Credit Cards Banking Mortgages Student Loans Personal Loans Auto Insurance Life Insurance Taxes Your Money The Fed rate cut: What it means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards How the Fed's decision on interest rates affects savings products, various types of loans, and credit cards. Federal funds rate: What it is and how it affects you The federal funds rate is a rate set by the government that banks charge each other for short-term loans. Learn how the federal funds rate affects your money. How the Federal Reserve rate decision affects mortgage rates The Federal Reserve affects mortgage rates by setting a federal funds rate at Fed meetings. Learn how the Fed could impact your rate when you buy or refinance. What credit card users need to know about the Fed's rate cut The Fed has slashed interest rates by a half point. Here’s why you should take control of your credit card debt. 3 smart things to do when your savings account hits $10,000 Saving up $10,000 is a big accomplishment. But how you use that money is also important. Here’s what you can do with $10,000 in savings to improve your financial situation further. When will mortgage rates go down? What housing experts say. Here’s a look at where two major industry players project mortgage rates will be over the next couple of years. Calculators and Tools Mortgage payment calculator Estimate your monthly payments and see how much goes toward the principal amount, interest, taxes, and insurance with the mortgage calculator. How much house can I afford? Run the calculations to determine which type of mortgage you might qualify for and how much house you can afford. Watch Now - Personal Finance Sequence risk: What is it, how can it affect your retirement plans? Morningstar vice president of research John Rekenthaler joins Wealth! to explain when the right time is to start tapping into your retirement account. Rekenthaler lays out the dangers of sequence risk, or the impact of withdrawing retirement funds, explaining, "When you start retirement, if you start pulling out your money from a portfolio and you're withdrawing from your portfolio and you hit a bear market, you can enter into this vicious cycle where you're pulling out money as the portfolio is dropping and you reach a point where the portfolio cannot really recover. "If you continue pulling out that much money each year and withdrawing from a bear market that hits you early in retirement, your portfolio gets too low, you can't recover." However, he notes that the reverse can happen within a 401(k) plan when you "have the most money in there, and that's when high returns can really help you. So it's really not sequence risk. It's sequence opportunity, I think, is the way to phrase it. It doesn't matter so much for somebody who's young if they encounter a bear market. There's not much money in their 401(k)... But the last 10 to 15 years, if the markets are strong, if the portfolio performs well, that's a great opportunity for people." As retirement account holders age, Rekenthaler encourages them to increase their contributions. He notes that over the age of 50, 401(k) owners can deposit up to an extra $7,500 a year. If this is done during a bull market, the returns could be even more significant. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth! This post was written by Melanie Riehl 05:58 Indeed researcher lays out why labor market is in a 'good spot' 07:31 How the CFPB wants to ensure consumers benefit from rate cuts 07:13 Reinforce your budget while saving for retirement, emergencies 02:12 Can AI and 'finfluencers' be trusted with personal finance? 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