Remote and hybrid work has affected many industries, from commercial real estate to downtown restaurants. And it has impacted how many workers, unfettered by office attendance requirements, plan their travels.

Some call it “bleisure travel,” “laptop lugging,” “workations” or simply “blended travel.” The gist is the same: Remote and hybrid employees extend work trips to include leisure activities or work during their leisure trips.

Whatever it’s called, it could upend the traditional divide between leisure and business travel.

The travel lodging industry is already seeing the trend’s impact. Because bleisure travelers’ needs differ from those of traditional vacationers or work trippers, existing lodging options — particularly hotels — can fall short. This has created an opportunity and appears to be fueling a boom among short-term vacation rentals such as Airbnb.

Quarterly demand growth for short-term rentals has outpaced that for hotels since the first quarter of 2022, when travel began to fully rebound from the pandemic, according to a 2023 report from AirDNA and STR/CoStar, hospitality industry analytic services. This shift reflects changing traveler preferences and the ability of short-term rental hosts to react swiftly to these changes.

“We saw more and more people looking to convert their homes to short-term rentals,” says Jamie Lane, chief economist at AirDNA. “So supply could be added in an instant. It takes 10 minutes to create a listing, while building a hotel can take years.”

Indeed, the year-over-year growth in supply of short-term rentals has exceeded 15% in every quarter from the first quarter of 2022 through the second quarter of 2023, compared with below 5% growth for hotels, according to the report.

More short-term rentals are available and more travelers are choosing them. How does “bleisure” travel factor in?

A new kind of travel — and traveler

Vacations used to be something that employees squeezed between long periods of work. That’s no longer the paradigm for many office workers with more flexible schedules.

Far from being a pandemic-only trend, the popularity of bleisure travel is increasing. For instance, more than a third of workers plan to do some work on holiday season trips this year (up from 26% during the 2022 holiday season), according to a fall 2023 survey by consulting firm Deloitte.

Importantly, remote employees who planned to work during their holiday trips expected to extend their trips by nine days due to increased schedule flexibility. That is, bleisure travelers are taking much longer trips than they would have if they had to rush back to the office.

This has profound implications for the lodging industry.

“Half of nights booked are now over a week,” Lane says, referring to short-term rental booking data. “And when people are looking to stay longer, there’s a higher propensity for them to book a short-term rental.”

Many short-term rentals offer discounts for extended stays, which is attractive for bleisure travelers. And they provide home-like conditions that make them more comfortable for longer stays.

“They want those amenities — a kitchen, workspace, etc.,” explains Lane.

We can always (not) go downtown

Combining work and play has shifted what amenities travelers seek, and where they’re traveling. While business travel and business hotels are traditionally centered in dense urban cores, bleisure travelers appear to be looking elsewhere.

“The vast majority of hotel supply is in large cities and along the interstate,” says Lane. “The vast majority of short-term rental supply is in the mountains and beaches.”

Indeed, small city and rural destinations saw the largest supply uptick in the first part of 2023, followed by suburban areas, according to the AirDNA and STR/CoStar report.

This has led to another change in lodging preferences.

“We’re not seeing a recovery on shared rooms or studios, they’re still below 2019 demand,” says Lane. “We’re seeing all that demand growth in larger homes.”

Travelers combining work and play are looking for larger accommodations out of major cities that they can rent for longer. All of these changes favor short-term rentals over traditional hotels.

According to Lane, these dynamics are unlikely to shift in the near future as economic headwinds stunt new hotel development, leaving room for the number of homeowners who list their properties on Airbnb to meet demand and fill the supply gaps.

The bleisure travel trend, and its industry-shaking implications, could just be getting started.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

The article Why ‘Bleisure’ Travel Gives Short-Term Rentals a Boost Over Hotels originally appeared on NerdWallet.

LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank in 2023 to a nearly 30-year low, as sharply higher mortgage rates, rising prices and a persistently low level of homes on the market combined to push homeownership out of reach for many Americans.

