Seniors who get most or all of their retirement income from Social Security tend to rely on the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, in a really big way. Without those COLAs, seniors would…
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,…
Is 18 credits cards too many? What about 30? A California listener named Perry called into The Clark Howard Podcast recently to ask about credit card churning. “I have maybe 18 credit cards, most…
The American dream of graduating from college and landing a great job isn’t the reality in 2026. Recent college graduates have a higher unemployment rate than the national average (5.7% vs. 4.3%). Far worse…
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…
Margaret recently phoned into The Clark Howard Podcast, wondering what to do with the Health Savings Account (HSA) left behind at a former employer. The plan has high fees and few investment options. “Move…
Most people walk into a retirement conversation asking the wrong question. They want to know whether 62, 65, or 67 is the right age to stop working. The number that actually decides the outcome…
When the Federal Reserve opted to hold interest rates steady in April, it didn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise. The Fed hiked rates aggressively to cool inflation in the wake of the…
The Federal Reserve made headlines in April by choosing to hold interest rates steady, extending an ongoing pause. Of course, that pause wasn’t exactly a surprise, as current market volatility continues to influence central…
Replacing a $75,000 salary with dividends means replacing a real skilled-worker paycheck, the kind earned by many nurses, electricians, accountants, sales representatives, and experienced technicians. The math is simple: divide your income target by…
A $120,000 salary is not ordinary paycheck territory. It puts a household near the upper tier of American earners, high enough to fund a comfortable lifestyle but also high enough to require serious capital…
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…
The SPY closed Wednesday near $711.58, and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index just printed 48, the lowest reading in history. Those two numbers do not usually share a sentence. On a recent…
Two retirees, same $2.4 million starting balance, same 7% average annual return over 20 years, same $96,000 annual withdrawal. One runs out of money in year 19. The other finishes with $1.8 million still…
