Traditionally, home security systems have relied on physical barriers, alarms and human input. While these methods provide a basic level of protection, they can fall short due to the evolving tactics of modern-day intruders. Modern technology has ushered in a new era for the home security industry. From sophisticated surveillance systems to AI-powered threat detection, the advancements in home security technology are transforming our homes into safer, more secure havens. Read on to learn how technology is revolutionizing the home security landscape, providing homeowners with smarter, more eff ..read more

Online shopping is more popular than ever, and package theft is booming right alongside it. The rise of so-called “porch pirates,” thieves who steal packages directly from people’s front steps, is making it riskier to have packages delivered to your home. More than one-third of respondents to a November 2023 survey from SafeWise said they had a package stolen last year, and 65% said they were more worried about losing a package to porch pirates than they were the year before. Package-snatchers are getting more sophisticated, too. As the number of boxes delivered to American doorsteps has grow ..read more

A change in government policy will help more Americans qualify for Social Security benefits — and increase payments for some existing recipients. The Social Security Administration announced Thursday that it has published a final rule affecting its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which sends monthly checks to about 7.4 million Americans with limited resources who are disabled, blind or older than 65. The rule expands the agency’s definition of a “public assistance household,” opening it up to households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, informa ..read more

Breaking news: There might finally be an answer to the age-old question “Why am I like this?” It turns out that nearly every financial behavior you have has its roots in something else, and many of these influences are so minor that you’d never recognize them. “We attempt to put money into a vacuum instead of looking at how it really intersects with every area of our life,” says Ellyce Fulmore, a financial educator and author of Keeping Finance Personal: Ditch the “Shoulds” and the Shame and Rewrite Your Money Story. But in reality, all the pieces of our lives, experiences and identities “impa ..read more

White House officials and regulators are probing what they say are issues with airline credit card programs, including the devaluation of points, high interest rates and the stripping of travel benefits. Americans tend to have a love-hate relationship with airline credit card programs: Putting day-to-day spending on these cards can feel like an easy way to earn quote-unquote “free” trips — and the perks can make air travel a more luxurious experience — but officials say they’ve heard a laundry list of consumer complaints about how these programs are structured and operated. Credit card and air ..read more

Interest rates on federal student loans are set to jump by one percentage point this summer. Undergraduate loans will soon carry a rate of 6.53% for the 2024-2025 school year, up from 5.50% this school year. Graduate direct loans will have a rate of 8.08%, up from 7.05%. And PLUS loans for grad students and parents of undergraduates will rise to 9.08%, up from 8.05% this year. The new rates, set based on the results of a Treasury auction on Wednesday, take effect on July 1. This will mark the fourth straight year that interest rates on federal loans for higher education have increased, and the ..read more

Many certificates of deposit, or CDs, are still offering yields of at least 5% — for the short term, that is. Putting money in a short-term CD with a 5% annual percentage yield, or APY, is currently an easy way to beat inflation, making it an attractive option for anyone with cash they can set aside for a few months. However, your options are quickly changing. Between last fall and this spring, the number of CDs with APYs of at least 5% remained mostly steady, but there was a shift in the term lengths of these high-rate CDs, according to CD Valet, an online marketplace that tracks rates from t ..read more

After years of soaring home prices, owners are now sitting on record amounts of equity — trillions of dollars of which they can tap into if needed. According to a new report by data analytics firm Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), American homeowners with mortgages held nearly $17 trillion in home equity during the first quarter of 2024 — a new record high. What’s more, $11 trillion of that equity is tappable, meaning the homeowner can cash out a portion of their home’s value while maintaining a 20% equity stake in their homes. On average, these homeowners can tap into about $206,000 per mortga ..read more

The battle of bank bonuses is heating up. As financial institutions compete for deposits in a high-interest rate environment, they have increased their cash bonus offers for customers who open new checking accounts. The average checking account promo is now just over $400, up from about $300 in 2021, according to Curinos, a financial data company. Intended as a hook to attract customers, these bank bonuses can be an easy way to make extra cash. But before you bite, there are also some potential risks you should know about like unexpected fees, taxes and the possibility of being denied on futur ..read more

Here’s a rare piece of good retirement news: The Social Security program is now expected to be able to pay full benefits until 2035, which is a year later than previously thought. According to a new report from the Social Security Board of Trustees, which oversees the finances of the program, there is just over a decade remaining until Social Security’s combined trust fund reserves are depleted (unless Congress addresses the funding issue). A 12.4% payroll tax split by employees and employers currently funds the Social Security program, but it’s not enough to fully cover benefits for the rough ..read more