The National Association of Realtors said Friday that existing U.S. home sales totaled 4.09 million last year, an 18.7% decline from 2022. That is the weakest year for home sales since 1995 and the biggest annual decline since 2007, the start of the housing slump of the late 2000s.

The median national home price for all of last year edged up just under 1% to record high $389,800, the NAR said.

Last year’s home sales slump echoes the nearly 18% annual decline in 2022, when mortgage rates began rising, eventually more than doubling by the end of the year. That trend continued in 2023, driving the average rate on a 30-year mortgage by late October to 7.79%, the highest level since late 2000.

The sharply higher home loan borrowing costs limited home hunters’ buying power on top of years of soaring prices. A dearth of homes for sale also kept many would-be homebuyers and sellers on the sidelines.

Mortgage rates have been mostly easing since November, echoing a pullback in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing loans. The yield has largely come down on hopes that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to shift to cutting interest rates this year.

The average rate on a 30-year home loan was 6.6% this week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. If rates continue to ease, as many economists expect, that should help boost demand heading into the spring homebuying season, which traditionally begins in late February.

Still, the average rate remains sharply higher than just two years ago, when it was 3.56%. That large gap between rates now and then has helped limit the number of previously occupied homes on the market by discouraging homeowners who locked in rock-bottom rates from selling.

“We need more inventory to get the market moving,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

Despite easing mortgage rates, existing home sales fell 1% in December from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.78 million, the slowest sales pace since August 2010, the NAR said.

December’s sales fell 6.2% from a year earlier. Last month’s sales pace is short of the roughly 3.83 million that economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

“The latest month’s sales look to be the bottom before inevitably turning higher in the new year,” Yun said. “Mortgage rates are meaningfully lower compared to just two months ago, and more inventory is expected to appear on the market in upcoming months.”

Home prices rose for the sixth straight month in December. The national median home sales price rose 4.4% in December from a year earlier to $382,600, the NAR said.

Smith started OSV Studios, located at 29605 Lorain Road in North Olmsted, as a small offshoot of his father’s video rental franchise.

Since then, he has worked on motion pictures, won multiple awards for his commercials and digitized millions of family photos.

“I basically learned by buying equipment and figuring out how it works,” Smith said. “We still do thousands of film transfer orders every year.”

Smith’s father and grandfather owned Merle Smith Auto Service in Lakewood from 1939 to 1989.

In 1983, Merle Jr. purchased a video rental franchise to diversify his holdings.

After an injury ended his football career at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Smith began working in the store.

Part-time work quickly branched into a $30,000 investment in equipment to do film transfers and photograph weddings.

Then, Smith shot a wedding for an ad executive.

That connection led to hundreds of regional and national spots for Family Dental Centers, Discount Drug Mart, Invacare, LeafGuard, NASA, several area car dealerships and many more.

Smith also works regularly with Cleveland’s professional sports teams and shot both the Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association’s All-Star games.

“Over and over again, I’ve had to adapt this business,” he said, recalling recessions as well as rapidly changing technology. “We use the best audio and the best camera equipment available.”

OSV Studios’ current client list runs over 200, and Smith and a staff of eight produce 50 to 60 commercials each month, with occasional help from subcontractors and freelancers.

Smith also rents equipment and his studio space which includes a fully equipped sound stage, a green screen and more.

Motion picture production companies sometimes rent his equipment to supplement their shoots.

Today’s cameras provide much better images than what Smith started out using.

And, equipment is much lighter and less expensive. Editing has improved as well from tapes that physically had to be cut to digital tools used on computers.

The next wave of changes comes from the much-discussed AI or artificial intelligence.

But, Smith is cautious about how AI is used.

“I like technology that advances the product,” he said, “not that takes away from writers or artists.”

Smith also frequently works to advance his profession by sharing what he knows with the next generation.

He taught in Berea City Schools for 10 years and frequently employs interns.

“For over 35 years, both nationally and in Cleveland, we’ve amassed an impressive client list that we’re proud to have won many awards for,” according to its website. “Our versatile production capabilities cover all bases.”

