By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue Mention college and the conversation swiftly turns to student loans — with good reason. The current loan-based system to pay for postsecondary education is failing too many students, including a surprisingly large number of debtors nearing or in their retirement years. For one thing, $1.6…

Mortgage rates jumped markedly this week, sending demand down for a second straight week. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 6.32% from last week’s reading of 6.12%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was…

The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, also known as MPPP, MP3 or M3P, is a brand-new program that will take effect on January 1, 2025, the same day as the $2,000 cap on Part D out-of-pocket drug costs. The MPPP is like an installment payment plan for those who have Part…

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the main measure of inflation, increased 0.2% in September, a similar increase consumers saw in August and July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the index increased 2.4%, the lowest yearly increase since February 2021. A rise in food and…

By Vanessa Infanzon, Next Avenue In 2001, a YMCA in Brooklyn hired a husband-and-wife team of television producers, Stephanie Walter and John Williams, to help 15 high school students pull together a film about retired seamen living at the YMCA’s residential facility. The class’s final project, a one-hour documentary called…

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has backed an earth-shattering idea: For the first time, traditional Medicare would pay for personal assistance at home and related long-term care. Currently, only Medicaid and certain Medicare managed care programs provide long-term care benefits. Harris endorsed the idea in an appearance on the television…

Washington D.C., Denver and Raleigh, North Carolina, are the real estate markets that are projected to see the most substantial changes as the Federal Reserve begins to lower borrowing rates.  According to a new Realtor.com report published Tuesday, markets with a high percentage of homeowners with a mortgage stand to…

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Next Avenue A friend with whom I had previously worked with instant-messaged me on Facebook a couple of years ago and asked, “Hey, have you applied for your pension?” We had worked together 35 years ago in the credit department of a major bank. I replied, “Pension?…

Surprisingly, many retirees return to work for reasons other than finances. According to T. Rowe Price’s March report, “ ‘Unretiring’: Why Recent Retirees Want to Go Back to Work,” 20% of retirees are working and 7% are actively seeking work. While many people work in retirement for financial reasons, the…

Attitudes about the obligation to provide care for an aging parent in failing health vary. In some families, there is an unspoken expectation that it is the daughter’s job to provide this care, despite the fact that there is no legal obligation for any particular person to do so. Rarely…