Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Social Security is not about to vanish, but the program is barreling toward a built‑in cut that would instantly slice roughly a quarter off monthly checks if Congress does nothing. The latest official projections show that around 2033, retirees could see benefits automatically reduced by about 23 percent as the system’s main trust fund runs…
President Donald Trump told older voters that their Social Security checks would no longer be taxed, turning a long-running gripe into a marquee promise of his 2024 campaign. Two years later, retirees are discovering that the tax code has shifted in their favor, but the core pledge of tax-free benefits has not materialized. Instead of…
Housing costs are colliding with retirement anxiety, and the latest flashpoint is whether Americans should be able to tap workplace nest eggs to get the keys to a first home. The Trump team has flirted with a plan to let savers raid their 401(k) balances for down payments, raising the stakes for anyone trying to…
Retirement investing is not a “set it and forget it” exercise. At a certain point, the risk that once helped your savings grow can start to threaten the nest egg you worked decades to build. For many retirees, that tipping point arrives in their sixties, when shifting quickly into a more moderate mix of stocks,…
For millions of teenagers stepping into their first jobs, the workplace door opens long before the retirement door. Federal rules and employer practices often keep 18‑, 19‑ and 20‑year‑olds out of 401(k) plans, cutting into the years when compound growth is most powerful. A bipartisan group in the Senate now wants to change that, targeting…
Retirees who thought their Social Security checks were predictable are discovering a new kind of risk: surprise letters demanding repayment of thousands of dollars the government says it never should have sent. Policy shifts under President Trump, combined with a more aggressive push to recoup alleged debts, are turning obscure overpayment rules into a front‑line…
For decades, retirees have leaned on the 4% withdrawal rule as a simple way to turn a nest egg into a paycheck. The idea sounds reassuring: take 4% in year one, adjust for inflation, and your savings should last 30 years. I see more investors discovering the hard way that this tidy formula can crack…
Retiring at 50, 55, 60 or waiting until 67 does not just change how long your money has to last. It reshapes everything from your tax bill to your health insurance options and the size of your eventual Social Security check. The gap between those ages is the difference between decades of self-funded risk and…
Mark Cuban has built his reputation on blunt financial advice, and his retirement playbook is no exception. He argues that a handful of disciplined money moves can literally save retirees from financial ruin, especially when markets wobble or medical bills spike. I walk through five of his most important rules, showing how each one works…
I spent most of my career convinced that retirement security boiled down to a single, magic number in my investment accounts. When I was laid off at 58, that illusion collapsed overnight, and I had to replace it with a more practical question: could I build enough steady cash flow to cover my real-life bills….