Smith also would like to offer classes for local business owners since technology to capture video now is ubiquitous.

“We’re excited for the next decade,” he said, adding that he is currently hiring. “It’s been a great 40 years, and I’m looking forward to 40 more.”

In addition to OSV Studios, Smith owns the building he occupies and rents space to several businesses — such as a full service salon.

After raising his family in Westlake, he now lives in Willard where he and his wife operate Sweet Smitty’s ice cream shop, 302 Walton St. East.

Vilensky was selected following a nationwide search, led by the organization’s Board of Directors.

Most recently, he served as vice president of strategic market operations and category management for Medically Home, a growing start-up company offering high-acuity care at home across 18 states, according to the release.

Prior to that, Vilensky was president and CEO of the Montefiore Home.

As CEO for Montefiore, Vilensky had a key role in growing the organization and planning the merger, creating a partnership designed to grow and diversify the communities, the release said.

Earlier leadership experience includes guiding the Cleveland Clinic’s rehabilitation and post-acute care operations.

Vilensky said he looks forward to joining the Kendal community.

“I am honored to be chosen as the second CEO in Kendal at Oberlin’s long history,” he said in the release. “I am thrilled to join the great team, board and vibrant community at Kendal at Oberlin.

“The values of Kendal, particularly the sense of community, inclusiveness and service align perfectly with my experiences and passion for healthy and independent aging.”

The search for Kendal at Oberlin’s new chief executive officer began when long-time CEO Barbara Thomas announced her plans for retirement after 32 years of leading the organization.

U.S. workers are getting smaller bonuses, a sign that belt-tightening employers aren’t as concerned about losing talent as in recent years.

The average cash bonus paid to employees last month was $2,145, down 21% from the previous year, according to payroll software company Gusto, which tracks payments made by more than 300,000 small businesses. Small businesses employ nearly half of all private-sector workers in the U.S., according to government data.

Every industry posted a decline, ranging from 3.8% for technology firms to 36% for tourism and transportation companies.

Not only were bonuses smaller, but fewer workers got them in most industries. Sixteen out of the 22 industries tracked by Gusto saw declines in the share of workers that received any sort of bonus, with the biggest drop coming at arts and entertainment firms. Compared with 2021, 6.9% fewer workers got a bonus in 2023.

“What surprised me was some of the industries where we’ve been talking about challenges finding talent, like food and beverage, health care and retail,” said Liz Wilke, principal economist at Gusto. “I didn’t expect to see the magnitude of the declines in those sectors specifically.”

Several factors drove the double-digit decline, Wilke said. Businesses are not hiring as aggressively as they were a year ago, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Fueled by soaring inflation and workers quitting at a record clip, businesses doled out more generous compensation packages over the past two years, so there’s less money in those coffers now. The rate at which workers voluntarily quit ticked down in November to the lowest since September 2020. With workers less confident in their ability to find other jobs, employers are less inclined to be as generous come bonus time.

That stinginess was also reflected in a November survey of companies of all sizes by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that 34% of companies didn’t award a bonus in 2023, up from 27% the previous year.

The biggest payouts went to finance workers, many at boutique investment firms, with an average bonus of $13,255, according to Gusto. Still, that’s down about 12% from the roughly $15,000 paid out in 2022 and 2021. The falloff mirrors what workers at Wall Street’s biggest banks will endure this year, as business has slowed and companies like Citigroup Inc. and others pare back expenses, according to projections from compensation consultant Johnson Associates. On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank AG’s Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke said a “difficult market” will be reflected in staffers’ bonuses.

Bonuses in the tech sector dropped, on average, $672 from 2021, when talent was much more scarce. Over the past two years, tech firms of all sizes have slashed more than 265,000 jobs in streamlining efforts, according to Challenger, Grey & Christmas. Cuts have continued in the new year, with Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch unit trimming headcount.

