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Grindr surged in trading Friday in its first day under a new ticker following its merger with blank-check company Tiga.
The LGBTQ social platform hosted a drag show outside of the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate what employees sees as an indicator of how far financial services and society has come in regards to LGBTQ acceptance.
Advocates say it is an important moment, but can’t overshadow the issues still facing LGBTQ people in financial services.

The LGBTQ social networking platform Grindr puts on a public show outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the company goes public following its merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Tiga Acquisition Corp. on November 18, 2022 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Traders, bank workers and tourists weren’t the only ones around Wall Street Friday morning. Drag queens were also in attendance.
The group of performers, some known for appearances on the competition show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” performed on a rainbow stage set in the front of the New York Stock Exchange. It was part of a celebration of LGBTQ dating app Grindr’s public-markets debut following a merger with blank-check company Tiga Acquisition.

Under its new ticker GRND, the company began trading on the NYSE at $16.90 per share on Friday, leaping to a high of $71.51 during the session. Share value more than doubled to $36.50 when the market closed.
Grindr CEO George Arison, who is about a month into the job, has been quick to cite the debut as a reflection of broader inclusion of LGBTQ people, both within finance and more broadly.
“It’s a pretty incredible thing that the company whose primary user base is gay and bisexual men, built by and for the LGBTQ population, with an employee base that is heavy in that cohort of the population as well, is now going public,” Arison said. “It’s not something that would not have happened 20 years ago, probably wouldn’t have happened even 10 years ago.”
He said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Friday about an hour after representatives from the company rang the opening bell that the small volume of shares available and interest in the company helped drive its first rally.
Grindr’s party featured a stage for drag queens, with attendees that included employees, financial services professionals, volunteers for LGBTQ community groups and social media influencers. The New York Stock Exchange was lined with rainbow markers and pride flags in recognition of the event.

Before the opening bell, New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin spoke about the importance of an LGBTQ-centered company’s place in the equities market. Indeed, it was only in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage rights. Martin was one of multiple speakers who noted the poignancy of the platform having this celebration in the same neighborhood where the first of multiple demonstrations protesting for more awareness of the AIDS epidemic happened about 35 years ago.
“Can you imagine what those 250 people would be thinking if they saw us all here today?” she said of the protestors. “They would be celebrating the fact that through freedom of speech, they were able to pave the way for a more equitable future, a more equitable society – one that doesn’t discriminate on color of skin, race, gender or who you love.”

‘The power of the app’

The excitement around Grindr’s debut does not diminish the difficulties of the current bear market. Information technology and communication services stocks specifically have been hit hard, with those S&P 500 sectors respectively down 24.5% and 37.8% so far this year.
Grindr’s debut also comes in a year when other dating apps are flailing, with Bumble and Match plummeting 31.7% and 64.9% since the start of the year. Grindr’s reputation is mixed, with some saying it is more known for hooking up than dating, but the company is branding itself as an online community space.
The app is also being challenged by Motto, a new, unlisted platform created by Grindr founder Joel Simkhai. He left the company five years ago.
Arison said Grindr will separate itself from competitors by pitching, in part, that it’s more akin to a social network given LGBTQ-themed resources on topics around HIV-preventative medicine and monkeypox as well as company data that shows the average user spends 61 minutes per day on the platform.
“We do have this very unique engagement with our user base,” he said.
A bear market does not negate the long-term benefits from being public such as increased hiring potential, the ability to raise capital and potential mergers or acquisitions, he said. In addition to goals of continuing to expand monetizable offerings like subscriptions and profile “boosting,” the company could look at adding elements like travel recommendations to enhance the user experience, Arison added.
Meanwhile, he said Grindr is excited to share what he calls a strong business model with Wall Street. He said the first half of 2022 saw $90 million in revenue, which shows a 42% growth compared with the same period a year ago. The company also saw 26% year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA.
Arison said Grindr is unique because it spends only 1% on revenue on marketing due to its high brand awareness within its target audience of people who identify as men interested in others who identify as men. It had about 11 million actively monthly users spanning nearly every country in the world in 2021.
He said any concerns about how homophobia could impact trading performance have been washed away through meetings with investors and others in the finance world who seem interested in the business and how it could trade. Grindr is expected to see a total addressable market of $4 billion for the entirety of 2022.
Arison was surprised to see the “understanding of the power of the app for the community and its users, and how much understanding investors have for what the app does for people,” he said. “That was super encouraging and exciting.”

