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U.S.-based firms announced 76,835 job cuts in November, led by the technology sector.
Nervous employees are engaged in “career cushioning”: polishing their resumes, firing up their networks and building new skills.  
Some of the motivation for career cushioning may also be coming from employees in search of a position that better aligns with their values. 

Holger Scheibe | The Image Bank | Getty Images

The rate of job cut announcements at U.S. employers in November was more than five times greater than a year ago, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Overall, U.S.-based firms announced 76,835 job cuts in November, led by the technology sector. So far this year, tech companies have announced nearly 81,000 cuts.
While the numbers seem staggering, the total number of layoffs year to date is the second lowest on record, since the firm began tracking jobs cuts in 1993. The lowest level was last year. 

“When we’re looking at layoffs across the board, while we have seen an uptick from the historic low layoffs we’ve been in at the last two years, we’re not seeing huge mass layoff activity,” said Challenger, Gray & Christmas senior vice president Andrew Challenger. 
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Employees want to be in a position to find new work

As layoffs continue to make headlines, nervous employees are engaged in what is known as “career cushioning.” Workers are polishing their resumes, firing up their networks and building new skills to prepare for new opportunities.  
“There’s a bit of a game of musical chairs playing out, and employees don’t want to be caught out when the music stops without a seat,” said Mark Royal, a senior client partner at the global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry. So current employees want to be in a position to quickly grab a new job. 

Experts say some of the motivation for career cushioning may also be coming from employees in search of a position that better aligns with their values. 

“I suspect it’s coming from folks that don’t feel a sense of belonging in the workplace don’t find purpose in the work that they do,” said Julie Kratz,  founder and CEO of Next Pivot Point, a leadership-training organization that works with companies to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
So employees are “kind of playing it out in their job currently waiting for something better to come along and actively searching,” she said.

To calm employees, ‘be clear’ about layoff plans

In a similar fashion to the trend around “quiet quitting,” career cushioning may also come at the expense of productivity. To keep employees focused, experts say companies should be as transparent as possible. 
“In an absence of information, people fill in with fear,” said Kratz. “So if you have had layoffs, [be] clear about how much more you expect of that, or not, just to quiet those fears, especially going into the holiday season so that you keep your talent.”
Company leaders should take steps to ensure the employees who stay will be part of a winning strategy.  “Leaders can take steps to try to build confidence that the company is taking the right actions to deal effectively with the challenges ahead and create a promising outlook for the organization as a whole,” Royal said. 
Managers also should acknowledge the degree of uncertainty with their direct reports, and find ways for employees who stay to benefit from a reorganization.

“While we may not have an epidemic of quiet quitting and we may not have an epidemic of career cushioning, leaders or managers are wise to take the signal seriously and think about ways they can combat any disengagement by focusing on some core engagement, potential elements and how they apply in the current context,” Royal added. 
For workers who may be engaged in career cushioning, don’t forget the best option may be to secure the job you have.  
“As you’re working on plan B, don’t forget to work plan A and work to reinforce your value,” said Royal. He suggests employees tackle priority projects that demonstrate their unique value and make them hard to replace. 

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Unless this is your first year of required minimum distributions, you need to take those RMDs by the end of the year.
There are different rules that apply to different accounts, which are important to know.
Here are the basics and some tips to avoid making mistakes with your RMDs.

Kemal Yildirim | E+ | Getty Images

You’ve got about a month left to make sure you get it right when it comes to mandatory withdrawals from retirement accounts.
Required minimum distributions, or RMDs as they’re called, are annual amounts that must be withdrawn beginning in the year you reach age 72 — up from age 70½ before the Secure Act took effect in 2020. RMDs apply to 401(k) plans — both traditional and Roth — and similar workplace plans, as well as most individual retirement accounts. Roth IRAs have no required withdrawals until after the account owner’s death.

While most retirees withdraw more than they’re required to — i.e., they need the income — others need to be sure they’re calculating their RMDs accurately and following the different rules that apply. Getting it wrong could mean facing a 50% tax penalty on the amount that should have been withdrawn but was not.
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Be aware that while the stock market is down this year, your RMDs are based on each qualifying account’s balance on Dec. 31 of the previous year. So for your 2022 RMDs, that means the year-end 2021 balance.
“A lot of people have taken a beating [in the stock market] this year, and so the question is, ‘Do I get a break because my balance has gone down so much?’ And the answer is no,” said Ed Slott, CPA and founder of Ed Slott and Co.