Merit-based salary increases will also see slower growth this year at larger employers, although the raises remain above pre-pandemic levels, data from Aon Plc and Mercer has shown. Companies have greater flexibility to adjust bonuses to respond to changing economic circumstances than they do with salaries, according to Liz Supinski, director of research and insights at WorldatWork, a nonprofit that provides education for human-resources professionals.

To be sure, demand for workers is still strong, and unemployment remains low. But “turbulence lurks on the edges,” according to Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at job site Indeed. “Job gains are clearly slower than this time last year.”

___

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

American family finances have weathered the fallout of the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession and a pandemic over the last 30 years. Despite these challenges and more, single-parent households as a whole have actually seen broad financial improvements during this time.

Some households are better insulated to emerge unscathed (and even improved) from economic turmoil. On the other hand, families with one earner and multiple mouths to feed are at a disadvantage compared with those with multiple incomes when there is a job loss, high inflation, unexpected medical expenses or trouble in financial markets, for example. Measuring the financial health of a single-income household against one with two incomes would uncover few surprises. However, examining how the financial well-being of single-parent households has changed, and how it’s changed relative to others over time, tells a story of certain improvements and remaining opportunities for growth.

I am the product of a single-parent household. From the time I was 3 years old in the early 1980s, my mom raised my older brothers and me solo. Later, as an adult, I was the head of a single-parent household, raising my daughter who was born in 2000. Much has changed during that time, both in how I experienced the world through finances personally and within the broader economy. Charting the household finances of single-parent households across decades underscores these changes. Income, net worth and homeownership rates among single-parent households have improved dramatically, but these households still lack insulation from financial shocks, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

Family finances through the decades

The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances is released every three years and is a trove of household financial data. I examined 30 years of the data, from 1992 to the recently released 2022 report, to see how my lived experiences aligned with the national picture and how the financial conditions of households like mine have changed.

Roughly 30 years ago, in 1992, I was 14 years old, living with my mother and one older brother, while my eldest brother was in college. During childhood, my mom received child support, but we still qualified for the free lunch program at school, a common proxy for household poverty. She had the good fortune of always having a steady job and put herself through college while raising us.

My experience as a parent — beginning in 2000 — was different in that I didn’t receive support payments from another parent but did qualify for broader public assistance. When my daughter was an infant, I received EBT benefits or “food stamps,” public housing and Aid to Dependent Children, commonly referred to as “welfare.” I, too, put myself through college and held down a job from the time she was born. Despite beginning my journey as a single mother at a deficit from where my mother began hers — quite a bit younger and with only one source of income — I was able to climb more quickly, perhaps because I only had one additional mouth to feed or because government and social supports of the era made it easier to do so.

Over the past 30 years, the median annual income of single-parent households has grown just over 45%, after adjusting for inflation, to $43,000, slightly faster than any other household type. Across all households, typical incomes grew about 27% during that period.

Note: The Survey of Consumer Finances defines single-parent households as those with children but not married or living with a partner.

A higher real income means a higher standard of living — your money can go further toward paying for the things you need. And my personal experience as a child and a parent aligns with this data — later in my daughter’s childhood, I was better able to afford things my mother would have considered luxuries when I was young.

I want to make it very clear that it’s little more than a neat coincidence that my personal life reflects the Federal Reserve data. Much is hidden in national aggregates, and many people have their own anecdotes that would run contrary to the data. In the case of “median income,” for example, we know that half of single-parent households earned less than $43,000 in 2022, and many likely earned much less. On the other hand, half earned more than that median amount. And though the national median grew during this 30-year period, some households surely experienced periods of declining income. Big aggregates allow us to examine broad trends, but they also sacrifice some details.

Net worth nearly triples; homes and retirement assets climb

Your net worth is the amount of your assets (the things you own of value) minus your liabilities, or debts. And single-parent households saw significant increases in net worth from 1992 to 2022. While households overall saw inflation-adjusted net worth climb 87% during this period, those headed by a single parent rose 189%.

A higher net worth represents greater insulation from financial difficulties. When you have more savings, equity in a home or lower debt, for example, you’re better able to accommodate unexpected expenses and better able to plan for long-term financial goals.