‘The picture is bleak’

Advocates say Grindr going public undoubtedly represents a milestone for inclusion within financial services, but it can’t overshadow the many areas where progress is still badly needed.
Banks have overwhelmingly moved to support gay marriage and equality, said Michael Maldonado, a communications chair of the advocacy group Out in Finance. But Maldonado said financial services can still exclude people who don’t fit into a straight, white and cisgender picture, pointing to the difficulties faced by photo- and video-sharing platform OnlyFans, known for its use for monetizing sexually explicit content, when trying to go public.
He pointed to the specific hurdles transgender people face trying to enter the field and the lack of inclusion of LGBTQ-owned businesses in the environmental, social, and governance investing space as two areas that still need improvement.
“It says a lot that there were investors willing to tie their names to what this company is known for and help bring it to market,” Maldonado said. But, “this is not the one thing happening within our industry. There’s lots of different things that are happening to to continue the progress you’ve seen within the financial services community.”
There’s also a lack of standardized research into the support LGBTQ-owned companies receive when trying to raise funding, said William Burckart, the co-founder of Colorful Capital, which helps connect those businesses with capital. He also said these companies can struggle with few investors willing to take the lead, which requires the most risk.
Burckart said micro and macro-aggressions continue. He has heard from a woman owner who was told she’d need to bring a man with her to be “taken seriously.” A trans woman founder was asked “are you really a woman?” when going through the due-diligence process with an investing firm focused on gender.
“The LGBTQ plus community is kind of this … gray space on the economic map of the world,” he said, noting the fault is not on LGBTQ people themselves. “In reality, it’s kind of like, we know the picture is bleak to the extent that we can even see the picture.”
Still, Maldonado and others note that Grindr’s success could lead to it getting analyst coverage or potentially indexed, which would increase its reach. Arison said it adds to a picture of progress that was improved this week with the House of Representatives passing a bill that would codify gay marriage.
And as Martin readied an excited crowd to watch Grindr leadership ring the opening bell Friday, she felt the importance of freedom of expression in the stock exchange.
“The only way we can move a society forward is a true expression of freedom,” she said. “And that’s why we’re so excited to celebrate the Grindr IPO today.”

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The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to lift an injunction barring its student loan debt forgiveness plan from taking effect.
The request comes days after a federal appeals court in St. Louis issued a nationwide injunction temporarily barring the program.
That ruling by the appeals court was the latest in a series of legal challenges to President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt at the White House on Aug. 24, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty

The Biden administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate its federal student loan program after a federal appeals court issued a nationwide injunction against the plan.
The administration’s request, which was previewed in another court filing Thursday, blasted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit for blocking the debt relief plan. That injunction was issued earlier in response to a lawsuit by a group of Republican-controlled states.

“The Eighth Circuit’s erroneous injunction leaves millions of economically vulnerable borrowers in limbo, uncertain about the size of their debt and unable to make financial decisions with an accurate understanding of their future repayment obligations,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in Friday’s filing with the Supreme Court.
Prelogar also wrote that if the Supreme Court declines to vacate the injunction, it could consider the filing as a petition to the high court to hear the Biden’s administration appeal of the decision by the lower court.
And if the Supreme Court accepts the administration’s appeal, if could “set this case for expedited briefing and argument this Term,” she wrote. Keeping President Joe Biden’s plan on hold while the appeal unfolds, Prelogar said, could keep borrowers in uncertainty about their debts until “sometime in 2024.”
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Monday’s injunction by the 8th Circuit panel of three judges in St. Louis was the latest in a series of legal challenges to Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans.

The Biden administration stopped accepting applications for its relief earlier in the month after a federal district judge in Texas struck down its plan last week, calling it “unconstitutional.”
In the case at issue in the 8th Circuit, another federal judge rejected the challenge to the debt relief program brought by the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina.
The judge ruled that while the states raised “important and significant challenges to the debt relief plan,” they ultimately lacked legal standing to pursue the case.

