With rental prices skyrocketing and real wages remaining stagnant, renters across the country are allocating a higher percentage of their spending to housing costs. There are currently over 42 million renter households in the U.S. (36 percent of total households), which represents the highest percentage of renters in more than 50 years. Additionally, many
Photo Credit: Hero Images Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo Prices in big cities have been skyrocketing, with many coastal cities becoming completely unaffordable. According to data from Zillow, in San Francisco, for example, the median list price for a home in the first half of 2018 was $1,218,148, with San Jose’s median price of
A record number of Americans are taking out car loans. That’s according to the latest New York Fed Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, which shows that since 2012, auto loan balances in the U.S. have skyrocketed, hitting a record high of $1.3 trillion in Q1 2018. Unlike mortgage balances, which have grown slowly
What is Identity Theft? Identity theft is a crime where someone steals your personal information—such as full name, Driver’s License number, or Social Security number—to commit fraud. According to the FTC, identity theft is most often used for credit card fraud, tax fraud, and phone or utilities fraud. It can also take the form of
The U.S. housing market is on a tear and the majority of Americans expect that housing prices in their area will continue to rise. Despite this optimism, some investors and analysts are questioning whether we are due for another correction. A strengthening economy might suggest that housing prices will continue to go up, but certain
In May 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the price changes for a “market basket” of consumer goods and services, rose 2.8% over the last 12 months. This represented a significant increase in inflation, which is at a six-year high, and contributed to the stagnation of
According to the Boston Fed, nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults have a credit card. For many, using credit cards can be an excellent way to build credit and a convenient way to pay for necessary expenses without using cash or checks. For others, credit cards encourage a pattern of overspending, leading to high fees,
The Federal Reserve recently announced that it would raise interest rates in June 2018 and that two more increases are planned for later in the year. After years of near-zero interest rates following the Great Recession, the June increase marks the second of the year and the seventh since the financial crisis, raising the target
In the wake of multiple teacher strikes that have prompted national attention towards educators’ salaries and education spending, the U.S. Census Bureau just released its updated Annual Survey of School System Finances covering Fiscal Year 2016. According to the report, total current spending of public elementary-secondary school systems for the U.S. in 2016 was $587
Credit scores help lenders assess risk when issuing loans. A higher credit score (lower risk) typically translates into reduced interest rates, better credit card offers, and less expensive insurance premiums, among other benefits, all of which can result in massive savings over the course of a lifetime. Unfortunately, more than 50% of consumers in the