At least some of this growth in net worth is due to the rise of homeownership among single parents. The percentage of single-parent households who own their primary residence grew from 43% in 1992 to 50% in 2022, an increase of 17%, and the most dramatic increase among all family types during the period.

I was raised in rentals; my mother hasn’t owned a house since she had to sell the family home after my parents’ divorce. However, I purchased my first home when my daughter was 7 years old, thanks in part to the more accommodating standards of an FHA mortgage, down payment assistance and when I bought — it was 2007, and home loans were being passed out like candy.

Another important asset, retirement accounts, are now held by 37% of single-parent households, compared with 24% in 1992. While a marked improvement, there is still room for growth here. Among all households, 54% have retirement accounts.

So what can account for these improvements? It’s likely a combination of factors, starting with a “catch-up” period. Moms make up 80% of the heads of single-parent households, according to the U.S. Census, and women were afforded the right to apply for credit and loans such as mortgages only in 1974. The full implications of this change could certainly take decades to work their way into household personal finances and the economy at large. Further, the share of single mothers who work and the share of women going to college has increased over the past several decades, contributing to increased earning power. And finally, while a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that the stigma of single motherhood is on the rise again, it’s likely still at a better place than 30 or 50 years ago, when legal protections against discrimination were lacking.

Where single-parent households can still gain ground

The share of single-parent households that save money actually fell over the 30-year period examined, from 45% to 41%. In fact, it fell across most household types during this period, though it fell the furthest for single parents. Without savings, you’re more likely to depend on debt when emergency expenses arise and less likely to be able to keep up with monthly bills.

Single-parent households are also the most common household type to revolve credit card debt, or carry it from one month to the next. More than half (52%) of these households carry a balance on their card from month to month, compared with 44% of all households, according to the data. Further, single-parent households saw the greatest change in this metric among all household types during the two-year period capturing the COVID-19 recession — from 2019 to 2022, that share rose 15%.

Carrying credit card debt increases monthly payment obligations, and household payment-to-income ratios reflect this. In any given month, roughly 11% of single-parent households have monthly debt payments exceeding 40% of their monthly income. This 40% threshold is considered a measure of financial vulnerability, and a greater share of single-parent households find themselves on the wrong side of this line than any other household type. Further, while the share of households over this 40% mark has decreased in the last 30 years, it’s fallen the least in single-parent homes.

Keys to continued improvements

Overall, typical household finances have improved over the last 30 years, and by some measures they’ve improved most dramatically for single-parent households. But going it alone as a parent, whether by choice or by chance, still presents some greater financial challenges. Namely, households like mine often lack the additional safety valves afforded households with two potential earners, making them more vulnerable and more likely to have to turn to debt in periods of financial stress.

For me, a single parent raised by a single parent, money decisions were always about caution and resourcefulness, being careful and conscientious about every dime spent and being a scrappy problem-solver when money was too tight to cover all of the expenses. Honestly, I was resentful of this as a child. But I was grateful for the foundation when I became a parent. Early in my daughter’s life, these lessons were crucial for keeping the lights on, quite literally. And now that I’m financially secure, these lessons still underpin how I think about money and how I talk about it in my work.

The average finances of single-parent households have improved over the years, but individual household finances can hit setbacks along the long-term climb. The path to financial security is rarely linear. Incrementally building an emergency fund, using debt strategically and knowing where to turn when things get tough can make it easier to rebound and get back on an upward track.

The article 30 Years of Change in Single-Parent Household Finances originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Tilt Studio is a family fun center with locations throughout the country, the release said.

It features attractions like black-light laser tag, bumper cars, amusement rides and mini-golf plus over 150 arcade and video games.

Tilt Studio has party rooms for birthdays, group gatherings and corporate events, according to the release.

The Sandusky Mall Complex, located at 4314 Milan Road, near Sandusky, has served the North Coast since 1976, the release said.

It currently comprises more than one million square feet of retail space, with more than 50 retailers, restaurants and other businesses, according to the release.

