But no matter how difficult it might be, it's worthwhile—and arguably important—for retirees to declutter their homes.

Retirees frequently downsize or otherwise move in retirement, and the fewer things you have to lug from Place A to Place B, the better. But even if you're staying put, you should prioritize home organization; clutter can become a tripping hazard, lead to pest infestations, and even be a fire risk. Not to mention: Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter, too.

So for your safety and peace of mind, if you're retiring soon or are retired, you should consider decluttering. It's easier said than done, but with these top decluttering techniques, it's very doable.

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First, you need to get in the right headspace. Then, you need to decide what to keep … and what to give away, sell, donate, or in the worst case, trash.

The following tips will help make the process easier—sometimes from an organizational standpoint, and sometimes from an emotional one.

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You don't want to pull everything out of your drawers and closets and then be surrounded by stuff and burnt out. Even if fatiguing yourself results in you ridding yourself of a lot of things, it won't have created any sustainable habit changes; indeed, it could cause you to rebound and start accumulating clutter again.

Instead, acknowledge that the project may take several days, or even longer, and focus on doing it right, rather than rushed. You should also work on making this a step toward making your lifestyle a little more minimalistic, rather than a one-time cleaning spree; that should help prevent the clutter from accumulating once more.

Ditch that old, broken coffee pot. You already have a new one and are unlikely to fix the old one. Second microwave just sitting in the basement? You're not going back to it; let it go.

If you need a really easy way to get the ball rolling, clean out the fridge. Tossing expired food items and anything else that looks past its prime is brainless but gets you in the right frame of mind.

You could also address any stockpiles of papers that are several years old and no longer useful to you … but you'll probably want to consult our "shred or save" list first.

Related: Want to Become More Minimalist? Start by Tossing Out These Items

Why wait? Give them away now.

You might have loved ones who could and actually would make immediate use of those antique clocks or hand-sewn quilts! Don't let useful or beautiful objects sit in the attic when they could be making those close to you happy.

In some cases, doing this might even help your family from a financial perspective. Let's say your granddaughter and her husband recently bought their first home. This would be an excellent time to offer up the antique dressers or dining set you've been holding on to. Receiving these gifts from you now could save them money during a time when they might be strapped for cash—not to mention, by the time you pass away, they might have a fully furnished home with no room for your furniture.

By the way: This doesn't have to apply to just heirlooms passed down through your family. Consider anything you own that you don't have a need for and ask yourself, "Would my family and friends benefit from receiving this?"

Related: How Much Should You Financially Support Adult Children?

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Selling unneeded, high-value items can add to your financial cushion and reduce financial worries. It's a win-win: Your "stuff" collection goes down, and your account balance goes up.

Monetary compensation can ease the mental burden of decluttering, helping you determine which things have true sentimental value and which are simply goods you bought and are willing to part with.

You can sell your stuff in a number of ways. Traditional garage sales are still alive and well. You could also list some of your higher-ticket items on selling platforms such as craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Poshmark. But be aware of online sales scams; if you're selling an item, there is never a good reason for you to give the other person money, even if they claim to have overpaid you via a payment app.

Related: Elderly Scams: Beware These 15 Schemes Targeting Seniors

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Secondhand shops, such as St. Vincent's or Goodwill, are go-to donation stops. You can drop off your goods and go, though giving away items can also save you money at thrift stores—some stores will give you a discount on your next purchase after you donate.

But thrift stores aren't your only choices. Local homeless shelters or women's shelters will often accept clothing, blankets, backpacks, and more. So too will many faith-based charities. And knowing that your old items could help people who really need them can be an excellent motivator for decluttering. 

Don't forget about animals, either! If you decide not to have pets in retirement, you might be able to donate unopened food, treats, cleaning supplies, and other items to an animal shelter near you. 

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In truth, ditching unnecessary mail is just a bandage. You're better off treating the sickness, not the symptoms, by ensuring all that mail never reaches your home in the first place.

Start by redirecting mail that was never intended for you. If you're receiving mail for a previous resident or somebody else who doesn't live with you, return the mail back to the mailstream with "Not at this address" written on the envelope. If you get a "We ReDeliver for You" PS 3849 form for a different address or for a person who doesn't live at your address, do the following:

--Check the "Other" box.

--Write in "Refused."

--Return the form to a mail carrier or your mailbox. 

Next, focus on your own mail deliveries. Call to unsubscribe from magazine and ad mailing lists you're no longer interested in.

Do you receive a pile of bills in the mail? Contact each company and request digital billing. If you're worried about missing payments this way, you can create calendar notifications or set up automatic payments. (If you do the latter, double-check your bank or credit card statements to ensure you're being charged the proper amount.)

Related: How Long Will My Savings Last in Retirement? 4 Withdrawal Strategies

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Do you still have your daughter's program from that musical she was in? What about that flight ticket you saved from your dream vacation? These items might hold sentimental value, and it could be difficult to get rid of them. The same goes for plenty of non-paper items, too, whether it's a broken heirloom clock from your grandfather or trophies from when you were younger. And having photos makes it easier to share memories with others, too.

You can also save space by digitizing your photos. Photo scanners from the likes of Epson, or even photo scanner apps on your phone, can help you retain your memories while getting rid of bulky bins of Polaroids. 

Just remember: If you do decide to digitize, you should keep those files in multiple places (such as your hard drive and a USB flash drive, or the cloud and your hard drive) to ensure if they're somehow deleted in one place, you have a backup you can duplicate again.

Related: What Are the Average Retirement Savings By Age?

1. Have I used this item in the last 90 days?
2. Will I use it in the next 90 days?

If the answer to both questions is a solid "no," that usually means you should get rid of the item. Seasonal items, such as Christmas decorations, are an exception. The "90" is less important than having a set, predetermined number of days as a guideline. 

The point is that you shouldn't hold onto items that you might need eventually because you may never actually need them. Even if an object would have been useful five years later, it isn't necessarily worth storing that long. If you haven't used something soon and have no plans to use it, give yourself more space by getting rid of it. 

Related: How Retirees Can Master Budgeting With a Variable Income

Or it might just be that you need help with certain steps of the decluttering process. For instance, if part of your strategy is to donate items to charity, you could find a charity that will pick it all up for you. 

Many major charities, such as Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, offer free donation pickup. Consider contacting local charities to see if they are willing to collect your donations. Policies may vary by location, and they might have limitations on what types of items they will accept. 

Some moving and packing companies specifically offer senior decluttering services, too. These professionals can help you organize your belongings, decide what to keep and what to ditch, and haul away what you don't want. If you're moving in retirement, they can also help you pack up and relocate your possessions. 

Related: Downsizing in Retirement? 10 Tips to Follow

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The same goes for decluttering your financial affairs, too.

Do you have five different 401(k) accounts from various jobs throughout your career? That could lead to unnecessary confusion and complexity for your beneficiaries. You might consider 401(k) rollovers to consolidate your retirement accounts into a single individual retirement account (IRA). If you have several checking accounts or taxable brokerage accounts, you can consolidate those as well. 

The less complexity and the fewer accounts you have, the easier the financial transition will be for your heirs down the road.

Related: How to Achieve Financial Minimalism to Reduce Stress

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How does the 4% rule work, how has it changed, and can it help guide your retirement? Check out our primer on the 4% rule.

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But in addition to carrying intriguing products, the store has some policies and practices that range from uncommon to downright unheard of (outside of Trader Joe's, of course).

In other words: Don't treat a shopping trip to Trader Joe's like going to any other grocery store.

Today, I'm going to go over some of the best tips to make the most out of your Trader Joe's experience. These tricks can help you shop without buyer's remorse, keep your children entertained, and more. Once you become a Trader Joe's pro, you may shop there more than you expected.

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But let's say you spot a bag of Strawberry Yogurt Flavored Covered Almonds (a favorite of my sister). You probably aren't sure whether they'll taste as delicious as they sound.

At Trader Joe's, you can just ask a staff member.

Employees get to sample the shop's latest products, making it easy for them to provide recommendations. Also, Trader Joe's stores purposely ensure there are always plenty of workers around, so don't feel shy using a few minutes of an employee's time to ask questions.

At Trader Joe's, that's a viable option—employees will let you sample nearly anything, with a few logical exceptions. For instance, you can't try frozen foods that would need to be microwaved or thawed and baking mixes can't be sampled in their current state. Also, don't plan on doing any "pregaming" there, either, as you can't sample alcohol.

And pretty please, don't overdo it and try to get a meal out of samples. Don't be the person who ruins this excellent perk for everyone else.

Related: 20 Expenses to Cut From Your Budget in 2025

Unfortunately, the crackers weren't all they were, ahem, cracked up to be, and the Chardonnay doesn't hit the same way a pumpkin spice latte would. 

If you bought those items at just about any other supermarket, you'd have to eat the cost of that dining experience. But not at Trader Joe's. The store has a remarkably lenient return policy—just bring back an item (even if the box is opened) and a receipt, and you'll likely be allowed to return them. (Depending on your state, you might have to receive a like product in return for alcohol returns.)

Also, you can even get your refund at a different store than where you originally purchased the items

Related: The Pink Tax: Why It's So Expensive to Be a Woman

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Every shop has a stuffed animal hidden somewhere for children to find among the shelves and stacks. Different stores have different animals, so kids might be searching for a bear, eagle, or another creature.

Once the child finds the animal, they can point it out to an employee or tell them where they found it. If the child finds the stuffed animal, they earn a prize—candy, fruit, a sticker, or another small item.

Related: How Much Should I Save Each Month?

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You can subscribe to the Flyer here, and it will be sent to your inbox every time there's a new edition. The company will still occasionally mail a physical copy, and physical copies can also be found in stores.

Related: Should You Buy a Car Outright or Finance It?

If you fall in love with a snack, toothpaste, frozen meal, or anything else, stock up on it—especially if it's seasonal. Otherwise, you might purchase your last box without actually knowing it until it's too late.

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But please don't hold your breath for a sale at Trader Joe's. They don't do sales. They don't print coupons. They don't give online discounts. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So if you come across an item you like, you simply have to decide whether it's worth the price to keep buying it. (And if it's a product you've never tried, remember what I said above: There's a good chance you can try it in the store before buying it.)

There is one exception, and that's manufacturer coupons. Most Trader Joe's products are store brands. But it does carry other regional and national brands—and if you're able to find manufacturer coupons for those products, you should still be allowed to use them.

The one exception is manufacturer coupons. While most Trader Joe's products are store brands, some other brands are carried. If you're able to find manufacturer coupons for those products, you can use them. 

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Related: Stop Shrinkflation! 10 Products Affected + Tips to Save Money

Trader Joe's shoppers who bring their own grocery bags and spend at least $25 can enter to win weekly prizes, such as a $25 gift card. You could buy a lot of tasty goodies with that gift card on your next shopping trip.

The cashiers usually don't bring this up, so make sure you ask about it when you're checking out!

Related: 10 Items You Should Always Buy New

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For example, in 2023, they had the Burger Bun-anza Recipe Contest. Customers were challenged to create the best possible burger recipe using seven or fewer Trader Joe's ingredients (a few ingredients, such as salt and pepper, didn't count toward the ingredient tally). Contestants crafted their recipes, used them to make burgers, photographed those burgers, wrote captions, and posted the photos on Instagram. The winner received a $200 Trader Joe's gift card, and two runner-ups earned one $100 gift card apiece.

Other Trader Joe's contests from the past include a Pizza Party Recipe Contest in spring 2024, and a banana recipe contest in 2023.

Ask an employee at a local Trader Joe's about any current or upcoming contests. You might be able to have some fun and win a prize.

Related: 20 Big-Ticket Items Worth Splurging On

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Unsure whether there is a location close by? You can check locations here. 

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But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

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Banks charge a wide variety of fees. It's understandable—after all, banks are businesses, not charities—but those fees do cut into our savings, our earnings, and our potential returns. It's a begrudging trade-off: credit cards are convenient, but paying credit card fees sure isn't.

Happily, while credit card and bank fees are aggravating, you do have ways of reducing or even avoiding them. So if you're trying to hold on to more of your hard-earned cash, read on as I go over some of the most common bank fees, then the most common credit card fees, and discuss whether you can dodge them.

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The clear way to avoid this is by keeping enough money in your account to satisfy the minimum. However, it's tricky to avoid temporary dips below the threshold in a primary checking account, where money is frequently coming in and going out. So, if you're worried about this issue, seek out bank accounts that don't carry minimum balance requirements.

Luckily, monthly maintenance fees are easy to avoid.

Many financial institutions waive monthly fees if you use enough qualifying services. For example, a credit union I use waives the monthly fee if you use at least five qualifying services or have combined deposit and/or loan account balances of $20,000. Many of these qualifying services are simple to meet, such as having a savings account, checking account, paperless statements, mobile or direct deposit, and debit card usage.

But it's also easy to find a bank account with no monthly fees whatsoever, especially among larger banks and financial apps. Among accounts we rate, Bread Savings, Sofi Checking & Savings and Axos Rewards Checking all offer robust banking offerings with no monthly fees.

Related: 7 Best Wealth + Net Worth Tracker Apps [View All Your Assets]

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A bank charges an overdraft fee when it clears a transaction that's overdrawn the account and temporarily covers your shortfall. But if a bank declines to cash a check or approve a payment that would overdraw the account, it will charge an NSF fee.

The glib answer: Don't overdraw your account. But if we're being practical, and you want to prevent an accidental overdraft or NSF fee, consider switching where you do your banking. Many banks and credit unions provide overdraft protection (though that sometimes requires its own fee), or otherwise allow you to avoid overdraft fees as long as you aren't overdrawn by a substantial amount and reimburse the account in a timely manner. For instance, Axos Rewards Checking charges no overdraft fees whatsoever.

Related: The 7 Best Vanguard Index Funds for Beginners

ATM fees are naturally frustrating because it's an extra charge to access your own money. And while the fees might only be a couple bucks in many locations, a few are eye-poppingly high. I recently used an ATM while traveling to Costa Rica, and I was charged a $7.80 fee!

You have two realistic options for getting around these fees. You can either bank with an institution that has an exceedingly high number of in-network bank and/or third-party ATMs. Or you can bank with a financial institution that reimburses out-of-network ATM fees.

Related: 50+ Best Money-Making Apps That Pay You Real Money

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-- Incoming domestic (U.S.) transfers usually range between $0 and $15

-- Incoming international transfers usually range between $0 and $20.

-- Outgoing U.S. transfers usually range between $15 and $40.

-- Outgoing international transfers usually range between $35 and $50.

There's no negotiating these funds, but you can find ways around them.

If you expect to make frequent wire transfers, you should comparison-shop among banks. Some banks offer one or more free incoming and outgoing wire transfers with high-level accounts, though that's not the norm for a standard savings or checking account.

Of course, the best way to avoid wire transfer fees is, when the choice is available, to use another method to transfer money. Many banks permit free ACH transfers between bank accounts, though those payments aren't instantaneous. You could also use apps like Zelle—an instant transfer method between bank accounts—as long as both financial institutions have Zelle functionality. In a pinch, peer-to-peer money apps, such as PayPal and Venmo, can let you send money to friends or family for free, too.

Related: The 7 Best Fidelity Index Funds for Beginners

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That said, if you're not careful, you could accumulate a laundry list of different fees.

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While annoying, credit card companies are typically upfront about annual fees, so if you don't want to pay an annual fee, simply choose from the credit card world's wide variety of free options. And though it won't work often, it's worth at least calling to see if you can get the fee waived; the worst they can say is "no."

But sometimes, it pays to pay the fee. Just make sure you take a close look at all of the rewards, and how likely you'll be to use them all, to get an idea of whether you're going to come out ahead.

Related: The 10 Best Vanguard ETFs for 2025 [Build a Low-Cost Portfolio]

Like with many fees, the best way to avoid foreign transaction charges is to shop around—many cards (especially travel-oriented cards) don't charge foreign transaction fees. Alternatively, though, if you rarely travel internationally, when you do, you might opt to primarily pay in cash.

