Retire with MONEY

by Martha C. White When your credit is poor, it can be tempting to look for a quick fix. And if you pop on over to Google, you’ll find no shortage of services promising to goose your credit report, boost your score, and make you look like a better borrowing candidate (for a fee, of course). Experts beg to differ.

by Mallika Mitra JaVon Colbert hides his money from himself — in his car, in his room, in all his bags. Storing those dollars helps the 18-year-old feel safe from the financial struggles he experienced earlier in life. When Colbert was young, his mother went into debt after buying an apartment to rent out for some extra cash on top of her main job as a factory worker at Toyota. After a few years, though, the rentals at the apartment in Cincinnati, Ohio, dried up.

by Aly J. Yale No homes for sale in your desired area? Then just pick out a property and call up the owner. You could also check obituaries, dive into local property records or head to social media for potential homes to buy. At least that’s what many real estate pros are doing. “Creativity is key in this type of market,” says Adrienne Allen, head of real estate at homebuying platform Homie.

by Martha C. White If you’re gearing up to borrow money for a car, home, or another big purchase, you already know how important it is to have a good credit score. What’s less clear, usually, is how to boost that score if you need money ASAP, and your current one leaves you with a less-than-ideal interest rate. It’s a tricky feat, to be sure. But it can be done. Your credit score has five components, and while all five are important, only one can be changed quickly.

by Julia Glum Amid the explosion of COVID-19 phishing emails, fake coronavirus “treatments” and pandemic unemployment scams, it’s easy to forget about the basic steps you should be taking to protect your identity online. Major data breaches are still happening.

by Alina Dizik Maintaining a good credit score can feel like a game at times. The algorithms credit reporting agencies like Equifax use for assessing creditworthiness are confidential — making the consequences of missing a bill or taking on more debt hard to predict. Still, experts say, certain missed payments can do serious damage to your credit score, especially if you’ve got a healthy one.

by Aly J. Yale Saving enough for a down payment has long been a hurdle for hopeful homebuyers. Even at the low end — just 3% of a home’s sale price — buyers are looking at nearly $10,000 on a median-priced house. To put down 20% — and avoid the costs of private mortgage insurance — buyers would need $65,000.

by Kaitlin Mulhere The chances for major student loan relief likely shrank last week, even as the country elected a president who has promised to address the pervasive problem of debt. President-elect Joe Biden ran on a campaign loaded with education platforms, including ideas to reduce the burden of student loans on many of the country’s 45 million borrowers.

Now that the presidential race has been called for Joe Biden, Americans have more certainty about the next occupant of the White House. But what that means for pocketbook issues — like the stock market, health care and taxes — remains unclear. That's because control of Congress is still very much up in the air. Democrats went into the election hoping to hold the House of Representatives and wrest control of the Senate from Republicans.

by Ian Salisbury The stock market soared Monday after investors learned some good news about a potential COVID-19 vaccine. But some stocks are faring better than others. Traders, still digesting the results of the recent U.S. election, woke up to more big news Monday morning: Drug makers Pfizer and BioNTech said the COVID-19 vaccine they recently tested in more than 40,000 subjects had proved 90% effective.