From student loan forgiveness to tech layoffs, 7 of the biggest money stories from 2023

Student loan debtors spent the first half of the yr hoping to see their balances reduced, if not erased, by the finish of the summer season. Many spent the second half of the yr scrambling to determine how they had been going to resume making payments. 

By the finish of the third quarter, debtors wound up with a complete of $1.6 trillion in debt, in accordance to New York Fed data. September marked the first month federal student loans would accrue curiosity since 2020, and debtors had to resume funds in October. 

Though President Joe Biden’s effort to relieve up to $20,000 per borrower was blocked by the Supreme Court in June, his administration has nonetheless granted forgiveness to 3.6 million Americans by means of enhancements to Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven compensation and incapacity discharge applications.

When average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit 8% in October, these already exhausted with the state of the housing market might have seen their stress hit new ranges, too. The nationwide common hasn’t hit 8% since 2000.

Just three years earlier, in October 2020, charges had been sitting comfortably under 3%. But as inflation rose all through 2021 and 2022, the Fed stepped in to tame it by growing its goal charge, driving up the price to borrow money.

As inflation slowed, the Fed was in a position to pause its charge hikes and as of November, mortgage rates have crept back down under 7%. Though mortgage charges and residential costs stay increased than what many would-be patrons would love to see, charges might proceed to come down subsequent yr, as the Fed is expected to start cutting.

The 12-month shopper worth index, which tracks the change in costs throughout all objects, continued to fall almost each month by means of 2023, touchdown at 3.1% in November. It’s not fairly at the Fed’s goal of about 2% but, however it’s down from 6.4% in January of this yr, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

While they don’t seem to be rising as rapidly as in 2022, costs on on a regular basis objects from groceries to gasoline remained high through 2023. 

Do you are feeling wealthier than you had been earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic started? The median American family’s web value grew 37% between 2019 and 2022, the latest Survey of Consumer Finances carried out by the Federal Reserve discovered. 

The survey, which is carried out each three years, discovered the median net worth among all U.S. households hit $192,900 in 2022, up from $141,100 in 2019.

The common web value amongst U.S. households rose to $1.06 million in 2022, up from $868,000 in 2019, the survey discovered. Keep in thoughts that common web value may be skewed by ultra-wealthy households, that are few in numbers however wealthy in property. The richest 1% of Americans personal 23% of the nation’s family wealth, according to Fed data.

It has been a tumultuous yr for the tech trade, which has shed 260,509 jobs as of Dec. 22, in accordance to monitoring web site Layoffs.fyi. That’s almost 100,000 extra layoffs than all of 2022, the web site experiences.

The 1,175 corporations that laid off staff all through the yr embrace tech giants equivalent to Amazon, Meta and Microsoft. 

The Fed’s rate of interest hikes and fears of a coming recession have made the trade particularly prone to cuts after years of almost untethered development. 

It’s not all dangerous information for tech, nevertheless. The explosion of synthetic intelligence led to a 1,000% year-over-year increase in related job postings on work market Upwork.

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