Author: Money Mechanics

You probably know how valuable it is to save for retirement—funding a 401(k) is a popular option. But what can you do if you’re self-employed or your employer doesn’t offer one? Fortunately, you can still open a retirement account as an individual. We’ll walk you through some of the best options, such as traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, self-employed 401(k)s, and defined benefit plans. Plus, we’ll list the contribution limits for each type of account. Key Takeaways If you’re self-employed or your employer doesn’t offer a 401(k), you can fund a personal retirement account such as a Roth IRA,…

Away from the noise of institutional investors, the exchange-traded funds, the Michael Saylors and cryptocurrency treasuries, a person has been quietly turning empty cans into a Bitcoin BTC/USD fortune, one Satoshi at a time.‘The Crypto Scrapper’Bruno Oliveira from Brazil is a Bitcoin maxi who prefers the apex cryptocurrency over altcoins and believes in its long-term potential.However, he has chosen a rather unconventional method to build his Bitcoin wealth — collecting discarded cans from the streets and selling them for recycling.Nicknamed “the crypto scrapper,” Oliveira often shares photos of himself biking through his hometown in São Paulo, exploring hidden corners to…

Thank you, John, and thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. My purpose this evening is to explain why I believe that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) should reduce our policy rate by 25 basis points at our next meeting.1 I used to tell my junior research colleagues that presentations are not murder mysteries—just tell the audience up front “who did it” by telling them the main point. So let me follow my own advice and state up front the reasons I believe we should cut the policy rate at our meeting in two weeks. First,…

A late-summer window of opportunity with relatively low mortgage rates is upon us, but it may be short-lived.  Late August is typically a slow time for housing activity, with people on vacation and preparing kids to return to school. With mortgage rates now falling on news coming out of a Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, the market could actually get a little less sluggish in this late-summer season. The market is anticipating a September interest-rate cut by the Fed. That’s already being priced into mortgage rates, which could pop back up depending on how the jobs and inflation reports come…

KEY TAKEAWAYS President Donald Trump has implemented tariffs on many of the U.S.’s biggest trading partners and several individual tariffs on materials used for home renovations.Most home contractors said they are raising prices to keep up with tariff-related price increases.Fewer homeowners have started extensive renovations that require loans because of high interest rates. The Federal Reserve has kept borrowing costs high as it waits to see how tariffs will affect prices. Home renovations and remodels will likely be more expensive as contractors increase what they charge to keep up with tariffs. In a recent survey of home contractors, including HVAC,…

It’s become fashionable — especially among the globally mobile, the tax-weary and the disillusioned — to grumble about life in America.From health care costs to political dysfunction, the list of frustrations is long. But spend time in the rest of the world — and I don’t mean just the beach towns of Portugal or the cafés of Paris — and you’ll remember something too many Americans forget: This country still works.In Henley & Partners’ recently released Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025, the annual authoritative publication on global wealth and millionaire migration worldwide, reports that the U.S. is in second…

How much is enough to save for retirement? It’s the million-dollar (or more) question every pre-retiree is asking, and it can be incredibly confusing and overwhelming to answer.I’ve come across many articles, videos and statistics about how much you need to save to retire comfortably. Clients often come to me for guidance on this.Sometimes the guideline is to be able to generate a certain income level with your investments. The number I frequently hear is associated with that target is 80% to 90% of your pre-retirement income. Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up…

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 married 48-year-old health care worker in Sagadahoc County, Maine. See our earlier profiles, including a writer in New England, a literacy interventionist in Colorado, a semiretired entrepreneur in Nashville and an events industry CEO in Northern New Jersey. (See all of the profiles here.)Each profile features one person or couple, who will always be completely anonymous to readers, answering questions to help our…

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing series on retiring abroad. To see all the articles in the series, jump to the end.Fiji is such a dream vacation destination — a place that seems so exotic and ephemeral — that it is difficult to imagine actually relocating there. But you can, and doing so is not particularly arduous. The bar for demonstrating financial independence (which is mandatory in order to obtain a long-term visa) is low, and assuming you can meet it, this beach paradise that served as the location for both The Blue Lagoon and Survivor can…

Ben Affleck. He starred in Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon. Matt Damon starred in Ocean’s Eleven with Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts starred in Flatliners with … Kevin Bacon!That puts Ben Affleck at a three in the parlor game “six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” which challenges you to link any actor to Kevin Bacon in six steps or fewer. It’s based on the idea of “six degrees of separation” that posits we’re all more interconnected than we think. Think: friend of a friend of a friend.But play the game with our own lives, things are starting to look a lot…