Economics

You can supplement your retirement nest egg or save for other goals with a taxable brokerage account.

This tip allows you to enjoy three streaming services for less than the price of one.

New, higher and changing tariffs will ripple through the economy and into share prices for many quarters to come.

Developing a solid retirement plan — before a layoff — can help you to adapt to unexpected changes in your timeline. Once the initial panic eases, you can confidently reimagine what’s next.

Economic uncertainty, global events and increasing wealth are shaping the charitable landscape this year. Here are the philanthropic trends and some tips that could help affluent donors optimize their impact.

College is expensive. That’s hardly a surprise — as tuition climbed and incomes stagnated over the past couple decades, the average net price at a four-year public college grew to about a quarter of a typical household’s income. That’s why most students today rely on financial aid. Even after grants and federal student loans are used, though, some students find they still have large gaps to fill. Each year, about a million students take out private student loans to bridge those gaps, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Private student loans can be risky. They’re often more expensive than federal loans, and they don’t have the same protections if you struggle to repay your loans. But if you are careful in how much you borrow, they can make sense for some families. If going down the private loan route is the only way to pay for college, follow these steps before you borrow. 1. Crunch the numbers to determine how much you need to borrow Borrowing for college can be a smart investment if done responsibly. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that those with a bachelor’s degree earn about two-thirds more on a weekly basis than those with just a high school diploma, and they also had a lower unemployment rate. To borrow responsibly, you first have to calculate exactly how much you’ll owe in tuition, living expenses, books and other miscellaneous fees. If you’re just researching colleges, you can use each institution’s net price calculator to get an estimate of how much you’d have to borrow to attend. If you’re already applying to colleges, you’ll want to make sure you fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is required to be considered for federal grants as well as many state scholarships, neither of which have to be paid back. But the form is also required to access federal loans, officially called Direct subsidized and Direct unsubsidized loans. Colleges will use information from your FAFSA (and sometimes another form called the CSS Profile) to determine how much financial aid you’ll receive. Once you’re accepted, you’ll get an award letter, which outlines the cost of attendance, like tuition, fees, room and board, alongside any financial aid you’re eligible for. Whatever amount is left over after scholarships and grants are subtracted is how much you’ll have to pay with savings, current income or student loans. This is when you can get an idea around how much you may need to borrow. Part of crunching the numbers is thinking about your exit strategy or how you plan on repaying your debt. Start by comparing your field of study’s average starting salary against how much you’ll need to borrow to graduate. In general, experts recommend your total amount borrowed (including federal and private loans) stays under what you expect your starting salary to be. (See more about planning for repayment below.) 2. Max out federal financial aid Every financial aid expert will tell you to max out federal financial aid before you apply for a private student loan. As previously mentioned, the FAFSA determines your eligibility for different types of federal and state-level aid, including federal student loans offered by the U.S. Department of Education. Unlike private loans, which require you to pass a credit check or apply with a cosigner, federal student loans can be accessed by almost any student who is a U.S. citizen and is in good academic standing. Loan payments are automatically deferred while you’re in school, as long as you’re enrolled at least half-time. While the repayment options in the federal system are slated to change in the coming years, the government will still offer at least one income-driven repayment plan, which sets your monthly bills based on how much you earn, to all borrowers. Plus, the forbearance and deferment periods are more expansive and easier to access than with a private student loan. Federal loans also have fixed interest rates that apply to all borrowers and if they are subsidized, the Department of Education will take care of paying the interest while you’re in school. They have annual loan limits of $5,500 to $12,500, depending on your school year and dependency status. If you need more than that, you can explore Parent PLUS loans. Parent PLUS loans can be taken out for the full costs of attendance and also offer fixed interest rates and no required payments while the student is in school. But since the loan will be issued under the parent’s name, they must pass a simple credit check. They are also more expensive than undergraduate loans, so parents with strong credit and income should compare them directly with private education loans. With current student loan interest rates, parent loans are where it’s actually possible to save some money on the private market. 3. Line up a cosigner Unlike federal loans, which don’t require you to pass a standard credit check, private loans are based on the borrower’s creditworthiness. To qualify for a private loan, you must have an solid credit history and a steady source of income — something that’s practically impossible if you just graduated high school or are still studying full-time. This is why over 90% of undergraduate private student loans are cosigned. What’s more, you’ll need excellent credit to snag the lowest interest rates, something that’s more likely with a strong cosigner. A cosigner doesn’t have to be a parent. It can be a relative, a family friend or basically anyone you know who’s willing to lend you their credit to increase your chances of approval. But there’s a catch: If someone agrees to cosign your loan, they are equally responsible for your debt. This means that if you can’t repay your loan once you graduate or drop out of school, they will have to make up for the missed payments. Additionally, their credit score and ability to borrow could be impacted, so it’s important to keep this in mind