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

It's recommended to put credit card bills on autopay or set calendar reminders so you always pay on time. Still, accidents happen.

A quick call to your credit card issuer can often get this fee removed, especially if it's a first-time offense. Some companies are more strict, however, and might refuse to waive the fee.

But the best way to avoid these fees is to (obviously) pay on time. My advice? You can set a calendar reminder so you always know to pay your bill on time. Or set up autopay to at least cover the minimum charge you'd face each month (and manually go into your account to pay off greater amounts as you can).

Related: 9 Best Fidelity ETFs for 2025 [Invest Tactically]

The interest on a card is expressed through annual percentage rate (APR). You can use this APR to determine how much you'll be charged in interest every year as a percentage of the balance you hold. And while many credit cards will offer a 0% introductory APR when you first sign up, eventually, you'll be held to that rate.

The easiest way to avoid paying interest is to pay your full balance on time every month. If you do that, you'll never be charged any interest.

However, if you pay less than the full balance, you'll be charged interest. Depending on the source, the average credit card APR right now sits between 22% and 28%. You'll also be charged interest if you pay the full balance late, though if you usually make on-time payments, you can call your credit card company to see if they'll waive the interest.

Related: The 7 Best Dividend ETFs [Get Income + Diversify]

Some people avoid this fee by making an infrequently used credit card the payment method for one annual subscription—so that way you're using it at least once per year.

It's worth seriously considering this option: Cards that are inactive for very long periods might be canceled by the credit card company altogether. And especially if it's one of your earlier or larger lines of credit, having that card shut down could negatively impact your credit score.

Related: 60 Personal Finance Statistics You Might Not Know (But Should!)

This fee is relatively easy to get around. Credit cards occasionally have promotions where they'll allow customers to execute free balance transfers. Even outside of a promotional period, you might be able to find a new card offering a $0 introductory balance transfer fee. Just read the fine print: You don't want to sign up for a card for the beneficial balance transfer fee alone, only to find out it charges a host of other fees.

Related: How to Get Free Stocks for Signing Up: 10 Apps w/Free Shares

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We never recommend getting a cash advance except in an emergency, just given how high the financial penalties are. You're better off withdrawing money from an ATM, getting cash back from a store, or borrowing money from your savings account or emergency fund.

Related: 11 Best Alternative Investments [Options to Consider]

If a bank or card charges a monthly or annual fee, see if the price will actually be worth the perks. And try to avoid usage fees on transactions you'll complete frequently—if you travel internationally often, for instance, you'll want to avoid a credit card with foreign transaction fees.

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Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

2. Subscribe to Retire With Riley, our free weekly retirement planning newsletter, and

3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

4. And lastly, if you think this information would benefit your friends and family, don't hesitate to share it with them!

That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. On the contrary, you'd be surprised at just how much money you can save by eliminating a few regular purchases from your budget. And if you can get over the initial hurdle, you'll likely find you don't miss most of those non-essential expenses anymore.

If you're looking to trim your budget, see how many of the following expenses you can cut down to meet your savings goals.

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One important thing to remember: In many cases, you don't even have to completely cut these products and services from your life—merely reducing your usage of some of them will be enough to make significant financial progress.

To start, menu prices on food delivery apps are often higher than the restaurant's regular menu. Then, there is usually a service fee, delivery fee, or both. Taxes apply to any food order, of course, but you might also see miscellaneous costs. Finally, there is gratuity, which you'd owe at a typical sit-down restaurant, but that you probably wouldn't pay at a fast-casual or fast-food chain.

It isn't unheard of for all the extras to add up to between 50%-100% of what the cost would be if you had just picked up an order yourself. Restaurants don't exactly love it, either; these delivery apps can be prohibitively expensive for them.

So, whenever you can, pick up the order yourself. Or save a little more money by cooking your own meals a little more often.

Choose one or two services that you watch the most and cut the rest from your monthly budget. If you only subscribe to a service for one or two shows, consider buying one-month subscriptions once the full season's worth of episodes have been released.

If you don't have any specific interests and just like to have options, consider free, ad-supported streaming services such as Pluto TV, Tubi, and Freevee.

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

But Prime is doing its best to convince its subscribers otherwise.

The cost of Prime has slowly risen over the years while simultaneously offering less. Members frequently complain about increased Prime shipping times, receiving counterfeit items, and poor customer service. In the meantime, free shipping—particularly over a set dollar amount—has become much more commonplace for retailers than when Amazon first introduced it. So now, you can frequently buy an item directly from a manufacturer without having to pay shipping (plus you know it's the real deal).

The most recent knock: In late December 2023, Amazon announced that Prime Video would begin including ads on Jan. 29, 2024. Want an ad-free experience? You have to pony up an extra $2.99 per month.

If you aren't ready to completely cut Amazon Prime, you can consider splitting your membership with another family member through Amazon Household. An Amazon Household can have up to two adults (ages 18 and up), up to four teens, and up to four children. Adults still use their own individual accounts, and they can't see one another's orders or content. (Note: Users in the same Household must live in the same country, but they don't need to share the same address.)

Related: 14 Items to Buy in Bulk + 7 You NEVER Should

But washing your own car is easy, and the equipment (a hose, soap, and towels) are fairly cheap. You can also clean the inside of your vehicle with an inexpensive handheld vacuum.

Car washes aren't a big monthly expense, but they're easy to boot from your budget to earn a little extra wiggle room.

Related: 25 Best Jobs for 15-Year-Olds [In-Person + Online]

Yes, you might only spend a few dollars playing the lotto every week. But over time, those tickets add up to real money you could use toward necessary expenses or small luxuries. Rather than fantasizing about that yacht you would buy with your winnings, you could actually buy yourself a treat here and there instead.

Other types of gambling might involve some skill, but at the end of the day, you still heavily rely on chance. Remember: Casinos are profitable for a reason. Consider changing out your casino nights for more affordable recreational activities. And if you really miss the casino's watered-down cocktails, you can make your own at home.

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Maybe you've told yourself that you don't have time to pack your meals, or maybe you can't think of enough tasty meals to bring to work every day. Whatever the case, here are a few quick ways to make this task easier:

-- Pack leftovers for the next day's lunch before you even eat dinner. As soon as the food is ready, put some in a reusable container and into your lunch bag. This ensures you'll have enough saved for lunch and that you won't be too tired to pack it once you're full and sleepy.

-- Have a meal-prep day. Most people use Sundays to make a lot of food and pack their lunches for the entire week. (This method also solves the problem of not having time during the week to pack lunches.)

-- The internet is full of recipes for people who have little time. Just search "30-minute meal-prep recipes," and you'll be buried in enough meal ideas to last you the rest of your life.

-- Keep a variety of grab-and-go meal options, like Lunchables, microwavable meals, and snack packs. It's not as cost-effective as making your lunches, but it's still a cheaper alternative to eating out. 

Related: 60 Personal Finance Statistics You Might Not Know (But Should!)

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Produce prices can actually vary significantly depending on when the items are in and out of season. Especially during the winter, prices of fresh out-of-season produce can soar.

The good news? Frozen produce has the same nutrients as fresh items (as long as no sugars or extra ingredients are added). So you can cut down on your grocery bills (and stay just as healthy) by stocking up on certain frozen fruits and veggies to use when they're out of season.

Related: How to Get Free Stocks for Signing Up: 10 Apps w/Free Shares

In many cases, you can lower your monthly expenses (and be more environmentally friendly) by purchasing reusable products rather than single-use items. Great examples include ditching paper towels for washable rags or reusable bamboo towels, replacing individual water bottles with reusable bottles (if you don't like the taste of your sink water, consider a Brita filter or a water bottle with a built-in filter), and using reusable plastic containers and even reusable zipper storage bags instead of Ziplocs and other single-use storage.

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But the truth is: Most people will understand if you need to cut back gift giving.

You don't have to go cold turkey. For instance, if you celebrate Christmas, you can recommend a white elephant or Secret Santa exchange so each person buys just one present instead of many. Or instead of buying scads of presents for your friends, host a potluck, cookie exchange, or some other low-cost activity that gets everyone what they really want: a little more time with the people they enjoy. You can even try gifting services such as making a home-cooked meal or offering to babysit.

Related: 10 Best Financial Gifts for Babies, Kids, and Grandkids [No More Toys]

You likely already have the materials you need in your cabinet or fridge to make homemade cleaning solutions—and if you don't, buying those materials is still cheaper than buying most household cleaning solutions.

For instance, I run diluted distilled white vinegar through my coffee pot to keep it clean, soak water bottle parts in it, and use it for a variety of other cleaning tasks.

Baking soda is another powerful, cheap cleaning ingredient that I use. I buy generic, 16-ounce boxes for only 99¢. I use what I need for baking, then use the rest for cleaning. Not only does it clean well, but it absorbs smells—which is why many people (myself included) stick an open box in their refrigerators.

And if you're worried you'll miss the lemony smell of your favorite cleaner, you can add actual lemon juice to produce the same scent.

A quick online search for DIY cleaning recipes provides many cheap options. As a bonus, your homemade cleaning products won't contain any harmful chemicals that some store-bought solutions contain.

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Try consuming alcohol only at home and gatherings at people's houses. Buy yourself a few of your favorite beverages (or ingredients to make them) and enjoy your drinks with others at home. Not confident you can create your own cocktails? Premixed cocktails are more common than ever.

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Borrow board games or video games from a library. Cook a meal together. Take a long walk.

Even mixing in just a few at-home date nights can give you more room in your budget to splurge occasionally for special occasions.

Related: How to Get Free Money Now [15 Ways to Earn Money]

Specifically, there are eight IRS Free File Online tax preparation services. All of them have adjusted gross income requirements (varies by service), so if you make too much money, you might not be eligible to use them, though. And a couple are only for certain age groups. But if you qualify, this can be a great way to save money each year. These services include:

-- 1040NOW.NET (federal return free in some states; state return never free)

-- FileYourTaxes.com (federal return free in all states; state return free in some states)

-- 1040.com (federal return free in all states; state return free in some states)

-- TaxAct (federal return free in all states; state return free in some states)

-- FreeTaxUSA (federal return free in all states; state return free in all states)

-- TaxSlayer (federal return free in all states; state return free in some states)

-- OLT (federal return free in all states; state return free in all states)

-- IRS Free File Program delivered by ezTaxReturn (federal return free in some states; no free state tax return in any state)

For the past couple of years, I've used ezTaxReturn.com. I admit, it has a scammy sounding name, and the website feels a bit, ahem, old-school … but I'm willing to put up with a less-than-optimal user experience for a free, quality service. My returns have always been accepted.

The IRS is also currently piloting Direct File in 12 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.  Eligible filers in those states with simple tax filing needs, as well as certain types of income, credits, and deductions, can use the service to file for free online.

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According to several state and local health department guides, people who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day can expect to spend anywhere between $2,200 and $4,400 per year—and that doesn't include any potential medical costs you could incur from the habit down the road.

And we'll state the obvious: Avoiding these products would be great for your health, too.

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I love adorable onesies and tiny, sparkly baby shoes as much as the next person. I do. And I support you playing dress-up with your child as much as you please (assuming the baby doesn't mind).

But don't bother buying new baby clothes and shoes.

Some kids' items you should always buy new, such as car seats. But shoes and clothes aren't on that list. Why? They grow out of them too quickly. It's not uncommon for toddlers to pass through three shoe sizes per year. My 10-year-old nephew is flying through shoe sizes so quickly that his feet are already bigger than mine.

Instead, ask people for their kids' used items, check local Facebook giveaway groups, and take some time pursuing yard sales. You'll find just-as-cute items that are free or you can buy with the spare change at the bottom of your purse.

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You can do that by improving the level of care you give to your current clothes—for instance, only wash and dry garments that are actually dirty/smelly, wash dark clothing inside out, and carry a stain removal pen with you at all times.

If you need outfits to remain presentable for work, obviously don't touch that part of your budget. But consider reducing how much you spend on outfits you wear outside of the workplace.

Also try browsing a brick-and-mortar thrift store or app, such as Poshmark or Mercari, for your next clothing purchases. Sometimes, items have never even been worn and still have the original tags attached. (This type of shopping can be better for the environment, too, as these clothes might otherwise end up in a landfill.)

Related: How to Get Free Stocks for Signing Up: 10 Apps w/Free Shares

For one, services like Xbox Game Pass allow you to try hundreds of games without having to buy them—so if you grind through a high volume of games, services like Game Pass make a lot of sense.

If you're not a hardcore gamer, you might lean the other way—in that you've bought several video games that you never got around to playing. So a good way to get yourself to cut back on buying more games is to stop yourself from purchasing anything new until you've finished the games you've already bought.

And a surprising way to save: your local library. Libraries carry far more than books nowadays—you can rent movies, music, and even video games. Yes, you might not be able to check out the very latest hits, but it's a good way to casually game while you're on a tight budget.

Related: 30 Best Side Hustles for Teens [In-Person + Online]

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We'll start with a few simple tips. During the summer, draw your curtains in rooms that don't need sunlight. Blackout curtains in particular can drastically reduce heat gain from windows and keep your home cooler. Try cooking outside on particularly hot days. During the winter, reverse the direction of your ceiling fans, close off unused rooms, and make sure you're replacing your filters.

Some measures that are more expensive up front but can drastically reduce energy use include cleaning your heating system, using a humidifier, and insulating your attic.

Getting a smart thermometer can be useful year-round. You can set these to raise and lower temperatures at different times. For example, you might have it automatically cool your home down at night and begin to warm it up an hour before you need to wake up in the morning. Or, you might set your home to cool down or heat up while you're driving back from work.

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I love books. I'm even part of a book club. But rather than buying books, which can be pretty pricey, I take advantage of my local libraries.

Based on Follet and Baker & Taylor data, the average price of an adult-geared, fiction hardcover book in 2022 was $27.43. Using that number, a person who opted for the library—which, every public library is free to join—over buying a new book once a month would save roughly $330. If you prefer nonfiction books or read more frequently, your savings would be even higher.

This can be a simple item to cut from your budget until you can afford more discretionary spending. Plus, that library card might encourage you to read more.

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Showering typically uses less water than baths. And if you shower already, reducing your shower time just a little each day can add up.

Check for any leaks from your sinks, toilets, and hoses; even small leaks can result in a lot of wasted water. You can also install water-saving fixtures, use a dishwasher over hand washing, and adjust your landscaping to require less watering.

Related: How to Negotiate Medical Bills in Collections [13 Steps to Follow]

When possible, walk, bike, or take public transportation instead of driving yourself. Don't live in an area where everything is accessible that way? You might be able to save on gas in other ways, such as starting a carpool.

Even a little bit of planning can help. Give your significant other a quick call to see if there is anything else you need to grab. It's not only thoughtful—but you'll save on gas by not having to make a separate trip to the store.

Axos Rewards Checking Account has no monthly maintenance fees, overdraft fees, or non-sufficient funds fees, and you will get reimbursed for all domestic ATM fees. Plus, you can earn a high annual percentage yield (APY)—especially when compared to other checking accounts—based on your spending, direct deposits, and other account activity.

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Simply put: You have to wipe the debt out.

For most people, this won't be a quick fix like many of the other expense-cutting measures listed here. Instead, you'll actually have to add to your expenses (in the form of putting more toward paying off your debt each month) until it's actually paid off.

Related: Do Installment Loans Build Credit?

Credit cards often carry exceedingly high interest rates into the high teens and even 20s. If you're only making minimum interest payments, you could pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars in additional interest expense—and have those monthly payments locked into your budget for far longer than you'd want.

Once you pay off old credit card debt, you'll want to improve your spending habits, and also make sure to pay off your balance in full each month.

If your credit card debt seems insurmountable, consider speaking to someone at a nonprofit credit counseling agency.

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One great method: The 30-day rule. It's simple. When you get the urge to make an unplanned purchase, write it down and wait 30 days. If you still want to spend money on that item or service after 30 days, buy it. But in many cases, once you've had some time to think about it, you won't feel the need to pull that money.