Here’s how your RMDs are calculated

The amount you must withdraw each year is generally determined by dividing each qualifying account’s Dec. 31 balance by a “life expectancy factor” as defined by the IRS.
For example, if you turned, or will turn, age 72 this year, that number would be 27.4, according to the new life expectancy tables from the IRS that took effect Jan. 1. Divide your account balance — say it’s $100,000 — by that factor and your 2022 RMD for that account would be about $3,650. So if the balance is $500,000, your RMD would be five times that, or roughly $18,250.
The new IRS tables reflect longer life expectancies, which means annual RMDs are generally lower — as a percentage of your balance — than they would be if the pre-2022 tables were used.

Different rules apply to different types of accounts

Be aware that if you have multiple accounts subject to RMDs, you may have options.
For IRAs, you can tally up the total of each RMD and take that amount from just one of your IRAs, or any combination you want. This aggregation applies to traditional IRAs, as well as SEP and SIMPLE IRAs.
“For all IRAs, you can add all the RMDs up, and then you can take that aggregate amount from any one IRA or combination of those IRAs,” Slott said.

“I tell people to get rid of smaller accounts — I say let’s empty the smaller ones,” he said. “Having too many accounts means it’s more likely you’ll miss an RMD from one of the accounts or miss it in your calculation.”
Note that inherited IRAs are not included in that aggregation rule. Unless you have multiple IRAs that you inherited from the same decedent, you must take RMDs from each inherited IRA, Slott said.
For 401(k) accounts, RMDs must come from each account that is subject to the withdrawals. However, you can aggregate 403(b) accounts, Slott said.

Avoid ‘bunching’ income in first year of RMDs

If you celebrated your 72nd birthday this year, or will in December, be aware that while the law allows you to delay your first RMD until as late as April 1 of next year, doing so would mean taking two RMDs in 2023 — which could have tax consequences.
“They’d be ‘bunching’ income in 2023,” Slott said. “The better option for most people is to take the first RMD in 2022 and the second in 2023, in two separate tax years, and in most cases that will lower their taxes in each year.”
Additionally, if you’re working and contributing to a retirement plan sponsored by your employer and you don’t own more than 5% of the company, RMDs do not apply to that particular account until you retire.

Spouses cannot combine their RMDs

Charday Penn | E+ | Getty Images

Married couples must view their accounts and RMDs separately from each other. In other words, while each person can aggregate the RMD amount among their own accounts as permitted, they cannot combine those amounts with their partner’s and then take RMDs from just one spouse’s account.
Also, while you can delay RMDs from a 401(k) if you’re working for the company sponsoring it, you still must take those distributions from other 401(k) accounts you have, as well as any other qualifying accounts.

You can take RMDs ‘in kind’ if you need to use stock

Having enough liquidity in your retirement account — i.e., cash — to satisfy your RMD is the ideal scenario, Slott said. However, if you need to lean on your stock holdings, RMDs can be taken “in kind,” he said.
This essentially involves transferring particular stock from your tax-advantaged IRA to a taxable investment account, such as a brokerage account. While you’d pay taxes on the amount transferred, you would have taken your RMD and yet still own the stock.
“You’re holding the same thing but you’ve satisfied your RMD,” Slott said.

A ‘qualified charitable distribution’ can be used

If you are charitably inclined, you can use a “qualified charitable distribution” of up to $100,000 to satisfy your RMD. This involves transferring money directly from your account to a qualified charity, and the amount is excluded from your taxable income.
For inherited IRAs, 401(k) plans or other qualified retirement accounts, the balance must be entirely withdrawn within 10 years if the owner died after 2019, unless the beneficiary is the spouse or other eligible individual.
The 2019 Secure Act eliminated the ability of many beneficiaries to stretch out distributions across their own lifetime if the original account owner died on Jan. 1, 2020, or later.

