590 in 2021 and $595 in 2020....

Learn whether money or high income can make you happy, other factors that affect happiness, and how to increase your income in the hopes of also increasing your happiness. Does Money Make You Happy? While it’s true you can’t walk into a store and buy happiness, a 2010 study found a correlation between money and happiness. Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton’s study reviewed a 1,000-person U.S. survey regarding emotional well-being (the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday experience) and life experience (people’s thoughts about their lives)....

Anyone can manage a self-motivated, successful employee, but managers who bring out the best in struggling workers are highly valued for their ability to create more productivity for their company. What the Interviewer Really Wants to Know Your interviewer wants to see your management style and get a feel for how you handle difficult interpersonal situations. This question also reveals what you define as problematic behavior. Discussing situations in which the end result was the employee’s termination does not necessarily put your skills on display....

Someone who is too slow to get the job done in a reasonable time frame isn’t going to be a good hire. Neither is a candidate who works frenetically all day, because they might make more errors, or more easily burn out. When answering this question, avoid exaggeration, and demonstrate that you are a steady and dependable worker. What the Interviewer Really Wants to Know In addition to seeking insight about your work pace, the interviewer is also trying to gauge your level of self-knowledge and to determine if your pace would be a good fit for the organization’s needs....

Go Online An online bank is an excellent choice if you’re just getting started, or if you tend to keep a small account balance. Most online banks have no minimum balance requirements, which means you can avoid fees even if your account is empty. For example, both Ally Bank and Capital One offer free checking and savings accounts with no minimum balance to open an account (and no ongoing minimums either)....

Create an Online Account To access your credit card statement, you’ll first have to create an online account via your card issuer’s website. If you obtained a credit card through your current bank or credit union, your credit card account may be accessible through your existing online banking account. If not, check the back of your credit card for the credit card issuer’s web address where you can create an online account....

Business Losses and Your Personal Taxes Your small business may have several types of losses, depending on the type of income. These include: Net operating losses from normal business operations Capital losses on the sale or exchange of business property Both types of losses affect your personal income taxes because most small businesses pay taxes through their personal tax return. These types of businesses include sole proprietorships, limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships, and S corporations....

What Is Form 945? IRS Form 945, the “Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax,” is used to report federal income tax held out of several different kinds of payments. A small business may need to use Form 945 to report backup withholding from non-employees. A non-employee could be a freelance writer you hired to write articles for your website or it could be an assistant who you hired to help you out for a flat rate every month....

One minute you’re jumping up and down with glee, calling your friends and family to share the joy, and the next minute doubt settles in, like a big rain cloud seemingly out of nowhere. You wonder, “What in the world did I just do?” Symptoms of Buyer’s Remorse All sorts of bad scenarios pop into your mind. You might imagine your spouse getting fired and wonder how you will make the mortgage payment....