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☆ Sign Up for Your Money’s Financial Boot Camp for 20-Somethings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Mike Dang | More About Mike Dang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It’s graduation season, which is a good time for people in their early 20s to start thinking about how to get a better handle on their finances. How do you balance paying off student debt with saving for the future? What’s the best way to create a proper budget? Very few people have their finances perfectly in order while figuring out their lives and careers in their 20s. We’ve put together a five-day financial boot camp for people in their 20s to get them thinking about jobs, budgeting, saving and tackling debt.

Persons: We’ve, Ron Lieber, Tara Siegel Bernard, Mike Dang

☆ You Finished I.V.F. and Want to Donate Embryos. Is There a Tax Benefit?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But a few unusual ones linger for people all over who want to explore every option. What does the law say about what you can and can’t do with your embryos? And if you donate them — say, to a university for research — can you take a tax deduction? It is not clear how many human embryos sit in storage across the United States, but plenty of people who put them there worry about losing control over them. Selling embryos seems outlandish, though it may not violate federal law.

Persons: Tara Siegel Bernard, I, — Organizations: Alabama, Transplant Locations: United States, Alabama

☆ Some Colleges Will Soon Charge $100,000 a Year. How Did This Happen?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was only a matter of time before a college would have the nerve to quote its cost of attendance at nearly $100,000 a year. One letter to a newly admitted Vanderbilt University engineering student showed an all-in price — room, board, personal expenses, a high-octane laptop — of $98,426. Only a tiny fraction of college-going students will pay anything close to this anytime soon, and about 35 percent of Vanderbilt students — those who get neither need-based nor merit aid — pay the full list price. But a few dozen other colleges and universities that reject the vast majority of applicants will probably arrive at this threshold within a few years. Their willingness to cross it raises two questions for anyone shopping for college: How did this happen, and can it possibly be worth it?

Persons: — Organizations: Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Locations: Los Angeles, London, Nashville

☆ Robinhood’s Credit Card Offers 3% Cash Back. Can It Last?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Here’s the first thing to know about the new Robinhood credit card that promises 3 percent cash back on all purchases, without limits: Yesterday, when I asked Vlad Tenev, the company’s chief executive, to guarantee that it would stay at that level for 18 months, he would not. Cash-back offers from big card issuers like Citibank generally top out at about 2 percent, and it’s hard to make money even at that level. The Robinhood Gold Card is the company’s first credit card with its own branding. So what does it think it knows that nobody else does, and what exactly does it hope to accomplish? There are several ways to make money with credit cards.

Persons: Vlad Tenev, Charles Schwab Organizations: Citibank

☆ The State Had at Least $52,000 of Her Money. Why Couldn’t She Get It Back?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Early in 2022, Sarah F. Cox got wind that someone named Connie was looking for her. The stranger wanted to reunite Ms. Cox with some lost money under her name that the State of New York was holding. But months later, Ms. Cox called Connie back when she was visiting the United States while moving from China to Singapore, where she lives now. It turned out that Connie was a kind of bounty hunter, helping people and businesses navigate states’ unclaimed property databases. Ms. Cox decided to find the information on her own, and sure enough, the online unclaimed property database that New York maintains had her name.

Persons: Sarah F, Cox, Connie, Ms Locations: New York, United States, China, Singapore, York

☆ A Finance Reporter Who Invests in Readers’ Well-Being
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. When Ron Lieber arrived at The Wall Street Journal’s office in 2002 for a job interview, a couple of editors immediately sized him up. “They said, ‘We know what your beat is: beating the system,’” said Mr. Lieber, who had last worked as a senior writer for Fast Company covering management, design and careers. “And now you’re going to come here and do that for us.”After cofounding the Personal Journal section of The Wall Street Journal and writing a separate money management column, he was hired by The New York Times in 2008 to take over Your Money, a personal finance column. Sixteen years later, he has gained a reputation for offering readers advice — often tinged with his own experience — on headache-inducing issues, like how to navigate the maze of paying for college or prepare for life after a layoff.

