Overall, health care policies were the top three most popular BBB proposals among survey respondents. Lowering the cost of prescription medication topped the list, while expanding Medicaid home care services for older adults and people with disabilities, and adding hearing aids to Medicare coverage, followed with 77% of those surveyed saying they somewhat or strongly support these two proposals. Only 7% of respondents said they somewhat or strongly oppose these measures....

Learn more about the ABC test to know your rights as a contractor or your obligations as an employer. What Is the ABC Test? The ABC test is a test employers must pass to classify a worker as an independent contractor in many states and according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers are responsible for the correct categorization of workers or could face costly fines. The designation is important because it determines the payment of Social Security and worker’s compensation benefits....

What Is the Additional Medicare Tax? Most employees who work in the U.S. must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their wages as contributions to their Social Security coverage. The taxes are withheld by their employer. These taxes must also be paid by self-employed individuals in the form of self-employment tax. The Medicare tax rate is 2.9% of the employee’s taxable wages, with 1.45% paid by the employee and 1....

Merit pay has advantages and disadvantages for both employees and employers over a traditional pay system that puts the money in base pay. Before opting for a merit pay system, it’s a good idea to review the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Advantages and Disadvantages of Merit Pay Advantages of Merit Pay A merit pay system is most applicable when detailed data is available to measure the performance of employees....

If a phone is stolen or damaged, eligible cardholders who have charged their cellphone bill to their cards can be reimbursed for qualifying repair or replacement costs (up to $800 per claim minus a $50 deductible), American Express said Monday. The benefit, which doesn’t cover pay-as-you-go phones or lost devices, will be available beginning April 1. Despite the popularity of top-dollar smartphones, cellphone insurance isn’t a ubiquitous credit card benefit....

The AOTC is worth up to $2,500 per student for the first $4,000 you spend on qualifying educational expenses on behalf of yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. The maximum amount you can claim is $2,500 multiplied by the number of eligible students in your family. AOTC Phase-Out Thresholds The AOTC is gradually reduced—referred to as “phasing out”—for single taxpayers with modified adjusted gross incomes (MAGIs) of $80,000, or $160,000 for married taxpayers who file joint returns....

The total revenue figure is important because a business must bring in money to turn a profit. If a company has less revenue, all else being equal, it’s going to make less money. For start-up companies that have yet to turn a profit, revenue can, in some cases, serve as a gauge of how much profit they will make in the future. Revenue vs. Profit While terms like “revenue” and “sales” factor into a company’s profits, the correlation is less direct than a new investor might expect....

Let’s take a closer look at APR and APY to see how these two terms differ in meaning and application. What’s the Difference Between APR and APY? An APR is the annual percentage rate on a savings or borrowing product and represents the cost someone pays each year to borrow money; this includes fees. The APY is the “actual rate” someone earns on a balance. Essentially, the APY measures the total amount someone pays in interest while taking the frequency of compounding into account....

Withdrawing From Your 401(k) Before Age 55 You have two options if you’re younger than age 55 and if you still work for the company that manages your 401(k) plan. This assumes that these options are made available by your employer. You can take a 401(k) loan if you need access to the money, or you can take a hardship withdrawal, but you can only do this from a 401(k) account that’s currently held by your employer....

In 2020, the U.S. automotive industry contributed 3% to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). That’s $627 billion out of the total $20.93 trillion U.S GDP for that year between vehicle manufacturing and sales. On average, the industry employed 4.1 million people in the United States, as of Q1 2021. In 2019, 10.8 million cars and trucks were produced in the United States and 13.7 million were sold, including cars and trucks produced in the United States, Canada, and Mexico....

What Salaries Do College Graduates Expect? According to a recent survey conducted by real estate data company Clever, the average starting salary for college graduates in 2022 stood at $55,260, the highest so far on record. Recent graduates, however, overestimate their own starting salaries by nearly twice that much. The survey of 1,000 undergraduate students found that current college students expect to make nearly $104,000 in their first job. Students aren’t only hoping for high salaries, though....

In December, The Balance recorded 157 pricing changes among the offers in its database, a significant bump from the 91 we recorded in November. Most of the interest-rate moves were hikes of 0.75 percentage points (89 price changes) or 0.50 percentage points (51 price changes). We also recorded a handful of 1.5 percentage point hikes (11) and one 3.0 percentage point increase. Credit card interest rates are based on the prime rate, which closely follows the benchmark rate set by the Federal Reserve....

Rounding Up One strategy for saving is to round up purchases to the next dollar—and put the extra amount into a savings account. If you have a Bank of America debit card, Keep the Change can do that for you. For example, purchasing a cup of coffee can lead to extra money in your savings account: Coffee Price: $1.43Round Up: $0.57 (deposited to savings)Total Charge: $2.00 (total amount deducted from your checking account)...

But TIPS, despite being issued by the U.S. government, are not free of ​risk—particularly if you choose to access the asset class through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Learn more about how TIPS work, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of investing in TIPS. What Are Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS)? TIPS are Treasury bonds that are designed to preserve purchasing power in the long run by protecting investors against the risk of inflation....

These are some of the best books to learn about international investing: A History of the Global Stock Market: From Ancient Rome to Silicon Valley They say that history repeats itself—and that’s especially true in financial markets. B. Mark Smith’s A History of the Global Stock Market provides an in-depth review of past financial crises and the evolution of global markets over time. International investors may want to pick up the book to understand where we’ve come in order to better predict where we’re headed....

Listening to podcasts is a more convenient—and less costly—way to tap into expert knowledge. Finance podcasts can help you get clear on your money goals and create a plan for achieving them, all from the comfort of your home, car, or even the treadmill at the gym. With hundreds of thousands of podcasts to choose from, you might be wondering which are the best. If you’re looking for some new finance podcasts to tune into, consider adding these eight picks to your playlist....

For 2022, the conforming loan limit is $647,200 in most areas but can go as high as $970,800 for places deemed to be high-cost counties. Conforming loan limits vary by location, and any home loan over the limit in your area would be considered a jumbo loan. Because jumbo loans have more stringent requirements than other loan programs, jumbo mortgage rates are on par and sometimes lower than conventional mortgages....

An executive order from Biden commits to adding new processes and online tools to improve 36 different “customer experiences” across the federal agencies, the White House said in a release. The USA.gov website also will be revamped as a portal where people will be able to access, with just a few clicks of a mouse, all government benefits, services, and programs, without having to navigate duplicate and outdated federal websites....

If you are wondering about the essential differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin, keep reading to find out. What’s the Difference Between Bitcoin and Litecoin? Bitcoin and Litecoin are both cryptocurrencies based on the same code. Litecoin’s creator Charlie Lee describes Litecoin as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” Lee created Litecoin to improve upon the accessibility and transaction throughput speed of Bitcoin, making Litecoin better suited for everyday transactions. These are some of the main differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin: Bitcoin’s software limits the size of a new block to 1MB, which means that not all Bitcoin transactions always get processed within 10 minutes....

Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 5 minutes Here’s How: Tips: What You Need: Calculator Crowdfunding for Commercial Hassle-Free Investing The break-even ratio is used by lenders to commercial real estate investors. Crowdfunding is relatively new but growing fast due to high interest and government rulings changes that are opening it up to more people with smaller amounts to invest. Crowdfunding takes advantage of technology and the internet to open up large commercial project investing to smaller investors....