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☆ Republicans' plans to slash Social Security and Medicare are becoming clearer: 'We have no choice but to make hard decisions'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

House Republicans have alluded to cuts they want to make to the federal budget for months. They're becoming more explicit about those cuts involving Medicare and Social Security funds. So popular, in fact, that former President Donald Trump recently warned the GOP to keep them out of debt ceiling negotiations. The White House, and Democratic lawmakers, have criticized the GOP using the debt limit to implement cuts to Medicare and Social Security. "They claim their plan to use the debt ceiling to trigger global economic chaos is about fiscal responsibility.

☆ Biden's new retirement law means you may not have to choose between paying off student debt and saving for the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One will allow employers to match workers' student loan payments in the form of retirement plan contributions. It's a boon for those who owe student debt, Tamara Telesko, Director of Wealth Planning at TIAA, told Insider. "Under our reforms, many more workers would access resources for retirement and see meaningful federal retirement contributions year after year." Telesko explained that this provision would be a way for people with student debt to build savings, which many can't. Shanna Bennett, a 37-year-old borrower who had more than $130,000 in student debt last year, currently works as a human resources manager.

Donald Trump told the GOP to leave Medicare and Social Security cuts out of debt ceiling negotiations. But former President Donald Trump is warning the GOP to keep social spending programs out of it. "Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security," Trump said in the video. However, in the lead-up to Trump's 2020 run, the former president embraced abandoning a payroll tax that helps fund Social Security. Republicans and Democrats have sparred over Medicare and Social Security for years, with Republicans routinely looking to cut benefits for both programs.

☆ Why the 4-day work week isn't the kind of perk most workers want: It's 'an upper-class issue'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Four-day work week trials across the world have been successful for both employers and workers. But when it comes to the four-day work week, that's "an upper-class issue," Gennip said. "They're happy to do a 15-hour stretch, but they want an eight-hour break"Recent studies show that four-day work trials have been big successes. "We have Amazon workers who do four-day work weeks, but ten hours days, and they would prefer five eight-hour days." "Some people would rather have a five-day work week and have six weeks off," she said.

☆ TurboTax has lobbied against a free tax filing system for decades. Its head says the US' path toward one is 'unquestionably a conflict of interest.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer allots funds to explore a free federal tax filing service. The head of TurboTax's parent company says that a government-run tax filing service would be unethical. Intuit, a global financial technology platform, owns TurboTax, one of the leading paid tax filing services. In the US, tax filing services like TurboTax and H&R Block spend millions of dollars lobbying against free tax filing services. Commercial providers such as TurboTax and Tax Act offer their own free services for those earning under a certain amount.

☆ 'Damaging cuts' to Medicare and Social Security are looking more likely with McCarthy as House speaker. Here's what it will mean for retirees.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Those concessions likely include budget cuts that will threaten Medicare and Social Security. Even if that agenda doesn't pass, negotiations could threaten Social Security payments, advocates say. According to a screenshot of the presentation viewed by CNN, the spending priorities were vague but mentioned reforms to "mandatory spending programs" that could include Social Security and Medicare. But it looks like some House Republicans are already strong-arming the policy direction of their renewed majority. Johnson also noted that any sort of stalemate over budget negotiations could endanger the timely payment of Social Security benefits, which would hurt seniors.

☆ Save, don't spend, warns Intuit's CEO, as he notices 'good behavior' around money habits eroding
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

That's partially due to inflation woes, but spending on travel and recreation still remains high. That's largely due to an unprecedented boon in cash from stimulus checks and other pandemic aid along with reduced spending amid the pandemic. Inflation has been eating into Americans' wallets for the last two years, but it's not the only reason savings are falling. Spending has remained strong overall, especially for in-person services that were especially constrained during the worst of the pandemic, said Goodarzi. Credit bureau Experian defines a score of 580 to 669 as "fair," and most Americans fall somewhere between 600 and 750.

☆ The labor shortage is bringing job seekers all kinds of new perks: Pick-your-pay, student-loan benefits, bonuses, and flexible work
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A greater number are also offering remote work options, educational benefits, and fertility services. It's not just about remote work, though that remains one of the most important benefits for many workers. "What we're also seeing is that there are different approaches to hybrid work that people are exploring." This comes as more companies are outsourcing talent from lower cost-of-living countries after the pandemic made remote work more feasible. Some of these companies are also giving staffers the option of shorter workweeks and remote work.