Persons: Ron Lieber, “, ‘, ’ ”, Lieber, ” Organizations: Fast Company, Street, The New York Times

☆ The I.R.S.’s Taxpayer Experience Officer Says Open Your Mail Already
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Everyone else, the agency insists, is going to benefit from the $80 billion that the agency won via the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022. appointed Ken Corbin as its first chief taxpayer experience officer. I went to the agency’s headquarters in Washington to find out, which was an experience unto itself. Once properly badged — with the words “Escort Only” in the largest font — I had an hour with Mr. Corbin. What follows is a condensed version, edited for clarity, of our conversation — and his advice for taxpayers like you and me.

Persons: Ken Corbin, Corbin Organizations: Internal Revenue Locations: Washington

☆ The Costs for I.V.F. Patients After Alabama’s Ruling
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Ron Lieber | Tara Siegel Bernard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the wake of the decision, doctors and patients have worried that they could be vulnerable to prosecution in any number of medical scenarios that were once routine. Some Alabama facilities have halted or restricted treatment, and patients elsewhere worry that similar rulings or laws may soon come to their states. And because so many people pay so much for health care, the fallout from the Alabama case raises big financial questions, too. What would it cost to move embryos to a state less likely to issue a similar ruling? Cryoport Systems, IVF Cryo and ReproTech are three shipping companies that specialize in transporting embryos, though there are others.

Organizations: Alabama Supreme Locations: Alabama

☆ AOC's questions years ago helped spark the investigation into Trump's business. Now, he's been ordered to pay $355 million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

As part of Friday's fraud trial verdict, Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $355 million to the state of New York. This saga started in 2019 when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Trump attorney Michael Cohen. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. And the case may have never happened if, years ago, a newly-elected member of Congress from Trump's home state hadn't grilled Michael Cohen on Trump's finances. Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez, Trump, and James did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Persons: Donald Trump, Letitia James, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Trump, Michael Cohen, —, Arthur Engoron, ” Trump, Cortez —, William Lacy Clay, James, Cohen, Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, Matthew Calamari, Weisselberg, Engoron, Robert's Organizations: Service, New, Rep, Trump, Trump Org, Trump Organization, Ocasio, Business Locations: New York, Alexandria, Cortez

☆ Some Good FAFSA News: There’s a Loophole for Grandparents
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is a miserable year to be applying for financial aid. Millions of families probably won’t get a final price tag for college until at least April, because of a series of Education Department delays in rolling out the new FAFSA financial aid form. But if you’re applying for aid and have grandparents who want to help, you may be in luck. But now, thanks to a 2020 law that went into effect this year, those questions about money and income are gone. That means that at most schools, help from a grandparent will no longer count against you.

Persons: Pell Grant Organizations: Education Department, Federal Student Aid

☆ What Amazon, the F.T.C. and C.I.A. Won’t Say When You’ve Been Scammed
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When New York magazine’s finance advice columnist dropped an article that went viral on Thursday about falling victim to a $50,000 scam, my heart skipped a beat. My own financial planner had gone to jail years ago, which I’d chronicled in a few columns. What would I have done if someone called and insisted that my children, in particular, were in grave danger? But what would any of those entities do if they thought that any one of us was actually a victim of some kind of identity fraud? What would they say, request and tell us to do?

Persons: I’d, Charlotte Cowles, ” Organizations: New York Times, Federal Trade Commission, Central Intelligence Agency Locations: York

☆ Some Colleges Are Pivoting as FAFSA Delays Drag On
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At least 25 schools will no longer require commitments by May 1, since they may not be able to send admitted students financial aid offers until April. A few schools have created new aid forms or processes on the fly to award their own grants and scholarships. In 2020, Congress passed a law that required enormous changes to the processes used to award federal aid. The first was to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form to make it easier to complete. Another was to the formula that doles out federal aid, which was made in part to offer more help to lower-income students.

