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☆ Falling behind on federal student loans can lead to other major financial problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Falling behind on federal student loans is likely to trigger other major financial consequences for borrowers, according to new research by The Pew Charitable Trusts. More than 80% of borrowers who experienced default stated that they'd faced at least one additional consequence as a result. The most common impact was a drop in their credit score (62%) followed by being subject to collection fees (47%) and losing eligibility for future federal financial aid (37%). Other consequences that followed from a default on federal student loans included wage garnishment, the suspension of professional licenses and having Social Security or tax refunds offset. Most recently, U.S. Department of Education Undersecretary James Kvaal said that if the government isn't allowed to carry out its sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, there could be a "historically large increase in the amount of federal student loan delinquency and defaults as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic."

☆ Rollovers from a 401(k) plan to an IRA: Weigh these 7 factors first
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Investment funds in 401(k) plans are generally less costly than their IRA counterparts. That's largely because IRA investors are "retail" investors while 401(k) savers often get access to more favorable "institutional" pricing. watch nowOf course, not all 401(k) plans are created equal. For example, more than 30% of 401(k) plans disallow periodic or partial withdrawals by retirees, and about 36% disallow installment payments, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America, a trade group. Company stockWorkers who own company stock in their 401(k) can get a tax benefit for keeping those holdings in-plan rather than rolling them to an IRA, Jenkin said.

☆ Column: Where to park the 401(k) when you switch jobs or retire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Mark Miller | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

When you change jobs or retire, you have three basic choices: leave your retirement account where it is, roll it over to a new employer or move it to a standalone individual retirement account (IRA). When does it make sense to leave a 401(k) plan behind? A rollover can make sense if you are in a 401(k) plan with poor investment choices or high fees. FOCUS ON THE FEESPew analyzed the difference between average institutional and retail share class expense ratios across all mutual funds that offered at least one institutional share class and one retail share class in 2019. There is also a case to be made for staying in your 401(k) plan - especially if you work for a large employer.

☆ Why urgent care centers are popping up everywhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

And there are questions about the quality of care at urgent care centers and whether they adequately serve low-income communities. Additionally, passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 spurred an increase in urgent care providers as millions of newly insured Americans sought out health care. Private-equity and venture capital funds also poured billions into deals for urgent care centers, according to data from PitchBook. Equity concernsSome doctors and researchers worry that patients with primary care doctors – and those without – are substituting urgent care visits in place of a primary care provider. There are also concerns about the oversaturation of urgent care centers in higher-income areas that have more consumers with private health care and limited access in medically underserved areas.

☆ An Alabama 'election denier' is leading efforts in the state to withdraw from a national organization that combats voter fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Alabama's top elections official is withdrawing the state from a nonprofit known as ERIC. Founded in 2012, ERIC began as a collaboration by election officials in seven states, four of them Republican. A powerful outlierOfficials, including Republicans, have credited the organization with helping clean up their voter lists and prevent fraudulent votes. A former state legislator, Allen was dubbed an "election denier" by the States United Democracy Center, a bipartisan group that promotes election integrity, over his support for overturning the results of the 2020 election. With or without Alabama, he said, ERIC will continue to focus on "improving the accuracy of America's voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens."

☆ As state-run retirement programs become more popular, participants are expected to have $1 billion in savings this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Within the last decade, 16 state legislatures have adopted retirement-savings programs targeting workers whose employers don't offer a 401(k) plan or similar option. Contributions to Roth accounts are not tax-deductible, as they are with 401(k) plans or similar workplace options. "We've seen a growth of new 401(k) plans in those states that have adopted auto-IRAs," said John Scott, director of Pew's retirement savings project. Limitations to the state programsThere are limitations to the state programs. For example, they do not provide a matching contribution as many 401(k) plans do.

☆ Investors sit on a plastic waste ticking bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In the United States 73% of plastic waste ends up in landfills, where it takes up to 500 years to decompose. Using recycled plastic, while less energy-intensive than creating virgin plastic, can cost more overall. In March, 175 governments agreed to work out binding laws to end plastic pollution by end-2024. Reuters GraphicsFollow @LJucca on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSRepresentatives of 175 countries endorsed in March a landmark resolution to develop international legally binding instruments to end plastic pollution. In 2008 the Netherlands introduced a packaging waste management levy.

