Stacker-Personal Finance & Investing

As of mid-2026, over 8.5 million Americans are working more than one job. It’s becoming increasingly common for Americans to take on multiple jobs just to make ends meet. While having a second job may be a great way to earn extra income to afford bills or help save up for larger expenses, it’s important

Most budgets don’t fail because the person behind them lacks discipline. They fail because of predictable design flaws: the numbers were optimistic rather than real, irregular expenses were never accounted for, there were too many categories to maintain, or one overspent week made the whole plan feel broken. Each of those has a specific fix.

Housing is typically thought of as a fixed, non-negotiable bill, the one expense that gets paid before anything else. New survey data suggests that for a meaningful share of Americans, it isn’t being paid outright at all. It’s being financed. In a 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt,

  Some school expenses get delayed. Some get financed. And some get canceled — a season, a club, a trip a kid was counting on. That last group is bigger than most parents realize. Accredited Debt Relief’s back-to-school survey of more than 1,000 parents of K-12 students found that 19% kept a child out of

  Following Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s keynote address at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on August 28, 2026, global financial conditions have tightened amid a sharp repricing toward a more hawkish Fed funds futures market, OANDA reports. Key takeaways The U.S. Dollar Index remains range-bound despite a hawkish Fed repricing, shifting the potentially stronger

  New research from Stanford Graduate School of Business finds that financial advice from artificial intelligence chatbots can push consumers toward sounder, life-cycle-based financial decisions, like broader diversification and bigger savings buffers. But the quality of that advice depends heavily on who’s asking and what they’re asking, and for some groups the outcomes were worse,

  Managing money as a couple relies on trust. But what happens when that trust is tested or even broken? Building and maintaining financial intimacy is key for any long-term relationship that involves major decisions. Often, that requires talking about your personal finances, which can be particularly hard if you or your partner has a

  Saving money can feel like a far-off financial goal. With so many pressing needs and expenses, savings goals can end up on the backburner. However, a strategy known as microsaving could help you stay the course and ensure your savings habit sticks. Ally Financial explains how microsaving works and tips to get started.  What

  Gas prices are taking a bigger bite out of household budgets than they were a year ago. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the national average retail price for regular gasoline was $4.157 per gallon for the week of Sept. 7, 2026, compared with $3.192 per gallon for the comparable week in

  The TD 2026 Love & Money Survey shows that financial pressure is affecting far more than household budgets. Americans say money is influencing how they communicate with partners, when they pursue major life milestones, how often they rely on family support and how confident they feel about their financial future. Despite these pressures, TD

  Americans overpay an estimated $54 billion a year on their car loans, according to an analysis from Caribou. Most drivers don’t shop around for auto loan rates the way they would for a mortgage, and that often means they pay more than they need to. Refinancing an auto loan gives drivers a chance to

  As of July 1, 2026, federal student loan plans like Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) are being replaced by two new options: the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and the Tiered Standard Plan. Picking between RAP or Tiered Standard isn’t just a loan decision. Whatever you commit to

  If you’ve never switched natural gas suppliers before, the idea can feel bigger than it actually is. Will your gas get shut off for a day? Will a crew need to dig up your yard? Will you end up with two bills and a headache? None of that happens. Choosing a new natural gas

  Credit cards were once reserved for emergencies or big purchases. For a growing share of Americans, they’ve become the default way to pay for groceries. A 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt, conducted by Atomik Research for Accredited Debt Relief, found that 66% have used a credit

  Dropping a child off for freshman year at college and officially becoming empty nesters is the kind of milestone that sneaks up on parents even when you’ve had a lifetime of warning. Looking ahead to the milestones still to come as children move further into adulthood, one that most parents don’t give much thought

  Since crypto first dominated the headlines in 2021, owning bitcoin and other tokens has become associated with living in a handful of geographic hot spots. New York is now a hub for crypto startups, Silicon Valley is home to blockchain engineers, Texas attracted miners and Miami has transformed into the center for major crypto

  Streaming, storage, fitness, dating apps, even the heated seats in some cars — nearly everything has a subscription cost now. A worthy goal may be to cancel just one subscription this month. Better yet, redirecting that subscription money into a retirement account (like an individual retirement account) is a small way to get more