If you prefer to travel in style, a luxury travel credit card, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express, offers cardholders a host of high-end perks — but at a high cost. CNBC Select calculated how many rewards the average American can earn if they optimize the way they use The Platinum® Card from American Express. Shopping with merchant partners: $300 *Note that you have to pay for travel using your Platinum® Card through Amextravel.com to get these redemption rates. Additional benefits

Many of the most popular resolutions focus on financial and physical well-being. One of the top resolutions in the survey was achieving financial goals — 51% of respondents with planned resolutions for 2020 said they wanted to save more money, pay off debts, or buy a new house in the coming year. Sticking to New Year’s resolutions doesn’t have to be expensive, and some pledges can even help you save money to put toward those 2020 financial goals. Here are a few tips to make some of the most popu

Why big banks could be killing private prisons2019 was a tough year for private prison companies, including The GEO Group and CoreCivic. Wall Street has divested and stocks in both companies fell dramatically as a consequence of an outraged public. Still, the federal funding of corrections and detention under President Trump has continued to grow.

Ex-con man says these physical forgeries are making a comeback45 Mins AgoEx-con man Frank Abagnale, made famous in the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” says that criminals always resort back to the crimes they know will work. He says many scammers are now turning to a type of forgery that made Abagnale famous over 40 years ago. Watch this video to learn what the scammers are forging and how you can avoid being defrauded.

“People need to think ‘long game,'” Douglas Boneparth, president and founder of Bone Fide Wealth, tells CNBC Make It. Below, check out five expenses experts say may be worth cutting in order to pay off your bills and eliminate your debt in 2020. Eating out constantlyAlthough 34% of Americans say they wouldn’t sacrifice meals out in order to become debt-free, experts say they should reconsider — dining out can add up quickly. That’s because people who shop in bulk are often buying more than they

If you choose to resell your unwanted items, cleaning out your home may help you add some extra dollars to your 2020 budget. Here are five strategies shopping and resale experts recommend you employ to help you get the most money for any items you’re looking to part with. Even if you’re selling used devices, it never hurts to give that old phone or tablet a quick clean to show off its prime condition. “Poshmark is more time intensive because in order to sell items fast you need to share them to

If you really blew your budget this holiday season, your financial hangover might be just as painful and definitely will take time and planning to fix. More from Invest in You:Make realistic financial goals your first resolution for 20207 last minute financial moves to make before year endSix strategies for investing in any market1. Some experts recommend looking at three to six months’ worth of bills to help form a budget; others say at least a year. Sell unwanted giftsYour mother may think tha

An employee holds a jar of marijuana on sale after it became legal in the state to sell recreational marijuana to customers over 21 years old in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The level of excitement has far outweighed the launch of an iPhone or new pair of Jordan [shoes],” Cresco Labs spokesman Jason Erkes told CNBC. For the big day, Cresco Labs rented out a coffee shop near its dispensary in Lakeview, Erkes said, where the company is expecting the highest traffic. Cresco products. Cresco Labs

A five-day sprint renovation project turned an overgrown, ignored back yard into a “glamping garden” for an independent bed and breakfast owner — with the help of design and construction experts whose business it is to help makeover small businesses. The four-room guesthouse includes 14-foot ceilings, intricate parquet wood floors and luxuries such as an in-suite Jacuzzi tub for two. The Brooklyn inn has four guest rooms that average at $205 per night, Greenwood told “Five Day Biz Fix.” While th

In an interesting twist, many of the most popular tweets from folks who have resolved to get off tech are coming from people who work in tech. Others in the tech industry explicitly point to their emotional health and well-being as a factor that’s motivating them to reduce their reliance on social media. Some folks have a few theories about why the tech world is expressing an anti-tech zeitgeist. “There’s this huge openness these days to wanting to be offline,” said Nate Bosshard, a co-founder o

If your New Year’s Day celebration ends up including a $220 million Powerball jackpot win, remember that Uncle Sam tends to be a party crasher. After more than eight weeks with no jackpot winner, the lottery game’s top prize has climbed to $220 million for Wednesday night’s drawing. For Wednesday night’s $220 million Powerball drawing, the cash option is $149.2 million. The 24% federal withholding would reduce that amount by $35.8 million, leaving you with $113.4 million. That would be $55.2 mil

The fatal Dec. 29 crash of a Tesla vehicle in Southern California will be investigated by the U.S. government’s auto safety regulator, the agency said on Tuesday. NHTSA did not say if autopilot was suspected in Sunday’s crash in Gardena in Los Angeles county. The two people inside the Tesla were hospitalized but did not have life-threatening injuries, KTLA reported, citing Los Angeles police. NHTSA has previously confirmed special crash investigations in a number of Tesla crashes but until earli

Mariah Carey’s Twitter account was hacked on New Year’s Eve allegedly by the same group that took control of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account. Dozens of tweets were posted on the hacked account, some using the N-word and others referring to the Chuckling Squad, a hacker group that took control of Dorsey’s account, among other celebrities. Dorsey’s account was hacked in August, sending out erratic and offensive tweets, which Twitter deleted a few minutes later. Twitter confirmed to CNBC that Car

The Trump administration will ban flavored e-cigarette pods, with the exception of menthol and tobacco flavors, and flavored liquid nicotine products commonly sold in vape shops, a senior White House official told CNBC, requesting anonymity because the information is confidential. That new restriction is likely to damper teen vaping, regardless of the administration’s approach to flavored pods. The ban will have a limited impact on vaping industry leader Juul, which, under intense scrutiny, has

Mark Esper, U.S. Secretary of Defense, attends a welcoming ceremony for joint chiefs of staff Chairman Mark Milley at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia. The United States is immediately deploying about 750 soldiers to the Middle East in response to the violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 750 troops would initially be based out of Kuwait. President Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed Ira

It’s been a record year for your money. The traders offer their 2020 playbook. With CNBC’s Morgan Brennan and the Fast Money traders, Steve Grasso, Karen Finerman, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Dec. 13, 2019. President Donald Trump announced he will sign phase one of the U.S.-China trade deal on Jan. 15. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their biggest one-year gains since 2013. Tuesday also marked the last trading day of the decade, with the S&P 500 notching a gain of more than 188% in that time. Apple rises slightly, Mylan leadsApple shares rose 0.73% while Mylan gained 3.45% and was the best-performing stock

Trader Peter Tuchman reacts as the final day of trading for the year draws to a close at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 29, 2017. Here’s what you need to know about Thursday before you hit the door for New Year’s Eve. The U.S. stock market had one of its best runs in 2019, and the chance for a follow-up begins on Thursday when markets re-open. The average price target for the S&P 500 among major market strategists is 3,330. The trade war with China is l

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg at COP 24, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. While that does not measure climate change investment alone, Israel said climate change has become a much higher priorty for BofA clients, who are surveyed periodically on macrothemes. Climate change jumped to the top theme in November, from number five a year earlier. For one, climate change is accelerating, which is not only raising media and polic

Crystal X. Boring said the Army is following the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s guidance that TikTok is a potential security risk. The U.S. Army, following the lead of the U.S. Navy and guidance from the Pentagon, has banned the short form video app TikTok from all government-owned phones, according to a U.S. Army spokeswoman. “The message directs appropriate action for employees to take in order to safeguard their personal information. and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to c