With summer wrapping up shortly, parents are outfitting their children for the new school year. But American households are struggling to afford back-to-school items such as backpacks, clothing, school supplies and books. This struggle is leading millions of parents to carry debt to make sure their children have what they need…

By Lucy Lazarony, Next Avenue Many Americans in their 50s don’t have nearly enough savings set aside for retirement. How bad is the shortfall? According to Prudential’s 2024 Pulse of the American Retiree survey, with just a decade until the traditional retirement age, 55-year-old Americans have less than $50,000 in…

Mortgage rates fell sharply this week to the lowest level in more than a year, igniting a boost in demand in the housing market. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 6.47% this week from 6.73%…

Many estate owners are concerned about what will happen to the wealth in the next generation and the effects the inheritance will have on their heirs, making how to leave wealth to the next generation one of the most difficult estate planning decisions. Wealth is accumulated and preserved for the…

A surprising jobs report released last week paired with a volatile Japanese market led to a massive selloff during Monday’s trading day, with both the Dow Jones and the S&P seeing their worst sessions since 2022. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent employment report, only 114,000 jobs were…

Many American retirees are making significant mistakes with their traditional IRAs by planning to leave the accounts to their children or other heirs. Inheriting a traditional IRA never was a great deal and is significantly less appealing to heirs now. An IRA owner can take actions to increase the value…

Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as “Credible” below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders who compensate us for our services, all opinions are our own. The…

By Kelly K. James, Next Avenue During an interdepartmental Zoom meeting, a vice president asked for feedback about a video he’d produced, on a tight timeframe, to promote our company. On the video, one employee made a comment that made our company look bad. I thought she may have misspoken…

Mortgage rates dipped significantly this week, dropping to the lowest level in more than a year, according to Freddie Mac. Rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.47%, down from 6.73% last week. “Mortgage rates plunged this week to their lowest level in over a year following the likely overreaction to…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that the U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs over the last 12 months (through March) than they previously predicted. The -0.5% difference was reported in the preliminary estimate of the annual revision to the BLS employment series. Consumers won’t know the final numbers…