Related: 12 Best Apps That Give You Money for Signing Up [Free Money]

Still, even in those situations, you might be able to negotiate a better rate or get a better deal through another provider.

In a better interest-rate environment, you could refinance your mortgage to make your mortgage payment lower each month. (You might also be able to get rid of any private mortgage insurance you carry.) Shop around for cheaper home and car insurance; yes, changing providers takes time and effort, but a lower monthly payment can be worth it.

You can also save money through couponing. These days, you don't even need to search for coupons to cut out—some apps and extensions that can do that for you.

Related: 50+ Best Money-Making Apps That Pay You Real Money

But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

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You might not have the time, energy, or expertise to prepare the types of elaborate meals you can get at your favorite restaurants. It can also be nice to have a change of scenery and not have to worry about cleaning dishes.

But eating out can be expensive—and many Americans are increasingly feeling this pinch. According to YouGov's "US Dining Out Report 2025," 37% of respondents said they're dining out less frequently than they did a year ago, and of those diners, 69% cited a perceived rise in cost as a reason.

The good news? There are several ways to save money at restaurants—and the more of these money-saving strategies you implement, the more cash you can hold on to. Let's discuss some of the easy ways to spend less money dining out.

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While that absolutely will cut down on your spending, you deserve to treat yourself sometimes. Not to mention, cooking at home doesn't feel so cheap, either—while it's still less expensive than eating out, grocery prices have been swelling, and at times they've been doing so at a much faster rate than restaurant prices, according to Consumer Price Index data.

You can still occasionally enjoy dining out, while spending a lot less, if you're strategic about it. Try the following tips to spend less at restaurants. I'll start with some time-honored classics, then get into some lesser-known hacks.

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1. You won't order drinks. Regardless of whether they're alcoholic or non-alcoholic, drinks will always be far cheaper to buy at a store or make yourself.

2. You won't pay a tip. And even if you do, the nominal amount you give to a host or hostess will be far less than the percentage-based tip you pay a waiter or waitress.

Let's look at an example (without tax, for simplicity's sake):

You and your spouse commonly frequent a local restaurant and usually run up a bill of about $120. This includes a 20% tip ($20) and about $15 worth of drinks. If you order the same meal as a takeout order (sans the drinks, which will virtually always be cheaper to make), you'll spend $85 instead.

Obviously, there are some downsides to eating takeout instead of going out, such as losing out on atmosphere. But it's workable in some situations—for instance, if you're looking for romantic ambience, you can do that at home with a few candles and lower lighting; or if you want to enjoy patio weather, you could make your takeout order a picnic instead.

Some people view alcoholic drinks as an important part of the dining experience, however.

If you don't drink often but occasionally treat yourself to a cocktail at restaurants, scope out local happy hours for drink specials instead. You can typically get much lower prices on beer, wine, and single-mixers (hard alcohol plus one ingredient, such as juice or pop).

Happy hours often extend the savings past drinks, too. Many bars and restaurants will also offer discounted appetizers. Getting an affordable appetizer could mean you eat less of your main meal and have more leftovers later. Or, even better, you could make a meal out of discounted appetizers.

Related: 10 Senior Discounts for Restaurants + Grocery Stores

Senior discounts and military discounts are among the most popular, though many restaurants will also offer discounts for teachers, public safety workers, and/or students. And if you're an AARP member, our long list of AARP discounts includes just a few of the many restaurants that offer deals for members.

Establishments aren't required to offer any of these group discounts; they choose to do so. So you shouldn't be shy about inquiring about any price reductions you might be eligible for. 

Restaurants (and other businesses with group-specific discounts) often provide those discounts on specific days of the week, or specific times of each day. For instance, teacher discounts might only be available on Tuesday, or a bar might have a daily 11 p.m. happy hour for first responders. Also, sometimes, rather than a straight-line discount, a restaurant might have a special, lower-priced menu.

Related: Feeling Thrifty? How to Save Money at Thrift Stores

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Why? Because signing up for memberships at restaurants can often save you a lot of money.

You might need to opt in to receive emails or download an app. From there, you might get free items on your birthday, accumulate points for free items or discounts, or receive a variety of other perks.

If you don't want your inbox flooded with restaurant emails, you should consider creating an email address dedicated to these types of communications. Then, when you're choosing where to eat out, you could check just that email to see which places have recently offered up coupons or other deals. Similarly, if too many dining apps are clogging up your phone screen, create a folder to hold all of them, leaving them out of sight until you need one.

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Aside from holidays, you may want to switch some of your "date nights" to "date days." Lunch prices tend to be more affordable and can always be followed up by a fun activity. Whenever possible, go out on weekdays instead of the weekend; some restaurants will have daily specials during slower weekdays.

Related: 50+ Best Money-Making Apps That Pay You Real Money

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That's a waste of both food and money.

American restaurants have notoriously large portion sizes, so it's likely you at least occasionally don't finish your meal. If you take home your leftovers and make a second meal out of them, that makes dining out far more cost-efficient, effectively halving the price of two meals you've eaten that week. Consider this example of two people going out for a Tex-Mex meal:

--Person A refuses to box up leftovers. She skips free bread or chips to avoid filling up before her meal comes. She spends $25 on one meal (dinner).

--Person B is happy to box up leftovers. She eats free chips and salsa. She only eats some of her meal, and has the rest for lunch the next day. She spends $25 on two meals (dinner and lunch).

If you hate eating the same thing the very next day, you can always wait an extra day or two, as long as you properly store your food. You can also repurpose your leftovers—for instance, if you have leftover nachos, top them with eggs the next morning and make huevos rancheros. Leftover meats and vegetables can be added to soups. Be creative!

Related: 13 Best Apps That Give You Money for Signing Up [Free Money]

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When the holiday season approaches, some restaurants will offer gift cards for less than their retail cost. (For example, a restaurant might sell a $100 gift card for $90.) This is a restaurant's way of getting a cut of Americans' holiday shopping money.

The restaurants with these deals often post them on social media or in email newsletters. But don't be afraid to simply call your favorite spot during the holiday season and ask if they have a gift card promotion going on.

Another option? Purchase restaurant gift cards from Costco, which frequently sells sets for less than their retail value. For instance, as I write this, Costco has an online deal where it's selling two $50 Outback Steakhouse eGift cards ($100) for only $79.99. So when you use those gift cards, you're effectively eating at Outback at a 20% discount.

Related: 10 of the Highest-Rated Kirkland Signature Products You Don't Want to Miss

Dining receipts occasionally have surveys, and answering questions about your experience could earn you discounts or even free food. Chick-fil-A, for example, sometimes offers a free sandwich to patrons who complete a short customer service survey. Within the app, you can see if a survey is available by clicking the For You icon. 

Other dining establishments do this as well, so always give your receipt a cursory glance just to see whether it's carrying a freebie.

Related: How Much Does Financial Advice Cost?

Don't use promotions like these as an excuse to eat out more—that defeats the purpose. Instead, use them as an opportunity to spend less at places you already frequent. One click is an easy ask for a discount. So check your credit card dining offers (and other promotions) regularly and add any you know you're going to use.

Related: 75 Cryptocurrency Statistics Show Crypto’s Gone Mainstream

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You might also learn that a gratuity charge has already been added, whether that's because you came with a large group or because that's the restaurant's new policy for everyone. Whatever the reason, catching that could prevent you from tipping much more than you originally intended.

Some people even take a photo of their completed receipt to ensure it matches their bank statements later.

Related: 31 Millennial Spending Habits & Income Statistics to Know

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of five top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

2. Subscribe to Retire With Riley, our free weekly retirement planning newsletter, and

3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

4. And lastly, if you think this information would benefit your friends and family, don't hesitate to share it with them!

Let's go over some of the common pros and cons of letting your child move back into your home after they graduate.

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Many graduates don't yet have a job lined up and need time to fill out applications and find work. Even those lucky enough to start work right after graduation might not be able to afford their own place in some cities with a high cost of living.

A young adult might also be saddled with student loan debt, have an upcoming wedding, or need to save money for a house down payment.

In many scenarios, the savings from living at home and paying no rent (or a discounted rent) can be extremely useful at this age.

Some parents compromise by having their adult children pay rent—but below market rates. Even if parents only receive a couple hundred dollars a month, that's more than they received from their kids before, and it can provide critical wiggle room in a household budget.

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For example, not all parents of college graduates are empty nesters. For those with minors still at home, free childcare—from a trusted, beloved brother or sister—in exchange for free housing can be an excellent arrangement for both parties.

And if you're a parent who had children later in life, it could be useful to have children around to help with physically taxing projects. Some people's children might be able to help run errands, do chores, provide tech support, even offer up tax advice, and otherwise help with many other aspects of daily life.

Related: When Should You Claim Social Security?

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You surely hope your child will find a long-term job—but that job might be in another city, state, or even country. So if, before that happens, they can live at home, you can spend a little more time together.

This isn't to say you should treat them like a minor and control their schedules. But merely having them within your household creates more chances to spend time with them—allowing them to get to know the adult version of their children better.

Related: Should Retirees Move? 10 Considerations

The graduate doesn't yet have a job lined up in their field. They move into an apartment with numerous roommates, and they work a job in fast food to pay the bills. Should they have to move out, they're responsible for finding a new roommate, or maybe they'll face a punitive penalty for breaking the lease early. Suddenly, moving—even for a good job—becomes that much harder.

Now, let's say your child is working overtime at a job outside their chosen field so they can afford accommodations and other expenses, they'll have little time to apply for employment within their career field. That could also make it trickier to show up for interviews, and they might have to turn down low-paying (but high-value) internships.

Some time at home can provide your child more flexibility to start off on the right foot once it's time to actually move out for good.

Related: Here's the Average Amount of Money Baby Boomers Have Saved for Retirement

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Should the young adult have to tell their parents when they are going out to the bar to meet up with some old friends, or should they be able to come and go as they please? Is it appropriate to bring strangers back into the parents' house without prior permission? What other house rules should apply?

College graduates need to maintain a social life, and that might conflict with parents' comfort levels. Families can't go back to the exact same dynamic they had when the children were minors. So these questions must be discussed before anyone moves back home to determine whether anything that might come up would be a dealbreaker.

Related: How Much to Save for Your Kid's College [3 Tax-Smart Options]

But utilities aren't free. Food sure isn't free, either.

If parents are paying for hourlong showers and enough groceries to feed a football team, household expenses could actually rise significantly. And some people might not be able to foot those larger bills.

Related: 10 Home Improvement Investments That Don't Pay Off

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Also, some of these young adults might experience a dip in motivation due to depression. The graduate might feel as if they're failing or regressing. They might be discouraged as they pay down student debt and struggle to save for a home.

While parents might think their child is just being lazy, excessive sleep and seemingly less ambition might be signs of a bigger problem.

Either way, the real or perceived lack of motivation can cause immense stress on the household.

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But you must mutually agree on ground rules beforehand.

A parent and a child might not have the same speed in mind for moving back out, so set expectations ahead of time. Will it last a few months? A few years?

Determine whether the graduate is expected to pay any rent or utilities, and if so, how much. Whether you charge your child will largely depend on your financial situation; if an increase in utilities makes your budget uncomfortably tight, or you're already living paycheck to paycheck, it's perfectly reasonable to ask for some level of rent, utility and/or grocery contributions. (What specific level that is boils down to your unique situation.) Parents with plenty of budget might have their child pay rent to keep them motivated to move out—but then gift back the money when their kid has found an appropriate place to live.

Both you and your child must have an honest conversation—one where you're not shy about discussing all the logistics with your child. And ultimately, both parent and child must come to an arrangement both parties feel is fair.

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of five top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

2. Subscribe to Retire With Riley, our free weekly retirement planning newsletter, and

3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

4. And lastly, if you think this information would benefit your friends and family, don't hesitate to share it with them!

I doubt you've seen anyone crying out these popular pieces of bear-market advice of late. Yes, the market has been pretty volatile so far in 2026, but the stock market hasn't even approached a correction, let alone a bear market.

But it's safe to assume you've read these and other pieces of bear-market advice several times over the past few years, likely in between checks to see how far your 401(k) or brokerage account has fallen during steep market drops. I say that because I've written these exact pieces of advice for years at multiple media outlets, and I've watched the likes of CNBC and MarketWatch do the same for even longer. There's simply not a lot of new wisdom as it pertains to dealing with your stocks circling the drain.

But I can also tell you that we often do a poor job of explaining the nuances behind these and other tips. We also sometimes fail to point out how this advice may work for some people while not even being applicable for others.

Here are seven common bear-market tips, with much closer scrutiny as to how helpful it really is, including what each piece of advice tends to overlook, and where exceptions might come into play.

--Correction: This is a technical term that refers to a drop of 10% or more from a high.

--Bear market: This is a technical term that refers to a drop of 20% or more from a high.

--Crash: This is a general term that refers to a rapid and steep drop in prices. There is no specific threshold.

As I write this, we're nowhere close to meeting the criteria for any of these terms, and that's good news. So instead, we're just going to talk about what a bear market could look like in 2026.

The S&P 500's last high was 6,978.6, made on Jan. 27, 2026.

For the U.S. to fall back into a bear market, the S&P 500 needs to close at least 20% down from that level. Thus, we would fall into a bear market if a.) the S&P 500 fell to 5,582.88 or below. If the index plumbed those levels before eclipsing the previous high of 6,978.6, we would say that the official start of the bear market was Jan. 27, 2026.

Everyone generally agrees on that part of the bear market definition. They also agree that the end of a bear market (and the start of a bull market) is when prices hit their lowest point. 

Where they tend to disagree is when the end of a bear market is confirmed. Some would say it's confirmed once the investment has risen 20% off the bear-market low. However, we follow the view that a bear market ends once the investment rebounds all the way past its previous peak. 

So, let's say we do fall into a bear market and the low point occurs on June 1, 2026. We wouldn't be able to confirm that end date for the bear market until the S&P 500 closed back above 6,978.6. At that point, the bear market will have officially ended on June 1, and the new bull market will have officially started on June 1.

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But over a decade of reviewing reader comments and having long discussions with friends and colleagues, I've become increasingly aware that good advice is often repeated in situations where it doesn't actually apply. 

And that's largely our fault. We in the financial media present generalized advice because we're talking to an audience of many thousands of people, and we can't personalize that advice for every last person. But in doing so, we sometimes exclude too much detail, and too much context, and make sweeping recommendations that just don't speak to large swaths of people.

My hope here, then, is to try to make these little pearls of wisdom speak to a few more people today than they did yesterday.

-- Is it helpful advice? Yes, if you have the resources. And that's a big if.

I have joined the rest of the financial media in saying "buy the dip" just about any time the market is down by a significant amount. And every time I've sent it, I've meant it—it's earnest advice.

But it raises a fair retaliatory question: "Buy the dip … with what?"

The general wisdom is to always have a little cash set aside in your portfolio to buy a big dip. But many Americans don't have that much cash to work with in the first place, so they tend to fully invest whatever they can contribute, as soon as they contribute it. That's part of what made the 2020 and 2022 bear markets exceptional: Individual investors have had a lot more gunpowder with which they could participate.

During COVID, millions of Americans received stimulus checks that they didn't necessarily need at the moment, and many of those Americans plowed that money into the stock market. We know that because 2020 and 2021 both saw record-breaking levels of brokerage signups.

Related: Should You Tap Into Retirement Savings After a Layoff?

So in 2020, individual investors were buying the dip with "found" money, leading to a lightning-fast recovery of five months. By 2022, stimulus checks had stopped going out, but Americans' savings were still a lot healthier than they are today—and even then, the recovery took longer than a year that time around.

Today? Years of high inflation forced Americans to dig into their savings, leaving little (if any) cash on the bench to put to work, and we're now mired in a slow-growing economy with a wobbly job market. That means the only way some investors could "buy the dip" is to take out debt (no!) or sell some of their current holdings to buy other assets. 