Standing refers to the idea that a person or entity will be affected by the action they seek to challenge in court.
The GOP-led states appealed after their lawsuit was denied.
The appeals panel ruled Monday that Missouri had shown a likely injury from the administration’s program, pointing out that a major loan servicer headquartered in the state, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, or MOHELA, would lose revenue under the plan. Missouri’s state Treasury Department receives money from MOHELA.

Borrower defaults could rise amid ‘ongoing confusion’

A top official at the U.S. Department of Education recently warned that there could be a historic rise in student loan defaults if its forgiveness plan is not allowed to go through.
“These student loan borrowers had the reasonable expectation and belief that they would not have to make additional payments on their federal student loans,” U.S. Department of Education Undersecretary James Kvaal wrote in a court filing. “This belief may well stop them from making payments even if the Department is prevented from effectuating debt relief,” he wrote.
“Unless the Department is allowed to provide one-time student loan debt relief,” he went on, “we expect this group of borrowers to have higher loan default rates due to the ongoing confusion about what they owe.”

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Bob Pisani’s book “Shut Up & Keep Talking”

(Below is an excerpt from Bob Pisani’s new book “Shut Up & Keep Talking: Lessons on Life and Investing from the Floor of the New York Stock Exchange.”)
In 1997, just as I was becoming on-air stocks editor for CNBC, I had a telephone conversation with Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard.

That conversation would end up changing my life. 
Jack was by then already an investing legend. He had founded Vanguard more than 20 years before and had created the first indexed mutual fund in 1976. 
CNBC had been in the regular habit of having investing “superstars” like Bill Miller from Legg Mason, Bill Gross from Pimco or Jim Rogers on the air. It made sense: let the people who had been successful share their tips with the rest of us. 
Bogle, in our brief conversation, reminded me that these superstar investors were very rare creatures, and that most people never outperformed their benchmarks. He said we were spending too much time building up these superstars and not enough time emphasizing long-term buy-and-hold, and the power of owning index funds. He reiterated that most actively managed funds charged fees that were too high and that any outperformance they might generate was usually destroyed by the high fees. 
His tone was cordial, but not overly warm. Regardless: I started paying much more attention to Bogle’s investment precepts. 

The birth of Vanguard

From the day it opened on May 1, 1975, Vanguard Group was modeled differently from other fund families. It was organized as a mutual company owned by the funds it managed; in other words, the company was and is owned by its customers.
One of Vanguard’s earliest products proved to be the most historic: the earliest ever index mutual fund, the First Index Investment Trust, which began operation on Aug. 31, 1976. 
By then, the academic community was aware stock pickers — both those that picked individual stocks and actively managed mutual funds — underperformed the stock market. The search was on to find some cheap way to own the broad market. 

A tribute to Jack Bogle, founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group, is displayed on the bell balcony over the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, January 17, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

In 1973, Princeton professor Burton Malkiel published “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” drawing on earlier academic research that showed that stocks tend to follow a random path, that prior price movements were not indicative of future trends and that it was not possible to outperform the market unless more risk was taken. 
But selling the public on just buying an index fund that mimicked the S&P 500 was a tough sell. Wall Street was aghast: not only was there no profit in selling an index fund, but why should the public be sold on just going along with the market?  The purpose was to try to beat the market, wasn’t it? 
“For a long time, my preaching fell on deaf ears,” Bogle lamented. 
But Vanguard, under Bogle’s leadership, kept pushing forward. In 1994, Bogle published “Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor,” in which he argued the case for index funds over high-fee active management and showed that those high costs had an adverse impact on long-term returns. 
Bogle’s second book, “Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor,” came out in 1999 and immediately became an investment classic. In it, Bogle made an extended case for low-cost investing. 

Bogle’s four components to investing 

Bogle’s main message was that there are four components to investing: return, risk, cost and time. 
Return is how much you expect to earn. 
Risk is how much you can afford to lose “without excessive damage to your pocketbook or your psyche.” 
Cost is the expenses you are incurring that eat into your return, including fees, commissions and taxes. 
Time is the length of your investment horizon; with a longer time horizon, you can afford to take more risk. 