The Trump administration is launching a pressure campaign against prescription drugmakers in an effort to get them to lower prices for everyday Americans. President Donald Trump sent letters to at least 17 major drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, and posted them publicly on his social media site Truth Social Thursday. In the letters, Trump gave the pharmaceutical firms until Sept. 29 to make a series of commitments that aim to provide “immediate relief from the vastly inflated drug prices and put an end to the free ride of American innovation by European and other developed nations.” The letters by the president ratcheted up the rhetoric toward drugmakers by directly demanding that specific companies start providing Americans with “the lowest price offered in other developed nations,” a pricing approach also known as the “most favored nation” model. “There is no reason American consumers should pay exorbitantly more than other countries for the same drug in the same packaging and manufactured in the same factory,” the White House said in a statement Monday. Trump’s recent statements are the latest attempt by his administration to lower drug prices using the president’s executive power. Meanwhile, experts are beginning to question if that unilateral approach is the most effective way to meaningfully lower the cost of drugs. “Drug companies may respond to pressure tactics of the sort that President Trump is using,” Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of Medicare policy at the nonprofit KFF, says in an email to Money. “But that response is unlikely to be substantially reducing drug prices across the board.” On the other hand, Chris Meekins, a health care policy analyst at Raymond James, told Barron’s on Thursday that despite the rhetoric, the letters could actually be backpedaling on demands made by Trump’s executive order on drug prices, signed in May. “Originally, he said the U.S. will get the best price that any other nation gets for all products,” Meekins says. “Now he’s carving out specific categories.” Trump’s demands to lower drug prices The letters Trump addressed directly to the heads of 17 pharmaceutical companies include four key demands. The drugmakers must provide their full portfolio of existing drugs at the lowest price offered to other similar nations — aka the most-favored-nation price — to all patients on Medicaid, the government’s health care plan for low-income and disabled Americans. For all newly developed drugs, the companies must contract with the federal government to provide all Americans, whether they have public or private health insurance — with the most-favored-nation price. Trump ordered the pharmaceutical companies to negotiate with other countries in coordination with the U.S. in order to “return increased revenues abroad to American patients and taxpayers.” Drugmakers were ordered to develop direct-to-consumer and direct-to-business drug sales models that effectively eliminate middleman drug management companies that mark up prices. Trump said he expects the companies to engage with his administration “immediately, and in good faith,” to meet the demands by Sept. 29. The letters also suggest that the initial negotiations with drugmakers following his May executive order did not go as intended. “Most proposals my Administration has received to ‘resolve’ this critical issue promised more of the same,” Trump wrote, “shifting blame and requesting policy changes that would result in billions of dollars in hands out to [the] industry.” If the companies don’t comply, the president threatened to “deploy every tool in our arsenal” to get them to lower drug prices. PhRMA, a pharmaceutical industry trade group, strongly opposes the so-called most-favored-nation approach, saying that it would be a “bad deal for American patients and workers” that could threaten American innovation. Can Trump actually make drug companies lower prices? In the U.S., prescription drug prices are uniquely high, especially for brand-name drugs. According to KFF, the popular weight-loss drug Ozempic, for example, is over 10 times pricier here than in some peer countries. The monthly list price for Ozempic in the U.S. is $936, KFF says. The second most expensive country in the analysis is Japan, where it costs $169. In Sweden, the U.K., Australia and France, it’s under $100. Zooming out, Americans spent about $100 billion out-of-pocket for their prescriptions last year, a record high. Regardless of political affiliation, exorbitant drug prices are a major issue. According to a separate KFF report, 73% of Americans say there isn’t enough regulation on the price of prescription drugs. Enter Trump’s renewed push to lower drug prices. They follow several initiatives by the Biden administration to do the same. At the start of the year, for example, a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket drug price cap went into effect for Medicare Part D beneficiaries as part of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. That law also allowed for Medicare to negotiate prices with drugmakers, for the first time ever, on select high-cost drugs. Those negotiated prices are slated to go into effect in 2026 with additional drug negotiations underway. In April, Trump signed an executive order seeking to expand those negotiations while encouraging the production of cheaper, generic equivalents of high-cost, name-brand medications. Then came his May order and August letters advocating for “most-favored-nation” pricing. Trump told reporters Sunday that his efforts have dramatically lowered drug prices already. “You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500%,” Trump said, without providing evidence. “I don’t mean 50%, I mean 14, 1,500%.” (Mathematically, it’s impossible for prices to drop by more than 100%.) Despite both Biden’s and Trump’s efforts, annual prescription costs rose 1.2% as of June, according to the Labor Department. As a result of Trump’s pressure, Cubanski, with KFF, says some manufacturers have indeed made new commitments to invest in American production of prescription drugs or introduced new options for consumers to purchase drugs directly rather than going through insurers or other middlemen. But so far, she adds, these changes aren’t broad-based solutions to the plight of high drug prices in the U.S. She says if lowering prices were as easy as ordering drug companies to lower them

ESPN will take control of NFL Network and RedZone, while the NFL secures a 10% stake in ESPN — a move that could change how fans watch football.