☆ Some bosses are using the threat of a possible recession this year to give workers an ultimatum: Come back to the office or be fired
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some companies have been threatening to fire workers who don't return to the office, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bosses are gaining leverage over employees due to recession anxiety. But most people will likely keep their jobs in the event of a recession, experts say. That's because the recession that could hit this year is giving employers a leg to stand on in their pandemic-long fight to get workers back in the office. A survey from Insight Global last summer found that 78% of US workers are worried about losing their jobs during the next recession.

☆ Kids are pranking their parents on TikTok by telling them celebrities have died. Angela Bassett's son may have killed the trend by bluffing about her colleague, Michael B. Jordan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Slater Vance joined in on a TikTok trend where users lie about celebrity deaths to their parents. Many social media users have called the trend distasteful. That's what 16-year-old Slater Vance learned last week, after joining in on it using his own famous parents: actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. The trend involves users pranking their families on camera, pretending that celebrities — usually ones beloved to their parents — have died. "Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance just put an end to that TikTok trend and we owe them a debt of gratitude," one user said.

☆ The start of 2023 means carrying a gun without a license is now legal in half of US states: 'Lipstick, an iPhone, maybe a little Smith & Wesson .38'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Alabama's permitless carry law went into effect with the start of the new year. Over the past two decades, gun control laws have weakened at the state and federal levels. The law signaled a gun rights landmark for the US: Now, half of the 50 states allow people to carry handguns without permits. More than 600 mass shootings transpired in the US in 2022, making it the second-highest annual total for mass shootings on record, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit tracking gun violence. There were more mass shootings in the last half decade than in any other five-year period going back to 1966, the Marshall Project found last year.

☆ Trailblazing pop and country singer Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters has died at 74
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Anita Pointer, who penned many of the Pointer Sisters' hits, died at the age of 74. Pointer and her sisters broke ground for Black women in country and pop with their hits in the '70s and '80s. Pointer was a founding member of the Pointer Sisters, a vocal group from Oakland that achieved critical and commercial success in the '70s and '80s, blending genres such as blues, pop, and R&B. On the original recording, Pointer was also the lead vocalist, as she was for many of the group's hits. In addition to being the first female African-American act to appear at the Grand Ole Opry, the Pointer Sisters were also the first contemporary artists to perform at the San Francisco Opera House.

☆ If your raise this year was less than 7.1%, it didn't keep up with inflation — and you effectively got a pay cut
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wages have been going up this year, but so have prices — and prices are growing faster. Skyrocketing inflation has meant that a pay raise of 7.1% or below is essentially a pay cut. It's the time of year when annual raises come in, but if you didn't see a pay hike of at least 7.1%, you're effectively making less. But many workers haven't seen their real wages outpace inflation since 2021, even as they have more bargaining power than they've seen in decades. "If there are 100 chairs and 50 workers, workers are cool, man!"

☆ How to live a digital nomad life in 2023, from 3 people who did it save money and see the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Nearly 17 million Americans describe themselves as digital nomads. Insider previously spoke with three people who have embraced the digital nomad lifestyle. Nearly 17 million Americans describe themselves as digital nomads, a 9% increase from 2021 and 131% from 2019, according to a MBO Partners' 2022 State of Independence study of more than 6,000 US adults, including 901 current digital nomads. Driving this trend is the growth of remote work, which has provided many workers the flexibility to work outside their homes. The digital nomad life isn't without its challenges, but Insider previously spoke with three people who are making it work for them.

☆ Meet 3 remote workers who negotiated for better pay, workplace flexibility, or the right to quiet quit — and won
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Remote work has become increasingly popular, and make-or-break for many Americans when choosing jobs. Workers are using their current bargaining power to ask for better pay, flexibility, and work-life balance. Insider talked to three remote workers about how they did so. That's because remote work has changed his life for the better, he said. "Work was definitely a thorn in my side that really affected my entire life," she told Insider.

☆ Meet a couple living on disability and $500 per month from a guaranteed-income program for families hurt financially by the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A couple from Minnesota gets by on disability benefits and a basic-income program aimed at parents. The St. Paul pilot program launched in 2020 provides 150 families $500 per month for 18 months. The possibilities opened up for their family when Malissa was chosen for a guaranteed-income pilot program in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. Money from guaranteed-income programs does not typically affect one's eligibility for public-assistance programs in the way employment can. The couple has been supporting their family on about $2,000 per month in disability income because of mental-health issues and complications from a childhood case of spinal meningitis.

☆ The White House wants to entice Americans back to work by giving them more benefits
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A top Biden economist said the president is looking to fix the labor shortage by making it easier to get back to work. That includes giving people childcare options and lowering "costs for consumers." Deese is also referencing the high inflation that the Federal Reserve is fighting to curb, and that Americans are struggling to keep up with, adding that the White House will potentially take administrative actions to reduce the price of housing. Deese was not specific about what White House economists' plans would be beyond that, but he suggested childcare was key to making sure that parents would be able to work. Such provisions may be hard for Biden to pull off after losing control of the House to Republicans this year.