Stocks beat bonds over the long term 

While there are some periods when bonds have done better, over the long term stocks provide superior returns, which makes sense because the risk of owning stocks is greater. 
The longer the time period, the better chance stocks would outperform. For 10-year horizons, stocks beat bonds 80% of the time, for 20-year horizons, about 90% of the time and, over 30-year horizons, nearly 100% of the time. 

Vanguard signage at a Morningstar Investment Conference.
M. Spencer Green | AP

Other key Bogle precepts: 
Focus on the long term, because the short term is too volatile. Bogle noted that the S&P 500 had produced real (inflation-adjusted) returns of 7% annually since 1926 (when the S&P 500 was created), but two-thirds of the time the market will average returns of plus or minus 20 percentage points of that.
In other words, about two-thirds of the time the market will range between up 27% (7% plus 20) or down 13% (7% minus 20) from the prior year. The other one-third of the time, it can go outside those ranges. That is a very wide variation from year to year! 
Focus on real (inflation-adjusted) returns, not nominal (non-inflation adjusted) returns. While inflation-adjusted returns for stocks (the S&P 500) have averaged about 7% annually since 1926, there were periods of high inflation that were very damaging. From 1961 to 1981, inflation hit an annual rate of 7%. Nominal (not adjusted for inflation) returns were 6.6% annually during this period, but inflation-adjusted returns were -0.4%. 
The rate of return on stocks is determined by three variables: the dividend yield at the time of investment, the expected rate of growth in earnings and the change in the price-earnings ratio during the period of investment. 
The first two are based on fundamentals. The third (the P/E ratio) has a “speculative” component. Bogle described that speculative component as “a barometer of investor sentiment. Investors pay more for earnings when their expectations are high, and less when they lose faith in the future.” 
High costs destroy returns. Whether it is high fees, high trading costs or high sales loads, those costs eat into returns. Always choose low cost. If you need investment advice, pay close attention to the cost of that advice. 
Keep costs low by owning index funds, or at least low-cost actively managed funds. Actively managed funds charge higher fees (sometimes including front-end charges) that erode outperformance, so index investors earn a higher rate of return.
As for the hopes of any consistent outperformance from active management, Bogle concluded, as Burton Malkiel had, that the skill of portfolio managers was largely a matter of luck. Bogle was never against active management, but believed it was rare to find management that outpaced the market without taking on too much risk. 
Very small differences in returns make a big difference when compounded over decades. Bogle used the example of a fund that charged a 1.7% expense ratio versus a low-cost fund that charged 0.6%. Assuming an 11.1% rate of return, Bogle showed how a $10,000 investment in 25 years grew to $108,300 in the high cost fund but the low-cost fund grew to $166,200. The low-cost fund had nearly 60% more than the high-cost fund! 
Bogle said this illustrated both the magic and the tyranny of compounding: “Small differences in compound interest lead to increasing, and finally staggering, differences in capital accumulation.” 
Don’t try to time the markets. Investors who try to move money into and out of the stock market have to be right twice: once when they put money in, and again when they remove it.
Bogle said: “After nearly 50 years in this business, I do not know of anybody who has done it successfully and consistently. I don’t even know anybody who knows anybody who has done it successfully and consistently.” 
Don’t churn your portfolio. Bogle bemoaned the fact that investors of all types traded too much, insisting that “impulse is your enemy.” 
Don’t overrate past fund performance. Bogle said: “There is no way under the sun to forecast a fund’s future absolute returns based on its past records.” Funds that outperform eventually revert to the mean. 
Beware of following investing stars. Bogle said: “These superstars are more like comets: they brighten the firmament for a moment in time, only to burn out and vanish into the dark universe.” 
Owning fewer funds is better than owning a lot of funds. Even in 1999, Bogle bemoaned the nearly infinite variety of mutual fund investments. He made a case for owning a single balanced fund (65/35 stocks/bonds) and said it could capture 97% of total market returns.
Having too many funds (Bogle believed no more than four or five were necessary) would result in over-diversification. The total portfolio would come to resemble an index fund, but would likely incur higher costs. 
Stay the course. Once you understand your risk tolerance and have selected a small number of indexed or low-cost actively managed funds, don’t do anything else. 
Stay invested. Short term, the biggest risk in the market is price volatility, but long term the biggest risk is not being invested at all. 

