Most Americans feel uncomfortable with their emergency savings — and for good reason. According to Bankrate’s latest research, building a financial cushion feels impossible when you’re drowning in forgotten subscriptions, overpaying for everything and manually tracking expenses that slip through the cracks.

AI-powered finance apps solve ...Read more

The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates again at its final meeting of the year, signaling that Chair Jerome Powell was able to guide his deeply divided committee toward a consensus over how to manage an economy suffering from both higher inflation and unemployment.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in December reduced its benchmark ...Read more

Private health insurance premiums will be going up in 2026 — in some cases, by a lot.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked on health care reform, following disagreements over America’s health insurance marketplace that contributed to November’s government shutdown. At the heart of the issue is the extension of the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — When Destenie Nock was in graduate school, earning her doctorate in industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, her electricity was shut off for nonpayment.

She and her roommates prioritized paying for fuel deliveries to their oil-heated home and had trouble catching up on other utility bills.

It wasn't ...Read more

Dealmakers are heading into the final weeks of 2025 on a $100 billion cliffhanger.

Paramount Skydance Corp.’s hostile bid to snatch Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. from under the nose of Netflix Inc. encapsulates the themes that have shaped a banner year for mergers and acquisitions: renewed desire for transformative tie-ups, massive checks from ...Read more

DETROIT — Marie Shoulders of Detroit has a penny purse, a penny jar and a small penny pouch.

As a self-confessed penny hoarder, she wasn't surprised to hear about the scarcity of the reddish-brown copper-and-zinc coins.

"The pennies are short because people have them at home in they drawers, purses and everywhere. I keep them. ... There's ...Read more

A pro-housing group sued Gov. Newsom on Wednesday over his decision to restrict SB 9, a housing law that allows owners to parcel up their properties, in the wake of the January fires.

YIMBY Law, a San Francisco-based organization, alleges that Newsom's executive order over the summer allowing cities to suspend SB 9 is a constitutional overreach...Read more

The rise in late auto loan payments is a symptom of an increasingly unaffordable vehicle market, experts say. Households with the lowest incomes are suffering the most.

Auto loan debt is not yet at a crisis point, according to analysts. But economists are closely following late payments as a potential indicator of wider economic stress and ...Read more

More out-of-towners and fewer locals are searching for rental homes in the Philadelphia region, with New Yorkers leading the way. No word on whether they plan to become Eagles fans.

In an analysis of the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, Philadelphia had the second-largest drop in local rental demand since before the pandemic, as ...Read more

A Las Vegas developer has built a project in the Arts District area that is designed to look like converted shipping containers filled with food-and-beverage outlets.

KLA Capital owner Adam Foulad finished construction earlier this year on The Distrikt. The project, near the northeast corner of Commerce Street and Wyoming Avenue, has eight ...Read more

Historic preservation advocates are sounding the alarm about legislation from Councilmember Mark Squilla, which they argue would weaken existing protections in Philadelphia.

The bill, introduced Nov. 20, would institute changes to the city’s Historical Commission, which regulates properties on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Solar panels have become a “hindrance” for some luxury home sellers and potential buyers in Las Vegas, according to some real estate agents.

A recent national Re/Max survey found that wellness features such as spas, saunas and pickleball courts now outrank green features such as solar panels for preferred amenities, and Robert...Read more

When Sheri Duffy and her ailing mother, Jean, voted for Proposition 19 five years ago, an ad campaign running during episodes of “Judge Judy” convinced them the measure would provide what its title promised: “Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters.”

Campaign mailers praised...Read more

An initiative that would have required California insurers to offer policies to homeowners who fireproof their houses has been withdrawn after the backer of a competing industry measure similarly did so.

The mutually agreed upon move means the consumer protections offered by California's landmark Proposition 103 will remain unchanged. The ...Read more

Philadelphia renters have some more to be thankful for this holiday season.

City Council bills that cap rental application fees and allow renters to pay security deposits in installments take effect Tuesday.

“The goal was to address the unaffordability of moving in for so many tenants in Philadelphia,” said City Councilmember Rue Landau, ...Read more

Florida is known for its beaches, palm trees and sunshine. But a new study shows that the state is known for a darker cloud: credit card delinquency.

Using 2025 data through June, finance company WalletHub ranked the 50 states in terms of credit card delinquency — and Florida came in last. The research didn’t indicate why Florida fared so ...Read more

Despite trade uncertainty, inflation and the government shutdown, the National Retail Federation anticipates sales in the 2025 holiday season will hit $1 trillion for the first time ever.

But a different forecast shows average consumer spend is expected to drop 10% from 2024. That’s according to professional services firm Deloitte, which ...Read more