Yes, you should absolutely review your portfolio to weed out weak holdings and buy what you believe in … but you should do that no matter what the S&P 500 is doing. And during a bear market, that's not money coming off the sidelines. You're selling the dip to buy the dip.

So, yes, if you do happen to keep, say, 5% of your portfolio in cash for a rainy day, well, it's pouring, so have at it! But a lot of people reading this can't buy the dip. That's just the truth.

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-- Is it helpful advice? Yes, but it's often confused with "Don't sell at all."

Again, I've absolutely said this, and I've absolutely meant it. You shouldn't sell in a bear market because you're scared and don't know what to do.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't ever sell during a bear market. In fact, there are two very good reasons to do so:

1. As mentioned above, you've reviewed your positions and decided that, in this changing financial landscape, your money could be better invested buying "dips" in other stocks, bonds, what have you.

2. You need to pay for your kid's college education from a 529, or you need to withdraw retirement income from a 401(k), individual retirement account (IRA), or other plan.

Indeed, the second part is what makes bear markets so difficult for some investors even if stocks eventually snap back.

If you don't need to sell, you probably shouldn't. A gaggle of studies show that individual investors who try to market-time bear and bull markets largely fail—that they would be better off just buying and holding.

But if you have to pay for your child's tuition, you have extremely little flexibility. You can't tell your kid to wait until the next bull market before they go to college. Thus, chances are you have to draw down that 529. And if you've already watched 20% of the value erode, you might ask yourself whether you can afford to lose any more value. That's a legitimate question, and one that would be poorly answered by any general advice I could throw out here. That's a specific question meant for a financial advisor.

Same goes for retirement. If you're living largely off your 401(k), you still have to withdraw money to live. And as our look at withdrawal strategies shows, bear markets (especially early on in retirement) can have dramatic consequences depending on timing and your particular withdrawal plan. Whether you should adjust your plan based on a bear market is again a question for your financial advisor.

And if you're taking required minimum distributions (RMDs), you don't even have a choice. You must withdraw a specified minimum amount.

Related: What Is FIRE? A Beginner's Guide to the Early Retirement Movement

-- Is it helpful advice? Yes!

During a bull market, your stock performance will almost certainly outpace your bonds, which means if you're trying to keep to, say, a 65%/35% stock/bond mix, at some point you'll have to sell some stocks and buy some bonds.

During a bear market, your stock performance will almost certainly lag your bonds, which means if you're trying to keep that same 65%/35% mix, you'll have to rebalance your portfolio in the opposite way: you'll sell some bonds and buy more stocks.

You could argue that, depending on when in a bear market you do your rebalancing, you might be selling bonds that will continue to go up while buying stocks that might continue to go down. 

But none of us actually know what's going to happen next. And again, market timing typically doesn't work out for us normies. So unless your financial advisor says otherwise, it's best to just stick with the plan.

Related: 8 Best Wealth + Net Worth Tracker Apps [View All Your Assets]

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-- Is it helpful advice? Yes, but it's not particularly helpful in the middle of a bear market.

First up: This is one of the vaguest pieces of advice that we in the financial media dole out. It's true, but it's also a lot more complicated than we make it seem. Should you diversify your portfolio? Sure. How should you diversify your portfolio? Well, that depends on a lot of things. When are you going to retire? How much do you need to retire? Do you grind your teeth anytime you see a loss of more than 1% in the market? Again, how exactly you—you there, reading this!—should diversify is a financial advisor question.

Related: 7 Low- and Minimum-Volatility ETFs for Peace of Mind

But more to the point of this story: Should you diversify your portfolio during a bear market?

I guess "better late than never," but portfolio diversification is really meant to limit bear-market losses before they happen, not while they're happening. 

If the market is down 20% but all of your money was plowed into one stock that's down 50%, sure, it's still smart to diversify what capital you have left, but a lot of damage has already been done. 

And on the off chance that all your money was plowed into a stock that's up 50% in a bear market? Sure, you should probably count your lucky stars and diversify. But if you're up 50% in a bear market, it's going to be a lot more difficult for me to convince you to stop doing something (maximum single-stock risk) that worked so well for you.

Related: 14 Best Investing Research & Stock Analysis Websites

-- Is it helpful advice? Generally yes, but don't buy defense blindly.

While all of us could probably do a lot of good just leaving our accounts alone during a bear market, not everyone does. 

Some people want to be buy-and-hold-forever investors but just can't help but tinker. If you're just doing it at the periphery to feel a sense of control, that's OK! And if you simply aren't a buy-and-hold-forever investor, but you like to buy and sell and trade and rinse and repeat, that's OK too, as long as you can financially handle the risk!

If that's the case, a variety of defensive assets have proven to historically outperform the market. In fact, I've written about several of them in my look at bear-market ETFs, and they worked wonders during the 2025 near-bear market.

But you can't just buy indiscriminately. Every bear market is different—and the nature of the bear market can result in, say, utilities or staples actually underperforming, or typically cyclical sectors like financials and industrials outperforming. One of the best examples is energy, which has been gutted across numerous downturns throughout history but actually took off like a rocket in 2022 thanks to the particular circumstances of that specific bear market.

Related: 6 Best Money Market Funds [Protect Your Savings]

-- Is it helpful advice? Generally yes, but your financial circumstances might dictate otherwise.

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is a generally sound investment strategy. In short, if you regularly put the same amount of dollars to work buying investments, you'll end up buying more when they're low, and buying less when they're high. It's a set-it-and-forget-it plan that not only ensures your money gets invested, but actually works in your favor from a valuation standpoint. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

However, bear markets rarely exist in a bubble. They usually occur amid some sort of economic tumult, such as a recession or depression … and among other things, that can mean job losses. If you think you're at risk of being laid off (and especially if you're not confident in the size of your emergency fund), one of the ways to financially prepare is to stop contributing to your brokerage and retirement accounts and stuff the cash away instead.

So, in the event that you're worried about your near-term situation, you might actually consider downshifting or stopping your dollar-cost averaging, if only temporarily.

Related: 11 Best Vanguard Funds for the Everyday Investor

-- Is it helpful advice? Yes. 

In fact, you should take it even further: Don't open your brokerage account or 401(k) every day period.

Exceptions apply! If you're a day trader, I promise you'll do terribly if you start ignoring all your positions for a few days!

But the average buy-and-hold investor simply doesn't need to look at their account balance every day. It causes you to overanalyze both your overall direction and your individual holdings. And while you should be discerning about how your money is invested, you shouldn't tempt yourself into constantly tinkering with it.

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of seven top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

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Unfortunately, saving enough for retirement isn’t always that easy. There are too many variables to simply say “put the maximum amount in your 401(k)” and be done with it. For some people, maxing out a 401(k) probably shouldn’t even be their top savings priority. And what should you do if you've already reached the contribution limit but want to invest more?

It’s often difficult to know how and when to max out your 401(k) plan. The information below provides some helpful guidance for workers who are contributing significant amounts to their 401(k). We also recommend steps you can take to utilize a wide variety of retirement savings options in addition to your 401(k). Dig in and see what works for you and helps you meet your retirement goals.

As a general rule, experts suggest replacing 80% of your current income with retirement savings. So, for example, if your current annual income is $100,000, save enough to have at least $80,000 per year in retirement.

To reach this goal, saving at least 15% of your income every year is a good rule of thumb. Of course, you’ll need to adjust the 15% goal to account for your age and any special personal circumstances. For instance, someone who starts investing in their early 20s can set aside a lower percentage than a worker who doesn't start saving until later in life.

If you’re not sure how much you should save for retirement and you want an expert to weigh in, you can always discuss your needs with a qualified financial advisor.

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Another benefit of 401(k) plans is that they are tax-advantaged accounts. A traditional 401(k) account is funded with “pre-tax” income and the earnings grow on a tax-deferred basis. As a result, money put into the account isn’t included in your taxable income, and you don't pay taxes on it until you withdraw it from the account. Traditional 401(k) plans are great if you expect to be in a lower federal tax bracket when you retire, because you’ll pay tax at a lower rate.

With a Roth 401(k), money is put in your account on an “after-tax” basis, so contributions are included in your taxable income. But money in a Roth 401(k) grows tax-free, so you don’t pay any tax when you take money out of the account in retirement.

Contribution Limits

If you’re thinking about maxing out your 401(k), the annual contribution limit for most people is $23,500 for the 2025 tax year (up from $23,000 in 2024).

If you're between the ages of 50 and 59, or 64 years or older, you can put in an additional $7,500 in “catch-up” contributions for a total amount of $31,000 ($30,500 in 2024). And starting with the 2025 tax year, if you're between 60 and 63 years of age, you can make a "super catch-up" contribution of up to $11,250, for a combined $34,750.

Those are combined limits for all your 401(k) contributions. So, if you have two jobs and a 401(k) plan at both companies, you can’t put in more than $23,500 ($31,000 if you’re eligible for catch-up contributions, $34,750 if you're eligible for super catch-up contributions) in total for the year.

If you have a traditional 401(k) and a Roth 401(k), the combined total also applies to the two different types of 401(k) accounts.

Early Withdrawal Penalty

You might also be hit with a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you withdraw money from a 401(k) account before age 59½ (although there are exceptions). With a traditional 401(k), the penalty applies to all early withdrawals. With a Roth 401(k), the penalty only applies to earnings withdrawn before you turn 59½. Contributions to a Roth 401(k) can be taken out at any time without paying tax or the 10% penalty.

Related: Best Rollover IRAs + Providers [Where to Roll Over a 401(k)]

You also might want more investment options than what’s typically available with a 401(k) plan—usually a limited number of mutual funds (including target-date funds) and, in rare cases, perhaps a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With some of the other types of accounts, you can invest in individual stocks, bonds, real estate, and more.

Some of the other retirement savings options available include a traditional or Roth individual retirement account (IRA), health savings account (HSA), or taxable brokerage account.

However, you want to properly utilize these other accounts along with your 401(k) to maximize their effectiveness. We recommend that you contribute to your 401(k) and other retirement accounts in the following order.

Related: Retirement Saver’s Tax Credit: What Is It, How Much, Who’s Eligible + More

Related: How to Get Free Money Now [Ways to Earn Money]

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An HSA offers numerous tax benefits. First, your contributions are tax deductible, even if you don't itemize. Employer contributions, if you have an account through work, are excluded from gross income.

HSA funds also grow tax-free. Any withdrawals used to pay qualified medical expenses are tax-free as well.

Before you turn 65 years old, any funds withdrawn from an HSA and used for anything other than qualified medical expenses are taxed. Plus, the IRS imposes a 20% penalty. After age 65, if the money isn't used for medical expenses, it will be subject to tax, but no penalty is charged.

Contribution limits

You can contribute up to $4,300 to an HSA for the 2025 tax year if you have health insurance coverage for yourself. If you have family coverage, the maximum contribution is $8,550 ($4,150 and $8,300 for 2024, respectively). People who are at least 55 years old can contribute an additional $1,000 in catch-up contributions.

Related: How to Use Your HSA for Retirement

Fidelity offers two options for HSA accounts: the Fidelity HSA or the Fidelity Go HSA.

The self-directed Fidelity HSA is best for people who prefer to handle their own investments. With this account, you can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. You can even buy fractional shares of stock. You’ll also benefit from commission-free trades, minimal fees, and no account minimums. This HSA account also comes with a debit card that you can use for qualifying healthcare expenses.

People seeking a managed account could opt for the Fidelity Go HSA instead. Funds in a Fidelity Go account are invested in Fidelity Flex mutual funds, which feature no management fees and often no fund expenses.

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Related: How to Invest Money: 5 Steps to Start Investing w/Little Money

IRAs also offer ample investment options. With a 401(k) plan, you typically only get to choose between a few mutual funds—if you even get a choice. However, with an IRA, you can invest in a variety of mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks, and much more.

Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA

The main difference between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA is when you pay taxes. Both are tax-advantaged retirement accounts, but in different ways.

Traditional IRA contributions are fully tax deductible for people who don't have a workplace retirement plan. Your earnings also grow on a tax-deferred basis. When you take money out of the account during retirement, you pay ordinary income tax on the withdrawals.

In comparison, there’s no tax break for Roth IRA contributions. However, money in the account grows tax-free, and you don't owe taxes when you withdraw money in retirement.

It’s sometimes good to have both types of accounts. That way, you have both taxable and tax-free withdrawal options during retirement.

On the other hand, if you want to focus on just one type of IRA, base your decision on how your current income compares to your expected retirement income. Generally, if you expect to have a lower income in retirement, a traditional IRA might be the better choice. If you expect a higher income later in life, a Roth IRA might be a better option. That way, you’ll be paying tax when your federal tax rate is lowest.

Related: Best Rollover IRA Accounts [Where to Rollover a 401(k)]

Contribution limits

For 2025, you can contribute up to $7,000 in total to all your IRAs, the same as in 2024. People 50 or older can contribute $1,000 more in catch-up contributions, for a total of $8,000. However, you can’t contribute more than your earned income for the year.

There are also special income limits for people with a Roth IRA. To max out the account, your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) must be under $150,000 for single filers or under $236,000 for married people filing a joint tax return ($146,000 and $230,000 in 2024, respectively). The maximum contribution limit for a Roth IRA is gradually reduced to zero if your modified AGI is between $150,000 and $165,000 for single filers or $236,000 to $246,000 for joint filers ($146,000 and $161,000 for single filers or $230,000 to $240,000 for joint filers in 2024).

You can contribute to a traditional IRA regardless of your annual income, but there are income limits for tax-deductible contributions if you (or your spouse) is eligible for a workplace retirement plan (e.g., a 401(k) plan).

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As a tax-advantaged account, it's preferred over other accounts that don't provide a tax break.

Related: Best 401(k) Alternatives [If You Can’t Get One Through Work]

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There are no contribution limits with brokerage accounts, either. So, you can stuff as much money in these accounts as you want.

Furthermore, investments in these accounts are highly liquid, so you can quickly get money when you need it. There are no early withdrawal penalties, either. So, you can sell your investments at any time if you need extra money before retirement. Plus, depending on the investments you choose, you can also generate passive income.

The downside to brokerage accounts is that they come with limited tax advantages. There are no tax breaks when you fund them, and earnings are taxed. You pay lower capital gains tax rates when you sell assets in the account that you’ve held for over a year, and you might be able to deduct losses, but otherwise these accounts don’t offer the same tax breaks as the retirement accounts discussed above.

Related: Best Investments for Taxable Accounts

If you want to live a lavish lifestyle in retirement, then you need to save more when you’re young. You might also want to put more money in Roth accounts, so that your tax burden is lower in retirement.

On the other hand, if you want to live large while you're young and cut back when you retire, you might lean toward traditional 401(k) plans and IRAs so you’re cutting your tax bill now and deferring taxes until retirement when your tax rate might be lower.

Either way, you still need to save something for retirement.

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Also, don’t forget that some of your Social Security benefits might be taxed. However, there are ways to lower or avoid taxes on Social Security benefits.

Keep in mind that your retirement plan is contingent on many factors, such as whether the market will perform as expected, inflation will rise at a standard rate, you’ll develop an illness or become disabled, and more. To account for unforeseeable changes to your future, save as much as is realistic for your financial situation.

Of course, investing also involves risk. However, buying and holding low-cost, diversified investments over long periods of time is a proven strategy to build wealth. You can also consult with a wealth management professional or financial advisor who operates under the fiduciary standard to minimize your risk.

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Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

How does the 4% rule work, how has it changed, and can it help guide your retirement? Check out our primer on the 4% rule.

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If that sounds like you, understand that it's perfectly normal—and there is something you can do about it.

Retirement can be a thrilling phase of your life, but it can also be stressful for any number of reasons. After all, by the time you retire, your working years almost certainly will have taken up the majority of your life. And after that much time, it can be difficult to simply flip a switch into a new way of life, even if that new way of life should in theory be much less demanding.

If you're feeling nervous as you prepare for your post-career years, let us help you take a few emotional bricks off your shoulders. Read on as we outline several steps you can take to ensure a smoother transition, turning that retirement anxiety into retirement excitement.

