Personal Finance

Allan Maman, Sonny Mo, and Sam Yang, cofounders of Bloom, all wish they had learned about smart ways to invest their money when they were even younger.

For those who have been early readers of the blog, you might remember the earlier Balloon test which we featured a few years back. We lamented the day it disappeared. That lamentation was replaced with exultation when I recently came across a new version of it. Not perfect.

When it comes to estimating the size of demographic groups, Americans rarely get it right. In two recent YouGov polls, we asked respondents to guess the percentage (ranging from 0% to 100%) of American adults who are members of 43 different groups, including racial and religious groups, as well as other less frequently studied groups, such as pet owners and those who are left-handed.

Gen Z consumers are using buy now, pay later services, but they are wary of the spending habits this option could form, according to a new study.

EPI’s Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States. Compared with the federal poverty line…

In this guide, you'll learn 42 tricks to improve your pricing -- all backed by research and science.

Child care can cost more than rent or college tuition, but early childhood teachers are some of the lowest-paid professionals. So, where does all that money go? Build your own child care program with this new interactive and find out the true cost of high-quality child care: https://costofchildcare.org/

Why rising inflation is a bigger risk to the stock market than rising interest rates.

The 2021 Consumer Housing Trends Report (CHTR) provides a snapshot of what housing consumers are thinking and doing in mid-2021. In this report, we take a deeper look at buyers (household decision makers that own their primary residence and moved to a home they purchased in the past year); In other reports, we examine homeowners, renters, and sellers more closely.

Looking for a tool to help students compare colleges across various criteria as they search for a "best fit" school? Be sure to check out the College Scorecard which just recently got a makeover as reported by NPR.  Given the size of the investment in time and dollars, it's nice to know there's a tool available to show how graduates of specific majors fare in their careers.  Here's the data you will find about colleges: School: Cal State-Fullerton Screen #1:  Screen #2 Detailed information available on outcomes for specific majors including # of grads, median earnings (monthly earnings) and median debt after graduation (monthly payment):   Note for Median Earnings: The median annual earnings of students two years after graduation. Only data from students who received federal financial aid are included in the calculation. College Scorecard also includes data on costs, graduation and retention, financial aid, typical earnings, student body, test scores and acceptances.  ------------------- Questions for students: Go to College Scorecard and research a college that you are interested in.  As you are reviewing the data, identify five factors that will be important to you in selecting a college.  Create a table that has specific data on the five factors for the first college you researched.  Now repeat the process for a second college that you are interested in and add the information to the table.  ------------------- Prepare students for the college-going process by playing the NGPF Arcade game, PAYBACK.   

Adam Looney, David Wessel, and Kadija Yilla explain the severity of America’s student loan challenge, the rate of default, and candidates’ proposals for forgiving those debts.

Regulators have their eyes on that dusty home gym you financed with buy now pay later.

Answer: 6 Years and 3 Months Questions: Considering the cost of this Playstation 5 Bundle, do you think this is a good idea? Explain your answer. What big-ticket items or once-in-a-lifetime experiences do you think are worth spending money on? How could you reduce the amount of time required to pay off this credit card bill?

Here's all 188 cognitive biases in existence, grouped by how they impact our thoughts and actions. We also give some specific cognitive bias examples.

Interactive charts illustrating trends in U.S. household debt and credit data

Are stocks due for a crash? Is it a good time to buy low? Can you time and beat the market?!   Click the “Start” button below to start the clock on a random 10 year period of the U…

Median income only tells you where the middle is. The distributions of income are a lot more interesting.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an overall job growth rate of 7.7%. Here, we show the fastest growing jobs and how much they pay.

Our rapidly evolving world forces us to adopt distinct patterns of behavior, and in the process, paves the way for new cognitive biases to emerge.

Americans spent more than $70,000 in 2020 just to keep their households running.

International student enrollment at US colleges has declined in the past five years.

For first time homebuyers it was one of the hardest years ever to afford a house. But homeowners saw tremendous gains in housing wealth.

How TuitionFit Works TuitionFit is, at the core, a free exchange. Share your financial aid offer, compare it to other students’ offers for free. Simple as that. Just starting your college search? Use TuitionFit to build a college list in your price range, or purchase access to see the detailed pricing information contained in those...

Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States

Home prices are the median sale price of existing homes and incomes are the median household income within markets.