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With prices near historic highs, more consumers are leaning on buy now, pay later to afford their holiday shopping.
“It means a merry Christmas, but in the long run for many will hurt their credit,” says Marshall Lux, a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Americans are increasingly finding alternative ways to satisfy their holiday wish lists as they continue to grapple with high prices and inflation.
In many cases, that means opting for flexible payment plans.

On Black Friday through Cyber Monday, buy now, pay later payments through companies such as Klarna, Zip, Zilch, Affirm and Afterpay jumped 85% compared with the week before, according to the most recent data from Adobe. Buy now, pay later revenue rose 88% for the same period.
The option to pay in installments “means a merry Christmas, but in the long run for many will hurt their credit,” said Marshall Lux, a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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Last year, more than half of shoppers made a purchase with BNPL they couldn’t pay off, according to a survey from Oxygen, an online-only bank.
Lux called this year’s spike in installment buying “horrible, and a real statement on how stressed the economy is, especially for the average American.”

Although inflation, overall, began to ease last month, consumer prices were up by 7.7% in October from a year ago and remain near the highest levels since the early 1980s.
Heading into November, 60% of Americans reported living paycheck to paycheck.

Holiday spending sets records

Despite those financial challenges, consumers spent a record $9.12 billion online shopping during Black Friday and another record $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday, according to the most recent data from Adobe.
Roughly 196.7 million Americans shopped in stores and online over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, also an all-time high, a separate report by the National Retail Federation found.
“As inflationary pressures persist, consumers have responded by stretching their dollars in any way possible,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “In some cases, they are taking on additional credit,” he added.

Americans use buy now, pay later as a ‘lifeline’

Spreading out the cost of a big-ticket purchase can make financial sense, especially at 0%. 
“Affirm’s flexible and transparent payment options empower consumers with a valuable budgeting tool that can help them gain control over their finances and enjoy the holidays,” said Ashmi Pancholi, vice president of consumer insights at Affirm.
“For someone who has the ability to pay, this is an interest-free loan,” according to Lux.
However, the rapid growth of buy now, pay later payments is driven primarily by younger consumers. Two-thirds of buy now, pay later borrowers are considered subprime, Lux noted, which makes them especially vulnerable to economic shocks or a possible recession.
Amid high prices, installment buying “offers a ‘lifeline’ for many consumers who cant afford things,” Lux said.
But, the more BNPL accounts open at once, the more prone consumers become to overspending, missed or late payments and poor credit history, other research shows.
Generally, if you miss a payment there could be late fees, deferred interest or other penalties, depending on the lender. (CNBC’s Select has a full roundup of fees, annual percentage rates, whether a credit check is performed and if the provider reports to the credit scoring companies, in which case a late payment could also ding your credit score.)
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Raiding retirement savings to pay for an unexpected expense is a big financial mistake many Americans are prone to making, personal finance expert Suze Orman says.
To avoid that, people need to set up emergency savings accounts with money dedicated to covering unforeseen events.
Here’s how Congress and employers may step in to make that easier.

Suze Orman speaks during AOL’s BUILD Speaker Series at AOL Studios In New York.
Jenny Anderson | WireImage | Getty Images

If your car breaks down or you have an unexpected medical bill, it may be tough to come up with the cash to cover the expense.
In a pinch, it can be tempting to take money from your 401(k) plan or other retirement savings account.

But that may be one of the biggest financial mistakes you can make, personal finance expert Suze Orman said Tuesday during a webcast hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
“The majority of Americans, in my opinion, barely have the money today to pay for their everyday expenses,” Orman said.
That’s as inflation has pushed everyday costs higher on everything from rent to gasoline to food, she noted.
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A recent LendingClub report found that, as of October, 60% of Americans were living from paycheck to paycheck.

To break that cycle, people need to establish an emergency savings account dedicated solely to unexpected expenses, Orman said. Notably, emergency funds should be separate from other savings for aspirations like going on vacation or buying a new car or home, she noted.
Yet research consistently shows establishing an emergency fund is an elusive goal for many.
One-third of working adults — 33% — feel somewhat or very uncomfortable about their ability to pay an emergency $400 expense, a Bipartisan Policy Center survey conducted in February found. Nearly 8% wouldn’t be able to afford it all.

