Your Money: Personal finance is only half personal
There are systems that can bedevil people even with the best financial habits.
Your Money
May 26, 2026

Hi everyone —

In this week’s Your Money newsletter exclusive, we bring you one unique take from a newly published book about money. We’ve done this in the past when we see books we like but haven’t written about in article form, and we’ll do it again here from time to time.

In “The Joy of Money,” former union organizer Carrie Joy Grimes does something that we neglect to do in our New York Times coverage sometimes: She explains how personal finance is only half personal.

That’s because there are systems — laws, regulations, policies, power — that can bedevil even those consumers with the best of habits. Seeing those systems clearly and then addressing them is the non-personal half of personal finance.

“Taking full responsibility for our money means using the power we have as consumers, employees, voters, audiences and entrepreneurs to negotiate for the economy we want,” she writes.

How? Pull each of those five levers in service of the issues that affect your money — as market actors, workers, citizens who show up for elections, potential viewers and innovators.

That last one, especially, is easy to forget. If you don’t like something, start something better — and lobby for less red tape and “fewer ridiculous rules,” as Carrie Joy describes them, that can keep new start-ups from being able to compete effectively.

Below, you’ll find a roundup of our coverage from the last several days. Have a good week.

In an illustration, a worker wearing a safety vest and hard hat holds and looks at a blueprint while standing at the top of stairs made stacks of money.

your money adviser

An Option That Can Help Cut Housing Prices Catches On

Preapproved plans trim weeks or months off the process of getting a building permit. “Every month of delay adds costs that ultimately land on the buyer,” one housing expert said.

By Ann Carrns

An illustration of a young woman with a concerned expression, looking at a university diploma hanging on a green wall. Long, winding receipts or paper tapes are taped over the diploma and hang down, some reaching the woman’s hand.

Student Loan Repayments Are Being Overhauled. What Borrowers Should Know.

Starting July 1, millions of borrowers will need to choose from a new menu of repayment options as the Trump administration enacts major changes to the student loan system.

By Tara Siegel Bernard

A bridge with vehicles on it connects rocky cliffs above an ocean on a mountainous coastal highway.

Gas Is Over $4.50 a Gallon. For Your Next Rental, Should You Try an E.V. or Hybrid? We Do the Math.

With gas prices through the roof, more travelers are considering alternative vehicles to control costs. But how much will you really save?

By Elaine Glusac

Jason Rymiszewski and Brooke Basacchi stand next to each other in a hallway of a home. He is leaning against a wooden console table and wearing a short-sleeve dark blue button-down shirt and gray shorts. She is standing with her left hand on her hip and wearing an open white button-down shirt over a black top and bluejeans.

When Your Lender Is Also Your Best Friend

Friendship and money don’t always mix. But many Americans feel comfortable discussing financial issues with their friends and lending them money.

By Kami Rieck

In an illustration of two orange traffic cones, one has fallen over to reveal three stacks of gold coins and a couple of diamonds.

Strategies

Is the Bond Market Signaling Danger or Opportunity? Or Both?

Interest rates for long-term Treasury bonds have surged to levels last seen in 2007, before the great financial crisis.

By Jeff Sommer

Bond Yields Hit Highest Level Since 2007 as Inflation Fears Set In

The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield hasn’t been this high since the lead-up to the global financial crisis. Across Europe and Asia, yields are also elevated.

By Joe Rennison

Mortgage Rates, Now 6.5%, Hit Highest Level Since War Began

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose amid growing concerns over inflation and as the war with Iran showed no sign of ending.

By Emmett Lindner

To 2026 Graduates Facing a Bleak Job Market, 1991 Grads Have Some Advice

The New York Times profiled young job seekers in 1991. Today, their own children are entering a work force in flux.

By Sydney Ember

An airport checkpoint is packed with people holding luggage. A person in a yellow vest carries a red bag with "Chaos Coordinator" text on the side.

The T.S.A.’s Plan to Speed Up Lines? Replace T.S.A. Agents.

Driven in part by the chaos of the last shutdown, the government is expanding efforts to use private security staff instead of federal employees at more airports.

By Christine Chung

the ethicist

My Partner Won’t Tell Me Who Will Get ‘Our’ House If He Dies. Can I Press Him?

I need the security of knowing that I will not be forced to leave the home we have shared for so many years.

By Kwame Anthony Appiah

How are we doing?
We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to yourmoney_newsletter@nytimes.com.

Like this email?
Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up Your Money.

If you received this newsletter from someone else, subscribe here.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for Your Money from The New York Times.

To stop receiving Your Money, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings.

Subscribe to The Times

Connect with us on:

facebookxinstagramwhatsapp

Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices

Zeta LogoAdChoices Logo

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018