Author: News Room

Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as “Credible” below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders who compensate us for our services, all opinions are our own. Rates for well-qualified borrowers using the Credible marketplace to refinance student loans rose this week for 10-year fixed-rate loans and fell for 5-year variable-rate loans. For borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher who used the Credible marketplace to select a lender during the week of March 6, 2023:Rates on…

The United States is a country of two housing markets. In one, home prices are falling from a year ago. In the other, they’re still posting annual gains. That division runs right down the center of the U.S. In all of the 12 major housing markets west of Texas, plus Austin, home prices fell in January on an annual basis, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight Inc.’s home-price index. In the 37 biggest metro areas east of Colorado, except Austin, home prices rose year-over-year. This pattern of geographical disparity is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, housing analysts say. “We’ve never seen anything…

Setting and style define a suite of ultra-luxury homes—one with a $30.6 million price tag—to be built in an unspoiled canyon in Paradise Valley, Arizona’s wealthiest community. The dozen gated residences inside the vast Phoenix Mountains Preserve will be surrounded by desert and mountains yet close to restaurants, shops and airports in the greater Phoenix area. Crown Canyon Estates takes its name from a crown-shaped rock outcropping in the canyon. In keeping with the theme, each home carries the name of a precious gem and a distinct design. The glass-and-steel homes on spacious lots that start at $11 million are…

It seems the small government, anti-regulation crusaders are at it again. Except this time, the people who don’t want the government to regulate private industry are doing a flip-flop and doing everything in their power to regulate it. Of course, I’m talking about the urgent need of politicians to tell you how you can or can’t invest your money. Nothing can push a staunch anti-regulation politician to change their mind like a perceived threat to their campaign contributors. Better watch out, those Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) folks are going to drive our fossil fuel industry into the ground by not…

Judge Thomas Hardiman of the Third Circuit wrote approvingly of Tax Court Judge Albert “Scholar Al” Lauber’s opinion in the case of Mitchel Skolnick. It is a large dollar hobby loss opinion – horses of courses – that may have implications in the future. In approving the IRS denial of the over $3,000.000 in losses on Bluestone Farms LLC (85% owned by Skolnick), Judge Lauber indicated that he had weighed the sixth of nine regulatory factors – history of income and losses – very heavily in making his determination that Bluestone was not an activity carried on with an intent…

A new rule under SECURE 2.0 creates a great opportunity for IRA owners 70 ½ or older with charitable inclinations to get a prospective valuable tax benefit and keep cash flow. The current law allows a charitable distribution from an IRA for individuals age 70 ½ or older (irrespective of the new Required Minimum Distribution of age 73) to make a distribution of up to $100,000 a year directly to a qualified charity. This is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution, or QCD, and they are fantastic opportunities on their own. Now, SECURE 2.0 has introduced a provision that allows a…

I spent 10 years in human resources and recruiting roles. Here are my top secrets to negotiate pay that employers don’t want you to know. Women of color too often set lower salary requirements than white men. I saw this firsthand when worked for several financial services firms and tech startups. Now as a money coach, I field questions from fellow women of color like this: “I have been working at this company for several years now. And I know for a fact that I am underpaid for my job. I know this because I do salary ranges for other…

We think PepsiCo stock (NYSE: PEP) and Campbell Soup stock (NYSE: CPB) will offer similar returns in the next three years. PEP stock is trading at 2.9x trailing revenues, compared to 1.8x for Campbell Soup CPB . Investors have assigned a higher valuation multiple for PEP stock due to its superior revenue growth in recent years and better financial position, as discussed below. Looking at stock returns, PEP, with a 7% gain in the last twelve months, has fared better than CPB, down 2%, and the broader S&P500 index, down 9%. There is more to the comparison, and in the…

Topline Just one day after job openings plummeted to a nearly two-year low, payroll processor ADP reported that private employers added fewer jobs than expected last month as they also started to scale back on wage increases—adding to concerns the economy could face a worse-than-feared recession as the Federal Reserve works to temper stubbornly high inflation. Key Facts Private employment increased by 145,000 jobs from February to March as industries such as finance, professional services and manufacturing lost tens of thousands of jobs apiece—far fewer than the 261,000 new jobs economists had projected, according to the ADP’s National Employment Report…

At the recent meetings of its National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, known as the two sessions, China made important changes to its financial and technology regulations to address significant challenges at home and overseas. Beijing is intent on ensuring financial stability at home and achieving breakthroughs in so-called “chokepoint technologies” as it deals with an increasingly fraught relationship with the United States. One lingering question remains though: Will China’s dynamic private sector be sufficiently empowered by the reforms? Beefing Up Financial Oversight There were several major changes to China’s financial regulatory regime announced at the NPC:…