Money’s picks for the best homeowners insurance in Connecticut all offer standout coverage. Our list draws from our analysis for the national ranking of the best homeowners insurance providers. Below, we’ve also included other information to help you insure a home in the Nutmeg State, including coverage that will be especially important to Connecticut homeowners. Key takeaways about homeowners insurance in Connecticut Connecticut is among the costliest states to buy and own a home. Here are statistics on those costs: The average home in Connecticut is worth $435,982, according to real estate experts Zillow. That’s 3.9% higher than a year ago. Connecticut has some of the highest property taxes in the country. According to Quicken Loans, the average property tax rate in the state is 1.78% – which translates into an annual tax bill for the average Connecticut home of about $7,750. Compared with other states, Connecticut ranks in the middle of the pack – at #24 – when it comes to the cost of homeowners insurance. The average premium has been calculated at about $2,350. When mortgage costs and income are considered, Connecticut is the third least affordable state to buy a home. How we chose our top picks Money vetted 15 companies after conducting 1,000+ hours of research based on more than 20 data points. Money’s picks for the best homeowners insurance in Connecticut all offer standout coverage and closely mirror the selections in our national ranking of the best homeowners insurance providers. For more on how we select picks, see the methodology below. Our top picks for Connecticut’s best homeowners insurance Here, listed alphabetically, are Connecticut’s top five homeowners insurers. All offer standout coverage and are included in our national ranking of the best homeowners insurance. AIG Amica Mutual Chubb State Farm USAA HIGHLIGHTS Financial rating: A (Excellent) on A.M. Best Discounts: Undisclosed Bundling options: Undisclosed AIG is known as a luxury insurer that provides comprehensive coverage, from dwelling to cybersecurity insurance, for high-value properties worth up to $100 million. The company scores well above average for customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study. AIG offers guaranteed replacement cost (without any limits, according to the company) for homes valued from $750,000 all the way up to $100 million on an “all-risk” basis — meaning its policy covers all perils except the few specifically excluded. It also offers the option of ultra-high deductibles (up to $100,000). This could help significantly lower your premium, but you’ll also pay a lot more out of pocket. In addition to standard coverage, AIG offers services such as: kidnap, ransom and extortion coverage, landscaping coverage, multinational property coverage and business property coverage. Read our full review of AIG Homeowners Insurance. HIGHLIGHTS Financial rating: A+ (Superior) on A.M. Best Discounts: Bundling, loyalty, claim-free, autopay, electronic bill, alarm system, detection devices Bundling options: Auto, renters, life, umbrella Amica is known for top-notch service. The company scores well above average for customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study. Nationally, it has fewer complaints lodged with the NAIC than would be expected for an insurer of its size. Another standout aspect of the company when it comes to homeowners insurance is its Contractor Connection database. The resource lists thousands of vetted, licensed and insured contractors and guarantees their work with a five-year warranty. However, Amica rarely offers the cheapest homeowners insurance in price comparisons, so this is an insurer best suited to those who value top-of-the-line customer service over cost savings. Read our full review of Amica Homeowners Insurance. HIGHLIGHTS Financial rating: Superior (A++) on A.M. Best Discounts: Security and safety systems, new or renovated home, gated community, loyalty, claim-free, autopay, electronic bill, alarm system and more. Bundling options: Auto, renters, life, and umbrella Chubb scored well above average for customer satisfaction in the latest J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study, as it customarily does. Also, the insurer’s Masterpiece policy offers unique benefits beyond the standard homeowners insurance policy, such as risk consulting services, coverage against hijacking, home invasions and more. A standout benefit is that policyholders can opt to get a cash settlement up to the policy’s limit if, after damages, they choose not to rebuild the property or opt to rebuild someplace else. Chubb’s also sells private flood insurance, and its policies offer maximum coverage of $15 million, which is notably high even for a private insurer. (By comparison, the federal NFIP program has a $250,000 maximum.) These rare benefits come at a cost. Chubb is widely regarded as one of the most expensive home insurers on the market, but if its rates fit your budget, it’s an excellent choice. In addition to its consistently fine showings in J.D. Power surveys, the insurer has one of the lowest NAIC complaint indexes of all the insurers we reviewed. HIGHLIGHTS Financial rating: A++ (Superior) on A.M. Best Discounts: Bundling, home security systems, resistant roofing Bundling options: Auto, renters, life State Farm is the largest home insurance company in the United States and offers a wide variety of policies, from life to car to condo. This gives customers the chance to bundle in various ways and not only get discounts but also have a more streamlined experience overall. One reality to State Farm, though, is that the company only works through captive agents. Its agent network is extensive in size, with local representatives in more than 80 communities in Connecticut. HIGHLIGHTS Financial rating: A++ (Superior) on A.M. Best Discounts: Bundling, protection devices, detection devices, multi-product (bundling with auto earns 10% discount, additional policies earn 5% discount), loyalty, claim-free Bundling options: Auto For military members and their families, USAA offers a great combination of low premiums and broad coverage. Its biggest plus, though, might be its customer service. USAA bested them all the picks on our list in the J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study, even though those other companies all scored above average in customer satisfaction. USAA is also among the few home insurers that include Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage as