Retire with MONEY

by Elizabeth O'Brien Protecting pre-existing conditions has become a popular campaign promise. President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, both say they support that goal, yet there’s a big gap between the two presidential candidates on the issue. And the outcome of the Nov. 3 election isn’t the only factor that could determine whether millions of Americans will be able to buy health insurance in the future, even if they have medical issues.

by Mallika Mitra Millions of Americans have been laid off. People are struggling to make rent, pay bills and even buy food. But average credit scores are… up? The average FICO credit score hit a record high of 711 in July — up from 706 a year earlier — according to the score’s creator, Fair Isaac Corporation, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

by Cheryl Winokur Munk President Donald Trump has long promised to boost America’s coal, oil and gas industries. As it happens, the top-performing stock of the Trump era isn’t a fossil fuel producer. It’s just the opposite. Fremont, Calif.-based Enphase Energy helped revolutionize the home solar panel market with hardware that makes solar panels more efficient.

by Mallika Mitra Tech and communication stocks like Facebook and Apple have had a really good year — and could be taking up way more space in some of your mutual funds than you realize. On average, the tech and communications sectors make up about 34% of U.S. large blend funds, according to Morningstar. That’s slightly shy of their 39% share of the S&P 500. But that hasn’t stopped some fund managers from upping the exposure even more, in some cases well above benchmarks.

by Daniel Bortz The pandemic’s latest effect on the housing market could be a good one for borrowers: Fewer mortgages are requiring a home appraisal, which is making it a whole lot easier for some people to purchase a home or qualify for a loan refinance. According to a September report from the public policy think tank American Enterprise Institute, appraisals were waived on 42% of all government-sponsored purchase and refinance mortgages in July, up from roughly 20% in December.

by Mallika Mitra Commuting from your bedroom to your kitchen table may have granted you some creature comforts, like staying in your pajamas until noon or snuggling with your dog instead of fighting for a seat on a packed train. It’s probably also saved you some serious time. The daily commute — which, back in 2015, was 26 minutes each way for the average U.S. worker — has been squashed for many, at least for now.

by Carla Fried Older adults will get a 1.3% increase in their Social Security benefit in 2021, the Social Security Administration was expected to announce Tuesday morning. That works out to about a $20 monthly bump in the average Social Security benefit, to nearly $1,540. While something is better than nothing, the cost-of-living adjustment (widely known as the COLA) for 2021 is lower than the rising expenses many retirees face — particularly for health care.

by Noel Davila Money is a fiction. That doesn’t mean that the bills in your wallet or the numbers in your bank account aren’t real — it just suggests that the only reason money has value is because we believe it does. At least that’s how Jacob Goldstein, host of NPR’s Planet Money, explains it in his recently-released book, "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.

by Julia Glum Many Americans desperately need a second stimulus check in order to financially survive the rest of 2020. But as Election Day draws nearer, the chances of those payments going out anytime soon seem to get lower and lower. Especially if you look at President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

by Ingrid Case If insurance that covers one peril is good, a policy that covers two is even better — or so the growing number of people who are buying hybrids of life insurance and long-term care insurance seem to believe. Yet financial advisors say these two-for-one products may offer dubious value for many consumers. Long-term care insurance helps pay for your care when you are no longer physically or mentally well enough to live independently.