They were conned by skilled online criminals into draining their retirement savings. After the shock, shame and grief that followed, the victims were often left with something else: an enormous income tax bill. Mary Ellen Strange, a 75-year-old widow who was deceived by fraudsters impersonating federal investigators, now owes the Internal Revenue Service an estimated…
Decades ago, John Glover, a lawyer then in his early 30s with a wife and two children, found himself standing in a bank lobby trying to figure out how he could stretch what little remained in his account to cover his expenses. Foreclosure loomed. He wanted to float a check, write it and worry about…
Ms. Harris suggests that her clients try “Frugal February” — avoiding discretionary spending and impulse purchases, and putting the money toward debt reduction or savings — because it’s a short month, and people often stay home anyway because of cold weather. The steps can be small, she said, like watching a movie on a streaming…
The Federal Reserve is expected to keep its key rate steady on Wednesday, after a series of cuts that lowered rates by a full percentage point last year. And with inflation ticking slightly higher, economists do not expect another cut for a while, which has implications for rates on credit cards, home equity and other…
The leaders of more than half of Africa’s nations gathered this week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s sprawling seaside metropolis, to commit to the biggest burst of spending on electric-power generation in Africa’s history. The World Bank, African Development Bank and others are pledging at least $35 billion to expand electricity across a continent where…
High interest rates kept U.S. home sales in a deep freeze for much of last year. It could be a while before the market experiences much of a thaw. Americans bought just over four million previously owned homes last year, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday. That was the fewest since 1995 and…
