The Fed Finally Cut Interest Rates. What Could It Mean for Your Finances?
On September 18, 2024, the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) lowered the benchmark federal funds rate one-half percentage point to a range of 4.75% to 5.0%. It was the first rate cut since the Fed raised the funds rate aggressively from March 2022 to July 2023 to help control inflation. The long-awaited policy […]
Read more
Federal Appeals Court Blocks SAVE Student LoanRepayment Plan
On August 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit officially blocked the SAVE student loan repayment plan in its entirety, saying the injunction would remain in place “until further order of this court or the Supreme Court of the United States.” The ruling replaced a temporary order issued by the same […]
Read more
Tax Treatment of Work-Life Referral Services
The IRS has provided informal guidance on the federal income tax treatment to an employee of certain work-life referral services offered as an employee benefit. What is a work-life referral program? Employers often provide eligible employees with a work-life referral service as an employee benefit. Work-life referral services assist employees with identifying, contacting, and negotiating […]
Read more
Chaos in the Sky: New Consumer Protections for WearyAirline Passengers
Banks, hospitals, retailers, and airlines are still dealing with the fallout from the massive CrowdStrike IT outage in July. The tech meltdown impacted businesses across the globe, and airlines were hit particularly hard. This was not good news for the airline industry, which just last year had the highest number of flight delays ever recorded. […]
Read more
After a Massive Breach, Is Your Data in Danger?
National Public Data, a consumer data broker, confirmed last week that a hacker had targeted the company in December 2023, “with potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.” Other reports indicate that this leaked data had been found on the dark web and could include the names, addresses, phone numbers, and […]
Read more
2025 Key Numbers for Health Savings Accounts
The IRS recently released the 2025 contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and the 2025 minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amounts for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). What is an HSA?An HSA is a tax-advantaged account that enables you to save money to cover healthcare and medical costs that your insurance doesn’t pay. The funds […]
Read more
Interest Rates on Federal Student Loans Jump to Decade Highs for 2024-2025 Year
Every May, interest rates on federal student loans are reset for the upcoming school year. The rates are calculated by combining the 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield with an extra fixed amount set by Congress. Based on this calculation, interest rates on federal student loans are set to increase for the 2024-2025 school year by […]
Read more
Real Estate Commission Changes Around the Corner
In March 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reached a landmark $418 million settlement after losing an antitrust lawsuit filed by a group of home sellers. As many as 50 million people who paid commissions on homes sold in recent years could receive a small amount from the class-action settlement. The powerful industry group […]
Read more
Real Estate Roundup: Feeling the Impact of Higher Rates
U.S. commercial real estate prices fell more than 11% between March 2022, when the Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates, and January 2024. The potential for steeper losses has chilled the market and still poses significant risks to some property owners and lenders. On the residential side of the market, the national median price of […]
Read more
The Economic Impact of an Aging World
During the week of June 10, 2024, French markets were rocked by a government bond sell-off after a strong showing by the far-right National Rally party in the European Union election. With polls suggesting the party might win a plurality of seats in the upcoming French parliamentary election, investors feared a promised social spending program, […]
Read more