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Here are a number of tips you can follow to anxiety-proof your looming retirement.

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No judgment here. Considering how much of our time our careers take up, our identities often become intertwined with our professions. But as a result, some retirees find they lose their sense of purpose once they put their job in the rear-view mirror. And it's true for virtually all vocations—some associate this feeling with doctors and teachers, but it can be just as true for office workers and mechanics.

There's no quick antidote for this feeling, but you need to realize that who you are as a person is more than what you do for work.

In retirement, you'll want to prioritize detangling your sense of self from your career and focus on other aspects of your identity. If you're a grandparent, babysit your grandchildren more; it can make you feel connected and useful. The same goes if you volunteer for a charity you care about and find purpose by committing yourself to a cause.

But perhaps more importantly, consider the idea that you don't need to have a purpose. You're allowed to simply just "be" in retirement, too. Retirement is a time in which you can lose yourself in the things you might have enjoyed more fully had you not been working five days a week.

Easing into retirement has its pros and cons. Doing so might delay plans you have to move. It's possible your current employer won't be open to the idea of taking you from full-time to part-time. But many people find that the advantages of phasing into retirement—including maintaining relationships, providing some free time, and the additional financial flexibility—outweigh the drawbacks.

It's not the right path for everyone, but it's absolutely worth considering if you're feeling retirement anxiety.

Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

One of the greatest considerations is your finances. If you live in a high-cost-of-living area, downsizing your home can make your retirement more affordable. That can also be a helpful decision if you think you have way more space than you need; those who frequently travel in retirement may find they don't need much to come home to in between excursions. Also, moving can help you lower your tax burden; some states don't tax retirement income at all.

This is a social decision, too. You might want to relocate closer to your family, or move into an age-qualified community where you can socialize with other active, older adults.

Even the weather matters. Do you love the peace a snowfall brings? You'll probably be a lot more anxious about retiring to Texas than you would be settling down in Minnesota. Want to sip sangria in the sunshine all year long? You're probably better off in Palm Beach than (either) Portland. 

No matter where you decide to live as a retiree, make sure to carefully weigh all of your options.

Related: Downsizing in Retirement? 10 Tips to Follow

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Rather than just holding off until you financially need your Social Security benefits, you can build a clearer retirement picture by deciding ahead of time when you want to start collecting your checks.

When should you take Social Security? As our guide explains, the decision depends on multiple factors, including your current finances, other retirement income sources, expected longevity, and whether you plan to collect spousal benefits. 

This isn't a guessing game. Social Security's website, SSA.gov, can show you approximately how much Social Security you'll receive at different retirement ages.

Importantly, whatever you plan now isn't concrete until you start collecting—if you decide you want to push back your Social Security start date, you can. (And there are even methods for voluntarily suspending benefits once you've already started collecting.) So a rough plan can give you peace of mind without locking you into a decision.

Related: Social Security Timing: 7 Questions to Pinpoint Your Perfect Starting Age

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Few thoughts can make a person more anxious than the idea of being elderly and penniless. Fortunately, having a retirement withdrawal strategy in place can ensure you withdraw enough to get by without crippling your future ability to finance your post-career years.

One of the most well-known strategies is the 4% rule, which has you withdraw up to 4% of your savings during your first year as a retiree and then take the dollar amount, adjusted by inflation, in subsequent years. However, you shouldn't assume that strategy will work for you (indeed, some say the 4% rule is outdated), so look at a variety of strategies first (or better still, talk to a financial advisor, who can really help you flesh out your options).

Once you have a carefully chosen plan in place, you can retire with more confidence that your money will last.

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Work on ensuring your relationships with coworkers will continue even after you've left the workplace. Build new bonds through clubs or senior centers. See your family more often. 

Even interactions with animals can combat loneliness. Consider having a pet during retirement to feel less isolated, which, in addition to keeping you social can keep you physically active.

Related: Financial Caregiving: How to Manage a Loved One's Finances

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Uncertainty breeds anxiety, so it's vital that you begin learning how Medicare works. The more you know, the better you can prepare. Among the things we recommend brushing up on are:

-- The different types of Medicare coverage

-- Whether you also qualify for Medicaid

-- Medicare's enrollment periods

-- What "Original Medicare" does and doesn't cover (Original Medicare is Parts A and B)

Once you know the ins and outs of Medicare, you'll have more insight into how much you should set aside for health care costs in retirement. You'll also be better prepared to understand whether you should pursue long-term care (LTC) insurance and/or other supplemental insurance.

Related: Medicare FAQs: Your Questions Answered

When pre-retirees were asked what they were looking forward to the most in retirement, the top answer among those polled for the 2024 MassMutual Retirement Happiness Study was travel.

So, do yourself a favor and start thinking about (and even planning out) where you might go once you retire.

In addition to keeping life interesting, a recent study published in the Journal of Travel Research states that travel can slow down the signs of aging. Even the idea of aging is stressful, so if travel really can slow it, the additional comfort is yet one more reason to book a flight.

By the way: Don't assume every trip needs to be a month-long journey abroad. Domestic travel, or even travel within your state, can be fun too.

And keep in mind that, no matter where you go, travel can be more expensive for seniors in certain ways. So budget with a close eye on your evolving preferences as a traveler.

Related: How to Invest for (And in) Retirement: Strategies + Investment Options

This doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. Nearly every state has at least one tuition-free state university program for seniors, and the few that don't have deep senior discounts and tuition programs for older adults. The minimum age for free tuition is state dependent, but they all land within the range of 55 to 65. 

If formal education isn't a good fit for you, learning on your own is a perfectly acceptable option. Per a recent AARP survey, 75% of respondents said they learn best by reading on their own. Consider taking advantage of your local library and borrowing books that interest you; they often have large-print copies available for those who struggle with tiny print. You can also learn through podcasts, language-learning apps, even educational YouTube videos. 

The more you stretch your brain, the less anxious you'll likely be. 

Related: You May Want to Skip These Popular Retirement Rules

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Fortunately, working with a financial advisor is a simple way to alleviate these fears. Per the aforementioned 2025 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress study, 75% of respondents with a financial advisor described their finances as "strong," while only 44% of respondents without an advisor said the same.

Don't worry about whether you're making the wrong financial choices—offload those choices (and the associated stress) to a professional instead. This should generally help reduce the guesswork in your retirement planning and replace it with careful, customized calculations.

Talking to an advisor can increase the chances you'll check off everything on your retirement planning to-do list. And that can be an enormous emotional and psychological weight off your shoulders.

Related: How to Choose a Financial Advisor

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One way to put that low-cost diversification to work? Collecting dividends. But trying to choose from literally hundreds of income-producing funds could take up a lot more time than you have. So let us help you narrow the field—check out our list of seven top dividend ETFs.

But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

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Baby Boomers grew up when television was still considered a new technology. Gen Z entered a world that already had high-speed internet, and social media, and the ability to watch TV on your phone. Baby Boomers are known for prioritizing work above all else, and remaining loyal to their employers through thick and thin. Gen Zers won't think twice about leaving companies that are misaligned with their values, and they're much more concerned about having an even work/life balance.

How they save for retirement is awfully divergent, too. Much of this simply has to do with where they are in the investment journey—most Boomers are either near or already in retirement, while Gen Z has several decades to go. But at least a few of their investment preferences might surprise you.

Which generation feels more confident in their investing skills? Who believes collectibles are a risky investment? Read on for the answers to these questions and more. Let's take a peek at how Baby Boomers and Gen Z differ in the investment realm.

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The information and analysis contained within this article appears for your consideration, but it does not constitute individualized financial advice. Always act at your own discretion.

When it comes to investing, Baby Boomers and Gen Zers often have different belief, preferences, and practices.

Here is a wide sampling of how these generations differ when it comes to saving for retirement.

The average age for Baby Boomers? 34!

This is the result of a long-term trend that has seen each subsequent generation investing younger and younger in life—the average starting age of a Gen X investor was 31, and it was 24 for Millennials.

Why the difference? You could point at any number of things. 

For instance, the older the generation, the more likely they were to have jobs with built-in pensions, reducing their need to invest independently. Today? Few jobs with pensions exist; instead, workers increasingly save through 401(k) or other workplace plans, not to mention individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other personal savings vehicles.

You could also cite awareness of the importance of having enough retirement savings—young people have more access to information about investing and finances than ever before, and along with that is a steady drumbeat of articles about how many people in other generations haven't saved enough. 

Also helping is more access to investing accounts. Adults didn't have nearly the accessible options they have today; heck, even teens have access to specialized brokerage accounts nowadays.

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According to YouGov's US Investment Trends Report 2025, about 42% of Gen Z investors own cryptocurrency, compared to just 8% of "Baby Boomers+" (which YouGov defines as age 60 and above).

This isn't because of a difference in how risky the asset is; around 84% of Gen Z investors and 89% of Baby Boomer investors agree that crypto is a risky investment. That said, because Boomers are near or in retirement and thus need more stability in their portfolios, they're far more risk-adverse, and thus less likely to accept crypto's inherently deep potential downside.

Related: What Are the Average Retirement Savings By Age?

Let's say you just started investing, and you have $200 in your account. You want to buy a share of stock in the fictional firm Riley Holdings (RHLD), which trades at $500 per share.

Historically, the only answer to this problem would be to save up $300 more. However, fractional-share brokerages allow you to buy pieces of stock—sometimes for as little as $10, $5, even $1. 

The obvious takeaway here is that low-dollar investors are more able than ever to get started in the stocks they want to own, when they want to own them. And they do: In Schwab's Modern Wealth survey, nearly half (48%) of Gen Z respondents said they currently owned fractional shares, which is roughly twice the adoption rate of Boomer respondents (25%).

Related: 8 Best Micro-Investing Apps [Start Saving With Less]

Here are the average contribution rates for Gen Z:

-- Lowest one-third of earners: 4.1%

-- Middle one-third of earners: 3.7%

-- Highest one-third of earners: 4.5%

Comparatively, Baby Boomers have the following average contribution rates:

-- Lowest one-third of earners: 6.5%

-- Middle one-third of earners: 7.2%

-- Highest one-third of earners: 8.6%

There's not much mystery here. Contribution rates tend to grow as age and income do. 50 years down the line, Gen Z will likely have higher contribution rates than they do today—and they'll likely be much higher than the youngest generation.

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

Related: Super Catch-Up Contributions: Who Gets Them + How They Can Boost Your 401(k)

More than half of Gen Z investors (52%) use short-term trading, per Schwab Modern Wealth Survey data. Meanwhile, only 20% of Baby Boomers do the same.

Again, this should be expected—younger investors generally have a much higher risk tolerance than older investors, which makes them more prone to more aggressive behavior like short-term trading.

Related: How Long Will My Savings Last in Retirement? 4 Withdrawal Strategies

The majority of surveyed Baby Boomer+ investors (53%) view collectibles as a risky investment, according to YouGov's US Investment Trends Report. By comparison, just 38% of Gen Z investors see these as risky assets.

This is a difference in perception, not behavior, making it a little more difficult to ascertain the "why." But it could be a difference in education about the risks of collectibles, or familiarity with the asset class.

Related: How to Invest for (And in) Retirement: Strategies + Investment Options

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You generally can't invest directly in an index—instead you have to either replicate the index yourself (extremely difficult) or purchase an index fund (easy), which aims to own either all or a representative sample of the stocks in an index in similar proportions to how they are in the index.

Direct indexing is something of a personalized way of index investing. It involves attempting to own the individual securities that form an index, but with exceptions that are in some way expected to benefit you. For instance, you might own the S&P 500, but exclude consumer staples stocks to give your overall investment a greater weight in growth-oriented companies. Or you might work for Nvidia (NVDA) and own a ton of its stock, so you purchase all of the stocks in the Nasdaq-100 but exclude NVDA because you don't need additional weight in that stock.

This strategy is a way to personalize your portfolio, plus it offers significant tax benefits. However, it's also a complicated process—one that's best left to professionals.

Some 44% of Gen Zers use direct indexing, while only 23% of Baby Boomers do. 

Direct indexing is a relatively newer strategy with roots going back to the 1970s, but that truly didn't begin to go mainstream until the past 10 or 15 years. So it's unsurprising that older generations haven't adopted direct indexing at nearly the rate of younger generations.

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-- Low confidence: 30%

-- Confidence: 42%

-- High confidence: 28%

Baby Boomer+ investors asked the same question responded as follows:

-- Low confidence: 52%

-- Confidence: 28%

-- High confidence: 20%

We could go in two very different directions on this. On the one hand, Gen Z could be more confident because younger people are more likely not to "know what they don't know." 

On the flip side, DIY investing has only become more prominent and easier with technology over the years—and as mentioned above, Gen Z started investing at a much younger age. So it could be that Gen Z actually is better-versed in DIY investing, and their confidence is warranted.

Also, considering the different levels of confidence in managing one's own investments, it isn't surprising that a higher percentage of Baby Boomers (51%) are working with a financial advisor than Gen Z investors (31%). 

Related: You May Want to Skip These Popular Retirement Rules

Perhaps unsurprisingly (given everything we've revealed already), members of Gen Z are far more likely to use robo-advisors than Baby Boomers. In Schwab's Modern Wealth Survey, 40% of Gen Z respondents said they use robo-advisors versus a thin 11% of Boomers.

Related: 9 Best Robo-Advisors for Investing Money Automatically

YouGov posed the question, "How important is it for you, when deciding to purchase from a bank or financial institution, that they integrate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) into their business decisions?" 

In response, 66% of Gen Z investors said it was important and 23% said it was somewhat important, for a total of 89% assigning some level of importance to ESG. However, a mere 26% of Baby Boomers+ said it was important, while 19% said it was somewhat important—a total of just 45%.

Again, no surprises here: These responses reflect well-known generational differences concerning the importance of environmental stewardship, social justice, and other related concepts.

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Around 41% of Gen Z investors use thematic investing, according to Schwab's survey. That compares to a 9% sliver of Baby Boomers.

The likeliest explanation here is a combination of two factors:

1. While thematic investing has technically existed for nearly 80 years, it has really only exploded in popularity alongside the massive growth in ETFs of the past couple decades. So while it really only came to the fore when many Boomers began saving, thematic investing was well-established by the time most Gen Zers were getting started.
2. The most popular thematic funds heavily skew toward high growth; thus, many thematic investments might be far more appropriate for younger, risk-hungrier Gen Zers than they would be for Baby Boomers.

Related: How Does Medigap Work? Our Guide to Medicare Supplemental Insurance

In its Modern Wealth Survey, Schwab posed the question, "Have you ever considered financial information or advice from any of the following sources?" Baby Boomers' responses were as follows:

-- Financial Professional/Institution: 64%

-- Friends and Family: 46%

-- Social Media/Internet: 19%

In contrast, Gen Z's results were as follows:

-- Financial Professional/Institution: 50%

-- Friends and Family: 70%

-- Social Media/Internet: 72%

Despite what Gen Z's response about social media and the internet might indicate, they (as well as most Americans) aren't relying on social influencers.

Overall, 76% of respondents explicitly said they don't follow influencers for financial information. Boomers were an expectedly high 92%, but even a majority (58%) of Gen Z said they weren't looking to influencers for advice.

Related: 6 Times When You Should Hire a Financial Advisor

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of five top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

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That's because one of Charles Schwab's other noteworthy products—mutual funds—can be held in most individual retirement accounts (IRAs), no matter where you invest.

Schwab is among the largest providers of mutual funds, giving it the prerequisite scale to charge low fees on those products, indexed and actively managed alike. Better still, most of Schwab's funds are cheap on a nominal basis, requiring just one dollar when you initially invest. However, to get the most out of some Schwab funds, you'll want to hold them in an individual retirement account (IRA) or another tax-advantaged account, where you can benefit from their sound strategies without having to worry about the IRS holding out its hand from year to year.