Bogle’s legacy

More than 20 years later, the basic precepts that Bogle laid down in “Common Sense on Mutual Funds” are still relevant. 
Bogle never deviated from his central theme of indexing and low-cost investing, and there was no reason to do so. Time had proven him correct. 
Just look at where investors are putting their money. This year, with the S&P 500 down 15%, and with bond funds down as well, more than $500 billion has flowed into exchange traded funds, the vast majority of which are low-cost index funds. 
Where is that money coming from?
“Much of the outflows we have seen are coming from active [ETF] strategies,” Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas research at State Street Global Advisors, a major ETF provider, told Pension & Investments magazine recently. 
Today, Vanguard has more than $8 trillion in assets under management, second only to Blackrock. While Vanguard has many actively managed funds, the majority of its assets are in low-cost index funds. 
And that first Vanguard index fund? Now known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX), it charges 4 basis points ($4 per $10,000 invested) to own the entire S&P 500. All major fund families have some variation of a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. 
Jack Bogle would be pleased.
Bob Pisani is senior markets correspondent for CNBC. He has spent nearly three decades reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. In Shut Up and Keep Talking, Pisani shares stories about what he has learned about life and investing.

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A new forecast shows companies are planning 4.6% salary increases in 2023, up from a mid-year estimate of 4.1%.
The latest inflation reading showed a 7.7% rise in prices in October from a year earlier.
The Federal Reserve has raised a key interest rate six times this year in an effort to bring down the rate of inflation.

Violetastoimenova | E+ | Getty Images

The Fed aims for a 2% annual rate of inflation

While inflation is a normal part of an economy, the current rate is far above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
So far this year, the Fed’s rate-setting committee has boosted a key interest rate six times in its ongoing effort to bring down the rate of inflation. The general idea is that by raising the cost of borrowing money, spending will decline and there will be less inflationary pressure due to lower consumer demand.

This also can lead to job losses. Nevertheless, although there’s been an uptick in layoffs, the unemployment rate is relatively low at 3.7%, according to the latest reading.

Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins expressed confidence Friday that inflation can be tamed without a big jump in unemployment.
“I remain optimistic that there is a pathway to re-establishing labor market balance with only a modest rise in the unemployment rate — while remaining realistic about the risks of a larger downturn,” Collins said in prepared remarks for a Boston Fed economic conference.

While the job market could look different months from now, the current shortage of workers is a challenge for companies: 75% of the WTW survey respondents said they struggle with attracting and retaining talent, thus the bigger salary budgets. Employers also are providing more workplace flexibility (67%) and are placing a broader emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion (61%).
“As inflation continues to rise and the threat of an economic downturn looms, companies are using a range of measures to support their staff during this time,” said Hatti Johansson, a research director at WTW.
The WTW report is based on a survey conducted Oct. 3 to Nov. 4 and includes responses from 1,550 U.S. organizations.

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With persistent inflation eroding wage gains, more Americans are struggling financially just as the peak shopping season kicks into high gear.
Holiday spending could come at a high cost if it means tacking on additional credit card debt just as interest rates rise.

Just as the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, families are finding less slack in their budgets than before.
As of October, 60% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report. A year ago, the number of adults who felt stretched too thin was closer to 56%.

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“More consumers who have historically managed their budgets comfortably are feeling the financial strain, which will impact their spending behavior as we head into the holiday shopping season,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.
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Not only are day-to-day expenses higher, but inflation has also caused real wages to decline.
Real average hourly earnings are down 3% from a year earlier, according to the latest reading from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A separate report by Salary Finance found that two-thirds of working adults said they are worse off financially than they were a year ago.

Already, credit card balances are surging, up 15% in the most recent quarter, the largest annual jump in more than 20 years.

People are trying to economize and make the most of what they have.

Cecilia Seiden
vice president of TransUnion’s retail business

Roughly half of shoppers said they will buy fewer things due to higher prices, and more than one-third said they will rely on coupons or other money-saving strategies, according to a separate survey by RetailMeNot.
More consumers also plan to finance their purchases this year with credit cards and buy now, pay later loans.
And 25% of shoppers said they would opt for cheaper versions or more practical gifts, such as gas cards, according to another holiday survey by TransUnion.
“People are trying to economize and make the most of what they have,” said Cecilia Seiden, vice president of TransUnion’s retail business.

Holiday debt ‘is easy to get into and hard to get out of’

Shoppers at the King of Prussia mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021.
Hannah Beier | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Holiday spending could come at a high cost if it means tacking on additional credit card debt just as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to slow inflation, according to Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. 
“Credit card debt is easy to get into and hard to get out of,” he said. “High inflation and rising interest rates are making it even harder to break free.”
Credit card rates are now up to 19%, on average — an all-time high — and those rates will continue to rise since the central bank has indicated even more increases are coming until inflation shows clear signs of a pullback.

“This makes it more likely for credit card companies to increase their interest rates and makes the money you owe more expensive over time,” added Natalia Brown, chief client operations officer at National Debt Relief.
The rise in inflation and interest rates means consumers need to be particularly mindful, she said.
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Charitable giving tends to pick up toward the end of the year.
Last year, individuals donated a collective $326.87 billion to charities, according to GivingUSA’s 2022 report.
Be sure not to succumb to high-pressure tactics from solicitors for a nonprofit, says an expert.

Vladimir Vladimirov | E+ | Getty Images

With the holiday season about to be in full swing, the giving spirit is likely to follow.
If you’re among those who plan to make charitable donations before the end of the year, it’s worth making sure you know exactly where your money is going and how it will be spent.

Charitable giving tends to pick up in November and December, with some donors motivated by so-called Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29 this year) or fundraising campaigns and others making sure they get their donations in by Dec. 31 to take advantage of a tax break for taxpayers who itemize their deductions.
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Most adults — 68% — say they plan to donate the same amount to charities that they did last year, according to a recent study from Edward Jones. More adults (17%) plan to increase their donations than decrease them (10%).
Last year, individuals donated a collective $326.87 billion to various nonprofits, accounting for 67% of all charitable giving, according to GivingUSA’s 2022 report.

Here are some tips for making sure your philanthropic money ends up where you want it to.

1. Avoid high-pressure tactics

Sometimes, charities will market matching gift campaigns that involve a deadline that’s fast approaching.
“It encourages to you to give without giving you time to research whether the charity will use your donation efficiently or not,” said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch.
“It’s much better to step back and think about the causes you care about … and target those charities, Styron said.
“If it’s high pressure, it’s usually not a good charity,” she said.

2. Vet the charity

You can consult websites such as CharityWatch, GuideStar and CharityNavigator, which all analyze and rate charities to varying degrees. The Better Business Bureau also offers insights through its Wise Giving Alliance.
Additionally, most nonprofits — excluding churches — are required to file a Form 990 yearly with the IRS. Donors can use a search tool on the IRS website to confirm an organization is tax-exempt and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

You can also look at the nonprofit’s website for an annual report, which would also include useful information about how it spends donated money.

3. Give directly to the nonprofit

Sometimes, individuals are solicited by someone who says they are raising money on behalf of a charity, but are collecting the money themselves.
In those cases, you’d need to know whether the person definitely is going to pass on the money raised to the charity.
“Even if it’s a legitimate middle person or donation processor, they might be taking significant administrative or processing fees out of your donation,” Styron said.
Instead, she said, if that charity’s programs appeal to you, make the donation directly to the charity.

4. Beware of ‘scammy charities’

Sometimes, a person or group will take the name of a highly popular charity name and slightly change it, Styron said.
“A lot of times, scammy charities will leverage a familiar-sounding name to try to scam you out of your money,” she said. For instance, they might add “foundation” at the end of a charity’s name or “American” in front of the name to make it sound like a charity that is broadly trusted.
In other words, it’s yet another reason to make sure you look into a charity before you give.

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Retirement account balances sank for the third quarter in a row, according to Fidelity’s analysis.
Despite wild market swings, most savers kept their contribution rate steady, Fidelity also found.

Months of market swings have taken a heavy toll on retirement savers.
The average 401(k) balance sank for the third consecutive quarter and is now down 23% from a year ago to $97,200, according to a new report by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. The financial services firm handles more than 35 million retirement accounts in total.

The average individual retirement account balance also plunged 25% year-over-year to $101,900 in the third quarter of 2022.

