Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Question: We’re set to retire in Europe, but my wife thinks we should reconsider because of the political and economic situation. I want to go now. Who’s right?Answer: Some people picture themselves retiring in the same neighborhood they lived in as working adults. Others imagine themselves ditching the U.S. and retiring abroad.As of late 2024, more than 170,000 retired workers were receiving Social Security benefits in Europe. And in a recent Harris Poll, 51% of baby boomers said they could see themselves moving to Western Europe. That same poll found that 52% of Americans overall think they…

(Image credit: Getty Images)James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, made an observation that stops people in their tracks: “Work is endless. Exercise is endless. Parenting is endless. Same with marriage, writing, investing, creating, and more. You get to choose the parts of your life, but many of the important things in life cannot be ‘finished.'”That idea should give anyone planning for retirement a moment of pause. For decades, retirement has been marketed as the ultimate finish line. The cultural script says: Work hard, save diligently, check the boxes and then — finally — you’re done. The goal, implicitly or…

Find out how much you could earn by locking in a high CD rate today. The Federal Reserve cut its federal funds rate three times in 2025, so now could be your last chance to lock in a competitive CD rate before rates fall further. CD rates vary widely across financial institutions, so it’s important to ensure you’re getting the best rate possible when shopping around for a CD. The following is a breakdown of CD rates today and where to find the best offers. Generally, the best CD rates today are offered on shorter terms of around one year…

Accessible Keys for Video [Space Bar] toggles play/pause; [Right/Left Arrows] seeks the video forwards and back (5 sec ); [Up/Down Arrows] increase/decrease volume; [M] toggles mute on/off; [F] toggles fullscreen on/off (Except IE 11); The [Tab] key may be used in combination with the [Enter/Return] key to navigate and activate control buttons, such as caption on/off. Good morning, and thank you to the American Society for Public Administration for the Paul Volcker Public Integrity Award. I regret that I cannot be with you in person today, but I am deeply grateful for this award, and for the opportunity to share…

Weekly pending sales Pending home sales data provides a week-to-week perspective, though results can be affected by holidays and short-term fluctuations. The last five weeks have been positive in our weekly pending sales data. We shall see if that moves forward, especially now that rates hit a yearly high and they could continue higher this week.Weekly pending sales usually take 30-60 days to hit the sales data. Typically, mortgage rates above 6.64% and breaking over 7% really impact the data. Under 6.25% is where the sweet spot has been in the past several years, excluding short-term variables out of the…

This week, a topic that has been boomeranging around Silicon Valley bounced into the spotlight: AI tokens as compensation. The idea is straightforward enough — rather than giving engineers only salary, equity, and bonuses, companies would also hand them a budget of AI tokens, the computational units that power tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. Spend them to run agents, automate tasks, crank through code. The pitch is that access to more compute makes engineers more productive, and that more productive engineers are worth more. It’s an investment in the person holding them, is the idea. Jensen Huang, the leather-jacket-wearing…

(BOE Report) – North Dakota crude output is expected to rise in March and the following months as operators in the third-largest oil-producing state restart inactive wells and winter restrictions are eased, the state’s regulator said on Thursday. The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources said, however, that the pace of activity would depend on how long oil prices stay high and that oil majors’ budgets have already been set. Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude touching a nearly four-year high of $119.48 on March 9.…

Keysight Technologies has seen its share price run higher recently, with its last earnings report delivering the stock a big gain. The company is winning business from two of the world’s most important industries: AI and defense. Even with improving fundamentals, the stock’s valuation leaves less room for execution missteps if growth moderates. is a somewhat under-the-radar technology stock benefiting significantly from multiple converging tailwinds. The company is seeing growing demand from both artificial intelligence (AI) and defense markets, two of the world’s hottest industries. Interest from these markets has helped Keysight shares soar more than 80% over the past…

As per a new report from reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, the severe convective storm (SCS) outbreak that swept across the central and eastern United States between March 15 to 16 is expected to generate around $1 billion in industry losses, marking the second billion-dollar plus industry US SCS event to occur within the span of a single week.According to the broker’s report, the latest SCS outbreak was accompanied by historic late-season snowfall across the Northern Plains and Midwest. As highlighted, Gallagher Re expects insured losses from the event to settle at a minimum of around $1 billion, with the potential…

“In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Can you name who popularized that quote?Whether or not you can, you might be feeling deathly sick of taxes.Between navigating the 2025 Trump tax bill provisions and all new state tax changes, the 2026 tax season has proven to be a masterclass in fiscal endurance.Article continues below 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 Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters Profit and prosper…