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Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty ImagesStudent loan forgiveness is a major relief for borrowers — many of whom have been in repayment for decades. But after receiving debt cancellation, there are key steps you should take, experts say.The Trump administration agreed last month to resume forgiving people’s education debts under programs that it had partially paused, including the Income Contingent Repayment plan, or ICR, and the Pay as You Earn plan, or PAYE. The concessions resulted from a lawsuit by the American Federation of Teachers against the U.S. Department of Education, which accused the government of blocking borrowers from…

Fg Trade | E+ | Getty ImagesInvestors who want to benefit from stock market gains but limit the impact of its losses are increasingly turning to registered index-linked annuities.Like other annuities, RILAs are insurance contracts that involve handing over money in exchange for a payout, often at a later date. As the name suggests, a RILA’s performance is based on a stock market index (or multiple indexes). They come with limits on both the loss and growth sides.”It’s like putting bumpers in a bowling lane — you’re limited on both sides,” said certified financial planner Jessica McNamee, founder and wealth…

Many small-cap companies are building and operating the data centers that provide the computing power for big tech’s AI ambitions.Getty In March 2024, Dell Technologies unveiled its “AI Factory with Nvidia,” a partnership blending Dell’s servers and networking power with Nvidia’s semiconductors and software to produce AI-driven products for other enterprises. Like all big tech companies, Dell has placed a heavy focus on artificial intelligence, and its stock has grown fourfold since the start of 2023. Behind the scenes, a little known company called TSS Inc. has been a much bigger winner. In September 2023, when Dell named TSS a…

A visitor jogs past the Washington Monument during sunrise on November 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The record for longest shutdown in the U.S. Government was broken Wednesday as it entered its 36th day. Tom Brenner | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesThe ongoing federal government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history.As the standoff goes on, hundreds of thousands of federal employees who rely on the government for paychecks continue to see their incomes dry up.At least 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed and approximately 730,000 individuals are still working without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.If…

A Republic Airways plane takes off near the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAirlines rushed to provide travelers updates after the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it would reduce flights across 40 airports as the longest government shutdown in history continues to drag on.Many major airlines said they would waive cancellation fees for even their most basic tickets, which often come with penalties for changes.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously said he would reduce flight capacity by roughly 10%,…

Violetastoimenova | E+ | Getty ImagesLAS VEGAS — As 2025 winds down, many investors are bracing for year-end mutual fund distributions, which can trigger a hefty tax bill for assets held in a taxable brokerage account. But there are strategies to avoid the payout, experts say.   For 2025, “you’ve got some pretty eye-watering numbers,” with some funds planning to distribute double-digit capital gains, said Brandon Clark, director of exchange-traded funds for asset management firm Federated Hermes. After another strong year for the stock market, more than 10 mutual funds are estimating payouts of at least 25%, with most distributions expected to come…

Americans are falling deeper into debt, but not across the board.Collectively, credit card balances rose by $24 billion in the third quarter to $1.23 trillion — up 5.75% from a year earlier to a fresh all-time high, according to a new report on household debt by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Wednesday.The average credit card balance per consumer now stands at $6,523, up 2.2% year over year, a separate quarterly credit industry insights report from TransUnion also found.However, despite the overall uptick, there is a growing divide among consumers, TransUnion found. “Some demonstrate heightened financial resilience while others face mounting challenges,” the report said.Read more…

Skynesher | E+ | Getty ImagesA Social Security cost-of-living adjustment of 2.8% will go into effect in 2026, increasing retirement benefits by $56 per month on average, according to the Social Security Administration. With many older Americans struggling to keep up with rising prices, the moderate adjustment is reigniting a long-standing debate on the calculations that go into the COLA.The size of the latest cost-of-living adjustment is about average. Out of 51 COLAs that have been put into effect since 1975, the 2026 adjustment ranks at No. 29, according to The Senior Citizens League.Yet just 10% of seniors are happy…

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has led his company’s billions of dollars of investment in the AI economy.AFP via Getty ImagesThe three best AI stocks in 2026 are likely to be familiar names — Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet. Nvidia, which had a market capitalization more than $5 trillion in October, has been a driving force behind the artificial intelligence boom thanks to its dominance in AI chip design. Microsoft and Google have capitalized on the demand for generative AI by providing the cloud-services platforms to train and operate applications such as chatbots. With hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on…

Pekic | E+ | Getty Images[CK bullet with numbers.]The stock market’s impressive run in recent years may be fattening your portfolio, but it also might have thrown your intended investment mix off balance.While artificial intelligence stock valuations spurred a market decline on Tuesday, the major indexes are still well up this year, propelled both by AI-related and big technology stocks. Through Tuesday’s close, the S&P index is up about 15.1%. Both the Dow and the Nasdaq have also posted double-digit gains for the year of roughly 10.6% and 20.9%, respectively.Those jumps come on the heels of outsized returns in 2023…