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There are many causes of financial stress — from market volatility and managing debt to significant events like getting married, divorced or having a baby. However, what's important is recognizing when you feel overwhelmed and taking steps to improve your situation.

Here are three tips to alleviate financial stress.

Fixed annuity rates have been rising since 2022 and continue to be attractive, with some products offering rates as high as 6.8%.

Current rates are the highest we've seen in decades, and with a fixed annuity, you can lock in a good rate of return for a guaranteed income that will stay with you for as long as you live. Only annuities provide guaranteed protection against the most devastating financial risk of all: outliving your retirement income. 

Planning for retirement often starts with a single question: How much do I need to save? 

The answer may be simpler than it seems, especially if you use your current income as a starting point. Instead of guessing what your future expenses might look like, many experts recommend thinking in terms of income replacement.

That means setting a target based on how much you expect to be earning near retirement and planning your retirement savings strategy accordingly.

Voluntary benefits have emerged as a key differentiator for small businesses looking to stay competitive in attracting and retaining employees. These benefits, which are offered in addition to group health insurance and 401(k) plans, allow employees to opt in to coverage that fits their unique needs, often with little or no cost to the employer.

While larger companies have long embraced these options, small employers are increasingly seeing the value in building voluntary benefit programs that reflect the makeup and priorities of their workforce. Here's how to get it right.

Many Americans who have amassed a significant retirement nest egg by investing in an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan eventually consider a Roth conversion.

A Roth conversion entails taking the funds in an IRA and/or 401(k) — funds contributed to these accounts with pre-tax income — and transferring or rolling them over into a Roth IRA. But why do this?

The "Big Beautiful" tax bill being debated in Congress has several provisions that would make major changes to rules governing individual coverage health care reimbursement arrangements and tax-advantaged health savings accounts. Many of these changes would benefit both employees and employers.

Here's what's in the bill and how it would affect your firm and employees.

Poor health insurance literacy among plan enrollees costs both them and plan sponsors billions of dollars each year, according to a new report.

According to the report, Americans with poor knowledge of how their health insurance works are twice as likely to be stressed about their health, which can worsen any health problems they are struggling with. This can also affect employers through decreased worker productivity, increased absenteeism and turnover and other indirect costs.

The IRS has raised the maximum amounts employees can funnel into their health savings accounts in 2025, as well as the minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket expenses for high-deductible health plans.

Under IRS rules, HSAs, which help employees save for medical expenses, are available only to employees enrolled in qualified HDHPs. Here are the new limits. Make sure you update your plan documents to reflect them.

Once they've paid their annual premium, many employers pay scant attention to their workers' compensation policy until the renewal date starts closing in. Unfortunately, that's not the best time to attempt to control costs. 

Because workers' comp is one of the most loss-sensitive insurance policies, and as claims can sometimes be paid out for decades, it's important that you proactively manage claims. One way to do that is through a quarterly claims review process. Here's how it works and why it can save you money.

Employers are increasingly facing lawsuits over how they handle background checks while screening job applicants.

Courts are ordering businesses to pay tens of thousands in dollars in damages to job applicants who say their privacy was violated when potential employers overstepped when conducting background checks. What can you do to avoid being sued, and how can you protect yourself if you are?

With recent advances in both technology and the internet, and many people working from home or having been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have or are planning to start a home-based business.

But will your homeowner's policy cover the risks of such a business? Find out here.

Cal/OSHA has released draft language that would require employers of outside workers to take additional steps to ensure their safety when working in high heat conditions.

The draft rules, which address only heat, will complement existing heat illness prevention regulations that employers of outdoor workers are already required to follow. If you have outdoor workers or indoor workers who are exposed to high heat conditions, you'll want to get the details.