A new, adjacent residential community, Villas at Sandy Creek, is open.

The Sandusky Mall Complex is owned and managed as part of the Cafaro family of companies, based in Niles.

Julene Woods, owner of Woods Family Farm, said the roadside stand, which is more like a little building, has electricity that allows a refrigerator and freezer to be hooked up for meat and online orders waiting to be picked up.

Woods husband, Brett, built the structure and the farm opened it for business in spring 2022, she said, and wanted to focus on accommodating people who cannot pick items up during normal business hours but still want quality food.

“People can come and just swing by the freezer and grab their order at any time,” Woods said. “It is the honor system.”

Meat products found in the stand include home-grown chicken and turkey, and other food items like honey, syrup and black walnut syrup, according to Woods.

The farm does accept online orders, as well as for halves and whole pigs.

“They can just go in there and do their convenient shopping,” Woods said.

Although it is a farm stand, the family wants to keep that face-to-face interaction with customers who visit, she said.

“We don’t want it to be just the stand and we stay away,” Woods said. “We have our regulars, and if we see them out there, we go out there and chit-chat and they pretty much expect us to come out there if we’re home.”

Woods said her family — with children Emmarose, Carter and Katelyn — started out with goats in 2016 as 4-H projects, and made the switch in 2019 to run their farm based on another farm in Virginia, focusing on pasture-raised systems.

In line with the family’s faith in which the farm is based on, this practice helps sustainability in the environment and provides a more natural quality of life for livestock, Woods said.

“You’re giving back to the land because then those animals are stirring up the different seeds that have been dormant,” she said. “It’s really enriching the land rather than killing the land.”

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Woods said she saw a rise in people wanting to shop locally for items, specifically food, because they wanted to ensure where it was coming from, which reflects one main goal of the farm: to connect the community with their food.

This practice helps to show just exactly how the animals live, she said.

“The biggest thing is, it’s not about how many customers we can get, but it’s how we can connect people with their food,” she said.

Woods said the farm especially values other local farms and gardens, and the work that can be done together to connect each other with customers, sometimes in need of specific items that Woods Family Farm doesn’t have.

“We’re really big about community; we’re really big on making this pleasant for the community, but also being able to give our time and giving back to the community,” she said. “The farm community is amazing around here.”

Woods said she started a listing of farms and gardens in the area, each with different specialties, in hopes to post it for followers to have access to locally made items, she said.

“It’s not competitive; it’s about connecting people with their food and connecting people with the farms,” Woods said.

Most people buy life insurance to provide financial protections for their loved ones when they die. But some policies offer benefits while you’re still alive. If you purchase life insurance with living benefits, you may be able to access part of your death benefit if you become ill or use its cash value to supplement your income.

What are life insurance living benefits?

Life insurance living benefits are policy features that provide financial protection while you’re still living. There are two main types of living benefits in life insurance:

• Policy riders. A life insurance rider is an add-on to your policy that provides additional protection. Some policy riders allow you to receive part of the policy’s death benefit in some circumstances, like if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness or you need long-term care.
• Cash value life insurance. Permanent life insurance policies have a built-in savings component called cash value that grows over time. You can usually take a loan or withdraw from the policy’s cash value. Some people use their policy’s cash value to supplement their retirement income.

Living benefits in life insurance can provide an extra layer of financial security if you become sick or need an extra source of income. One downside, though, is that living benefits often reduce the policy’s death benefit for your survivors.

Living benefits riders

A living benefits rider is an additional feature in a life insurance contract where the insurer agrees to provide benefits if you’re diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness, you become disabled, or you require end-of-life care.

Though you have to pay extra for most living benefits riders, some may be automatically included in your policy, depending on the insurer. If you have an older policy, your insurance company may have added one of these riders, so be sure to check.