☆ An NYC group wants to keep homeless college students dropping out so they can achieve "a gateway to the middle class"
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A New York City non-profit is piloting a program to pay for students' housing so they can complete their degrees. The New York Times spoke with one student who was on the verge of dropping out before receiving this benefit. According to one 2019 reported from The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, almost three in five college students reported experiencing housing insecurity the previous year. 18% of two-year college students and 14% of four-year students reported experiencing homelessness at some point, the researchers found. Homeless students reported lower GPAs and higher dropout rates, according to a report by the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.

☆ Biden's big pandemic stimulus bill is helping get more than 100,000 homeless people into housing by the end of the year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration announced its plan to cut US homelessness by 25% in 2 years. That's according to an announcement from the White House this week, in which the Biden administration outlined its plan to build on homelessness-reducing initiatives started during the pandemic. ARP money is already on track to secure permanent housing for more than 100,000 people through the end of 2022, the White House said. There's reason to believe that the Biden administration's plan to address these surges is a promising one, Berg said. "In the past, the focus was a lot on what homeless programs are doing to get homeless people back in housing, which is very important and I don't want to put that down," he said.

☆ A college instructor explains her struggles with long COVID at work and why it's important to overcome the stigma of being sick
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Renee Semarge has had long COVID symptoms for a year now, and it's making work much harder. Much of long COVID is a mystery to healthcare professionals — why it happens, how to treat it — but data shows that it has affected millions of Americans. Many other workers, however, may be hesitant to reveal that they have long COVID. Long COVID treatments "have eaten our savings"Semarge's candor about her condition at work is a departure from what her father always taught her. Long COVID treatments, she said, "have eaten our savings.

☆ Men without college degrees are dropping out of the workforce because they viewed their dead-end jobs as a threat to social status
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Working-age men without degrees are exiting the workforce because it isn't helping their social status. For these men, jobs aren't just a source of income; they're a source of social status. That's especially true for white men, Wu writes, and younger men, who see a job with limited pay growth — which they believe could affect their marriage prospects and social status — as worse than no job. Why men without college degrees are leaving the workforce to save their social status, and what they can do insteadWu said marriage market anxiety for younger male workers is likely the prime reason for leaving the workforce when their social status declines. Studies show that stress and low-self-esteem linked to lower social status contribute to worse health and early death.

Here's how to file for unemployment insurance benefits, whether you're laid off, furloughed, or your hours are severely reduced. Here's how to file for unemployment insurance benefits, whether you're laid off, furloughed, or have had your hours severely reduced. Fill out an application through your state's unemployment websiteYou should apply for unemployment insurance as soon as you're no longer working. Depending on the state, unemployment insurance claims can be filed in person, on the phone, or online. "Start with your state's unemployment insurance benefits site.

☆ Popular Medicare Advantage plans have 'clear cases of overpayments and improper billing of US taxpayers,' advocates and analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The original Medicare program is offered directly through the federal government. "There hasn't been enough of an indictment of Medicare Advantage plans," Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at the Senior Citizens League, told Insider. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the share of all Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will grow to 61% by 2032. The politics of Medicare AdvantagePoliticians, primarily Republicans, have done their part to promote Medicare Advantage over the original Medicare plans since President George W. Bush overhauled the program in 2003. Johnson said Medicare Advantage was so popular among conservatives because it shifted financial responsibility from the government to patients.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes, Donald Trump, and childcare are all contributing to a loss of trust in women leaders
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Trust in women leaders is decreasing across the globe, a new study found. Experts say that the normalization of sexism, as well as perceived failures of some female leaders, may be why. That's on top of reduced childcare options during the pandemic locking many women out of the workforce. The survey, which was taken by over 30,000 people across the G20 countries, found that trust in women as leaders has fallen significantly over the past year. In particular, she pointed out that when Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Trump, many media outlets speculated whether America was really ready for a female president.

☆ Another thing to blame boomers for: inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It comes while over a million people are missing from the US workforce, a BlackRock study found. That's also one reason companies use to justify raising prices as inflation still remains high, even as it improves slightly. The labor shortage is here to stay, and it's not a good sign for inflationSeveral workforce factors are complicating things for the Fed. People are overestimating how much inflation will come down in the near term, the BlackRock study said, and they're underestimating the impact of a coming recession and earnings slowdown. In the long-term, however, the BlackRock study says stocks will be a good investment.

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