Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways About half of Americans considering retirement abroad cite wanting to have a lower cost of living as their top reason. Political dissatisfaction and desire for better healthcare are major factors driving Americans to retire overseas. Quality of life improvements, including safer communities, climate, and social engagement, strongly influence retirement location choices. According to a 2025 Harris Poll, nearly half (44%) of Americans have seriously considered retiring abroad, with 14% reporting that they’re actively planning or contemplating a move overseas within the next two years. Lower living costs, better healthcare, and the promise of a higher quality of life…

Key Takeaways Reverse budget your savings before expenses to help you achieve your first $1 million in net wealth.Use high-yield savings, retirement, and brokerage accounts, and trade assets you’re comfortable with rather than those that are in trend.Focus on growth and take a long-term approach.Find ways to automate your savings.Manage your money by rebalancing your portfolio, using hedging strategies, and dollar-cost averaging. Hitting $1 million in net wealth may come from landing a windfall like the lottery or inheriting it from a rich relative. Let’s face it, though, most of us aren’t that lucky. But that doesn’t mean you can’t…

Where Else People Age 55-64 Are Saving Money Asset % Households with Asset Median Value for Asset Holders Savings Bonds 8.5% $3,000 CDs 6.6% $25,000 Stocks (directly held) 19.2% $30,000 Retirement Accts 57% $185,000 Bonds (directly held) 1.2% $400,000 Source: The Federal Reserve’s “Survey of Consumer Finances” (2022) “Directly held” means the asset is not in a retirement account. The value of bonds in this table looks much higher than the other categories, especially given that only a tiny fraction of 55-64-year-olds owns directly held corporate or municipal bonds. This small group either holds numerous bonds, bonds with high values,…

Key Takeaways Planning where you’ll live and whether to downsize your home is one of the biggest factors in planning for retirement. You can clear out the clutter and make extra cash by selling possessions you’ll no longer need like your work wardrobe, extra electronics, kids’ toys, and even your second car. Working with a financial planner can help you envision and plan for your retirement, including what you will and won’t need. Many people downsize their living situation to simplify their lives when they retire. But your home isn’t the only thing you can downsize, and it isn’t even…

It’s a sobering statistic: Roughly 90% of family wealth disappears by the third generation. For many families, that means the grandchildren of today’s wealth builders may inherit only stories, not financial security.The problem usually isn’t poor investment returns or bad estate planning. More often, wealth erodes because of human nature: lack of communication, lack of purpose and lack of preparation.The first generation works hard to create wealth. The second generation often helps manage it. By the third generation, children who never saw the sacrifices made to build that wealth may begin to see it as a right instead of a…

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 52-year-old health care chief financial officer in the Pacific Northwest. 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…

Some bond market watchers say that high-yield bonds – those rated between double-B and triple-C – aren’t exactly bargains these days. Others say there’s still opportunity in this part of the fixed-income market.We checked in with Michael Chang, one of two subadvisers behind our favorite junk bond fund, the Vanguard High-Yield Corporate (VWEHX), to get the lowdown. Chang, of Vanguard’s in-house bond group, runs one-third of the assets in the fund; Wellington Management’s Elizabeth Shortsleeve runs the rest.Chang concedes that “it’s tough to make the case that high-yield bonds are overly attractive today.” But in his view, the U.S. economy…

At around 57 square miles, The Villages is bigger than Disney World (39 square miles) and almost as big as Washington, D.C. (69 square miles). If you ask the locals, it packs just as much punch.Located in Central Florida near Orlando and home to more than 150,000 residents (who call themselves “Villagers”), The Villages is formally a 55-plus community and bills itself as the number-one-rated master-planning community in the U.S..”I work with many retirees who call The Villages home, and for a lot of them, making Florida their official residence just makes sense. You get the sunshine, the lifestyle, and…

Key Takeaways Warren Buffett warns investors tempted by overactive trading that it’s like casual hookups—exciting in the moment but destructive over time. Frequent trading can slash returns by 6% to 7% compared with simply holding a stake in a broad market index fund. Active trading can cut long-term gains through transaction fees and other costs. Treating stocks as ownership stakes, not speculative tokens, is the foundation of lasting wealth, Buffett argues. The Oracle of Omaha has a spicy take that cuts to the heart of his stock-buying philosophy: “According the name ‘investors’ to institutions that trade actively is like calling…

Key Takeaways Tech executives like Palantir CEO Alex Karp have said they don’t care if or where employees went to college—work performance matters more.Apple CEO Tim Cook has said a four-year degree isn’t required to work at Apple.Tech has seen a number of college dropouts make billions, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. Executives at top tech companies are telling young people to rethink the purpose of education, and even whether they should attend college at all. Tech has had a range of successful college dropouts in its history, and the industry is being shaken up by the…