“That’s why employers need to get involved in this, because most people won’t save money unless their employer somehow does it for them through a payroll deduction,” Orman said.
Orman co-founded fintech company SecureSave during the Covid pandemic to help employees set up automatic contributions to emergency funds that are matched by their employers.
Participating employees save $38 per paycheck on average, according to the company, while employers typically match $3 to $5 per paycheck.
“It’s an incredible thing to see people for the first time respond and go, ‘I never knew what it felt like to have $1,000 to my name,'” Orman said.

How Congress may step in to help

Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, (left) talks to Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., just outside the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on July 19, 2022 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Two lawmakers — Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana — hope to advance a proposal to make it easier for employers to offer emergency savings accounts.
“We have got to start finding ways to have the average American have a better economic experience than they’re having right now,” Booker said during the Bipartisan Policy Center webcast on Tuesday.
Having emergency savings may help people avoid harsh consequences, such as losing their housing due to a shortfall of just a few hundred dollars rent, Booker said.
Moreover, it may also save taxpayers many multiples of that amount by reducing dependency on public resources, he said.

There needs to be more attention paid to the emergency savings challenges in this country.

Sen. Todd Young
Republican senator from Indiana

The lawmakers propose enabling employers to add emergency savings with limits of up to $2,500 alongside the 401(k) accounts. Employers would have the choice of whether to opt in and auto enroll their employees.
Booker and Young are also working on ways to extend those emergency savings options to employees who work for employers that do not offer 401(k) plans or other retirement plans.
“There needs to be more attention paid to the emergency savings challenges in this country and more tools given to rank-and-file Americans, which is what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Young said.
Both senators said they are optimistic they can push the proposals forward in the lame-duck session of Congress, which may include the consideration of new retirement legislation dubbed Secure 2.0.
However, even if end-of-year negotiations wind up not including emergency savings provisions, Booker said he will not be deterred. Because the bill is bipartisan, it may also have good chances of getting addressed in the new Congress, he said.

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Your Health, Your Money

Personal Finance

Long Covid is a chronic illness resulting from a Covid-19 infection. It goes by many names, including long-haul Covid, post-Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome.
Not much is yet known about the illness. Its symptoms number in the hundreds and can be debilitating. They can also be challenging to diagnose — for doctors even willing to do so.
Long Covid has affected as many as 23 million Americans. It may cost the U.S. economy $3.7 trillion, roughly that of the Great Recession, according to one estimate.

Sam Norpel and her family. Norpel, 48, second from the right, got Covid-19 in December 2021 and hasn’t recovered. This chronic illness, known as long Covid, impacts up to 23 million Americans.
Kirstie Donohue

Sam Norpel used to present regular financial updates to C-suite executives.
Now, unpredictable bouts of broken, staccato speech make that impossible for the former e-commerce executive.

Despite being up to date with vaccines and boosters, Norpel, 48, got Covid-19 in December 2021, when the highly transmissible omicron variant was fueling record U.S. caseloads.
She never got better — and in fact, feels worse, with a range of debilitating symptoms that make it impossible to work.
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Her halting speech can be triggered by something as innocuous as cold water or cool air on the skin. Extreme noise sensitivity requires her to wear noise-canceling headphones all day. She’s also endured a low-grade migraine for nearly a year, which can flare up after prolonged screen time.
When it comes to her body and mind, “the computer is just slow,” said Norpel, who lives with her family outside Philadelphia. “Right now, for me, 48 [years old] feels like 78.”

Norpel is one of millions of Americans with long Covid, also known as long-haul Covid, post-Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome. While definitions vary, long Covid is, at its core, a chronic illness with symptoms that persist for months or years after a Covid infection.
Up to 30% of Americans who get Covid-19 have developed long-haul symptoms, affecting as many as 23 million Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Long Covid could be ‘the next public health disaster’…

The country is about to enter its fourth calendar year of the coronavirus outbreak, and new variants are expected to make for a tough winter.
Researchers think most Americans have had Covid-19 at this point.
Studies suggest subsequent infections raise the chances of an “adverse” outcome, including hospitalization and death. The virus has killed more than 1 million Americans to date, and some 2,000 more die each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Long Covid demonstrates that the virus is taking a lingering, pervasive and perhaps even more insidious toll. Medical experts have called it “the next public health disaster in the making.”