Organizations: University of California, California State University, Federal Student Aid

☆ Will Families Pay Less With Two Students in College? Now, It Depends.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But on Jan. 1, a new federal law went into effect, and the formula changed. A million families with, say, two or more siblings in college simultaneously could pay thousands of dollars more per year as a result. Now, colleges face a choice: Make up any shortfall with their own money, or cross their fingers and hope that families will borrow more or find some other way to pay. In recent weeks, I examined 20 college and university websites, large and small, public and private, big endowments and not-so-big. Only six were clear on how things would change (or not) for families with multiple members in college.

☆ How Some Families Are Breaking the Rules to Apply for Financial Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Here’s the good news: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, website is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week after a yearslong effort to simplify the process of seeking financial assistance. This month, I watched two high school seniors and their college counselor start the forms from scratch and submit them in just over an hour. But in doing so, the teenagers made a false statement that broke the law. In this case, safeguards are necessary to protect private financial information. But any new login requirements might also trigger an impulse for many families with complicated lives to bypass them.

Persons: ’ Organizations: Federal Student Aid

☆ Why Is Paying for College So Complicated?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Saving and paying for college is an endurance test, a forced march on an often 50-year parade, where strange numerical codes and senseless jumbles of letters mark a route that Waze can’t map. Begin at age zero or earlier with a 529 college savings plan for your child, born or not yet so. Then, fill out the FAFSA, which stands for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” and determine your student aid index (S.A.I.). or other data or the figures that another form, the CSS Profile, belches out is probably not enough to make college affordable. So you could apply for a federal PLUS loan for parents, which might take you 25 years to repay.

Organizations: Federal Student Aid, CSS

☆ How to Keep Your Bank From Closing All Your Accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This has happened several times to Times readers, over 1,000 of whom have submitted their stories. Checks Are a Red FlagFraud involving mail theft and checks has roughly doubled in recent years. If you don’t write checks at all — and destroy or hide any the bank sends you — fraud becomes more unlikely. If you must use checks, don’t mail them. And if you have to mail a check, try taking it directly to a post office.

☆ Mint, the Budgeting App, Is Going Away. Here Are Some Alternatives.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The demise of Mint, the beloved budgeting app, has caused its millions of users to consider alternatives. That makes it as good a time as any for everyone to consider a money management tool. According to a recent survey by Javelin Strategy & Research, 41 percent of people don’t use any money management app or website aside from their bank’s. Many budget app users, however, were fervent fans of Mint. Credit Karma is known for its free credit scores and lacks some of the budgeting tools that appealed to Mint users.

Organizations: Mint, Strategy, Research, Intuit

☆ How Do You Use Checks? And Do They Work Well for You?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Ron Lieber | Tara Siegel Bernard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

How Do You Use Checks? And Do They Work Well for You? Banks are worried about check fraud and are trying to discourage the use of paper checks. Share full articleWith check fraud on the rise, banks prefer other forms of payment these days. Image Source Pink/Getty Images

Persons: Banks

☆ Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Ron Lieber | Tara Siegel Bernard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or A.T.M. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes. These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.” This isn’t your standard boot for people who have bounced too many checks. Instead, a vast security apparatus has kicked into gear, starting with regulators in Washington and trickling down to bank security managers and branch staff eyeballing customers.

Persons: they’re Organizations: Bank Locations: Washington

☆ Writing ‘Maid’ Pulled Stephanie Land Out of Poverty. She’s Fine Now, Right?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Land got married in 2019 to a veteran who is eligible to receive disability payments through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but two late student-loan payments had left him ineligible for a V.A. They tried to move from Missoula, Mont., to Raleigh, N.C., in early 2020 and were seeking a mortgage of about $350,000. But her book deal and its promise of future payments weren’t enough for her to qualify for one. But if the show doesn’t get made at all, no more money generally comes your way — and production hadn’t started yet when Ms. Land was trying to buy a home. Like many nonfiction authors, Ms. Land turned to speaking.

