I'm the personal finance columnist for the @sfchronicle. One-time Joan Baez backup dancer.
Jessica Roy
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Federal workers are now missing entire paychecks due to the shutdown. We rounded up grants, loans, food banks, restaurants, hardship loans, unemployment information and other resources for federal employees.
No paywall: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
The COLA increase for 2026 was set to be announced on Oct. 15. The government shutdown “is going to delay that announcement.” www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
Sometimes you just can't predict where your reporting will take you. I set out to find out how much the $1.50 Costco hot dog deal -- now celebrating its 40th year -- would cost if that price had kept up with inflation. I wound up in a conversation with a Costco super-fan who owns a piece of history.
Is there an AI bubble? Some of AI's biggest boosters seem to think so. I talked to financial experts about what you can do with your money to protect it (or prepare to ride out a downturn) if there's a burst: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
And here's the @sfchronicle.com's newly updated database of private school costs: www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...
Exciting news for working parents with kids under 13: The dependent care FSA, which has had the same limit since it was introduced in 1986, is finally increasing next year: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
Here's the full story: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
And how much would it cost, anyways? Find out here: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
Thousands of federal workers in the Bay Area are going without pay amid the government shutdown. If you’re one of them, here’s a list of financial resources to tap — and things to avoid.
www.sfchronicle.com
The 2025 cost-of-living adjustment increase for Social Security recipients was set to be announced Oct. 15. The government shutdown is expected to delay that.
Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt have all acknowledged the possibility of an “AI bubble.” How can non-tech billionaires protect their money from the potential fallout of a burst?
Attention, parents doing open enrollment: You can sock away more money for day care costs in 2026, thanks to a change in the dependent care flexible spending account limit.
Compare tuition for the 2025-2026 school year at private schools across the San Francisco Bay Area. See the list of most expensive schools, plus how much costs went up in the past year.
Bay Area private high schools shuffled spots in a competitive national ranking this year, with nine of them cracking the top 100. See which schools rose, which fell and what families are paying.
The hot dog and soda deal at Costco has cost $1.50 ever since it debuted 40 years ago. If it had kept track with inflation, here’s how much it would set you back today.
I love getting emails from readers, and I try to write back as often as I can. But when I published our list of California’s richest suburbs, my inbox overflowed with variations on the same question. So I wrote a follow-up: www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...
How much does it cost to send your child to the top-ranked private high schools in the Bay Area? In many cases, more than UC tuition. Here's how the top private schools ranked this year and what they cost.
We got lots of emails from readers asking about omissions on our “richest suburbs in California” list. Here’s why some cities didn’t make the cut — and where they would have landed.