Some common types of living benefits riders include:

• Accelerated death benefit rider. This feature pays out some or all of a policy’s death benefit if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness. Your payout reduces the benefit that your survivors will receive after you die. Insurance companies have different rules for when an accelerated death benefit rider is activated. For example, you may not be eligible to access the death benefit unless you have a terminal illness, typically defined as a diagnosis where your life expectancy is 24 months or less. Some insurers also offer critical illness riders or chronic illness riders, which can trigger a payout if you have a heart attack, stroke, cancer, renal failure or certain other qualifying illnesses.
• Long-term care rider. An LTC rider pays part of your policy’s death benefit if you require long-term care that traditional health insurance doesn’t cover. Your policy may pay out a lump sum or a percentage of your death benefit each month. As with an accelerated death benefit rider, the payout may reduce the amount your beneficiaries receive. Many policies have a waiting period of about 90 days before you can access this benefit.
• Return-of-premium rider. A return-of-premium rider will refund some or all of your term life insurance premium payments if you outlive your policy term. This is one of the most expensive life insurance riders available. If you cancel your policy before it expires, you won’t receive a refund.

• Waiver of premium rider. This benefit allows you to suspend life insurance premium payments while keeping the policy in force if you become disabled and can no longer work. Many policies have a waiting period of a few months to a year from the time of the diagnosis until this benefit will kick in, though many insurers will reimburse you for premiums paid during this window if your claim is approved.

Cash value as a living benefit

When you buy permanent life insurance, your premium is split between the cost of insuring your life and the cash value component. You can eventually use cash value life insurance to take out a policy loan, make withdrawals, or surrender the policy altogether. Some people also use their cash value to pay premiums or purchase additional coverage called paid-up additions. Usually, you won’t owe taxes on money you borrow or withdraw as long as you don’t take out more than you paid in premiums.

Cash value can be a valuable source of money to retirees who are on a strict budget. However, withdrawals and outstanding loans will generally reduce your policy’s death benefit.

How to get life insurance with living benefits

It’s important to think about whether you need life insurance with living benefits while you’re shopping for a policy. You typically can’t add riders to an existing policy. Make sure you read your contract thoroughly so you know whether any riders are automatically included and how the riders work. Ask your life insurance agent or broker about the cost of any additional living benefit riders.

Also, consider whether you want access to living benefits in determining what type of life insurance to buy. Term life policies only offer a death benefit and don’t build cash value. Any living benefits you receive from term life insurance will come courtesy of a policy rider. If you want access to cash value, you’ll need to purchase a permanent life insurance policy, such as whole life or universal life.

Cost of life insurance with living benefits

The cost of life insurance with living benefits can vary widely. For example, some insurers automatically include some living benefit riders, such as an accelerated death benefit rider or a waiver of premium rider. But with some policies, these add-ons can increase life insurance premiums by as much as 25%.

Other living benefit riders are far more expensive. For instance, buying term life insurance with a return of premium rider often costs about five times more than if you purchased a standard policy.

Also, permanent life insurance policies that build cash value are substantially more expensive than term life policies with a similar death benefit. For example, Quotacy estimates that the premiums on a $250,000 policy for a 35-year-old man in excellent health could be anywhere from seven to 14 times more expensive with permanent life insurance compared to a 30-year term policy.

Robin Hartill, CFP® writes for NerdWallet. Email: articles@nerdwallet.com.

The article What Are Life Insurance Living Benefits? originally appeared on NerdWallet.

In 2023, President Joe Biden’s signature student loan debt cancellation plan died, a new repayment plan was born, millions of longtime borrowers got forgiveness and others saw their monthly student loan bills come due again.

This year, even more change is coming.

From a redesigned financial aid form to halved monthly payments, Biden’s debt cancellation Plan B and more, here’s what to expect with college student financial aid in 2024.

Monthly payments will be cut in half for millions

The newest income-driven repayment plan, SAVE, launched in fall 2023. Nearly 5.5 million borrowers enrolled, 2.9 million of whom qualified for $0 monthly payments, the Education Department announced in November. And the perks will sweeten this year. Starting in July, monthly payments on the SAVE plan for some borrowers will be capped at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income, rather than 10%. That means borrowers who sign up for SAVE — but earn too much to qualify for $0 payments — will still see their payments cut in half.