Persons: Land, ”, Land’s, hadn’t Organizations: U.S . Department of Veterans Affairs, Netflix Locations: Missoula, Mont, Raleigh, N.C

☆ Michael Cohen says Trump execs called themselves the 'Gang of Four' like the radical Maoists convicted in 1981
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump's NY fraud trial began its fourth week with testimony by fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen. A decade ago, he and three other Trump execs called themselves the "Gang of Four," Cohen said. The first Gang of Four, a group of Maoist radicals, got convicted in a highly-publicized show trial. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe "gang" was comprised of four of Trump Org executive vice presidents, including Cohen, then Trump's special counsel. "I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected," Cohen testified.

Persons: fixer, Michael Cohen, Cohen, —, Trump, Colleen Faherty, Letitia James, Matt Calamari, Ron Lieberman, Allen Weisselberg, Cohen didn't, Aon, general's Organizations: Trump, Service, Trump Organization, Trump Org, Aon Insurance, New York, AG, of, Mr Locations: New York

☆ The Simple Nudge That Raised Median Donations by 80%
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That kind of boost can change the trajectory of a nonprofit over time if enough people increase their gifts. And people of any faith — or none at all — can create their own numerical prompt on any platform to encourage extra generosity. Buddhists and Hindus sometimes give in multiples of $108, though a spokesman for Catholic Charities said it had seen no particular numerical pattern over time. Even within particular religions, opinions vary on whether to anchor gifts to a figure or to increase donations by a certain number. Anwar Khan, the president of Islamic Relief USA, said he had not seen a numerical pattern in donations to his organization — not even in the number 786, which some Muslims believe is lucky or holy.

Persons: Anwar Khan, —, Khan, “, ”, Daffy Organizations: Catholic Charities, Islamic Relief

☆ Letter to a Young Crypto Enthusiast (or the Merely Curious)
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s at 12 percent this year, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, and Bitcoin’s price has risen more than 75 percent from its 2022 low. Crypto conviction — or just curiosity — is not something that merits condescension from the olds and scolds of personal finance. It just requires you to ask a few questions about who you are and why you find crypto alluring. It is true that younger adults are more open to this way of putting money to work. If you’re under 40, you’re more likely to own crypto than people over 60, according to the N.B.E.R.

Persons: It’s, Sam Bankman, you’re, You’re Organizations: National Bureau of Economic Research Locations: United States

☆ How Biden Might Try to Cancel Student Debt Next
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Ron Lieber | More About Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On June 30, in the wake of losing a Supreme Court lawsuit over his $400 billion plan to cancel student loan debt, President Biden said he was going to try again. In a fact sheet announcing this second try, the White House wrote that the Education Department will attempt to use the authority it believes it has under the Higher Education Act of 1965. In the Supreme Court case, the Biden administration tried to claim power under a different law, the HEROES Act. This process is likely to take several months at a minimum, and it’s unclear how many people might be eligible for any relief that the administration would eventually offer. The fact sheet was short on details, but the administration said more in a news conference, referring repeatedly to the “compromise and settlement authority” that the education act allows.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Education Department, Higher

529 College Savings PlansI’m a parent of a toddler. What are the implications of following these two approaches: Gamble on financial aid, or be unethical? — A California readerThere are many misconceptions about how 529 college savings plans will affect a prospective student’s eligibility for financial aid, but your initial hunch was correct. If the 529 account is owned by a grandparent or another relative, it is not included in financial aid calculations. Some good news: Grandparent withdrawals will no longer be reported on the upcoming financial aid form, released in December for the 2024-25 academic year, financial aid and 529 experts said.

Persons: Gamble, it’s Organizations: Federal Student Aid Locations: California

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