Ready to meet these Schwab mutual funds? Read on. I'll look at some of the best Schwab retirement funds for IRAs, across the risk spectrum, with each product representing a different long-term investing objective. These funds are best held in an IRA because of the tax consequences, which means they're also appropriate for other tax-advantaged accounts such as 401(k)s and health savings accounts (HSAs). 

Editor's Note: Tabular data presented in this article is up-to-date as of April 14, 2026.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

-- Diversification: A robust retirement portfolio should hold various asset classes. It's recommended that most people diversify across at least stocks and bonds, though sometimes alternative asset classes (such as real estate or commodities) are appropriate, too. Diversifying your retirement portfolio across these asset classes can help defray your risk and smooth your returns. There's also diversification within each fund. Some products hold dozens of stocks while others hold thousands. Some funds invest heavily in their biggest stocks while others spread their assets out more evenly. Always consider how diversified a fund really is, as well as whether that level of diversification suits your needs.

-- Costs. Every dollar spent on fees and expenses is a dollar no longer available to grow and compound over time, so keeping expenses cut to the bone is vital. Good news there: The best Schwab retirement funds will generally have some of the lowest fees and expenses in the business.

-- Taxes. A taxable account, like a standard brokerage account, is better suited to take advantage of certain tax-advantaged investments, such as municipal bonds. For tax-advantaged accounts, such as IRAs, some of the best investments include bond funds and actively managed stock funds. (I'll explain why when we get to those funds.)

-- Interest and dividend income. Stocks can regularly experience nasty corrections and bear markets, but a good income fund can provide for your living expenses without forcing you to sell at an inopportune time.

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ETFs typically beat both mutual funds and CEFs on fees, sometimes by a considerable margin. But there are a few reasons to consider Schwab mutual funds in an IRA:

-- They're cheap, for one. Schwab mutual funds typically offer very low fees—in many cases lower than even many ETFs with a similar strategy.

-- Schwab has some of the lowest initial investment minimums in the industry; you can spend as little as $1 to get started.

-- Also, some of Schwab's mutual funds are actively managed, which as I mentioned above is more efficiently held within an IRA. And you very well might prefer to have a human manager overseeing certain strategies rather than buy a fund that simply follows an index.

The biggest difference between an IRA and a brokerage account is their tax treatment. You're taxed on capital gains, dividends, interest income, and other gains year-in and year-out in a brokerage account. But, generally speaking, the only taxes you'll ever need to worry about with an IRA is income tax on your withdrawals in retirement.

On that count: Some Schwab mutual funds have more significant tax consequences than others. Some produce a significant amount of interest income, while others trade heavily and, as a result, make short-term capital gains distributions—both of which are taxed at ordinary income rates. In a taxable account, these would be taxable events that you'd pay for each year. But money stashed in tax-advantaged accounts like an IRA grows tax-free, so you get all of the performance of these funds without the year-to-year tax hits.

Here's an example: An investor wanting to mimic the S&P 500 Index (an index made up of 500 large, U.S.-listed companies) would generally have a hard time buying and managing a portfolio of 500 individual stocks, especially in the exact proportions of the S&P 500 Index. Another example: An investor wanting a diversified bond portfolio might have a hard time building one when individual bond issues can have minimum purchase sizes of thousands (or tens of thousands!) of dollars.

Equity funds or bond funds will generally be a far more practical solution.

To invest in a mutual fund, you'll need to open an account with the fund sponsor or open an investment account with a broker that has a selling agreement in place with the fund sponsor. As a general rule, most large, popular mutual funds will be available at most brokers, so if you open any traditional investment account (like a brokerage or IRA), you'll have access to most of the mutual funds you'd ever want to invest in.

Related: Best Schwab Retirement Funds for a 401(k) Plan

The firm is the largest publicly traded investment services firm with more than $12 trillion in client assets. Schwab offers a wide range of financial services, such as investment advice and management, trading services, financial planning, banking services, workplace and individual retirement plans, annuities, and more.

On the product side, Schwab features more than 100 funds—it's known for its active products and seasoned management teams, but it's also one of the largest providers of indexed mutual funds. Moreover, Schwab's products feature no load or transaction fees, and below-industry-average annual expenses. 

In short: Schwab's best mutual funds for retirement are generally going to be among your top options period, and they generally won't make a dent in your wallet.

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

-- 0-23: Conservative

-- 24-47: Moderate

-- 48-78: Aggressive

-- 79-99: Very aggressive

-- 100+: Extreme

These scores are a general gauge of risk compared to all other investments. For example, a bond fund with a score of 20 might be considered a conservative strategy overall, but it could simultaneously be riskier than a number of other bond funds.

With all that out of the way, let's dig into some of the best Schwab retirement funds you can consider holding in an IRA.

Related: Best Schwab Funds to Hold in an HSA

-- Management: Active

-- Assets under management: $41.2 billion

-- SEC yield: 3.4%*

-- Expense ratio: 0.34%**, or $3.40 per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: N/A

I'll go ahead and start with one of the lowest-risk investments you can stuff into an IRA (or just about any investing account, really).

Money market funds are mutual funds that invest in very short-term investments, such as cash, U.S. Treasury or agency securities with extremely short-term to maturity, commercial paper, or floating-rate securities. While there can be credit risk to the extent the fund owns securities not guaranteed by the government, losses in money market funds are extremely rare.

They're also unique among mutual funds in that they specifically target a net asset value of $1 per share. Any earnings that cause the net asset value to go higher than $1 get distributed as dividends. This means that, unless you reinvest your dividends, the value of your money market mutual fund will not grow over time. You're really just collecting yield.

Related: 8 Best-in-Class Bond Funds to Buy

And among money market funds, few are going to be safer than the Schwab U.S. Treasury Money Fund Investor Shares (SNSXX), which owns a portfolio of Treasury securities backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. That's it. No corporate or agency securities. No repo agreements or derivatives. This is as safe as money market funds get. (Don't mind the lack of a Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score—they're not awarded to money market funds.)

The weighted average maturity of SNSXX's holdings is just 49 days, meaning you have virtually no interest-rate risk. And yet, you're still receiving a very competitive yield of well more than 3% as I write this.

I mentioned that money market funds' prices are generally insulated from outside forces, but their yield are very sensitive to Federal Reserve policy moves. Before 2022, money market funds offered virtually nothing in yield. That changed in 2022 when the Fed launched an aggressive string of rate hikes; rates have come down across the past couple of years, but Schwab U.S. Treasury Money Fund remains a legitimate income fund with a yield well north of 3%. But if you require a certain level of income, you'll want to keep a close eye on the Fed.

Related: 9 Best Vanguard Retirement Funds [Start Saving in 2026]

Until then, low risk and a competitive yield make SNSXX one of the very best Schwab retirement funds period, though it's best off in an HSA or other tax-advantaged account. That's because money market funds are effectively bond funds, with interest income the predominant source of returns. Interest income is taxed as ordinary income—if you’re in the 37% federal tax bracket, then you’re losing 37% of your bond interest to taxes—making bond funds (and money market funds) extremely tax-inefficient.

* 7-day SEC yield reflects the annualized daily income distributions made over the previous seven days. This is a standard measure for money market funds.

** 0.35% gross expense ratio is reduced with a 1-basis-point fee waiver for as long as Charles Schwab Investment Management serves as adviser to the fund. (A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.) The agreement can only be amended or terminated with approval of the fund's board of trustees.

Related: The 16 Best ETFs to Buy for a Prosperous 2026

-- Management: Index

-- Assets under management: $8.0 billion

-- SEC yield: 4.3%

-- Expense ratio: 0.04%, or 40¢ per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 16 (Conservative)

If you're willing to take on a little more risk for a little more potential reward, you could move up from a short-term bond to something with more intermediate-term maturities.

The Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund (SWAGX), for instance, is a diversified option that covers a wide swath of the bond market. SWAGX, which holds a whopping 11,500 debt issues, is categorized by Morningstar as an "Intermediate Core Bond" fund, which very broadly means two things:

1. It invests primarily in investment-grade U.S. fixed-income issues, and

2. Its duration (a measure of interest-rate sensitivity) usually ranges between 75% and 125% of the three-year average of the Morningstar Cor Bond Index's effective duration.

Don't worry. I'll explain.

Related: The 12 Best Vanguard ETFs for 2026 [Build a Low-Cost Portfolio]

To the first part: Every bond that SWAGX currently holds enjoys an "investment-grade" rating, which basically means the credit ratings agencies believe the bond's issuer has a low risk of default. These bonds are considered relatively safer than (but as a result yield less than) similarly dated below-investment-grade securities, aka high-yield bonds, aka junk. Currently, the largest portion of assets (45%) is invested in U.S. government and agency bonds, while another half of assets is split evenly between mortgage-backed securities (MBSes) and corporate bonds. The rest is peppered across other government-related bonds, municipal bonds, and other debt.

To the second? Intermediate-term bonds are those with remaining maturities of between three and 10 years; that makes up the majority (55%) of SWAGX's holdings. Another quarter of assets are invested in short-term bonds (three years or below), and the remainder is invested in long-term bonds (10 years or more). That, combined with credit quality, educates the fund's duration, which currently sits at 5.8 years. While the actual calculation is much more complex, this basically implies that for every 1-percentage-point increase in interest rates, Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund would decline by 5.8% in the short term, and vice versa.

It's a moderate amount of risk. This means SWAGX definitely has more room for price appreciation (and losses) than any money market fund, but you can still expect less volatility than you'd get out of a stock fund. Meanwhile, you're getting almost a percentage point more in yield than the aforementioned SNSXX.

And like SNSXX, the lion's share of returns will come from interest income, so this Schwab fund is best held in an IRA or another tax-advantaged account.

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-- Management: Active

-- Assets under management: $743.0 million

-- Dividend yield: 2.0%

-- Expense ratio: 0.51%*, or $5.10 per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 40 (Moderate)

We'll climb the risk ladder a little by moving on to balanced funds, aka allocation funds, aka portfolios in a can.

Whatever you choose to call them, products like Schwab Balanced Fund (SWOBX) are designed to give you exposure to the two primary asset classes—stocks and bonds—in a single holding. More specifically, SWOBX is a "moderate" allocation fund that provides a roughly 60/40 blend of equity and debt (the latter of which also includes a small percentage in cash).

While allocation funds are often built with individual stocks and bonds, SWOBX managers Zifan Tang and Patrick Kwok have constructed their portfolio with a small collection of other Schwab mutual funds. Roughly half of the fund's assets are currently invested in U.S. equities; another 10% is allocated to international stocks. Meanwhile, virtually all of its bond holdings come from Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund, meaning you're getting exposure to U.S. government bonds, investment-grade corporate debt, MBSes, and anything else SWAGX owns.

Related: The 10 Best Dividend ETFs [Get Income + Diversify]

Allocation funds like Schwab Balanced are an ultra-simple way to get stock and bond coverage in the click of a button. In fact, if you really wanted it to, SWOBX could act as your entire portfolio—but only if its stock/bond allocations make sense for achieving your financial goals. SWOBX alone might be too conservative for most investors, and instead makes sense as part of a more broadly diversified holdings set.

From a tax standpoint, we want to consider two factors: turnover and income. Schwab Balanced Fund's turnover (how much a fund buys and sell holdings) is actually pretty restrained, at around 10%. Why does this matter? High turnover can generate significant capital gains, which are distributed to shareholders each year ... and those distributions are taxable. From that perspective, SWOBX is fairly tax-efficient. However, like the aforementioned bond funds, Schwab Balanced generates a decent amount of interest income from the debt portfolio, so an IRA or other tax-advantaged account would still make a fitting home.

* 0.53% gross expense ratio is reduced with a 2-basis-point fee waiver for as long as Charles Schwab Investment Management serves as adviser to the fund. The agreement can only be amended or terminated with approval of the fund's board of trustees.

Related: 9 Best Fidelity Index Funds to Buy for 2026

-- Management: Active

-- Expense ratio: Schwab Target Funds: 0.25%-0.58%*, or $2.50-$5.80 per year for every $1,000 invested; Schwab Target Index Funds: 0.08%, or 80¢ per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 26-67 (Moderate-Aggressive)

Target-date funds are similar to allocation funds, but they take an extra step that makes them extremely useful for long-term buy-and-holders.

One of the challenges in retirement planning is getting the asset allocation right, or having an asset class mix that is appropriate for an investor at your age and stage of life. An ideal portfolio for a 20-year-old is likely going to be very different from that of a 40-year-old, and both those portfolios will be different from what's ideal for a 60-year-old.

Related: Beginner's Guide to Fidelity Target-Date Funds

An allocation fund will generally keep the same blend of stocks and bonds for as long as the fund exists. However, target-date funds (also called life-cycle funds) are a type of allocation fund that are designed to change their asset allocation over time. Target-date funds start out invested heavily in stocks, then slowly reduce their stock exposure and replace it with bond exposure as they approach their target retirement date, following a glide path.

The target retirement dates are intended to be estimates; they don't have to be super precise. Generally, most mutual fund families will create target-date funds in five-year increments (say, 2025, 2030, 2035, etc.).

Given the hyper-specific focus on retirement, target-date funds tend to be a mainstay of 401(k) plans. But they're also at home in other retirement accounts, such as IRAs.

Schwab offers two target-date fund series, both of which hold various funds to provide exposure to U.S. and international stocks and bonds:

-- Schwab Target Funds: These hold a collection of actively managed and index funds. While most of Schwab Target Funds' holdings are other Schwab mutual funds, they will also hold funds from outside providers, including Dodge & Cox and Baird.

-- Schwab Target Index Funds: These primarily hold Schwab ETFs.

In general, both of Schwab's target-date fund series are economical, but the Schwab Target Index Funds are flat-out cheap, at just 0.08% in annual expenses. And at least as far as Morningstar Medalist ratings go, the Target Index series is considered the better of the two, earning a Bronze rating.

Also worth noting is that Schwab Target Index Funds, despite the name, do have human managers: Kwok and Tang, mentioned before as managers of SWOBX.

* Schwab Target Funds have temporary fee waivers to limit operating expenses. These waivers will remain as long as Schwab Asset Management serves as the adviser to the funds. The agreement can only be amended or terminated with the approval of the fund's Board of Trustees.

Related: Beginner's Guide to Vanguard Target-Date Funds

-- Management: Active

-- Assets under management: $286.5 million

-- Dividend yield: 3.4%

-- Expense ratio: 0.72%, or $7.20 per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 76 (Aggressive)

Real estate has been a preferred asset class since the dawn of human civilization. And today, real estate investment trusts (REITs) offer the potential for both high yield and respectable capital gains.

REITs enjoy a special tax status that allows them to avoid corporate taxation so long as they distribute at least 90% of their net profits as dividends. Because of REITs' tax incentive, the real estate sector tends to be among the highest-yielding, and thus a perennial favorite among income investors.

Related: Tax-Loss Harvesting: How Investors Can Cut Their Tax Bill

The problem? A large percentage of the total return comes from taxable dividends, which makes REITs very tax-inefficient. What's more, REIT dividends are generally not classified as "qualified dividends." Qualified dividends are taxed at the long-term capital gains rate (0%, 15% or 20% depending on your tax bracket). Non-qualified dividends are taxed as ordinary income, like bond interest, and can face rates as high as 37%, depending on your bracket. Thus, it makes more sense to hold REITs and REIT funds in a tax-advantaged fund such as an IRA rather than a taxable brokerage account.

Schwab investors looking for real estate exposure could consider the Schwab Global Real Estate Fund (SWASX). The fund is a diversified REIT fund with a global presence. Approximately 55% of the fund is invested in American REITs, with the rest scattered across Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada. The portfolio has minimal exposure to the office sector, which has been affected by work-from-home policies, and is most heavily allocated to diversified, retail, and industrial properties.

Related: 7 High-Quality, High-Yield Dividend Stocks

This is a growth-focused real estate fund that focuses on total return, including both capital gains and income. But its 3%-plus current yield is mighty competitive in a world in which the S&P 500 yields barely above 1%.