For example, an individual earning $50,000 per year had a monthly payment of roughly $270 on the REPAYE plan, which was SAVE’s predecessor. Currently, their monthly payment under SAVE is about $143, and in July, that will drop to $72.

Another big SAVE change coming in July: Borrowers who originally took out $12,000 or less for their degree can get their loans forgiven after 10 years on SAVE, rather than 20 or 25 years. These borrowers could receive student loan forgiveness this summer — or move significantly closer to the 10-year forgiveness finish line — if they sign up for the SAVE plan.

Payment on-ramp will expire

Federal student loan bills resumed in October, after a three-year pandemic pause. But borrowers had a cushion: a 12-month “on-ramp,” during which missed payments would not hurt their credit score, nor cause borrowers to default on their student loans. By mid-November, 40% of borrowers had missed their scheduled October payment, according to the Education Department.

The yearlong buffer is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2024. After that, late, partial or missed payments can lead to severe consequences, like loan default, debt collection and garnished paychecks.

“If we take away the pause, it’s fair to presume that a lot more stress will come, people will change their financial behaviors, and they probably won’t be able to save as much or even spend as much on things,” says Dan Collier, assistant professor of higher and adult education at the University of Memphis. “For older borrowers, that means retirement. For younger borrowers, that means emergency savings or investments for future income.”

Potential delays for financial aid packages

Students who plan to be in college next fall may contend with delayed financial aid packages and uncertainty around how much money they’ll get for school. That’s because the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) launched at the end of 2023, after a three-month delay and an updated formula to calculate aid eligibility.

The Education Department won’t start sending students’ FAFSA information to colleges until late January. And that’s just the starting line — then, schools must build financial aid packages and get those out the door with enough time for families to make an informed decision, says Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

“That May 1 [college decision] deadline day is on everybody’s mind,” McCarthy says. “Once we have an exact commitment from the department on when schools will actually get those processed FAFSAs, I feel like those conversations can then become a lot more real.”

More Pell Grant money for more people

Outside of loans, changes are on the way for Federal Pell Grants — another key type of financial aid — which will expand this year. The program gives students from low-income backgrounds up to $7,395 per year for college that doesn’t need to be repaid. Due to the redesigned 2024-25 FAFSA, an additional 610,000 students are slated to qualify for Pell Grants next fall, and 1.5 million more students are expected to get the maximum award — for a total of over 5.2 million students eligible for the maximum Pell.

Congress will also weigh a bill that would allow students to use Pell Grants to pay for short-term career-training programs, like coding boot camps or welding courses. (Currently, a program must last at least 15 weeks for it to be eligible for a Pell Grant.)

Political uncertainty and Biden’s Plan B

The Biden administration is pursuing a Plan B to pass student debt cancellation, after the Supreme Court struck down its plan to erase up to $20,000 in debt per borrower earning less than $125,000.

The new plan would be more limited in scope and apply to fewer borrowers. For example, if the interest on a loan grew to be larger than the borrower’s principal balance, the government would erase any amount above what was originally borrowed.

Policymakers wrapped up negotiations on the new plan in December, and there could be a draft version as early as April — but legal challenges and a presidential election this year could derail the plan, says Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors.

“The way negotiations left, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about what this might look like,” Mayotte says.

New workplace retirement savings perks

Since Jan. 1, some student loan borrowers have had an easier time saving for retirement while also chipping away at their student loans. Thanks to a SECURE Act 2.0 provision that just went into effect, employers can “match” an employee’s student loan payment by contributing the same amount to a workplace retirement account.

So, if a borrower sends in a $200 on-time student loan payment, their employer can contribute up to $200 to their 401(k). But only if their employer opts to. Borrowers should ask their employer’s human resources department about this benefit.

“Especially with the economy the way it is, some employers that may not be able to give higher raises look for alternative ways to bulk up their total packages, and this could be a way to do that,” Mayotte says.

The article More Student Loan Changes Are on the Way. Here’s What to Expect originally appeared on NerdWallet.