“There are just large numbers of people affected by this,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and a dean at Baylor College of Medicine.
That number will “only continue to grow” as Covid-19 continues to circulate, HHS said in a recent report.
“This could be game-changing in terms of how we do medical practice, in the same way HIV/AIDs was a game-changer,” Hotez said.

… one with a significant financial toll

But the tentacles of long Covid reach far beyond its medical impact: from the labor gap to disability benefits, life insurance, household debt, forfeit retirement savings and financial ruin.
This article is the first of a CNBC special report examining long Covid’s destructive impact on individuals, families and the U.S. economy at large.
All told, long Covid is a $3.7 trillion drag on the U.S. economy — about 17% of our nation’s pre-pandemic economic output, said David Cutler, an economist at Harvard University. The aggregate cost rivals that of the Great Recession, Cutler wrote in a July report.
Cutler revised the $3.7 trillion total upward by $1.1 trillion from an initial report in October 2020, due to the “greater prevalence of long Covid than we had guessed at the time.” Even that revised estimate is conservative: It is based on the 80.5 million confirmed U.S. Covid cases at the time of the analysis, and doesn’t account for future caseloads.
Higher medical spending accounts for $528 billion of the total. But lost earnings and reduced quality of life are other sinister trickle-down effects, which respectively cost Americans $997 billion and $2.2 trillion.

“Long Covid will be around long after the pandemic subsides, impacting our communities, our health care system, our economy and the well-being of future generations,” the HHS report said.
Norpel was the household breadwinner, which allowed her husband to care for their kids. The family has been living on income from a long-term disability policy, a vestige of her old job; the funds replace just a third of her prior pay. Norpel’s husband must now juggle caretaking duties and the necessity of finding work, both for income and health insurance.
The money worries are multitude: the ability to continue funding her daughter’s college education, the odds of raiding retirement accounts or selling their home to subsist. Norpel’s 16-year old son recently wondered if he should get a job to support the family; but he doesn’t even have a driver’s license.
“All of it is just very heartbreaking,” said Norpel, adding that “long Covid changed everything.”

What is long Covid? It ‘depends on who you ask’

While there are still many unknowns about long Covid — shorthand for its scientific name “post-acute sequelae of Covid,” or PASC — what we do know so far is startling, experts say.
Anyone who’s had Covid-19 can develop the condition. People can get it regardless of the severity of their initial infection or the virus variant, according to the World Health Organization. It affects all age groups, even those who were previously fit and healthy.
Studies suggest women are at higher risk than men; one study found adult females to be twice as likely to have long-haul symptoms. People of color are also more likely to get sick due to the increased likelihood of a Covid-19 infection and less access to high-quality health care; it’s also more common in bisexual and trans people due to reduced care access and the stigma regarding their gender or sexuality, the HHS said in an October report.

However, the medical community hasn’t arrived at an exact definition of long Covid, which complicates diagnosis and treatment.
The definition “depends on who you ask right now,” said Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn, medical director of the Mayo Clinic’s Covid Activity Rehabilitation Program.
Here are some of the points on which opinions diverge:

Cause: Doctors don’t yet know what causes long Covid. They have theories: Perhaps it’s an autoimmune disorder, like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, whereby the virus is gone but the immune system remains active, attacking healthy cells by mistake; or maybe small blood clots develop in the brain, too small to cause a stroke but big enough to trigger neurologic issues.

Key symptoms: Long Covid has been linked to more than 200 symptoms, according to The Rockefeller Foundation. Shortness of breath, fatigue, and sleep disorders or insomnia are the most common symptoms, according to a recent global meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a peer-reviewed journal. Others include anxiety, depression, body aches, headache, heart palpitations and “brain fog” — which describes challenges associated with cognition, like thinking, concentration, communication, comprehension, memory and motor function. Some sufferers have organ damage, to the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin and brain.

Duration: There’s no consistent definition of how long symptoms must persist for someone to be considered a long Covid patient. For example, the CDC says a person has long-haul symptoms if they persist beyond (or start after) one month from an initial Covid-19 infection. The WHO generally uses a three-month barometer. Different health clinics may use others still.