Another reason to consider SWASX is its high turnover. There is no precise, universally accepted threshold for what constitutes "a lot" of active trading, but I would consider any fund with portfolio turnover over 30% or so to be fairly tax-inefficient. The higher that number goes, the more inefficient the fund. Schwab Global Real Estate has annual turnover of about 85%, which means it could distribute a lot of short-term capital gains. Between that and the aforementioned non-qualified dividends, and you're looking at a lot of taxable returns.

Fortunately, you can avoid immediate tax consequences by holding Schwab Global Real Estate in a tax-deferred account like an IRA.

Related: The 7 Best Mutual Funds for Beginners

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

-- Management: Active

-- Assets under management: $2.1 billion

-- Dividend yield: N/A

-- Expense ratio: 0.73%, or $7.30 per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 85 (Very aggressive)

An old Wall Street maxim says "you never go broke taking a profit." 

There is a lot of wisdom in that quote. As a general rule, buying and holding good stocks or good funds and allowing them to compound over years or even decades is the way to go. But having at least part of your portfolio in actively traded strategies can also make sense, particularly in bear markets. Actively traded strategies have their stretches when they outperform passive index strategies, and they can potentially help you to avoid major declines.

Related: IRA Contribution Limits for 2026

Take, for example, the Schwab Select Large Cap Growth Fund (LGILX), which is sub-advised by American Century Investment Management and JPMorgan Investment Management. Being a growth fund, LGILX is extremely heavy in technology and tech-adjacent stocks; it includes Nvidia (NVDA), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT), as well as most of the rest of the large-cap growth stocks you would expect to see.

Smart management has resulted in outperformance of LGILX's category average across most meaningful time frames. However, this high performance occasionally comes at the cost of a lot of active trading. The most recent turnover reading is 26%, but I've seen it much higher (above 60%). And regardless of the turnover figure from one year to the next, Schwab Select Large Cap Growth has a history of making sizable capital-gains distributions in most years.

In a standard brokerage account, that represents a large potential tax liability. Thus, LGILX is exactly the kind of actively managed fund best held in a retirement account like an IRA. The tax deferral neutralizes the negative impacts of active trading, allowing us to enjoy the full benefits of the trading gains.

Related: 6 Best Money Market Funds [Protect Your Savings in 2026]

-- Management: Active

-- Assets under management: $685.0 million

-- Dividend yield: 0.1%

-- Expense ratio: 1.09%, or $10.90 per year for every $1,000 invested

-- Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score: 87 (Very aggressive)

As I mentioned before, actively managed funds will almost always have significantly higher turnover than passive index funds, meaning they potentially create more taxable capital gains. 

This phenomenon can be especially pronounced in the world of small-cap equities. Because smaller companies are often younger companies, the small-cap space tends to move quickly. Successful companies "graduate" to mid- or even large-cap status, and those that are unsuccessful often disappear altogether. This often results in a lot of changes to a portfolio's holdings.

Related: 5 Best Stock Recommendation Services [Stock Tips + Picks]

In other words: If actively managed funds in general are best held in a tax-deferred account, this is even truer for actively managed small-cap funds.

Case in point, check out Schwab Small Cap Equity Fund (SWSCX), managed by Wei Li, Iain Clayton, and Holly Emerson. Their 340-stock portfolio has a turnover of 108%, effectively meaning that each year, on average, the entire portfolio turns over (and then a little more on top). Capital-gains distributions have historically been meaningful in size.

Small-cap stocks showed some energy in 2025's second half and have outperformed their large-cap peers in 2026, too. But zooming out to the past few years, they've lagged while the market has been dominated by the "Magnificent Seven" mega-cap stocks. Still, SWSCX has managed to return an annualized 10.1% since inception, and that's not too shabby. Also, while the strategy itself is pretty aggressive compared to other strategies, it actually presents pretty average-level risk among small-cap blend funds.

Related: Best Schwab Funds to Hold in an HSA

Morningstar Investor provides a wealth of information and comparable data points about mutual funds and ETFs—fees, risk, portfolio composition, performance, distributions, and more. Morningstar experts also provide detailed explanations and analysis of many of the funds the site covers.

With Morningstar Investor, you'll enjoy a wealth of features, including Morningstar Portfolio X-Ray®, stock and fund watchlists, news and commentary, screeners, and more. And you can try it before you buy it. Right now, Morningstar Investor is offering a free seven-day trial and a discount on your first year's subscription when you use our exclusive link.

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That’s extremely beneficial in self-directed accounts like an IRA. Many mutual funds from other providers require high minimums in the thousands of dollars, hamstringing investors with little capital to work with.

Related: 7 Best Fidelity Retirement Funds to Hold in an IRA

With an actively managed fund, one or more managers are in charge of selecting all of the fund's holdings. They'll likely have a specific strategy to adhere to, and they'll be tasked with beating a benchmark index, but they'll be given a lot of discretion about how to achieve that. These managers will identify opportunities, conduct research, and ultimately buy and sell a fund's stocks, bonds, commodities, and so on.

Related: The 9 Best ETFs for Beginners

An index fund, on the other hand, is effectively run by algorithm. The fund will attempt to track an index, which is just a group of assets that are selected by a series of rules. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average? Those are indexes with their own selection rules. Index funds that track these indexes will generally hold the same stocks, in the same proportions, giving you equal exposure and performance (minus fees) to those indexes.

If you guessed that it's more expensive to pay a conference room full of fund managers than it is a computer that tracks an index, you'd be right. That's why actively managed funds tend to cost much more in fees than index funds.

And that's why ETFs are generally cheaper. Most (but not all) mutual funds are actively managed, while most (but not all) ETFs are index funds.

Related: The 7 Best Mutual Funds for Beginners

Like traditional index mutual funds, an ETF will hold a basket of stocks, bonds and other securities. These can be broad and benchmarked to a major index like the S&P 500, or they can be exceptionally narrow and focus on a specific sector or even a specific trading strategy. For the most part, anything that can be held in an exchange-traded fund can also be held in a mutual fund.

However, unlike mutual funds, ETFs trade on major exchanges—such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq—like a stock. If you want to buy shares, you don't send the manager money; you just buy shares from another investor on the open market.

The need to buy shares can be problematic when dollar-cost averaging. As an example, let's say you have exactly $100 to invest, but the shares of the ETF trade for $65. You can only buy one share, and you're stuck with $35 in cash uninvested.

Related: 9 Best Fidelity ETFs for 2026 [Invest Tactically]

But ETFs have their own advantages. For one, they have intraday liquidity—that is, if you want to buy or sell in the middle of the trading day (or multiple times throughout the trading day), you can.

The second advantage is tax efficiency. In a traditional mutual fund, redemptions by investors can generate selling by the manager that creates taxable capital gains for the remaining investors who didn't sell. This doesn't happen with ETFs, as the manager isn't forced to buy or sell anything when an investor sells their shares.

Like we said, many investors use "ETF" and "index fund" interchangeably. That's because most exchange-traded funds are index funds—but not all. Some are actively managed.

As is the case with Schwab mutual index funds, Schwab ETFs—most of which are indexed—tend to have some of the lowest costs in the business in terms of fees and expenses.

Related: 8 Best Schwab Index Funds for Thrifty Investors

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The expense ratio is the percentage of your investment lost each year to management fees, trading expenses and other fund expenses. Because index funds are passively managed and don't have large staffs of portfolio managers and analysts to pay, they tend to have some of the lowest expense ratios of all mutual funds.

This matters because every dollar not lost to expenses is a dollar that is available to grow and compound. And over an investing lifetime, even a half a percent can have a huge impact. If you invest just $1,000 in a fund generating 5% per year after fees, over a 30-year horizon, it will grow to $4,116. However, if you invested $1,000 in the same fund, but it had an additional 50 basis points in fees (so it only generated 4.5% per year in returns), it would grow to only $3,584 over the same period.

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But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

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But that doesn't mean you should hold on to every financial document you're given.

There's a massive difference between a tidy drawer of vital records and a pile of boxes stuffed with coffee receipts and credit card offers. It's not just the room they take up—it's their utility, and in some cases, their potential to harm you should someone else grab those documents.

Read on as I discuss which financial documents you should keep, and which ones should go straight into your paper shredder.

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Importantly, this is a list for individuals—specifically, W-2 employees. If you own a business or are a 1099 worker, there's additional documentation you might need to save.

Lastly, while you should save these documents for years, sometimes even decades, when it does come time to get rid of them … they should go right in the shredder, too. Don't just throw them out.

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The statute of limitations for assessment of tax you owe is typically three years from the date you filed the return; returns filed early are usually treated as filed on the due date. So just in case you're audited, you'll want to keep your returns for a minimum of three years, to be safe. (State-level guidance will vary, so you'll want to look up your state's statute of limitations.)

However, that statute of limitations is extended to six years from the filing date if you don't report income that you should have reported, and …

--It's more than 25% of the gross income listed on your return; or

--It's attributable to foreign financial assets and is more than $5,000.

If you think either is applicable, you'll want to keep those tax returns for at least six years.

There are a couple other timelines to be aware of. For one, the period of limitations for refund claims is seven years from when the return was due if you file a claim for "an overpayment resulting from a bad debt deduction or a loss from worthwhile securities." And if you've paid taxes to a foreign government, you might be entitled to a credit or deduction on your U.S. federal tax return. Because you have up to 10 years to claim the Foreign Tax Credit, you'll want to keep your documents for at least that long.

Lastly, there's no period of limitations for tax assessments if you file a fraudulent return or don't file a return at all, so if you have any pertinent documents, you'll want to keep them indefinitely. (But the best advice I can give you here is to file yearly, and do so truthfully.)

Related: Should Retirees Move? 10 Considerations

In fact, not only do you want to keep these documents, but you'll also want to have copies in at least two places in case one gets lost or destroyed. For instance, you might keep one copy at home with other financial records and keep another in a safe deposit box, with a financial advisor, or in the care of a trusted loved one.

These records should be kept indefinitely.

Related: What to Do Before Your Spouse Passes Away

Like with your life insurance policy, these documents are so essential that you should keep extra copies, with the originals kept in either a safe deposit box or in a fireproof safe. Backup copies should be kept with an executor or adult relative you trust.

These documents should also be kept indefinitely.

Related: Dynasty Trusts: A Beginner's Guide to Passing Down Wealth

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

For example, if your lender forgot to file a satisfaction of mortgage with the local recording office after you paid off your loan, it could prevent a dispute if you later sell your home. In the unfortunate circumstance of a foreclosure or a challenge to the title, mortgage documents can show your ownership. If you sell your home, you'll also want these forms to calculate your capital gains tax liability.

Some of the mortgage forms you likely want to hold on to include:

--Purchase agreement

--Deed

--Closing documents

--Seller's disclosures

--Home inspection report

--Property survey

--Home warranty

You'll also want to have both physical and digital copies of these documents. And you should hold on to them for at least seven years after you sell or otherwise exit the mortgage, largely for tax purposes.

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Some of the documents you likely want to keep include the official plan documents, benefit statements, and any notices from the plan. Having a copy of these records is useful if there are errors in the plan's records or if they are lost. These documents are also useful to your beneficiaries if you pass away.

These documents should be held indefinitely.

Related: 8 Best Wealth + Net Worth Tracker Apps [View All Your Assets]

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Not necessarily. In fact, it might not be safe at all.

If others get hold of your financial information, you could become a victim of financial fraud. So a general rule of thumb is to only keep the financial documents you only need and shred the rest.

Plus, keeping every piece of financially sensitive information can make it more challenging to find the documents you actually need. Not to mention, having all of that paper piling up can become overwhelming; there's a certain peace to becoming more financially minimalistic. And in some cases, these documents can be reprinted again from an online portal, eliminating the need to keep physical copies around when you don't need them.

With all of that said, here are the types of financial documents you should shred sooner rather than later.

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But they also include your transaction details, and while that might not seem like an issue, scammers can use those details to get a sense of your purchasing habits.

You should keep credit card statements for no longer than 60 days. The only exception to this rule is if you'll need to include a credit card statement in your tax return for any reason.

Also note that many banks' credit card portals include the ability to print prior statements if you need physical versions of those documents.

Related: Is It Better to Pay With Cash or a Credit Card? The Answer: It Depends

Well, unless you plan to accept one of those offers, you can shred them right away. If you don't, someone could try to commit fraud by applying for a credit card in your name.

You're typically not responsible for debt accumulated on an account that was fraudulently opened in your name. However, that act of identity theft could negatively impact your credit score, and it can be a hassle to contact credit agencies to get everything sorted out. 

And you generally don't even need those mailers to apply for a card—you can do so online.

Related: Does Your Credit Score Matter in Retirement?

Insurance documents are chock full of personal and financial information that scammers would love to get their hands on. Additionally, all of those health, home, and car documents can add up to a lot of unnecessary paper clutter.

Related: Elderly Scams: Beware These 15 Schemes Targeting Seniors

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There are few reasons you would need utility statements from a long time ago, so it's typically best to shred these so scammers don't glean information from them. You'll always want to check your most recent statement against your monthly bank statement first—after that, you can shred it right away. (But like with credit card statements, you should keep utility statements for longer if you'll need them for tax filing purposes.)

Related: 50+ Best Money-Making Apps That Pay You Real Money

Assuming the ATM gave you the proper amount of money and the transaction matches your bank statement, you don't need to hold on to those slips of paper. That means, at most, you should keep these for a few weeks—and that's if you have to wait for a paper bank statement to arrive.

Related: How Much Money Do You Need to Work With a Financial Advisor?

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Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

2. Subscribe to Retire With Riley, our free weekly retirement planning newsletter, and

3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

4. And lastly, if you think this information would benefit your friends and family, don't hesitate to share it with them!

Now take that dynamic and turn the dial up to 11. That's retirement planning.

A retirement plan has to get you not through a single day of frivolity, but through years (and even decades) of your life. It's a high-stakes affair, but it's achievable and oh-so rewarding—if you give it time, put in some effort, and dodge a few common tripwires.

Today, I'm going to help you with that latter obstacle. Read on as I run down some of the most common retirement planning mistakes. Knowing where these potholes sit will help you avoid them now and in the future. The goal here is to make you feel more confident in the plan you eventually craft … and flexible enough to make any necessary adjustments.

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You don't want to be a part of any of those groups.

Below, I'll outline a group of pretty common retirement mistakes that you can (and should) evade. While everyone's retirement plan is unique to their own situation, these are errors any person could commit if they're not mindful as they develop their retirement plan.

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The estimated average Social Security retirement benefit as of January 2024 was $1,907, according to the Social Security Administration. But that doesn't mean that's the amount you'll get. The three main factors that can affect the amount of one's retirement Social Security payments include:

-- How many years you worked jobs that pay into Social Security

-- Your earnings history 

-- The age you first start claiming your benefit

When calculating your benefit, the SSA considers your 35 highest-earning years (adjusted for inflation). If you worked fewer than 35 years in jobs where you pay Social Security taxes, each year below that threshold will be considered a zero in calculating the average. For this reason, it's beneficial to work for at least 35 years—in some cases, it even makes sense to delay Social Security if doing so would significantly benefit your earnings history.

Anyone who takes Social Security before their full retirement age gets a permanently reduced amount. Specifically, your benefits will be reduced by 5/9ths of 1% for each month before normal retirement age, up to 36 months. If you retire even earlier than 36 months before full retirement age, the benefit reduction changes after the first 36 months, to 5/12ths of 1% for each month, up to the maximum early retirement amount of 60 months. 

However, if you wait to retire sometime after full retirement age, you actually receive delayed retirement credits, calculated at different rates depending on when you were born, though the additional benefits stop at age 70. For those born in 1943 or later, your monthly rate of increase is 2/3rds of 1%, good for an 8% rate of increase across a full 12 months. (But you still must be insured under Social Security at your full retirement age.)

So, waiting until age 70 could meaningfully boost your Social Security benefits. That said, in some situations (such as a short life expectancy or a glut of personal savings), it makes sense for a person to start collecting at their full retirement age or even earlier.

Related: How Much Should I Save Each Month?

