Category: 💰 PERSONAL FINANCE

For retirees and those closing in on retirement, understanding how to manage required minimum distributions (RMDs) is essential. These government-mandated withdrawals must be taken from tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, starting at age 73. Yet, as a longtime financial adviser, I’ve learned that many investors nearing that age aren’t familiar with […]

Dear Wealth Wise: As a retired 66-year-old, I find plenty of guidance on portfolio allocation but very little on asset location — how investments should be divided among taxable accounts, traditional IRAs/401(k)s, and Roth IRAs/401(k)s. Many experts suggest a portfolio split such as 50% stocks (mostly U.S., with some international exposure) and 50% more conservative […]

Retirement planning tends to get treated as a math problem: Should we retire with $2 million or $3 million? Can we spend $7,000 a month or $9,000 a month? Should we claim Social Security at 62 or 67? Those questions matter. After years of helping people work through retirement plans, though, I’ve noticed that the […]

Many people don’t begin planning for retirement until later in life. Saving earlier can feel financially difficult or secondary to more immediate priorities. But delaying retirement investing comes at a significant cost: time. Even modest investments made early can grow substantially through compound returns. The longer money remains invested, the greater the opportunity for growth […]

As children reach adulthood, many parents assume they’ll still be able to step in when needed. In reality, that dynamic often changes quickly. Once a child turns 18, parents can lose both visibility and influence in ways they may not expect. That’s why I suggest having two difficult conversations that can make a meaningful difference: […]

More and more retirees are “retiring” from retirement. Data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shows the number of retirement-age Americans in the workforce is growing. And in a survey by Asset Preservation Wealth & Tax, 51% of respondents who’d reached retirement age said they plan to work indefinitely. From just $107.88 […]

Money decisions are hard because they always involve the future. If you’re trying to save for retirement, your lizard brain has difficult understanding that putting $500 away each month for 40 years at an 8% rate of return will result in $1.61 million. Your lizard brain wants to get that pizza. Or grab a beer […]

Entire careers in financial journalism are built on being able to understand and interpret what the Federal Reserve is doing with monetary policy. Perhaps, instead of a bunch of “Fed whisperers” to describe our experience, the thing we really need right now is the “hammer of the gods.” Subtlety, after all, is just not President […]

Most travelers check their passport expiration date before a trip, but another rule can cause problems at the airport: how many blank passport pages you have left. Many countries require at least one completely blank visa page for entry stamps or visas. Some require two pages, and a few destinations require three blank pages. If […]

Welcome to Kiplinger’s My First $1 Million series, in which we hear from people who have made $1 million. They’re sharing how they did it and what they’re doing with it. This time, we hear from a 58-year-old married tech CFO in Dallas who makes $450,000. See our earlier profiles, including a writer in New […]

A couple years ago, the warning signs of a recession were mostly talk. But in 2026, this concern is much higher and if you aren’t preparing for it now, you will not be ready. With the Iran war, tariffs, and general economic uncertainty, the likelihood of a recession in the United States is much higher […]

Will you live to 100, or do you think you’re more the mid-80s type? What about full retirement age? Will you make it there? Who knows, but judging from the numerous articles, podcasts, TV shows and books about longevity, it sure looks like we are supposed to know or at least have a good sense […]

Whenever you want to move brokerage accounts, you typically use ACATS to do it. ACATS stands for Automated Customer Account Transfer Service and it allows you to transfer assets from one brokerage to another. By doing it through ACATS, sometimes called ACAT, you can make the transfer without any tax implications. You’re moving shares from […]

Your 40s aren’t just another decade — they’re a critical pivot point for your wealth. While it’s tempting to keep your finances on autopilot, especially if you’re crushing your goals, this is the time of your life when moving from doing things the same way to intentionally building financial security becomes paramount. Why? Because it […]

Getting the most out of summer without overspending feels like a bigger challenge this year: Gas and grocery prices are rising, economic uncertainty abounds and airline ticket prices are up. But you can still enjoy the season. “People spend more in the summer,” says Curt Scott, certified financial planner (CFP) and president at Scott Financial […]

Raisin is a fintech company that partners with banks to offer high interest rates. They also run deposit promotions where they will give you a cash bonus for large deposits as long as you keep them there for 90+ days. Right now, there’s an offer with Everbank where you can lock in a 4.10% APY […]

Even in the best of times, it can be challenging to switch gears from saving money to spending it in retirement and making the most of the wealth you’ve taken a lifetime to build. And these, a growing number of retirees agree, are not the best of times. More than one-fourth of retirees, some 27%, […]

Mortgage interest rates are the same today as they were yesterday, as all signs point to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holding the federal funds rate steady next week. The average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is unchanged at 6.46% APR, according to rates provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. This is 12 […]

Many money experts say you should skip the coffeehouse and make it at home. That’s a lot of effort that you have to do every single day to save a couple bucks. What if there was a way to save money all year, with a little bit of effort each month? Every month, I look […]