You need more money than ever to enter the ranks of the top 1% of the richest Americans. To join the club of the wealthiest citizens in the U.S., you’ll need at least $5.8 million, up about 15% up from $5.1 million one year ago, according to global real estate company Knight Frank’s 2024 Wealth Report. Robust wealth creation, driven …

Small business owners are feeling better about the U.S. economy as inflation cools and recession fears subside, according to a new survey. Indeed, economic optimism among smaller employers is at a 22-year high, PNC Financial Services Group found in polling small and midsize business owners. A majority of respondents – 55% – said they are “highly optimistic” about the national …

Credit card debt forgiveness has been a hot topic as of late. With the federal funds rate target frozen at a 23-year high, credit card interest rates have risen significantly in recent years. And since interest makes up a sizable portion of credit card minimum payments, many are dealing with higher monthly payments today than they were just a couple …

Filing for bankruptcy can be a challenging and overwhelming period in your financial journey. But while the bankruptcy process can be tough, and can result in serious financial hurdles, it’s also a relatively common option to choose. For example, annual bankruptcy filings totaled 452,990 in 2023, according to a report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — an …

While inflation and elevated interest rates have hurt the wallets of millions of American borrowers, there has been a silver lining: high returns on savings accounts. In today’s inflationary climate, it’s not difficult to find a high-yield savings account with an interest rate of 4.5% or higher— or a certificate of deposit (CD) with a rate over 5%. Select savers …

If you’re saving money for a specific purpose or have savings beyond what you need for emergencies, a certificate of deposit (CD) is a compelling option to consider. After all, it’s important that your money earns a return that’s higher than the current inflation rate — and many oftoday’s CDs do that thanks to the currenthigh interest rate environment. When …

The start of a new month marks an opportune time to reevaluate your personal financial situation — and improve it where possible. With a new inflation report slated to be released on March 12 and another Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for March 19 and March 20, there is bound to be some financial news that affects your money. Elevated inflation …

Washington — CBS News projected President Biden and former President Donald Trump hadeasy victories in Michigan’s Democratic and Republican primaries on Tuesday, leaving little question about who will secure the party’s backing heading into the general election in November. But turnout was lower than previous contests, amid concerns about voter apathy in the key battleground state. How many people voted …

After nine years of legal sparring, Ferguson, Missouri, has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle claims it jailed thousands of people for not having the money to pay fines, fees and other court costs, a nonprofit legal advocacy group has announced. A federal judge on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to the resolution of a class-action lawsuit filed against the …

Nabil Haque said he can still remember the moment his wife Sungida Rashid first held their baby daughter in her arms after giving birth at Boston’s St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center last October. “It was a beautiful moment,” Haque told CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, in his first television interview. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this blissful.” …

Washington — OneSenate Republican on Wednesday scuttled a Democrat-led effort to pass legislation that would safeguard access to IVF nationwide. The bill aims to preempt state efforts to restrict access to the fertility treatments since a ruling earlier the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that frozen embryos could be considered children under a state law. Thedecisionmade it possible …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging doctors to conserve shots of a kind of tetanus vaccine, as the agency braces for a potential shortage of those shots this year. Doctors should switch from using the so-called Td vaccine – the immunization that protects against both tetanus and diphtheria infections – to giving the broader Tdap vaccine instead …

Three Mississippi prisons that house about 7,200 people are controlled by gangs and rife with violence, violating the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at all three facilities, a scathing Department of Justice report said. The report found violence, gang control and trafficking of contraband had been happening inside the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, South Mississippi Correctional Institution, and Wilkinson County …

Archaeologists working on a site in Mexico found ancient skulls and bones stacked on top of each other, offering a glimpse into the practices of how some funerals might have been carried out in the region and era, officials said. The discovery was made in Pozo de Ibarra, a small town in the state of Jalisco. Personnel from the National …

Cannabis use — whether smoked, eaten or vaporized — is associated with a higher number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, according to a new study. Published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association,the research found that risk ofcoronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke increased with any kind of cannabis use, with heavier use associated with higher odds of …