Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Entering long-term care or a nursing home is quickly becoming a reality for many as they age. But as it becomes increasingly common, it’s also becoming increasingly expensive.Even with these staggering costs, long-term care planning is often overlooked, and many of these costs aren’t usually covered under Medicare. Planning ahead should not be a small part of your retirement plan; it’s an important way to ensure you can spend your golden years protecting your assets.1. Contribute to an HSAContributing funds to a health savings account (HSA) is a powerful but often overlooked tool. The flexibility of these…

Sean Bean as Ned Stark in Game of Thrones.(Image credit: Alamy)Retirement is rarely (OK, never) looked upon in the same light as an epic fantasy, where characters carry swords and shields to defend themselves from the fierce attack of warriors, giants and dragons.But while watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the Game of Thrones spinoff, on HBO, it struck me that those swords and shields serve as an apt metaphor for retirement planning. Retirees need both swords and shields, figuratively speaking, if they hope to journey through retirement with minimal nicks and cuts to their portfolios.Risk is the sword,…

Question: I’m 60, and my husband is 62. He wants to claim Social Security, retire, and start using our $2.4 million nest egg because his parents died in their early 70s. He has a strong case of FOMO (fear of missing out) because he assumes he’ll have only another decade left. On the other hand, my parents, grandparents and many ancestors lived into their 90s, so I feel I should plan for longevity. How do we reconcile this?Answer: Even if you and your spouse manage to align on most financial decisions in life, there’s one big one you might disagree…

Graduation and adulthood are still years down the road for my two young kids, so my focus now is on setting them up for success when they get there. One way my husband and I are doing that is through 529 college-savings plans. With these investment accounts, you can set aside money that grows tax-deferred and withdraw it tax-free for qualified education-related expenses, including college tuition and fees, room and board, and computers.A common concern among parents who contribute to 529s is that their kids won’t end up going to college, or that the costs will be lower than expected.…

(Image credit: Getty Images)You walk into the store and notice your usual product is more expensive again. The shelves aren’t empty, and demand doesn’t seem any higher.But prices of certain products don’t just move because more people are buying them. They also shift because of costs, policy, currency changes, supply chains and more.Understanding these forces can help you decide when to buy a product and when to wait or switch to an alternative. Here are the basics. 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…

May 18 (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to unveil a framework for trading ‌tokenized or digital versions of ‌securities, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar ​with the matter. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to release an “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks as soon as this ‌week, the report ⁠said. The move highlights the Trump administration’s push to bring stock trading ⁠onto crypto platforms, potentially paving a new regulatory pathway for trading shares outside ​traditional exchanges. Recently, ​the Republican-led Senate ​Banking Committee advanced legislation ‌aimed at creating clearer U.S. regulations for cryptocurrencies. According to the…

Key Takeaways WTI trades inside a constructive rotational structure ahead of the FOMC Minutes The active framework remains centered above 105.00, with 108.00–108.20 acting as the primary recovery barrier Fed communication, USD dynamics and rate expectations continue shaping crude positioning across macro markets Shipping stress and resilient energy participation maintain support across the physical side of the market Macro Context: FOMC Minutes Become the Central Transmission LayerWTI enters the May 20 session with markets transitioning from inflation repricing toward a more selective positioning phase centered on the Federal Reserve. The focus now shifts toward the and how markets interpret inflation…

The Travelers Companies, the US property & casualty insurance giant, has now successfully priced what will be its largest catastrophe bond sponsorship ever, securing $750 million of multi-peril reinsurance protection from the new Long Point Re IV Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, Artemis can report.Travelers ventured back into the catastrophe bond market at the end of April, with an initial target to secure $500 million of multi-peril reinsurance protection covering losses in northeast states. As we reported in our first update on this deal, the target size of the issuance had been raised to as much as $750 million, while the price…

Growing concern over the trajectory of the Iran war has bond yields rising and mortgage rates following suit.The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan rose 7 basis points Tuesday to 6.75%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That is the highest level since July 31. Rates are now up 33 basis points in just the past 10 days and are 46 basis points higher than their recent April low of 6.29%. That April drop came after a sharp spike in rates at the start of the war, when the rate jumped from 5.99% at the start of March to 6.64%…

By Radhika Rajkumar, Senior Editor / May 19 at 2:30 p.m. ETGoogle Flow, a filmmaker-forward video tool released at last year’s I/O, has expanded into a fuller creative studio featuring several new agents accompanying various processes. Google demonstrated how users can interact with Flow Agent, for example, like a creative collaborator, asking it for recommendations and input on dialogue and plot development. With the new Omni Flash model, Google said Flow now preserves character consistency across frames, comparing Omni for video to Nano Banana for images. Pics, Google’s new image tool, leverages Nano Banana and lets you create all-new graphics or…