Older Swedes fear being left behind as businesses move away from cashless transactions. Sweden is winning the race towards becoming the world’s first completely cashless society, but there are growing concerns it’s causing problems for the elderly and other vulnerable groups. None of the high street banks around Stockholm’s spotless …
The growth of easily available credit profoundly altered our attitude to money. The clue is in the name: credit. It means belief, trust. If you’re a shopkeeper, who do you trust to repay a debt? For most of history, only someone you knew personally, which was fine since most of …
NEW YORK (AP) — Retire by your mid-60s? How 1960s. More Americans age 65 and over are still punching the clock, and the last time the percentage was this high was when John F. Kennedy was in the White House. Last month, 19 percent of Americans age 65 and over …
NEW YORK (AP) — For legions of Americans craving a chance to adopt children, a confluence of daunting trends makes this an especially distressing time. The overall number of U.S. adoptions has dropped significantly in recent years, straining the viability of many adoption agencies and drawing some into conduct that …
Anyone eager to buy a home this spring probably has reasons to feel good. The job market is solid. Average pay is rising. And mortgage rates, even after edging up of late, are still near historic lows. And then there’s the bad news: Just try to find a house. The …
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Dying in West Virginia comes at a huge cost for some families, particularly in late winter and spring. In a trend that some funeral directors blame on the opioid epidemic, the state’s indigent burial program has run out of money months ahead of the end of …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Once again, “Obamacare” has survived a near-death experience. It won’t be the end of the political debate, but House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledges, “We’re going to be living with ‘Obamacare’ for the foreseeable future.” Ryan pulled the “repeal and replace” bill drafted by House Republican leaders and …
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s has started testing mobile order-and-pay after acknowledging the ordering process in its restaurants can be “stressful.” The company says it will gather feedback from the test before launching the option nationally toward the end of the year. It says mobile order-and-pay is now available at …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS strikes back: The tax agency reports that the number of identity theft victims plummeted last year after agents struggled for years to combat what has become a multibillion-dollar industry. The number of victims dropped by 46 percent, to 376,000, the IRS said. These taxpayers had …
WASHINGTON (AP) — As millions of Americans file their income tax returns, their chances of getting audited by the IRS have rarely been so low. The number of people audited by the IRS in 2016 year dropped for the sixth straight year, to just over 1 million. The last time …
BANGKOK (AP) — The 49-story Bangkok high-rise was supposed to feature luxury condos for hundreds of newly affluent Thai families, but it was abandoned unfinished when the Asian financial crisis struck in 1997. Now called the “Ghost Tower,” it’s a monument to mistakes made and an object of curiosity to …
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The plunging cost of solar power is leading U.S. electric companies to capture more of the sun just when President Donald Trump is moving to boost coal and other fossil fuels. Solar power represents just about 1 percent of the electricity U.S. utilities generate today, but …