What experts do know is that for some, long Covid symptoms can last months or even years. About 15% of people whose ailments persist three months after infection continued to experience symptoms at least 12 months after infection, according to the meta-analysis.
Meredith Hurst, a paralegal, is one of those people. Hurst caught Covid in November 2020. She was diagnosed with long Covid in December 2021; now, two years after the initial infection, she still hasn’t recovered.

The 42-year-old, who lives in Wilmington, Delaware, is unable to work and is in the process of filing for Social Security Disability Insurance — for which qualification is famously stringent. Brain fog, migraines and fatigue require her to complete the application in pieces; all of her progress, which had been saved in a draft, was recently deleted because too many days had elapsed.  
Meanwhile, Hurst is struggling to make ends meet. In addition to Medicaid health benefits, she receives public assistance via food stamps. Her credit cards are “getting maxed out.”
“I don’t know if it’s for the rest of my life or not,” Hurst said of feeling long Covid symptoms.
“It will probably continue this way for me until there is a test, a medication, more research, more education for the public, for doctors,” she added. “This is going to be my experience for a while”
“It doesn’t mean forever,” Hurst said. “But for right now, this is my reality.”

‘All sorts of testing’ to try for a diagnosis

The formal diagnosis code for long Covid used by researchers and physicians is only a year old.
The CDC authorized the code (U09.9) in October 2021. An official diagnosis allows patients to more easily access long Covid-related treatments, file for disability insurance and request accommodations at work, according to the HHS report.
Yet its nebulous nature means there isn’t yet a definitive, yes-or-no lab test for it.
“There’s no diagnostic test,” said Dr. Jeff Parsonnet, an infectious disease physician who started the Post-Acute COVID Syndrome clinic at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. “It’s really a clinical diagnosis.”
Sometimes that process is straightforward: a confirmed, positive Covid-19 test result, with enough time passing after initial infection and persistent symptoms consistent with hundreds of other long Covid patients may be adequate, Vanichkachorn of the Mayo Clinic said.
But often, by the time Parsonnet sees patients at the Post-Acute COVID Syndrome clinic, they’ve had “all sorts of testing” from a primary care doctor or specialists. That might include pulmonary function tests or chest X-rays to look for heart or lung conditions, for example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify brain inflammation or a “tilt table” test to evaluate a possible autonomic disorder.
Frustratingly for patients, such testing often comes back negative, according to medical experts, even as it adds to their financial burden.   
“In many cases, the diagnosis is [long Covid] because there’s nothing else to explain the condition,” said Alice Burns, associate director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at health care nonprofit The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s the diagnosis when all other diagnoses have been ruled out.”

There are a lot of physicians or care providers who are reluctant to apply a label they see as defined as everything but the kitchen sink.

Diana Güthe
founder of Survivor Corps

That can make some physicians unwilling to entertain long Covid as a reason for health complications.
“There are a lot of physicians or care providers who are reluctant to apply a label they see as defined as everything but the kitchen sink,” said Diana Güthe, founder of Survivor Corps, referring to the litany of symptoms. Survivor Corps is a grassroots Covid advocacy group with about 250,000 members; Güthe herself had and recovered from long Covid.
Donna Pohl, 56, met with a neuromuscular specialist in mid-November to help treat nerve damage that resulted from long Covid. The visit didn’t go well.
“[The specialist] said, ‘Everyone wants to blame Covid,'” said Pohl, who lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, and was diagnosed with long Covid last December. “We are sick, not stupid or crazy.”
People — including family and friends — often write off symptoms as “byproducts of anxiety and depression, or even worse, laziness and an excuse not to work,” the HHS report said.
Neurologists would see Norpel twitch and instead focus just on her migraines, she recalled. One told her to stop reading literature on long Covid when she mentioned the disease during an appointment. “It was like Dr. ‘Mansplaining,'” she said.
She eventually had a consultation in August at the Mayo Clinic, where she was told: “We believe you — you have long Covid.”
“I started crying when the doctors spoke to me,” Norpel said. More

With prices at record highs, and job openings still abundant, returning to work after retirement may be a tempting way to boost your income.
If you’re already collecting Social Security retirement benefits, there are a few things you may want to know first.

