The cost of living has risen to the point that most Americans are feeling the pressure. An astounding 80% of Americans have experienced a cost of living creep in the last few years, a Credit Karma study found. This cost of living creep means that consumers are spending more money…

Former President Trump’s pick to serve as his running mate on the Republican ticket this year, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s student loan handout as part of the White House’s repeated efforts to cancel borrowers’ debt. President Biden campaigned on forgiving student…

I’ve never met anyone who loves paying more taxes on their retirement income. Building a retirement income you won’t outlive is hard enough without overpaying your taxes. Any strategy that helps you increase the amount of your tax-free retirement income will help minimize these two challenges. As a tax planning-focused…

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…

Married women face a special retirement planning challenge that’s best addressed when they and their spouse transition into retirement. Here’s the problem: When one spouse passes away, the survivor’s retirement income usually drops much more than their living expenses do. This often results in the phenomenon I’ve called the “retired…

Home prices increased again in April, hitting a new high that will likely keep homebuyers sidelined even as mortgage rates begin to soften, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index report. Home prices rose 6.3% annually in April, a slight slowdown from the 6.5% annual increase…

I woke up this morning to a financial “headline” that, while not uncommon, grated on me even more today. It’s a misleading question, asked not by a curious consumer but by a massive financial institution, that is surely designed to act as a lure for transactional sales more than a…

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…

Retirement decisions are always complex and rarely easy. As a veteran retirement researcher who has written books on the subject, I find myself sympathetic to President Biden’s reluctance to “step aside” and retire. While this is a unique situation, his response is in fact quite normal. It makes perfect sense…

Mortgage rates were mixed this week with the standard 30-year note declining slightly for the fourth consecutive reading, while shorter-term rates ticked up a bit. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 6.86% this week…