☆ 21% of investors don't think they pay investing-related fees. Here's why they're wrong — and how it costs them
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Damircudic | E+ | Getty ImagesMore than a fifth of investors don't think they pay any fees for their investment accounts, an industry survey has found. An additional 17% of investors in the recent poll said they didn't know how much they paid in fees. These firms — whether an investment fund or financial advisor, for example — generally levy investment fees of some kind. Here's the good news for many investors: Even if you haven't been paying attention to fees, they've likely declined over time. This is largely due to investors' preferences for low-cost funds, particularly so-called index funds, Morningstar said.

☆ Oregon lawsuit spotlights destruction of Black neighborhoods
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A home that was a fixture of Bobby Fouther’s childhood is now a parking lot, the two-story, shingle-sided house having been demolished in the 1970s along with many other properties in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. In 1934, Fouther’s great-aunt and her husband bought a house, which he and his sister visited almost daily, in the Albina neighborhood of Portland, according to the lawsuit. A total of 32 business and four church or community organizations were also destroyed, according to the lawsuit. They were not fairly compensated and in some cases not compensated at all, according to the lawsuit. Many of the plaintiffs’ homes, if they had not been destroyed, would have been worth more than $500,000 today, the lawsuit says.

☆ Robinhood to pay a 1% 'match' on customer contributions to retail individual retirement accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The retail brokerage will pay a 1% "match" on contributions its customers make to a Robinhood individual retirement account, the firm said Tuesday. The firm is billing it as the first-ever match paid to retail IRA customers (i.e., outside of a workplace retirement plan.) A 401(k) match is a common retirement benefit offered by employers that sponsor a workplace retirement plan. How the match worksA 401(k) match is generally structured as a share of employee contributions. There aren't any contribution or account minimums to get the Robinhood match, and trades don't carry commissions.

☆ Exclusive: UN treaty must tackle production of problematic plastics, Japan says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( John Geddie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Nov 30 (Reuters) - A proposed United Nations plastic waste treaty must consider putting restrictions on the most problematic plastics, Japan's lead negotiator told Reuters, marking the first time the country has suggested it would support curbs on plastic production. However, on the same panel, Stewart Harris, a lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council, a trade association for some of the world's biggest plastic producers, warned that any move to restrict plastic production could backfire. "There will be tremendous unintended consequences if we were to restrict production." Plastic output is projected to double within 20 years, while the amount of plastic waste flowing into the world's oceans is forecast to triple in that period. The Swiss food and drink giant is among several big brands that have called for a reduction in virgin plastic production to bolster markets for recycled material and catalyse a shift towards reusable packaging.

On social media, families say they’ve hunted for hours for Tamiflu and the first-line antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin. They have one viral illness after another. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of US states have “high” or “very high” respiratory virus activity. As for the antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin – a combination of amoxicillin and clavulanate, an agent that helps guard against antibiotic resistance – it’s not entirely clear why demand is so high. Some viral illness, like influenza, can leave the body more vulnerable to secondary bacterial infections that may need treatment with antibiotics.

"There's now a big push to get nature into sovereign debt markets," said Simon Zadek, executive director at NatureFinance, which advises governments on debt-for-nature swaps and other types of climate-focused finance. At that level, it would be the biggest debt-for-nature swap struck to date. The combined value of swap deals to date is $3.7 billion, according to the data. Securing the buy-in of development banks is usually key for the economics of a deal. The WWF has projects in Central and South America where they are monitoring deforestation by tracking jaguars, said Brenes, who has worked on debt-for-nature swaps for the last 25 years.

A high-stakes debt ceiling standoff in Washington could have spillover effects on state spending plans that rely heavily on federal aid to fund a variety of social programs and transportation projects. Policy experts say failing to suspend or raise the debt limit could disrupt spending at the state level, particularly with regard to the recently enacted $1.2 trillion infrastructure law. “We don't have experience of a federal default,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. "Federal default has never happened and everyone hopes and expects that it won't happen now," Walczak said. It is the National Association of State Budget Officers, not the National Association of State Budget Officials.

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