Viktorcvetkovic | E+ | Getty Images

A combination of high inflation and plentiful job openings may tempt some retirees into rejoining the workforce.
But if you’re thinking about working, either part time or full time, and you’re already collecting Social Security retirement benefits, there are a few things you may want to know first.

Social Security beneficiaries who go back to work may stand to earn more in the short term and also may eventually increase their monthly benefit checks, according to Joe Elsasser, founder and president of Covisum, a provider of Social Security claiming software.
But they could also be subject to short-term benefit changes that are worth planning for. “That’s the surprise that people want to avoid, is not knowing the earnings test is going to happen and that they’re going to have a penalty,” Elsasser said.

Here are a few things to know about your Social Security benefits before unretiring.

1. Your benefits may be reduced temporarily

If you are over your full retirement age, there is no earnings penalty if you return to work.
“They can make as much as they want and be able to collect Social Security checks,” Elsasser said.

Full retirement age is 66 to 67, depending on your year of birth. The Social Security Administration’s retirement age calculator can help you find out the age at which you will reach eligibility for full benefits.
“In the calendar year you reach full retirement age, you really have a lot more flexibility for working and having earned income, and the penalty is less, too,” Elsasser said.
Even though benefits are reduced for the earnings penalty, those who return to work still stand to make more in the short term, as well as later on when their benefits are increased.

2. You could get a bigger benefit check later on

If you are subject to the earnings penalty, your benefit will be recalculated later on, and that could mean a bigger monthly check.
Take someone who has a $2,000 Social Security check, who went back to work and earned $40,000. Based on the earnings penalty, they may not get a Social Security check for the first five months of the year, according to Elsasser, but in the remaining months, they would receive their $2,000 benefit.
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Once that worker reaches full retirement age, the SSA counts up the months they did not receive benefit checks due to the earnings penalty. Then, it will adjust the worker’s benefits as if they had claimed later to account for that time.
Ultimately, their benefits are increased as if they had delayed benefits, Elsasser said.
“That’s the important thing to remember: It’s not a tax,” Elsasser said of the earnings penalty. “Benefits are not lost; your benefit is recalculated when you reach full retirement age.”

3. Tell Social Security about your return to work

If you plan to return to work, you should notify the SSA right away, Elsasser advised. That way, the agency can start to reduce your checks now.
If you don’t, you could be in for an unwelcome surprise early the next year when the IRS reports your earnings to the SSA.
If that happens, you may get an unexpected letter from the SSA notifying you that they are stopping your benefit right away until any earnings penalty from the prior year is made up.
That may disrupt your cash flow, which you may not be expecting.

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After a volatile year for the stock and bond markets, it may be time to rebalance your portfolio by shifting assets back to match your original goals.
As the markets fluctuate, your asset allocation may drift from its initial percentages, and no longer align with your risk tolerance.
Many investors use calendar-based timing or an “as needed” rebalancing approach triggered by predetermined rules.

Source: Getty Images

After a volatile year for the stock and bond markets, it may be time to rebalance your portfolio by shifting assets back to match your original goals, according to experts.  
As of Nov. 28, the S&P 500 Index was down roughly 17% year-to-date, and the U.S. bond market has dropped by around 13%, leaving many investors with significantly different allocations than one year ago.

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Typically, you choose an initial percentage of stocks, bonds and other assets based on risk tolerance and goals, said certified financial planner Anthony Watson, founder and president of Thrive Retirement Specialists in Dearborn, Michigan. 
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But as the markets fluctuate, the allocation of each type of asset may shift, and without periodic rebalancing, “the portfolio starts to look very different,” he said.
For example, if your target is 50% stocks and 50% bonds, those percentages could eventually drift to 70% stocks and 30% bonds, which is “far riskier” than the original allocation, Watson said.

How to know when to rebalance your portfolio

Generally, investors use one of two strategies when deciding how often to rebalance, Watson explained. 

