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☆ American parents with young children say they haven't felt this financially insecure in nearly a decade. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-26 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewThe financial well-being of American parents with young children is plummeting, highlighting how unaffordable childcare costs have become. Advertisementathima tongloom/Getty ImagesThe percentage of parents with children under 18 who felt "okay financially" dropped from 69% in 2022 to 64% in 2023. Data from the Federal Reserve shows that parents haven't felt this financially insecure since 2015, when it recorded 65%. "The median monthly amount that parents using paid care paid for childcare was $800. Business Insider estimated that it could cost parents nearly $26,000 a year to care for one child in 2024 — a 41.5% increase from 2016.

Persons: —, athima, haven't Organizations: Service, Federal Reserve, Household Economics, Decisionmaking, Business, of America, New Zealand Locations: United States

☆ High inflation made finances worse for 65% of Americans in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Fed on Tuesday released its Economic Well-Being of US Households report for 2023, examining the financial lives of US adults and their families. Inflation made the financial lives “worse” for 65% of US households, according to the report. Three-plus years of high inflation have taken their toll on Americans’ wallets and their psyches. That was especially true in 2022, when US inflation hit 9.1%, its highest annual rate in more than 40 years. Incomes grew healthily in 2023, but so did spending, the Fed report showed.

Persons: ”, Michelle Bowman, Tuesday’s, they’d Organizations: CNN, Reserve, Tuesday, Household Economics, Survey, ”, Federal Reserve

☆ The 'phantom debt' of buy now, pay later is growing and will soon hit some Americans hard
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-10 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Buy now, pay later plans gained popularity in 2023 as an alternative to high-interest credit cards. Buy now, pay later use surged recently and those bills are now dueThe use of buy now, pay later plans skyrocketed during the 2023 holiday season. According to Adobe, which tracks online sales, buy now, pay later plans use was up 47% on Black Friday and 43% on Cyber Monday. According to PYMNTS' survey, 39.6% of respondents used buy now, pay later plans for clothing and accessories and 33.7% used them for groceries. Buy now, pay later debt can be advantageous if used correctly.

Persons: —, Rather, Peter Cade, PYMNTS, Tim Quinlan, Shannon Seery Grein, Selcuk, Mark Luschini, Janney Montgomery Scott, Maria Bartiromo, Luschini, Warren Buffett, Buffett, I've Organizations: Service, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Adobe, Household Economics, Science Research Network, Economic, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Wells, US Locations: Wells Fargo

☆ Carrying a credit card balance is costing you $1,140 per year — and is about to get much worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

However, credit card balances are especially worrisome because they are going to keep getting worse. That means the average American could be spending $1,140 every year on credit card interest and fees alone. Americans have been accruing a lot of credit card debt at a terrible timeAccording to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans had nearly $1.1 trillion in credit card debt in the third quarter of this year. Credit card interest rates, which had already been at their highest level since the mid-1990s, started soaring even higher. But with credit card debt going through the roof, the blissful spending could come to a screeching halt.

Persons: couldn't, —, Gary Coronado, LendingTree, Ted Rossman, Biden Organizations: Service, SoFi Bank, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Bank of New, Federal Reserve Board, Fed, New York, New York Fed, Consumer Financial, CNN, Household Economics Locations: WalletHub, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, delinquencies

☆ Americans broke a record for spending on Black Friday, but it's just hiding a bigger problem for the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Cork Gaines | Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Many are delaying the cost as buy now, pay later programs are expected to have their biggest month ever. Many are paying via "buy now, pay later" platforms such as Klarna or Afterpay, which let shoppers pay in installments every week or month. Buy now, pay later also allows people to borrow less expensively as they get the pricing interest-free if paid off in time. Indeed, the Fed's "2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking" found that 83% of respondents paid off their buy now, pay later programs on time. Compounding the problem is that people tend to spend more when using buy now, pay later programs, suggesting an overconfidence in what they can afford.

