Markets rallied. Wall Street cheered. But if you’re standing in the grocery aisle wondering whether prices are about to drop—the short answer is no. Today, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on new tariffs for most countries—but at the same time, he raised tariffs on Chinese imports from 104% to 125%. The stock market surged in response: the S&P 500 climbed 7%, the Nasdaq jumped over 9%, and the Dow gained more than 2,600 points. Investors may have welcomed the pause as a cooling-off signal, but economists are still cautious. From a food perspective, this doesn’t resolve much. The…

New Policy Causing Alarm Last week, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) issued a deeply disappointing directive that significantly restricts prerelease custody under the Second Chance Act. The new policy, effective April 21, caps halfway house placement at just 60 days for most inmates and 125 days for those completing the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). The sudden change has upended the plans of incarcerated individuals and their families, with many seeing their previously approved release dates rescinded. For some, it means staying in prison until February 2026 instead of going home in March 2025. As word spread, family members…

Money talks, and right now Americans aren’t feeling confident about their financial future. Consumer confidence numbers crashed to 92.9 for March 2024, hitting lows not seen since early 2021. The numbers paint a stark picture. While unemployment sits at a seemingly healthy 4.2%, over half of consumers view the economy through a negative lens. The Breakdown You Need To Know: CultureBanx noted that the mood shift matters, because consumer dollars fuel nearly two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity. This 7.2-point tumble caught market watchers off guard, falling short of their 94.5 prediction. Even more telling is Americans’ outlook on jobs,…

There’s one more thing we know with certainty about life, in addition to death and taxes: Things change. You change. If you believe that the person you are today is somehow fixed, that you’ve finished learning and growing, you’re in the end of history illusion. You misunderstand or underestimate the magnitude of future change that you’ll continue to go through. That illusion can get you into serious financial trouble if you create a financial plan that assumes what you want now is what you’ll always want, be it 5 years into the future or 50. Expect Change — And Build…

Bipartisan Bill Would Cap Federal Student Loan Interest Rate A new bipartisan proposal in Congress aims to slash interest rates on federal student loans to just 2%, a dramatic drop from the 6% to 9% rates that most borrowers have today. The bill – officially titled the Affordable Loans for Students Act – was introduced in March 2025 by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) alongside Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)​. This Republican-led effort to cap student loan interest rates at 2% marks a rare moment of bipartisanship on an issue often known for partisan divides. If…

The Trump administration, the courts, and Republican lawmakers in Congress are poised to make the most significant changes to federal student loan repayment plans in a generation. If enacted, these reforms could cut off access to affordable payments for millions of borrowers, eliminate student loan forgiveness, and trap people in a lifetime of debt, warn advocates. For more than 30 years, student loan borrowers have been able to access income-driven repayment plans, a type of program first authorized by Congress in the mid 1990’s to allow borrowers to repay their loans using a formula based on their income. Borrowers were…

For the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, borrowers with federal student loans are dealing with the credit-related consequences of late payments and letting their student loans go into default. This can include damage to credit scores, along with the prospect of penalties and collection activities including the seizure of wages, tax refunds, and even Social Security benefits. This change may seem out of the blue, but it comes at the end of a long list of temporary “fixes” put in place to help borrowers struggling to repay loans during an unprecedented time (the pandemic). The U.S.…

Financial stress is lonely. Research increasingly confirms that when people are struggling financially, they often feel isolated, ashamed, and disconnected. A Harvard study found that Americans earning under $30,000 a year are the loneliest group in the country. Similarly, researchers at Ohio State have shown that financial hardship frequently causes people to withdraw from their support networks, reinforcing a cycle of silence and struggle. These findings are consistent with the research I explored in my earlier Forbes article, Being Sad Is Expensive: How Your Money-Mindset Matters. In that article, I showed how negative emotions can shrink our sense of possibility…

Out With The Old With the return of the Trump administration, policy attention has largely focused on tariffs, immigration, reducing government spending, and dismantling DEI initiatives. Each of these has been backed by visible public messaging and leadership—except when it comes to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Despite overseeing an $8.3 billion budget, 36,000 staff members, and roughly 160,000 incarcerated individuals across 121 correctional facilities, the BOP has received only cursory attention. Since the abrupt firing of former BOP Director Colette Peters in January, the agency has faced mounting turmoil. In the span of five weeks, the BOP and the…

$1,400 Stimulus Check Deadline Is Approaching As the April 15, 2025, tax deadline approaches, millions of dollars in pandemic stimulus relief are still unclaimed – and time is almost up. The third pandemic stimulus check, worth up to $1,400 per person under the American Rescue Plan, can still be claimed by eligible Americans who missed out, but only if they file a 2021 tax return by the deadline. Most taxpayers eligible for economic impact payments, known as stimulus checks, have already received them. However, some eligible individuals did not file a 2021 tax return and could still qualify for payment.…