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Americans are spending big…on household bills
If you think your day-to-day expenses have gone up, you’re right. Americans are paying a whole lot more for household bills than they did before the pandemic. Here are the top 10 most expensive bills.
US stocks finished lower on Tuesday as bond yields headed higher
• The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to its highest level since November.
• Healthcare stocks fell sharply following news that 2025 Medicare payments to providers next year will be lower than expected.
• U.S. oil prices rose to a five-month high of about $85 per barrel amid stronger growth expectations in the U.S. and China, as well as supply constraints.
What to be on the lookout for today
• Update on the services sector and weekly mortgage applications, including the average 30-year mortgage rate.
• Speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
• In earnings, Levi Strauss will report.
3 steps to get your debt under control
Debt can strain your finances, make it harder to save and keep you up at night. But there’s a way out. Here are three steps to tackle it.
1. Budget, budget, budget. List out how much money you have coming in every month, how much you spend (and on what), as well as all your debts and their interest rates. Find spending that you can reduce and allocate those funds to debt payments.
2. Pick your method. There are different approaches to tackling debt: the avalanche, snowball or fireball methods, for example. The avalanche method prioritizes tackling debts with the highest interest rate first since they’ll cost the most long-term. The snowball approach focuses on paying down the debt with the smallest balance to get a psychological boost. And the fireball method draws on categorizing your debts by good (less than 7% interest rate) and bad (interest rate higher than 7%). No matter your method, continue to make the minimal payments on all your debts.
3. Stay organized. Much of managing your finances is about getting and staying organized. So if you’re looking for a way to manage your debt better, SoFi’s debt summary tool can help you make sense of it all.
Today’s top stories
American manufacturing is finally growing again. What changed?After nearly a year and a half of contraction, U.S. manufacturing finally saw growth in March. This could be a blessing and a curse for the economy.
Read more >> Could the FAFSA scramble lead to fewer students in the next academic year?Delays and issues seem to affect university enrollment, as far fewer high school seniors have submitted their financial aid forms to the government.
Read more >> Tax day is coming up. Do you know what your taxable income is?There are several ways to reduce your taxable income, including investing in your retirement, or opening a health savings account.
Read more >>Other news that caught our eye
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Amazon wants to get rid of its signature brown boxes as it aims to send more products in their original manufacturer packaging.
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General Electric completed its split into three independent publicly traded companies: GE Aerospace, GE HealthCare, and energy spinoff GE Vernova.
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Google agreed to destroy browsing data collected in Incognito mode as part of a proposed settlement in a class action suit over misappropriating user data.
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The energy M&A bonanza continues: Oilfield services company SLB will buy peerChampionX for roughly $7.8 billion.
Financial planner tip of the day
“If you want to build savings into your monthly financial plan, but can’t imagine how, you have to begin by tracking your spending. Identify areas that you can cut back in so that you are then able to re-allocate those funds to your future.”
Brian Walsh, CFP® at SoFi