Your homeowners insurance policy is not a home warranty. Whether you’re a first-time or experienced homebuyer, you should understand what a home warranty covers. This can help you decide if you should purchase one in addition to homeowners insurance. What Is a Home Warranty? A home warranty is an insurance product that covers certain items and parts of your home. It can help you finance any necessary repairs. A home warranty is like a service contract (and sometimes a replacement contract) on expensive items in your home....

The ownership costs of a newly purchased three-bedroom home were more affordable than renting an equivalent property in 58% of U.S. counties studied by ATTOM Data, a real estate data firm. Despite rising home prices, monthly homeownership costs—including the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance—consumed a smaller share of the average local wage than rent did in most of the country, ATTOM said in a report released Thursday. However, the reverse was true in most major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago, the report found....

Sales of existing homes rose 1.9% from October to November, the third straight month of increases, hitting the fastest pace since January, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Wednesday. At the same time, the inventory of homes for sale fell 9.8% to the lowest level since April. At the current sales pace, the supply would last just 2.1 months—not far above the record low of 1.9 months seen in January, and well below the six-month supply that the association says goes along with moderate price increases....

Hypothetical Example Suppose you’re driving home from work one day, paying close attention to the road ahead, and the drivers around you when suddenly another driver runs a stop sign and rams into the side of your vehicle. Thankfully, no one is hurt, but your vehicle certainly is. You have good car insurance and know that you’re not at fault, so you carefully document the damage, exchange information with the other driver, and file a police report....

We’ll review the most popular dividend payment options and explain when dividends are available from a life insurance policy. You’ll also learn how to choose the best dividend option for you and your loved ones. What Are Dividends? Dividends are payments from a life insurance company that represent a return of your premium payments. Depending on the options offered by your insurer, you may be able to use dividends to buy additional life insurance coverage or reduce your premium payments....

Low expenses are one of the top advantages of ETFs and index-based mutual funds. This is why investors should be aware of ETF fees and expenses before buying the right funds for their needs. Learn more about ETF fees, how they are deducted from your investment, and how they impact fund performance. Expense Ratios and How ETF Fees Work When researching or looking at information on ETFs or mutual funds, one of the first pieces of information to look for is the expense ratio....

The Fed Affects Short-Term Interest Rates The Federal Reserve, also known as the Fed, impacts short-term interest rates. Two benchmarks for short-term interest rates are: SOFR: The Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) is a broad measure of what it costs to borrow overnight using Treasury securities as collateral. SOFR replaced LIBOR as the official short-term lending benchmark rate in January 2022. The New York Federal Reserve Bank posts the SOFR on its website every business day at 8:00 a....

You can get a prepaid card even if you have bad credit. However, as the name indicates, you can’t use it unless you’ve prepaid money onto the card. Since a prepaid card doesn’t allow you to carry a credit balance and pay later, it’s not a credit card. Around 6.5% of American adults don’t have a bank account, but they can rent a car or book a hotel room with a prepaid card instead of having to deal with a bank....

What Is a Yield Curve? Most investors assume that short- and long-term interest rates move in the same direction but that’s not always the case. Short-term interest rates are set by central banks. For example, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee, or FOMC, sets the federal funds rate that serves as a benchmark for short-term interest rates. Commercial banks can essentially borrow unlimited amounts of money at these interest rates and that creates a floor for the market....

IRS Rules for Business Losses Two sets of rules apply when determining your ability to take a loss in your business: at-risk rules and passive activity rules. At-Risk Rules You have a risk in your business based on your investment in the business, or for amounts you borrowed for the business for which you are personally liable or for which you pledged personal property. You can’t deduct more than the amount you have at risk for a year....

The total cost can come as a shock to many homebuyers who are only looking at coming up with the amount of their down payment. In this article, learn exactly how much you can expect to pay in closing costs so that buying the home of your dreams can become a reality. How Much Can You Expect To Pay for Closing Costs? Closing costs to buy a home typically run from about 2% to 6% of the purchase price, with an average of around 3%....

According to the 2020 EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey, only 14% of retirees quit working when they were under the age of 55, compared with 19% at age 55 to 59; 11% at 60 or 61; 26% at 62 to 64; 13% at 65; 11% at 66 to 69; and 6% who either retired at 70 or older or said they would never retire. What Are the Challenges of Retiring by Age 40?...

Just as you care about how much equity you have in your home, economists and analysts trying to make sense of the economy are equally interested in broader trends in home values and equity. Home Equity and Economic Health Home equity is the value of your ownership in your house. It is the value of your real estate holdings less the amount of any loans against the property. For many people, their home is their largest single lifetime purchase....

What the Interviewer Really Wants to Know With this question, interviewers seek to get a sense of your fit and what you’d be like as an employee—are you a clock-watcher, doing only the bare minimum? Or will you go the extra mile, and always stay until important tasks are complete? Do you work well with others, or focus mainly on completing your own tasks? Your answer to this common interview question can be very revealing....

Tips for Answering “Where Do You See Yourself…” for Older Applicants Answering any question about your future can be tricky since the employer may be looking for someone who will be happy to stay in the position for which they are interviewing, and they also may be assessing your future potential. They don’t want to hire someone who’ll up and leave the job in just a short time. But, what if you are planning on retiring sooner rather than later?...

Fortunately, taking the surprise out of irregular expenses is fairly simple. You just have to identify your irregular expenses, total their cost, and divide that total by 12 to turn them into a single monthly bill that you can include in your budget. Ready to give your budget the update that it needs? Let’s take a closer look at how to incorporate those irregular expenses into your monthly budget....

As a general rule, bank or credit union CDs hold your money for a predetermined amount of time as it earns a set interest rate. However, there are “flavors” of CDs that tweak this formula slightly. To find the best CD for you, let’s find out how to choose among various CD types, minimum deposit requirements, interest rates, and make sure your money is insured. Types of CD There are many types of certificates of deposits (CDs) available via online and brick-and-mortar banks, credit unions, and investment firms....

You’re loyal to an airline: Airline credit cards are best for frequent flyers who have the ability to be loyal to a specific airline or airline alliance. However, you may be better off with a general travel credit card if you prefer to shop among different carriers to find the best price.You like to check bags and score free perks: If you like to check bags when you fly, an airline credit card that offers free checked bags can help you save money....

According to Experian’s Consumer Credit Review, 59% of Americans had a FICO Score of 700 or higher in 2019—the biggest percentage ever seen at that level. Also, the number of Americans with a perfect FICO Score of 850 has increased by 63% in the last 10 years. More and more consumers are not only making smarter credit decisions, they are consistently better educated and are monitoring their credit scores more closely....

Since you have no past financial data to go on, you must create the budget using your best guess on income and expenses (otherwise known as a profit and loss statement). Before you begin, consider why you need to spend the time to create a budget. Even if you don’t need bank financing, creating a budget is still a valuable exercise for any new and continuing business. Questions to Ask Before You Begin Your Budget Some questions to ask yourself before you begin creating your start-up business’ budget:...