Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Recent research shows that married retirees withdraw about 2.1% of their savings annually, while spending 80% of their guaranteed income, like Social Security. Morningstar’s latest analysis suggests retirees can safely withdraw 3.9% to start, close to the classic 4% annual withdrawal rule Those willing to adjust spending based on market conditions could take out up to almost 6%. December 2025 research from Morningstar raised its recommended safe withdrawal rate to 3.9%,up from 3.7% the prior year. But actual retiree behavior tells a different story. The Morningstar figure comes close to the 4% rule, which is one of the…

Key Takeaways A prominent strategist contends that the real “poverty line” for a family of four is $140,000, not the official threshold of $32,150.Created in the 1960s, the formula used to calculate the poverty threshold does not accurately reflect the realities of modern household budgets, the strategist says. One analysis contends that a family of four is below a meaningful “poverty line” if they earn less than $140,000 per year, far more than the official federal threshold of $32,150.Michael Green, chief strategist and portfolio manager at Simplify Asset Management, wrote in late November about how household finances have changed since…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Tech earnings season begins in earnest tomorrow, with a cool $7tn in market cap reporting in the form of Microsoft, Meta, Tesla and ASML. Predictions, please: unhedged@ft.com. GoldUnhedged has been loudly, persistently and hilariously wrong about gold. If there is a world record for financial pundit wrongness,…

The Trump administration has linked security guarantees for Ukraine to Kyiv ceding the Donbas region to Russia, and there’s speculation that the US and Japan could be working together to support the yen. Plus, Israel’s military announced it had retrieved the remains of the last hostage from the Gaza Strip, and Big Tech companies are on track to dominate borrowing in the US bond market.Mentioned in this podcast:US links security guarantees for Ukraine to peace deal ceding territoryDollar sinks to 4-month low and gold soars past $5,000 as yen leapsIsrael retrieves remains of last hostage in GazaBig Tech’s borrowing spree…

NINGBO, CHINA – JANUARY 22: Employees work on the production line of snowboards at a workshop to meet the orders on January 22, 2026 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China. He Yuankai/Zhejiang Daily Press Group | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesChina’s industrial profits rose 0.6% in 2025 from a year earlier, snapping three consecutive years of declines as officials moved to rein in aggressive price competition and companies sought overseas growth amid weak domestic demand.The pace of growth accelerated from 0.1% in the January-to-November period, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.The recovery last year was driven by…

Rainer Jagmann/iStock/Getty Images PlusFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Microsoft has issued its second emergency patch of the month.The new patch fixes a bug that affects cloud-based services.But another bug is preventing some Windows PCs from booting up.This year has got off to a rough start for Microsoft and Windows users, at least when it comes to bugs. The January 2026 update introduced a slew of glitches that the company is now trying to clean up. At the same time, new bugs keep popping up and plaguing users.New emergency patchOn Saturday, Microsoft kicked…

(Oil Price) – As several countries invest in expanding their liquid natural gas (LNG) production and export capacity, and significant quantities of the gas are expected to come online in 2026 after a record 2025, supply could soon outpace demand. This begs the question: just how much LNG is needed to “fill the gap” as the world develops its renewable energy capacity? Last year was a record year for LNG trade, as exports exceeded the quantities predicted in several industry forecasts. The expansion of the world’s LNG trade has been led by the United States, which exported over 100 million metric…

SECURE 2.0 reflected big changes for retirement plans.gettyThe IRS has extended the deadline to make certain amendments for IRAs, SEP arrangements, and SIMPLE IRA plans to December 31, 2027. The extension was announced in IRS Notice 2026-9, which provides additional time for amending retirement arrangements to comply with the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. Under the notice, plan administrators now have until the end of 2027, to formally amend their plans—but there’s still the possibility of a further extension if additional guidance is issued.Specifically, the extended deadlines apply to the provisions of the SECURE Act, sections 2202 and 2203 of…

Key Takeaways This year has started off with a mixed showing from America’s heavy-hitting “Magnificent 7” stocks.Their earnings, which kick off this week, could shed more light on how they’re approaching their challenges and breathe fresh enthusiasm into their shares.  America’s heavy-hitting “Magnificent 7” stocks have driven years of market gains. That may not continue to be the case. This year has started with a mixed showing from the grouping of some of America’s biggest tech stocks, which accounted for over 40% of the S&P 500’s roughly 18% total return in 2025. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is up some 5%…

Key Takeaways The government is at risk of shutting down again on Friday after Democrats threatened to vote down funding bills.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said his party would vote against funding bills that gave money to the Department of Homeland Security, after a shooting involving federal agents over the weekend.A second government disruption on the heels of the record 43-day shutdown in the fall could disrupt the economy and economic data collection by the government’s statistical agencies. Suddenly, the government appears just days away from a shutdown. The risk of another shutdown rose over the weekend amid the political…