At long last, warmer weather has arrived. Along with gardening and spring cleaning, it’s also the ideal time to tackle your home improvement to-do list.

As the school year is coming to an end and excitement builds for graduation, it’s a good time to start planning for the road ahead. While you may have already picked out colleges, applied for scholarships, or found employment, there are a few other steps you should take to prepare after graduation.

Despite a strong rally on Friday, equity markets remained under pressure last week with the S&P 500 posting its sixth consecutive week of losses amid heightening inflation concerns. For the week, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.4%, while the Dow Jones and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.1% and 2.8%, respectively.

Summer is here – and with it, home improvement season! Are you wondering how to pay for home improvements, or how to finance a home renovation? Don’t sweat – we’ll walk you through how to launch the home makeover of your dreams, step by step.

The stock market finished the first week of May with minor losses, but it was not subtle. The three major indexes started the week with three straight positive sessions, then suffered a sharp selloff after investors decided the Federal Reserve's policy tightening cycle ahead was still very hawkish, even as Chairman Powell took the potential for a 75-basis point rate hikes off the table.