Americans are spending more time thinking about money now than they were last year — and it’s not all positive.

The more customers engage with a company, the more personal data they’re giving up. Companies use consumers’ personal information and in-app behavior to determine how they shop and how much they’re willing to spend — and can hike prices as a result.

American consumers were in a foul mood as 2025 drew to a close, and they are skeptical the new year will much better, but the news isn’t all bad. They are still spending plenty of money to keep the economic ball rolling.

Are you gearing up for a big charitable contribution before the end of the year? With changes to tax law, the Dec. 31 deadline has become almost arbitrary, yet people still hew to old habits. However, there might be better ways to plan out your generosity.

Tariffs, an AI boom, geopolitical divisions and a new administration ushered in a unique, unsettling year for consumers.

The Trump administration wants to scale back a 50-year-old rule designed to stop financial institutions from discriminating against certain borrowers, especially women and racial minority groups.

To combat that potentially dangerous “drift,” there’s a simple step that anyone can take: Set up notifications through your bank or credit-card app that tell you every time your balance reaches a certain amount.

With pandemic-era subsidies for Obamacare marketplace plans set to end in 2026, people in the FIRE community are adjusting their plans to account for bigger health-insurance premiums.

December typically has twice the number of wedding engagements as any other month, and Signet Jewelers says lab-grown diamonds are making up 40% of bridal sales this year.

The housing market has been slow this year, presenting challenges to both home buyers and sellers. Will they see some relief in 2026?

Tech billionaire Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, announced a pledge Tuesday to put $6.25 billion dollars into the tax-advantaged accounts for children — known as “Trump accounts” — that were established as part of the massive tax bill that passed this summer.

OPINION: The Federal Reserve ended quantitative tightening on Dec. 1. Not because everything is fine, but because the money pipes are clogged and someone finally smelled gas.

Here are 3 steps to stop living with parenting regret and start making it up to your kids.

Michael Burry has been opening up to the world after he stopped running money for Scion Asset Management, with a more active social-media presence and a new Substack, and he just had an interview with the person who made him famous in the first place: Michael Lewis, author of “The Big Short.”

New research shows one specific group of Congress members are savvy stock pickers.

The top executive at bitcoin’s biggest corporate owner has laid out the parameters that would force his company to sell some of its $56 billion worth of the cryptocurrency.

A reader asked: "She’s young enough to be his granddaughter. My dad, 85, is being seduced by his caregiver. What can I do?"

Black Friday is almost here and the scammers are out of the traps. Rule No. 1: Don’t click on the link. That’s just good practice.

Sustaining healthy friendships throughout your life can reap long-term dividends for both your health and your finances.

Rising costs have consumers across the board looking for deals this Black Friday.

If you’re waiting for Black Friday deals before buying, depending on what’s on your shopping list, you may be out of luck this year.

Deals aren’t as enticing as they once were. Black Friday discounts are expected to average around 25% this year.

As many Americans prepare to rack up credit-card bills — and, often, debt — over the next few weeks, financial experts say people can try a different approach to the holidays this year by investing in their own finances before going on a shopping binge.

Happy Turkey Day! Thanksgiving week comes with plenty of holiday-adjusted business hours — so here’s what you need to know.

The overall cost of travel has risen roughly 20% since 2019, including airfare and other costs.

High anxiety is the state of mind among Americans as the holiday shopping season gets under way in what’s been a tumultuous year. Consumer confidence slumped again and was near a postpandemic low.

Gasoline's affordability for drivers has improved in the past 12 months, with its inflation-adjusted price at the pump likely to reach its lowest Thanksgiving level since the COVID-19 pandemic, when crude-oil futures famously collapsed to $0 and lower.

Could this Thanksgiving be bus travel’s big moment?

British workers are about to get a minimum-wage bump higher, putting the U.K. near the top of a world ranking.

"This holiday season, as families gather for Thanksgiving and winter celebrations, I’m hoping to serve as your cautionary tale."

Quiet wallets, hidden rooms: Meet the Chinese youth who are rewriting hopes for a robust consumer-fueled economy as they doomscroll their days away.

Mortgage rates took a dive on Tuesday, pushing the 30-year rate to the lowest level in a month. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped by 12 basis points to the lowest level since Oct. 28, according to a daily survey by Mortgage News Daily. The 30-year was down to 6.2% as of Nov. 25.

U.S. gasoline prices at the pump haven’t budged much since last Thanksgiving, providing households a bit more breathing room from inflation that’s still too high for the Federal Reserve’s liking.

Black Friday is almost here and the scammers are out of the traps.

"If I was wrong about Palantir, I would have nothing." Palantir speculators buy corporate swag, post on Reddit and pitch their parents on Alex Karp.

The identity of Satoshi Nakomoto, who as a person or collective invented bitcoin, remains a mystery, but it’s at least plausible that Jack Dorsey could have done it.

High earners looking to stash away even more into retirement accounts and perform a Roth conversion will have a higher limit in 2026.

When you start adding up all the expenses, that spare bedroom in your parent’s basement starts looking more inviting. Perhaps that’s why more than one-third of Americans prefer staying with a family or friend for the holidays, according to a Tripadvisor representative.

President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act included an enhanced tax deduction worth up to $12,000 for seniors. Now that the bill is law, some financial planners are putting the tax break to a different use.

Kalshi and other prediction markets are booming because of sports betting. This is why they insist what’s taking place on their platforms is not gambling.

This is why households are so angry about rising costs right now, says Michael Green,portfolio manager and chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management.

A selloff for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies showed no signs of letting up on Friday, and investors were watching closely as a rout in those assets increasingly has been viewed as predictive for where the broader stock market is headed.

“A million dollars ain’t what it used to be,” said Steve Azoury, a financial adviser and owner of Azoury Financial. “With inflation being an issue, a million dollars won’t go as far. Plus, a million dollars in a 401(k) isn’t a million dollars — it’s $700,000 after the government takes taxes out.”

When it comes to dealing with a deceased person’s stuff, it’s obviously not only about logistics. It’s a minefield of emotions, good and bad and very, very sad. It’s also something that’s hard to hire somebody to do, at least unsupervised.

When the federal shutdown began prompting cancellations and delays in air travel, people who were thinking about booking Thanksgiving flights began considering alternatives: driving, taking the train or buying a bus ticket.

Gambling scandals keep steeping sports betting in controversy — but don’t bet against this growing industry just yet.

Home prices in rural America are rising faster than in suburban and urban areas, deepening the affordability crisis. In rural counties across the U.S., the median sales price of a home rose 61% — from $175,000 in the third quarter of 2019 to $281,000 in the third quarter of 2025.

The number of 401(k) millionaires hit a record — and retirement-account balances reached new peaks — during the third quarter, fueled by overall market gains and consistently high retirement-savings rates, Fidelity Investments said.

All of Tesla depends on making a tiny silicon chip that will power everything from driverless technology to robots, Chief Executive Elon Musk said last week. But getting enough of those semiconductors will be an expensive task.

Food prices matter deeply for consumers’ wallets and their mood, economists say. Yet the expenses that are really gnawing at household budgets are far from the supermarket: They include housing, healthcare and insurance costs.