Erin Kennedy

1 week ago | bankrate.com | James Royal |Erin Kennedy

The Social Security system will begin to run out of money to pay full benefits in 2033, and it’s estimated that, if no fix is made, benefits would need to be cut by about 20 percent to match the annual inflows into the plan. With no clear plan in place and Washington full of gridlock, the cost of a solution continues to rise over time — helping those who want to cut Social Security benefits. But the situation is not hopeless, if the political will can be created to fix Social Security.

3 weeks ago | bankrate.com | Brian Baker |Erin Kennedy

The stock market has had a rough start to 2025, with the S&P 500 down about 4 percent. President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement Wednesday afternoon sent futures plummeting as investors digest how they will impact the economy. But analysts surveyed in Bankrate’s First-Quarter Market Mavens Survey see the market heading higher over the next 12 months. They see stocks jumping about 13 percent to new highs by the end of the first quarter of 2026.

3 weeks ago | bankrate.com | Brian Baker |Erin Kennedy

The stock market has had a bumpy start to 2025, with major indexes such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite falling into correction territory and several recent market darlings seeing major declines. But legendary investor Warren Buffett and his vast conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) haven’t been feeling the pain. Buffett’s net worth has jumped more than $25 billion in 2025, according to Bloomberg, thanks to a roughly 18 percent gain in Berkshire’s stock price so far this year.

4 weeks ago | bankrate.com | James Royal |Erin Kennedy

Bitcoin has been a popular asset for years, and while it’s been volatile during the course of its lifetime, this cryptocurrency has risen over time. So traders may be inclined to buy Bitcoin and other digital assets inside an IRA, giving them potentially huge tax-advantaged gains. To do so, traders need a special type of account called a Bitcoin IRA, which can hold cryptocurrencies.  Here’s how a Bitcoin IRA works and what you need to know about it. What is a Bitcoin IRA?

4 weeks ago | bankrate.com | James Royal |Erin Kennedy

Gold has been a hot commodity in the past few years, as prices seem to soar ever higher. While those returns have been great for gold investors, whether they own the money in a taxable or a gold IRA, the gains have been heavily concentrated in countries that own huge gold reserves. Here are the top 10 countries with the most gold reserves and which ones have been the biggest buyers recently. Who owns the most gold reserves?