You may use “calendar-based timing,” such as quarterly or annually, or make changes “as needed,” based on a predetermined set of rules, such as a specific percentage allocation change, he said, referencing recent Vanguard research on both methods. 
“They showed there’s really no difference from a value perspective,” Watson said. “It’s really about rebalancing versus not rebalancing.”

The big piece that can come with rebalancing your portfolio is tax-loss harvesting.

Ashton Lawrence
partner at Goldfinch Wealth Management

You can rebalance with new contributions, including reinvested dividends, or by trading one asset for another. Watson generally considers aggregate investments across all accounts and makes the necessary changes in tax-deferred or tax-free retirement accounts. 
However, rebalancing in taxable brokerage accounts may provide other opportunities, particularly in a down market, experts say.
“The big piece that can come with rebalancing your portfolio is tax-loss harvesting,” which allows you to offset profits with losses, said Ashton Lawrence, a CFP and partner at Goldfinch Wealth Management in Greenville, South Carolina.

While the average investor may save tax-loss harvesting for year-end, there have been “several opportunities” throughout 2022 amid the stock market volatility, he said. 

Reconsider your risk tolerance

Regardless of your portfolio changes, Lawrence said it’s important to consider the current economic conditions, including what’s expected to come. 
“You should always double-check your risk tolerance,” he said, explaining that investors are typically more willing to accept risk in a bull market and tend to become “extremely risk-adverse” in a bear market.

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So far this November, consumers have spent $107.7 billion online, up nearly 10% from last year.
To make their holiday purchases, more shoppers are relying heavily on credit cards and buy now, pay later plans.
Experts say it’s not too late to avoid falling deeper in debt.

Consumers spent a record $9.12 billion online shopping during Black Friday and another record $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday, according to the most recent data from Adobe. So far this November, consumers have spent $107.7 billion online overall, up nearly 10% from last year.
Yet roughly 60% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck heading into the month.

“Shoppers are continuing to spend despite inflation and economic headwinds,” said Tom McGee, president and CEO of ICSC, the largest trade association for the retail real estate industry.  
As high prices continue to weigh on most households’ financial standing, more shoppers are relying heavily on credit cards and flexible payment plans to make their purchases.
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But with annual percentage rates close to 20%, or even 30% on some retail cards, credit card debt can take years to pay off. 
While buy now, pay later often promises zero interest, studies have also shown that installment buying could encourage consumers to spend more than they can afford.

Last year, more than half of shoppers made a purchase with buy now, pay later that they couldn’t pay off, according to a survey from Oxygen, an online-only bank.
This year, Americans are on track to fall even deeper in debt. However, experts say it’s not too late to avoid the same financial pitfalls this season. Here’s how.

How to avoid racking up holiday debt

Black Friday shoppers wait to enter the Nike store at the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 25, 2022.
Seth Herald | AFP | Getty Images

1. Cut up your credit card
If your credit card balance already seems unmanageable, “it’s time to cut it up and focus on paying it off,” said Lori Gross, financial advisor at Outlook Financial Center in Troy, Ohio.
“Use cash from this point on if you still have to shop during the holiday season.”
2. Come up with a strategy
Add up what you’ve purchased so far and set a budget for the rest of the season, Gross said. “It should be substantially lower if you’ve already spent too much.”
Share your strategy with a family member or friend so they can help you stay on track with your new budget and prevent you from getting deeper into debt, she suggested. There are also apps and free online resources that can help organize your finances for the holiday season. 

3. Create a holiday fund
It’s not too late to start a holiday fund. “Adopt a strategy now and hold yourself accountable,” said Michael Sheppard, group vice president at Minneapolis-based financial services firm Thrivent.
Challenge yourself to save money every week, he advised. “Making routine transfers from spending accounts to a holiday savings account designated for future shopping can really add up.” 
4. Communicate with your family and friends
If you want to scale back your celebrations, start those conversations with your loved ones now, Sheppard advised. “In lieu of exchanging gifts, perhaps there’s a holiday event, concert or theater performance your family can attend together,” he said. “Make the shared experience a cost-saving memory.”
Also consider a charitable donation instead of gifts. Making time to volunteer may prove especially meaningful, Sheppard said.
“This can help you stay grounded in what matters and bring clarity to what you want to accomplish during the holiday season.”
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