Monthly Student Loan Payments Could Rise By $200 In a move that could upend the delicate financial balance of millions of Americans, an overhaul of the federal student loan system proposed by House Republicans could push monthly payments up by nearly $200 on average, according to an analysis by The Institute For College Access & Success (TICAS). This isn’t just a minor adjustment—it would be a seismic shift propagating through higher education, exacerbating the already worsening college debt crisis. A Growing Crisis For The Average Student Loan Borrower Today, over 42 million Americans owe more than $1.7 trillion in student…

When you change jobs, you’ll need to decide what to do with your old 401(k). A common choice is to roll the old 401(k) into an IRA, which can be a great option. But according to a recent Vanguard study, 28% of investors who did a 401(k) rollover into an IRA were in cash one year later. Worse even: the majority didn’t realize their retirement savings weren’t invested and most workers who started in cash, stayed in cash for at least seven years. Retirement accounts are often ignored, especially when spread across multiple institutions. Here’s how to fix it. Avoid…

Republican lawmakers in Congress are considering a move that could cut off student loan forgiveness for millions of Americans who work in the healthcare industry. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, commonly referred to as PSLF, offers borrowers a pathway to student loan forgiveness if they commit to working in nonprofit or government settings for at least 10 years while repaying their loans. More than a million borrowers have received loan forgiveness under PSLF following a series of reforms and improvements implemented by the Biden administration. Republican lawmakers in Congress and the Trump administration are considering a number of changes…

It had been rumored for quite a while, so it wasn’t a big surprise when the Justice Department sent a memo to Danielle R. Sassoon, the interim US. Attorney for Manhattan instructing her to dismiss the bribery and other charges brought against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Most notably the memorandum states “The Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence of the legal theories on which the case is based…” The memorandum indicated that it was being done to allow Adams to focus on crime prevention and immigration while figures for crime in…

I recently asked someone if they were invested in private prisons (private prison investing), and they replied, “I don’t think so.” When I followed up by asking if they invested in mutual funds in their 401(k) or Roth IRA, their expression changed. This reaction is not uncommon; many investors aren’t fully aware of what companies their mutual funds hold. In February 25, 2021, I wrote Are you unknowingly invested in private prisons? This is an update to that article. However, some people (maybe you) worry about missing out on potential returns if they exclude certain sectors or companies. Investment funds…

The fight-or-flight response to stress “. . . evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations,” according to Harvard Medical School. Unfortunately, the very thing that helped keep human ancestry alive often hinders the investing decisions of today. Once an investor’s hackles are up, it can be difficult to make calm, objective retirement planning decisions. Behavior is perhaps the most prominent variable and determinant of investor success. Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor and the man many see as the father of value investing, wrote, “The investor’s chief problem—and even his…

You can create a solid financial foundation for yourself with some very simple steps. Spend less than you earn. Direct the net cash flow to savings. Keep some cash on hand for emergencies and get the rest invested for long-term growth. Repeat that process over years, and then decades, and you are very likely to become a millionaire (if not a multimillionaire). There’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple and sticking to these basics. But if you want to build even more wealth, then you need to take advantage of the other opportunities that are also available to you… and…

Can a 50-year-old still retire a millionaire? The good news is, yes, even starting in your 50s, you can still end up a millionaire. Obviously, it will take more diligent financial planning and investing to reach the millionaire or multi-millionaire club the later you begin accumulating wealth. There are simple steps to follow in order to become a millionaire. Most notably, you need to save money regularly and over long periods of time. Many more people would be doing it if becoming a millionaire was easy. While the net worth of many hard-working Americans skyrocketed during the past few years,…

The U.S. Department of Education is experiencing major turmoil as the Trump administration takes steps to undermine and eliminate it. Millions of student loan borrowers, including those pursuing student loan forgiveness, may potentially be impacted. Last week, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, headed by Elon Musk, reportedly gained access to sensitive systems at the department, including data sets that contain personal identifying information for millions of federal student loan borrowers and aid recipients. This week, in response to a DOGE review, the department cancelled nearly $900 million in contracts, with more potential cuts on the way. And President…

Could Trump Rescind Student Loan Forgiveness? Here’s What Borrowers Need to Know With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, student loan borrowers are understandably anxious about the future of student loan forgiveness programs. Over the last four years, the Biden administration has wiped out over $180 billion in student loan debt through various initiatives, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), borrower defense claims, and the now-defunct broad-based relief plan. However, Trump has been vocal about his opposition to student debt cancellation, calling it a “total catastrophe” and signaling a desire to dismantle the Department of Education. While there remains…