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The IRS has already issued more than 45 million refunds this year, at an average $3,352 each. That’s over $500 more than last year, when the average refund was just over $2,800. For most Americans, a lump-sum payment of this size is rare and fewer people want to squander it. Now, nearly half — or 46%

Ridvan_celik | E+ | Getty Images The current stock market, highly volatile and trending lower this year, makes this a daunting time for individual investors seeking to identify companies with reasonable risk and good long-term growth potential. Concerns about overall market performance — as of mid-March, the S&P 500 Index had had the fifth-worst start

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images If you haven’t filed your taxes, there are four weeks until the federal deadline, which is April 18 for most Americans.   Some 63.5 million payers have sent returns through March 11, according to the latest IRS filing data, with an average refund of $3,352. However, millions of Americans have

In this article SPGI dowell | Moment | Getty Images If you own an investment fund that’s “actively managed,” odds are that your returns lagged in 2021. Those chances are even worse over a multiyear time frame. Mutual and exchange-traded funds are generally “actively” or “passively” managed. In the former, a fund manager selects the

andresr | E+ | Getty Images It’s not uncommon to discover that retirement isn’t the ideal existence you thought it would be. If you are a retiree on Medicare who’s rejoining the workforce, be aware that you might have choices when it comes to your health-care coverage. Depending on where you work, you may be

Erin M. Collins Source: Erin M. Collins If you’re one of the millions of Americans grappling with IRS issues, you may not realize there’s another option for your unresolved problems. The Taxpayer Advocate Service, known as TAS, is an independent organization within the agency, providing one-on-one guidance and fighting for systemic changes. Erin Collins, the

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images After spending decades as your parents’ child, becoming the caregiver for Mom or Dad can be a jarring role reversal. Yet for an estimated 42 million Americans, providing care for a parent or other adult relative age 50 or older is a daily reality, according to a recent study

Making more money is great, but it doesn’t mean as much if you are having a harder time making ends meet. Although wages are rising, the prices consumers must pay for goods and services are rising faster — notching a new 40-year high in February. As a result, real inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings for the

Getty Images As inflation rises, many Americans are shifting life milestones, including retirement. Some 13% of Gen Xers and baby boomers say they have postponed or considered delaying plans to leave the workforce due to soaring costs. That’s according to a survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute, showing a cross-generational wave of Americans canceling or

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waves to fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Sept. 9, 2021. Julio Aguilar | Getty Images Tom Brady sat on the sidelines for only 40 days before deciding to end his retirement from pro football. It is possible that more retired workers could do the

DusanManic | iStock | Getty Images When it comes to handling money, couples have a choice: combine all of their accounts, keep them entirely separate or strive for something in between. But what is normal? About 43% of couples who are married, in a civil partnership or living together have joint assets, according to a

Bloom Productions A retirement-savings option that can be smart at the outset of your career probably needs to be reexamined down the road. Target-date funds, as they’re called, offer a way to put your savings on autopilot: Holdings gradually shift away from riskier assets like stocks and toward more conservative investments (bonds and, perhaps, cash)