Still, the majority of retirement savers continue to contribute, Fidelity found. The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, held steady at 13.9%, just shy of Fidelity’s suggested savings rate of 15%.
“The market has taken some dramatic turns this year,” Kevin Barry, president of workplace investing at Fidelity, said in a statement. “Retirement savers have wisely chosen to avoid the drama.”
“One of the most essential aspects of a sound retirement savings strategy is contributing enough consistently — in up markets, down markets and sideways markets — to help reach your goals,” Barry said.
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Just 4.5% of savers changed their asset allocation in the most recent quarter, with most moving their savings into a more conservative investment option, Fidelity said. Some retirement savers seem to have been spooked after suffering big losses amid worries tied to inflation, interest rates, geopolitical turmoil and other factors, 401(k) administrator Alight Solutions also found.

‘It’s best to take a long-term approach to retirement’

“We encourage people not to make changes to their account based on short-term market events because often that can do more harm than good,” said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity’s vice president of thought leadership.
“It’s best to take a long-term approach to retirement.”
And despite the ongoing inflationary pressure straining most households, only 2.4% of plan participants took a loan from their 401(k), Fidelity said.
Federal law allows workers to borrow up to 50% of their account balance, or $50,000, whichever is less. However many financial experts similarly advise against tapping a 401(k) before exhausting all other alternatives since you’ll also be forfeiting the power of compound interest. 
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As day-to-day expenses continue to rise, Americans are taking on more debt.
Overall, credit card balances jumped 15% in the third quarter of 2022, notching the largest year-over-year increase in more than 20 years.
How much money you need to earn to cover expenses and save for the future comes down to understanding your net worth, experts said.

In an economy that has produced the highest inflation rate since the early 1980s, Americans are struggling to keep up with day-to-day expenses.
More consumers are now relying on credit cards to get by, which has helped propel total credit card debt to $930 billion in the third quarter, just shy of the all-time record, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Credit card balances climbed more than 15% from a year earlier, the largest annual jump in more than 20 years.
“With prices more than 8% higher than they were a year ago, it is perhaps unsurprising that balances are increasing,” the Fed researchers wrote in a blog post. “The real test, of course, will be to follow whether these borrowers will be able to continue to make the payments on their credit cards.”
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Why it’s ‘harder than ever’ to eliminate credit card debt

Meanwhile, “high inflation and high interest rates are making it harder than ever to pay down credit card debt,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com.
Not only are credit card balances back to pre-pandemic levels, but consumers are also carrying balances for long periods.

Among Americans who carry credit card debt from month to month, 60% have been in credit card debt for at least a year, according to CreditCards.com.
As the Federal Reserve raises its target federal funds rate, credit card annual percentage rates are climbing as well. 

High inflation and high interest rates are making it harder than ever to pay down credit card debt.

Ted Rossman
senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com

Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. As the federal funds rate rises, the prime rate does, too, and credit card rates follow suit. Cardholders usually see the impact within a billing cycle or two.
Already, credit card rates are roughly 19% — an all-time high — up from 16% earlier in the year.
Further, those rates will continue to rise since the central bank has indicated even more increases are coming until inflation shows clear signs of a pullback.
The best thing you can do now is pay down high-interest debt with a 0% balance transfer card, Rossman advised. Otherwise, consolidate and pay down credit cards with a lower-interest personal loan, he said.

Check your net worth to ‘provide clarity’ on priorities

How much money you need to earn to cover expenses and save for the future comes down to understanding your net worth and your goals, according to Paul Deer, a Boulder, Colorado-based certified financial planner and vice president of advisory service at Personal Capital.
Your net worth is essentially the sum of all of your assets — including cash, retirement accounts, college savings, house, cars, investment properties and valuables such as art and jewelry — minus any liabilities, or long-term debt, such as a mortgage, student loans, revolving credit card balances and any other personal loans.
“First and foremost, is your net worth growing or shrinking over time?” Deer said. If your net worth has been declining, it’s important to work on saving more and spending less. 

From there, consider the milestones you want to achieve going forward, Deer said, whether that’s retiring, buying a home or paying for your child’s or grandchild’s education.
“Laying those out can really help provide clarity over what you should be prioritizing today.”
Most people agree that they need to cut costs to build up their savings, and yet reports show consumers haven’t pulled back on food, entertainment or travel.
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