Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Most people spend decades following the same advice: Save consistently, invest wisely, defer taxes. It works — until you retire.Retirement doesn’t eliminate taxes. It changes how and when they show up. Most people aren’t ready for that shift.After working with hundreds of pre-retirees, I’ve found the same pattern again and again: It’s not the markets that derail retirement plans. It’s the tax surprises people never saw coming. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE…

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 53-year-old transportation public affairs director and farmer in the Midwest.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.) From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88…

(Image credit: Getty Images)If you’ve been shopping for insurance recently, you may have come across an offer from your alma mater. Many colleges and universities partner with insurance companies or affinity marketing organizations to offer insurance products to graduates, often positioning them as exclusive alumni benefits.Depending on the school, these programs may offer access to life, health, travel, long-term care, auto or even pet insurance. The coverage is typically provided by a third-party insurer, but the university’s branding and alumni connection can make the offer stand out from the other insurance advertisements competing for your attention.These programs can be worth…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Thinking about buying an RV, a new boat, or taking on a major home renovation in retirement? Or maybe you want to drop thousands on a bucket-list trip or finally treat yourself to the high-end pampering you never had time for when you were working.Who could blame you? You’ve spent decades saving for your golden years and shouldn’t feel guilty about spending the wealth you worked so hard to accumulate.Yet, far too many retirees choose not to splurge, paralyzed by the fear of outliving their money. They see inflation ticking up or gas prices soaring and immediately…

Find out how much you could earn with today’s savings rates. Interest rates on savings accounts have been falling, so it’s important to be sure you’re getting the best rate possible when shopping around for a savings account. The following is a breakdown of savings interest rates today and where to find the best offers. Overview of savings interest rates today The national average savings account rate stands at 0.38%, according to the FDIC. This might not seem like much, but consider that three years ago, it was just 0.06%. Although the national average savings interest rate is fairly low…

Over the last few year’s we’ve noticed increasing interest in the insurance-linked securities asset class as an investment opportunity from institutions in Latin America and now pensions in Chile have reportedly begun allocating to catastrophe bonds.Helped by a number of years of consecutive strong performance, catastrophe bonds and ILS as an investable asset class is generating meaningful attention. This has resulted in capital flows that have helped to fuel the expansion of the cat bond market over the last few years. But, institutional investors can take months or years to make new allocation decisions, especially when it comes to niche…

After a very profitable decade on Microsoft’s board, Reid Hoffman is stepping down, the company announced Thursday. Hoffman joined the board after Microsoft bought his company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016. Hoffman was on Microsoft’s board when it invested its first $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019. Hoffman was one of OpenAI’s original investors and served on the model maker’s board until he stepped down in 2023, citing too many potential conflicts of interest to continue. He was also on Microsoft’s board when the tech giant entered into one of those non-acquisition, acqui-hire deals for $650 million with his…

(By Oil & Gas 360) – For much of the past two years, the artificial intelligence boom has been viewed through the lens of semiconductors, software, cloud computing, and record capital spending by the world’s largest technology companies. Increasingly, however, AI is becoming something much larger. It is becoming one of the most important energy stories of the decade. The rapid buildout of AI infrastructure is creating an unprecedented demand for electricity, transmission capacity, energy storage, cooling systems, water resources, and generation assets. What began as a technology race is evolving into a competition for physical infrastructure, and in many regions,…

In-brief analysis June 5, 2026 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics and estimates, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Note: IAEA data are used to identify capacity additions in 2025 and 2026, which we then add to our International Energy Statistics estimate for 2024 to get the total capacities for 2025 and 2026. All values are in reference unit power. From 2016 to 2024, China’s nuclear generation capacity increased 76% (24 GW), based on our International Energy Statistics (IES) data. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor…

I have been getting ready to leave town, and so wrapping up other projects. The only thing that popped up in my internet browsing was the Return of the Bond Market Vigilantes, this time courtesy of a tweet on May 30th by the U.K. Green Party Leader, Zack Polanski. The short text was “We must stop being in hock only to the bond markets. No one voted for the bond markets.”I am unsure about the exact context of his original tweet, and it appears to have been a one-off comment. I am not going to attempt to delve into Polanski’s…