Business

Families and students will have to wait a little longer to see how much aid they qualify for the upcoming college spring semester. (iStock) The Department of Education said it will fix a problem with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which would have cost students about $1.8 billion in lost federal aid, according to news first reported by NPR.    While the new form was intended to give students from low-income backgrounds access to more aid as well as streamline the application process, the tables used to determine aid were based on three-year-old data that did not account for the current high inflation environment. The FAFSA Simplification Act passed by Congress in 2020 included a provision requiring the Education Department to update these tables annual...

A family has been left furious after claiming their insurers left their car flooded for over a month after being hit by a storm. Not only was their car flooded while sitting on our drive, but their home was flooded too, they claim.Outraged by the situation, the vehicle owner, known only as A.M, from Nottingham said their house was in the process of being fixed, but their car was yet to get sorted.They claimed to have tried countless times to get though to their insurer, however phone lines are always busy and emails never get answered.The insurance policy allows for a courtesy car in time of need, however, AM has not been able to receive this either.They told This is Money: "Our insurer Sheila's Wheels has been a disgrace. I have called 13 times and the firm keeps saying it's all in han...

Circle Squared Alternative Investments founder Jeff Sica reveals Hollywoods biggest winner and loser in 2023 on Varney & Co. Activist shareholder Nelson Peltz is firing back at Disney after the entertainment giant urged shareholders to vote against adding him and another nominee pushed by his hedge fund to its board. In a letter accompanying a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, Peltz, CEO of Trian Fund Management, accused Disney's current board of having "self-inflicted wounds" that have impacted its bottom line. Peltz and his hedge fund, which owns $3 billion of Disney common stock, have pushed for a spot on Disney's board of directors based on the belief that they can improve the company's performance."It is unfortunate that a...

 Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale breaks down housing affordability on 'Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.' The number of homes for sale on the market rose for the second straight month in December as a severe housing shortage finally begins to ease. A new report from Realtor.com shows that the total number of homes for sale, including homes that were under contract but not yet sold, rose by 4.9% in December compared with the same time a year ago.It marked the second month since June 2023 that would-be homebuyers were able to see a larger number of unsold homes than compared with the same time last year. "Across the U.S. we’re seeing improvements in inventory levels, especially in the South," said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com chief economist.  MORTGAGE CALCULATOR: SEE HOW MUCH H...

Cyber Monday buy now, pay later (BNPL) app usage hit $9.4 million this year, up 42.5%. (iStock) Consumers have moderated their spending in recent years as inflation takes hold, and the economy slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. While they’ve cut back on certain non-essentials, it is also clear that Americans are turning to alternative payment methods like buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps to make ends meet. The end of last year saw the largest use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps on record, according to an Adobe Analytics report. Cyber Monday alone saw $940 million in purchases using BNPL apps. That’s up 42.5% year-over-year.Consumers are also using BNPL options to pay for larger orders. The number of items in the average shopper’s cart rose by 11%, according to Adobe. Co...

The Ramsey Show co-host George Kamel reacts to Guy Fieris stance on leaving his fortune to his kids and how to avoid overspending and credit card debt. American households racked up a record $17.29 trillion in debt last year, driven by mortgage, credit card and student loan balances, according to the latest numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Now, fresh data indicates an alarmingly high percentage of consumers began falling behind on their payments at the same time. A new study released by LendingTree found 29.6% of residents in the nation's 100 largest metros were behind on at least one debt payment during the third quarter of 2023, and 27.3% had serious delinquencies that were over 90 days past due or more. More than a quarter, 26.2%, had debt in collections. A...

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti details his lawsuit against Blackrock on ‘Varney & Co.’ BlackRock, the world's largest money management firm, plans to announce layoffs in the coming days of about 3 percent of its global workforce, Fox Business has learned. The job cuts of around 600 employees, which have yet to be reported, are being described internally as routine, according to a source familiar. Last year, BlackRock did a similar round of layoffs gauged on employee performance metrics, the source added.Shares of BlackRock rebounded in 2023, up 6 percent after falling 21 percent in 2022. New customer money into BlackRock's solid Exchange Traded Fund business exploded last year with $187 billion of inflows into the products that follow a basket of securities and tr...

Circle Squared Alternative Investments founder Jeff Sica reveals Hollywood’s biggest winner and loser in 2023 on ‘Varney & Co.’ 2023 marked Disney’s 100th anniversary of making movie magic. It also marked a disastrous year at the box office.  Out of eight major theatrical releases from Disney this year, seven of them significantly underperformed with audiences not just in the U.S. but overseas as well.  A look back at the rough year for the House of Mouse: Superhero slump Superhero fatigue was evident this year as Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” struggled at the box office. (Disney / Fox News) One of the most popular film franchises in the 21st century has been the Marvel Cinematic U...

Experts have slammed the Bank of England for being “out of touch” as the revised GDP figures show that the UK economy is in serious danger of heading into a recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by a revised 0.1 percent against the zero growth initially estimated, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It also flatlined during the second quarter of the year, after prior estimates showed 0.2 percent growth, painting a bleaker picture for the economy. There have been concerns over the UK’s weak economic growth for some time, but the country has managed to avoid a recession so far. However, Ashley Webb, UK economist at Capital Economics, said that the revised figures “may mean that the mildest of mild recessions started” in the third quart...

Ken Rusk, ‘Blue Collar Cash’ author and former construction worker, discusses survey data indicating employers value blue collar workers’ experience and skills more than a college education. The phenomenon of “shift shock,” a viral career trend, is when a new hire realizes that the job he or she just accepted or the business the person has chosen to join is different than expected or what was portrayed during the interview and hiring process.  The attitude is trending, as revealed in a recent study by The Muse, an online career platform, of more than 2,500 Gen Z and millennial job seekers.  Almost three quarters of those surveyed (72%) stated they experienced a form of shift shock, based on either regret or surprise regarding their new job or emp...