MoneyWatch

Since their beginnings in the 1950s, dollar stores have mushroomed across the U.S., sprouting up in urban and rural communities alike. But their rapid growth appears to be hitting a speed bump as their low-income customers struggle with inflation, cuts to government benefits and other problems. Dollar Tree on Wednesday said it will shutter about 15% of its Family Dollar …

With the federal funds rate paused at a 23-year high, borrowing costs are up. And, since rates are high on credit cards, you may have seen theinterest charges on your credit cardballoon recently. If higher credit card payments are impacting your budget, credit card debt forgiveness could make sense. These services typically negotiate with your credit card companies to settle …

With news that inflation ticked up again last month, relief for borrowers again looks to be delayed. While hope for interest rate cuts was high at the start of 2024, disappointing inflation news has seemingly pushed those reductions off to an unknown time in the future. But while borrowers will need to contend with higher rates on mortgages, personal loans …

CD laddering is a popular savings strategy in which savers spread their CD investments across CDs with different maturities. For example, instead of opening a $5,000 5-year CD, you may decide to open five different CDs, like a 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year CD, each with a $1,000 deposit. As each account matures over time, you have options: You …

Inflation is no longer hovering near 40-year highs like it was in mid-2022, but we’re not back to normal just yet. The latest inflation report, released this week, shows that the inflation rate was 3.2% in February, up from 3.1% in January. Given the negative impact that stubborn inflation has on traditional currency, many investors are now looking for ways …

A passenger on the Alaska Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing after a door plug blew off mid-flight claims he was only saved from being sucked out of the hole by his seatbelt. The passenger, Cuong Tran, was sitting in row 27 of Alaska Airlines flight 1242, immediately behind the door plug that gave way minutes after …

If TikTok winds up on the auction block — and that’s a big if — former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is interested. Mnuchin, who served under former President Donald Trump, told CNBC’sSquawk Box on Thursday that he plans to put assemble an investment group to buy TikTok. “This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese …

Delyanne Barros has a lot riding on whether TikTok survives in the U.S. The 41-year-old personal finance and money coach, who built a financial consulting company from the ground up, said a ban of the popular social media appcould wipe out as much as 30% of her business overnight. Barros, who goes by @delyannethemoneycoach on TikTok, isn’t sure if she’d …

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? A ruling from Britain’s high court Thursday has at least narrowed down who Satoshi is not. For eight years, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright has claimed that he was the man behind “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonym that masked the identity of the creator of bitcoin. His claim was vehemently rejected by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, …

Gold investing has significantly increased in popularity in recent years — and for good reason. Not only does gold allow you to diversify your investment portfolio with a safer investment asset, but it offers a lot of other unique benefits to investors, too. And, when it comes to gold investing, you have lots of options to choose from. For example, …