Either situation has the potential to give the thief access to all of your personal account information. That’s why you need to act as soon as you notice there is something wrong with your account. Here’s what to do if your credit card is lost or stolen. Contact Your Credit Card Company The first step is to contact your credit card company as soon as you notice that your credit card is missing....
What is Severance Pay? Severance pay is compensation paid to an employee when employment is terminated by an employer. It could be a lump sum or paid over a period of weeks, and it is typically calculated based on the length of employment with an organization. Who is Eligible for Severance Pay First things first: your employer likely is not required to offer you a severance package. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates only that the company pay your usual wages through your last day....
What Is a Mortgage With No Down Payment? If you qualify for a mortgage with no down payment, you won’t have to produce a down payment on closing day. Down payments for conventional mortgages tend to start at 3% of the purchase price. Not making a down payment could save you at least $11,000 upfront on the average 2020 home for sale in the U.S. Be careful, though: A no-down-payment mortgage doesn’t mean you won’t have any upfront costs....
While you can file a home insurance claim in these scenarios, is it worth it? We’ll explain what to consider when making this decision, and when it’s best to make a claim. What Is Home Insurance? Home insurance financially shields you against losses due to certain disasters, accidents, thefts, and liabilities involving your home or property. Standard homeowners policies typically cover your home’s structure, personal belongings, additional living expenses, and liabilities arising from injuries or property damage caused by you or your family members and pets....
Student loan deferment extends the period of time that it will take you to pay off the loan. This results in paying more interest on the loans, so it’s important to be sure that you really need to put the loans on deferment. When Should You Put Your Loans on Deferment? You may want to put your loans on deferment if your loans don’t qualify for federal student loan relief and you’ve lost your job....
Here’s how the timeline has evolved. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act temporarily paused payments on federal student loans through Sept. 30, 2020. On Aug. 8, 2020, and again on Dec. 4, 2020, President Donald Trump directed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to extend the payment pause. On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden extended student loan forbearance until at least Sept. 30, 2021. This was followed by two more extensions: to Jan....
Progressive politicians and groups representing borrowers have taken the position that enough is enough after more than two years of deferments, saying the repeated extensions show that Biden should proceed with his campaign proposal to forgive student debt. Biden called for $10,000 per borrower in forgiveness when he ran for president in 2020. The latest pause is meant to give borrowers some more breathing room, since recent research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that many would be in financial trouble if forced to resume payments....
What Is an Affordable Car Rental Rate? Rental car prices may vary from city to city, so the only real way to determine affordability is your own budget. However, to help you understand car rental rates and put “affordable” in perspective, we reviewed rental prices for compact and economy, two-day car rentals in New York, both on-airport rentals from John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport and off-airport locations in New York....
Some jobs require you to maintain a good driving record for employment. Insurance companies use your driving record—particularly accidents and traffic violations—as a factor to determine your insurance rate. If your driving record is really bad, you could be in jeopardy of having your driver’s license revoked. Knowing how to get your driving record will help you keep track of this important information. The Local DMV Going directly to the department of motor vehicles (DMV) will get you the most accurate and certified results....
If you will be taking a step—or several—down the career ladder, you can expect the hiring manager to ask you why you’re interested in a job that’s at a lower-level than your qualifications. You’ll need to convince the employer that you’ll be fully invested in your work, and you’re not just looking to take it easy. Hiring managers and companies want to avoid hiring a slacker or someone who’s going to leave in a short time....
To help you understand, here is a basic overview of some of the forces that cause this volatility. Read on to learn about the way the stock market works and how stock prices are set. The Stock Market Is an Auction The stock market is, in essence, an auction, with one party wanting to sell its ownership in a particular company and another party wanting to buy ownership. When the two parties agree on a price, the trade is matched, and that becomes the new market quotation for the stock....
Since leveraged ETFs are specially created financial products designed for speculators, individuals who buy or trade them without understanding how they work should be extra cautious, because many leveraged ETFs are not structured like ordinary ETFs. The Difference Between Leveraged and Regular ETFs From time to time, the net asset value (the value of the underlying securities) may deviate from the market price, but on the whole, the performance should track the underlying index and equal that performance over long periods (minus the expense ratio)....
What you need in retirement is cash flow. Each month you have expenses, and you need cash coming in to meet those expenses. Depending on how you plan for retirement, that cash flow might come from many different places, and not all of it will fit the technical definition of income. Learn how retirement cash flow is different than income. Cash Flow vs. Income Let’s say you estimate you will need to buy a car about every 10 years in retirement....
A leveraged ETF uses borrowed money, futures, and swaps to increase the returns of an index, commodity, or other types of investments. They greatly increase the risk that comes with ETFs and are not recommended for beginner investors. What Is a Leveraged ETF? For as long as stock markets have been around, people have wanted to bet they could beat them. Someone always believes they can predict the price of an asset and win big if they turned out to be correct....
Why is my child tax credit payment only $200? Probably because you make more money than is allowed to claim the full credit (or at least the IRS thinks you do, based on your most recent tax return). The new monthly child tax credit payments the IRS has been sending out since July are up to $300 per eligible child, but that’s only if your annual income isn’t over certain limits: $75,000 for an individual taxpayer, $150,000 for married couples who file their taxes jointly, and $112,500 for those filing as head of household....
What Is Available Credit? Staying within your credit limit means knowing your available credit at all times. Depending on your credit card terms, you may face a penalty for going over your credit limit, or your card issuer may simply stop accepting new charges. Your available credit is the amount of your credit limit you can still use for purchases. The amount changes when your balance and credit limit change. If your available credit is $0, it means you don’t have any credit for making purchases....
When families start saving, they may be uncertain of how much money will be available to their family through federal financial aid—or they may want to prevent their child from taking on unmanageable federal student loans in the future—and thus they contribute aggressively. But when their budgets are stretched thin, they may be left without a choice but to take money out of the college fund. Before college savings are needed for a child, and before a family’s budget is in jeopardy, students and parents should consider the different rules and tax implications for various college funds, and decide which is best for their long-term financial outlook....
In the past, flexibility has meant that an employee might work 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. every day as an option that gave the employee an extra hour in the morning in exchange for losing an hour in the late afternoon. But, today’s employees demand more from their employers, especially Millennial employees. They require different options for flexible schedules and even flexible schedules that can change based on their need for flexibility in their lives at any given time....
These forex traders earn a low-risk profit. They receive high-interest rates on the money invested but pay low-interest rates on the money borrowed. The currency broker pays the difference into the trader’s account each day. In April through June 2018, traders earned a 4.5% profit. That’s after deducting fees, interest rates, and the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. Advantages The carry trade works great as long as the currencies remain stable....
And don’t be shy about asking for a senior discount even if one isn’t advertised. Use humor and a smile, or try something like “I’ve seen a lot in my life at 55+. What do you say? Would these laugh lines qualify me for 10% off?” If you’ve never been great at asking for bargains, read the book Getting More, in which University of Pennsylvania law professor Stuart Diamond discusses specific techniques you can use to negotiate upgrades or lower prices on just about anything....