Persons: —, Salesforce, Beryl Tomay, Klarna, Mark Luschini, Janney Montgomery Scott, Maria Bartiromo, Luschini, Michael Landsberg, Landsberg Bennett, Kraig, Foreman Organizations: Black, Service, Adobe, Mastercard, CNBC, Business, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Household Economics, Social Science Research Network, Wealth Management Locations: Landsberg

☆ Americans broke a record for spending on Black Friday, but it is just hiding a bigger problem for the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Cork Gaines | Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A panel of judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington said the securities regulator's denial of Grayscale's proposal was arbitrary and capricious because the SEC failed to explain its different treatment between bitcoin futures ETFs and spot bitcoin ETFs. CRYPTO WINThe SEC rejected Grayscale's application for a spot bitcoin ETF in June 2022, arguing the proposal did not meet anti-fraud and investor protection standards. The court said in its ruling that the SEC failed to explain why it disagreed with Grayscale's assertion that the bitcoin spot and futures markets are 99.9% correlated. If the SEC chooses not to appeal, the court would issue a mandate specifying how its decision should be executed. That could include instructing the SEC to approve the application, or to revisit Grayscale's application, in which case the SEC could still reject the proposal on other grounds.

Persons: Dado, CRYPTO, Judge Neomi Rao, Hannah Lang, Chris Prentice, Paul Simao, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S . Securities, Exchange, District of Columbia, SEC, CRYPTO WIN, Fidelity, Appeals, U.S, Supreme, BlackRock, New, Thomson Locations: District, Washington, New York

☆ Here's what's next for bitcoin ETFs after a court ruled in favor of Grayscale over the SEC
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A federal appeals court struck down the SEC's order denying the conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an exchange traded fund. The decision does not guarantee that investors will be able to freely trade a bitcoin ETF anytime soon, however. Another impact could be for the bitcoin futures ETFs that are already on the market, led by the $940 million ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) . Those funds could see outflows if investors choose the spot bitcoin products instead. Consider Valkyrie's attempt to change its bitcoin futures product into a broader crypto fund that also holds ether futures.

Persons: Jeremy Senderowicz, Vedder Price, Senderowicz, Terrence Yang, Swan, Yang, Cathie Wood, Islam, bitcoin Organizations: Securities, Exchange, SEC, Appeals, U.S, Supreme, CNBC, Ark Invest, Bloomberg News, BlackRock, Marathon

☆ Some companies have demanded employees return to the office. The outcome is worse than we thought.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Gleb Tsipursky | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It echoed the Greenhouse report's findings: a majority of employees, 76%, would actively seek a new job if flexible-work policies were retracted. Upon running an internal survey, they realized that, aside from better compensation and career-advancement opportunities, employees were seeking better flexible-work policies. Their story echoes the collective message from all three reports: companies must adapt to flexible-work policies or risk being swept away. The Greenhouse report bears testament to this, with 76% of employees open to job hunting if their company rolled back flexible-work policies. As we set sail into the future of work, flexibility isn't just a passing trend; it's a necessity, the new standard.

Persons: Greenhouse, Unispace Organizations: Companies, Service, Federal Reserve's Survey, Household Economics, New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ More Americans Are Struggling Financially, as Inflation Takes a Toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Ben Casselman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Americans have jobs. The share of U.S. adults who said they were doing “at least OK financially” fell sharply last year, to 73 percent from 78 percent in 2021, according to the latest Federal Reserve survey of Americans’ financial well-being, released on Monday. The erosion in financial health was broad-based, cutting across racial and ethnic lines, educational categories and income groups. The data, from the Fed’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, echoes other surveys showing that Americans feel glum about the economy and their own finances. But it provides new details on how the economic crosscurrents of a strong job market and rising prices are affecting families.

☆ Inflation has eroded U.S. households' financial security, Fed survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Fed launched the "Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking" in 2013. Fed officials have raised interest rates aggressively in response and have repeatedly expressed their determination to bring inflation to heel by whatever means necessary. Indeed, overall one-third of households cited inflation as their main financial challenge, up more than fourfold from 2016. Sixty-three percent said they would use cash for such a cost, down from a record high 68% in 2021. Meanwhile, the survey's measures of household incomes and respondents' sense of the job market showed more adults last year received or asked for a pay increase or promotion.

☆ Read the Supreme Court’s Order on Abortion Pill Access
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

2 DANCO LABORATORIES, LLC v. ALLIANCE FOR HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE ALITO, J., dissenting Whole (2021) op., at 2). In another, we were criticized for ruling on a stay application while "barely bother[ing] to explain [our] conclusion," a disposition that was labeled as “emblematic of too much of this Court's shadow-docket decisionmaking— which every day becomes more unreasoned." Woman's Health v. Jackson, 594 U. S. (KAGAN, J., dissenting from denial of application for injunctive relief) (slip op., at 1-2). Barr v. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, 588 U. S. (2019) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 5). It would simply restore the circumstances that existed (and that the Government defended) from 2000 to 2016 under three Presidential administrations.

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