When a grandchild decides that college is not their path, a 529 plan funded years earlier can be like money trapped behind a wall of taxes and penalties. Well, good news, as SECURE 2.0…
Selling the family cabin after two decades feels like a financial win, at least until the tax bill arrives. For a couple who paid $300,000 for a property now worth $1 million, the $700,000…
Passive investing’s central promise is hard to argue with: low costs, broad diversification, and returns that match the market. Vanguard built an empire on that promise, and funds like the Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSE:VUG),…
The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances recorded the largest three-year gain in median household net worth in the survey’s modern history. Between 2019 and 2022, the typical American family’s net worth climbed…
Something interesting is happening inside the Northwestern Mutual 2026 Planning & Progress Study data that does not resolve cleanly. More Americans feel financially secure today than at any point in recent years, with the…
The Northwestern Mutual 2026 Planning & Progress Study lands at a moment when American households are navigating something that feels increasingly personal. Prices are still climbing, savings rates have been drifting lower, and the…
One number from the Northwestern Mutual 2026 Planning & Progress Study does more work than almost any other personal finance benchmark released this year. Among Americans who work with a financial advisor, 71% report…
The headline story of the post-pandemic recovery was a strong rebound in household finances. The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances showed median net worth surged 37% between the 2019 and 2022 surveys,…
The share of Americans who describe themselves as financially secure climbed from 44% to 50% in a single year, according to the Northwestern Mutual 2026 Planning & Progress Study. That is a meaningful shift…
A finding from the Northwestern Mutual 2026 P&P Wave I “Financial States of America” report puts a number on a behavior that has been visible for years: 52% of Americans say they place too…
Buy Now Pay Later services have moved from a checkout novelty to a core part of how Gen Z pays for things, including items people used to pay for with cash or a debit…
The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances reported that retirement plan participation hit its highest level since 2010. The same survey reported that mean balances for participants in the bottom half of the…
The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances delivered a headline that sounded like progress for ordinary households: 58% of American families now hold stock either directly or through retirement and mutual fund accounts,…
The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, the most recent triennial snapshot of household balance sheets, reported that the median debt-payment-to-income ratio for indebted families fell to 13.4%, the lowest level ever recorded.…
The Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances captured a housing market split into two Americas. For homeowners, the three years from 2019 to 2022 produced the single largest jump in housing wealth on…
Speculative assets have moved well past the fringe in 2026. Prediction markets, sports betting platforms, and cryptocurrencies are now part of how a meaningful share of Americans think about building wealth, and the Northwestern…
Somewhere in America, there is a couple in their late sixties with $2.4 million in savings, no debt, two Social Security checks, and a weekly grocery budget they have not adjusted since 2019. They…
There is a clean way to divide America’s post-pandemic financial story, and the Federal Reserve did it for us. The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances asks one question that sorts almost everything else: Did…
While most investors spent early 2026 fixated on the S&P 500’s volatility, Japan’s equity markets quietly put together one of the most compelling runs in global finance. The Nikkei 225 is up 15.60% year…
Vanguard's 2025 How America Saves report describes a 401(k) landscape that appears healthy on the surface yet strained beneath. The average participant account balance climbed to a record level in 2024, but the share…