However, some people take this advice too far and become too risk averse as they approach and enter retirement.

It's possible that your retirement savings will need to last 10, 15, 20 years, maybe even longer in retirement. Which means you'll still need some growth to keep your nest egg from expiring early. A portfolio too invested in bonds, for instance, will be relatively safe and produce some income, but it might not produce enough growth to offset your withdrawals, causing your nest egg to run dry too early. Injecting some level of stock exposure is one way to prevent this.

What's the proper balance? Like with many things investing, your ideal allocation will depend on your financial situation, age, goals, and risk tolerance.

Related: How to Maximize Social Security Spousal Benefits

That's as good a guideline as any to use in your estimations, but remember two important things:

1. Past performance doesn't guarantee future returns.

2. That's an average—actual stock market fluctuates from one year to the next.

If you assume an overly optimistic market return in your calculations, you could end up more than just disappointed—you could end up broke.

You also have to worry about the "sequence of returns" effect. Remember: Every year, you'll be withdrawing from your retirement account, so that will act as a performance drag through thick and thin. If you assume an average 10% return, but you also assume you'll get those 10% returns each and every year, that model will churn out pretty smooth withdrawal scenarios.

But they might be unrealistic. What happens if your portfolio does see an average 10% return across 20 years of retirement, but in your first few years of retirement, the market tanks? Your withdrawals will compound the losses, putting your retirement at a much lower starting point once the gains take hold, and your withdrawal scenarios could be torn to shreds—putting you at risk of outliving your savings.

(Want to see what we mean? Check out our look at retirement withdrawal strategies, which assume these kinds of "lumpy" returns.)

Related: Don't Believe These 17 Social Security Myths

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A retirement account (or retirement plan) is generally any tax-advantaged investment account that can help you grow your funds for use after you stop working. But relying on these accounts completely poses a depletion risk, particularly if the market isn't performing well. Once the money is completely gone, it isn't easily replenished.

For this reason, you'll want to consider whether you can accumulate additional income streams as part of your retirement plan. Fortunately, most people reading this will have some amount of Social Security benefits to lean on. In addition, you might have annuities, a pension, part-time work, rental income, or other income-generating assets.

If you don't have much in the way of additional income, you might need to delay your retirement or accept a lower baseline withdrawal to ensure your funds don't run out early.

Related: Is Your Retirement on Track? Here Are the Average 401(k) Balances By Age

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We have a fuller look at budgeting in retirement, but in short:

Start by considering your various retirement expenses. Some of your most costly retirement costs may be housing, food, travel, and health-related expenses. You'll also need to pay for utilities, transportation, entertainment, and more. 

The numbers allotted for each category will vary by person, so you need to sit down and make the necessary calculations or have a financial advisor help you do so. Forgetting about or underestimating expenses can put you at risk of depleting your retirement savings too quickly.

Next, figure out your retirement income streams. In Schroders' 2024 U.S. Retirement Survey, 88% of non-retired Americans said they are at least slightly concerned about not knowing how to best generate retirement income. Per the survey, besides Social Security, the top income sources non-retired Americans anticipate drawing upon include:

-- Cash savings (60%)

-- Workplace 401k, 403b, or 457 plan (48%)

-- Spouse's workplace 401k, 403b, or 457 plan (37%)

-- Investment income (36%)

-- Spouse's pension plan (27%)

And again, on the theme of moderation: While it's best to err on the side of caution when it comes to retirement planning, you also don't want to vastly underestimate how much income you'll be receiving. Doing so could result in you withdrawing far less than you actually need, leading to undue stress and an unnecessarily spartan retirement.

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One of the most touted examples is the 4% rule. 

The 4% rule suggests people withdraw 4% from their accounts during their first year of retirement. Each of the following years, you adjust that amount for inflation. It's a good rule of thumb that has been prescribed for decades.

But one of the most common retirement mistakes is assuming that you should stick to a strategy and never budge. Not so! Indeed, William Bengen, who created the 4% rule in 1994, revisited it in recent years and determined that 4.5% might be a more advisable number given high inflation of late.

And importantly: Even if the general rule might work for you, your situation might require a higher or lower starting percentage.

In addition to withdrawal strategies that determine how much you take, there are other tactics that focus on budget optimization and tax optimization. 

For instance, some retirees focus on an account sequencing strategy that minimizes taxes. This method has people first draw from taxable accounts, then tax-deferred ones, then finally tax-free accounts. 

There's also the bucket method, which is meant to protect the money you need soon while letting other money (that you won't need for a while) increase in value. Other retirees use the bucket method, where money is invested differently depending on when that money will need to be withdrawn. The goal of this method is to protect the money you need soon while letting other investments increase in value.

Related: Should Retirees Move? 10 Considerations

Inflation decreases the spending power of your dollar over time. Consider the effect it has had in just a few short years: If you bought an item for $1,000 in 2019, thanks to inflation, that same item would cost $1,191.84.

America's inflation rate tends to vary significantly by year, and the past few years have been particularly wild:

-- 2019: 2.3%

-- 2020: 1.4%

-- 2021: 7.0%

-- 2022: 6.5%

-- 2023: 3.4%

In other words: Predictions for future rates might not be accurate. So as you account for inflation, it's best to err a bit on the side of caution and assume a slightly higher-than-predicted average rate.

Related: 9 Financial Mistakes That Can Quickly Drain Your Retirement Savings

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But retiring too young has its drawbacks.

To start, as I mentioned above, people who take Social Security benefits before they reach full retirement age have a permanent benefit reduction. 

Compounding the problem? You'll also have less time to build a hearty emergency fund and retirement nest egg.

Also, it's possible that you'll underestimate your own potential longevity. Rather than look at average life expectancies, which include people who die in childhood and early adulthood, you might instead consider the Period Life Table. This table, created by actuaries from the Social Security Administration, shows one's expected remaining years of life at different ages. For instance, a 64-year-old female is estimated to live about 20.5 more years. If you're that age and your retirement savings are unlikely to last that long, an early retirement might not be in the cards.

Retirement isn't a purely financial decision, either—it's a mental and emotional one. In a 2022 T. Rowe Price survey, 45% of respondents who were working in retirement said they are doing so for the social and emotional benefits. That's only slightly less than people who said they were doing it for financial reasons (48%). Work gives some people a sense of purpose that they struggle to find elsewhere in retirement.

Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

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You might have a low life expectancy or health issues that will keep you from enjoying retirement later in life. 

Or you might have more money stashed away in a retirement account than others could even dream of, but still fear it isn't enough. But as the saying goes, "You can't take it with you." If you wait too long to retire, you might not benefit from the fruits of your labor.

Plus, a retirement plan where you expect to work into very old age might be unrealistic. Your body might refuse to continue doing physical work. Or you might be unwilling to keep up with current technology or workflows. 

And even if you are 100% mentally and physically capable of doing a job, you might fall victim to ageism in the workforce. In a 2023 Society for Human Resource Management survey of U.S. workers, nearly one-third of respondents said they felt they were treated unfairly because of their age at some point during their career. Of those workers, nearly three-fourths (72%) said it made them feel like quitting.

Related: Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Before I Retire?

Your retirement plan has to be customized for you.

Many people work with a financial advisor to help them avoid common retirement planning mistakes. According to the 2023 Herbers & Company Service Market Growth Study, retirement planning is the second most-wanted service that consumers with more than $250,000 in household assets want from a financial advisor. (Only tax planning was more in demand.) 

Consider having a financial professional help you develop a plan that is tailored to your resources and needs.

Related: The Best Retirement Plans for 2024 + 2025 [Workplace + Individual]

But you can't solve your retirement with an 11th-hour cram session.

The earlier you plan for retirement, the better. A retirement plan you create in your 20s or 30s will likely change, but that's fine! Having a plan that you tweak and refine over time is far better than not having a plan at all.

As soon as you have a sense of how much money you might need and how you'll save up that much, you have a guidepost to help you determine whether you're "on track." You might need to increase how much you're saving, or find that you're saving too aggressively but ignoring the present. Either way, you're correcting problems before it's too late.

Again, there are few bigger retirement mistakes than not having a plan in place.

Related: Do I Need a Financial Advisor? 7 Questions to Ask Yourself

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Vanguard ETFs are big, liquid, and tend to track well-constructed indexes, meaning you're not just paying low expenses ... you're actually getting some value out of your fees. And these Vanguard ETFs represent the best of the best.

Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

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3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

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Some people love their jobs; others don't. But it's probably fair to assume that, if given the choice and financial flexibility, most people would prefer to spend their free time pursuing their interests rather than clocking in 40 hours a week.

But retirement costs money—lots of it. Which means people generally can't retire early without sufficient earnings during their career years and some careful planning. In fact, even though early retirement is, as the name suggests, "early," it's a form of delayed gratification for those who have to sacrifice what they want for years, even decades, to call it quits earlier than they otherwise could afford.

Today, we'll talk about what the FIRE movement is, how it works, and how to determine whether it's a realistic goal for you.

The information and analysis contained within this article appears for your consideration, but it does not constitute individualized financial advice. Always act at your own discretion.

This isn't about setting aside a few extra dollars each month. This is about stripping your budget down to the basics and investing aggressively.

As a broad for-instance: A person investing "normally" for retirement might set aside 10% or 15% of their income each month. Someone practicing FIRE might set aside 50%.

Once a worker reaches their FIRE number (more on this later), they either ease into retirement or fully retire. 

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The difficult part is in the execution. It's simply not financially feasible for some; and even among those with the resources to make it work, some might struggle to muster the discipline necessary to pull it off.

Many FIRE members go by the "Rule of 25," which suggests you save 25 times your annual expenses. For instance, a person who spends $70,000 per year would have a FIRE number of $1.75 million ($70,000 x 25 = $1.75 million).

Many FIRE retirees typically plan to implement the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals (or a variant of it). The 4% rule dictates that you withdraw up to 4% of your savings in your first year of retirement; then in each subsequent year, you withdraw the previous dollar amount, adjusted upward/downward for inflation/deflation.

It's worth noting that some people believe the 4% rule is outdated—and that includes the rule's creator, who has since made some adjustments to the withdrawal level.

Consider consulting a professional to determine what FIRE number makes sense for you.

Related: How Much to Save for Retirement by Age Group [Get on Track]

There's a long list of expenses many people can cut from their budgets, but generally speaking, people typically start by cutting down (or zeroing out entirely) their discretionary expenditures. 

After that, they see how they can negotiate down or otherwise reduce their more necessary spending—for instance, people look for lower-cost internet/phone providers, find ways to cut back on energy usage in their home, and try to be more cost-conscious when it comes to grocery shopping.

Once you've slashed costs to the point where you could reach your FIRE number, look at your budget and ask yourself, "Can I live with this?" If you've cut to the point where you're, say, making risky insurance and health care decisions, you might want to reconsider. Or you simply might admit to yourself that you need more creature comforts than what the budget provides for.

Also, a reminder that the adjustment to your budget will need to incorporate your efforts to …

As I mentioned before, many FIRE followers try to save 50% or more of their income. The figure you need to hit your FIRE number might be lower, but there's a good chance that it's more than what you currently sock away.

Here's an example of how drastic the change might need to be, and how it could affect your take-home income. 

Tom, age 30 and single, makes $80,000 a year after taxes. He currently contributes an aggressive 10% of his income ($8,000) to a 401(k). His employer matches a maximum of 3%, for total annual savings of $11,000. He currently budgets around annual take-home income of $72,000 ($80,000 - $8,000 in savings contributions). Remember: The $3,000 employer contribution is free.

However, Tom must save $40,000 per year to reach his FIRE number on time. That means he must save an additional $29,000 annually.

First off, Tom has to do that within the confines of annual contribution limits. For instance, the 401(k) contribution limit for 2026 is $24,500. So, let's say he maxes out his 401(k). Even with the employer contribution, he still needs $12,500 more. Well, the IRA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,500. That brings him down to $5,000.

If he had a health savings account (HSA) through work, that's another $4,400 he could sock away in a tax-advantaged account. So he'd only have to find a home for the remaining $600. If not, he's looking to stash $5,000. Either way, there aren't many tax shelters left—he'd likely have to put that money into a taxable brokerage account (if he wanted it to grow at a pace similar to his retirement accounts), which means he'd face annual tax consequences on things like capital gains and dividend income.

Related: How to Invest for (And in) Retirement: Strategies + Investment Options

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For instance: Were you planning to put all non-retirement-account savings in a high-yield savings account or certificates of deposit (CDs)? Well, as tax-inefficient as a traditional brokerage account might be, it's also going to provide you with a lot more growth and, in theory, get you to your FIRE number even more quickly.

Within your retirement accounts, how are you planning to be invested? If you're 30 and your portfolio is, say, 50% stocks and 50% bonds, you're much more conservatively invested than many advisers would say you should be. Again, merely stepping up to the recommended level of portfolio aggression for someone your age might be enough to get you over the hump (or get to your FIRE number even more quickly).

In short: Optimizing your investments can make a big difference in whether you can achieve a FIRE retirement.

Related: How to Invest for (And in) Retirement: Strategies + Investment Options

Tom is going from $72,000 in take-home income to just $43,000 ($80,000 - $37,000 in savings contributions). So he's not just cutting expenditures—he's doing so from a much lower income ceiling.

If you face a similarly austere situation, you might need/want to find ways to increase your income.

Easier said than done, of course, but it's not impossible either. The three traditional ways of going about it are:

--More aggressively seeking out a raise/promotion from your current employer.

--Change jobs to upgrade your pay.

--Start a side hustle to earn additional cash.

If you're still not close to being able to make your FIRE number from here, it's very likely that a FIRE retirement isn't in the cards. It's nothing to be ashamed of. 

In fact, now that you've done the work of seeing what you can cut and how you can earn more, you might find that between some more doable budget cuts, somewhat higher retirement contributions and a small side gig, you could still set yourself up to retire earlier than the average American—even if it's not as early as you originally imagined. That's still progress!

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Quite a few people who opt for a FIRE journey are self-starting DIYers. So their first instinct might be to open up an Excel sheet, grab a calculator, and get to planning.

But remember: Financial advisors are generally trained in not just doing all the calculations necessary to determine when someone can retire when and how they want, but also in looking around corners to determine what hurdles might pop up along the way.

Financial advisors not only can help out creating a personalized plan from the start, but they can also help you along the way, plotting out investment strategies, tax planning, budgeting, and risk management. You might want assistance in, say, health care planning, Social Security timing, and the best ways to diversify your income. And when you're near retirement, you'll need a retirement account withdrawal strategy in place. 

A financial advisor can help you with all of the above and more.

Related: How to Choose a Financial Advisor

The "barista" name evokes the popular choice of working as a barista because it offers part-time hours and is often considered more enjoyable than someone's previous career. It's also because some major coffee chains offer health care to employees with part-time hours.

But obviously, while the name points to coffeeshops, it applies to any kind of part-time work.

Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

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Related: How Much Social Security Will I Receive?

Related: 10 Common Financial Mistakes That New Retirees Make

Plus, you're also dropping the commute; the average one-way travel time to work in 2024 was more than 27 minutes, per the U.S. Census Bureau, which means the average round-trip travel is about 55 minutes per day. That's four-and-a-half hours per week you're gaining back, too.

All told, people are getting 45 to 50 hours back by retiring.

Retiring early can also reduce stress and anxiety. If you plan to move during retirement, you can change locations earlier. This may allow you to start enjoying better weather, spending more time with family, or saving money if you downsize your home.

Related: Are You Saving Enough for Retirement?

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It's also possible that as you near retirement, something changes that drastically alters your math and pushes your timeline further back. You could find retirement boring and miss the routine of employment; and re-entering the workforce can be challenging after you retire.

And lastly, because no one knows what their lifespan will be, you might never be rewarded for all the sacrifices you make to retire early.

Related: 7 Expenses That May Be Missing From Your Retirement Budget

The average retirement age for men in 2024 was 64.6 years old, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. That's three years older than the average in 1994. The average retirement age for women was 62.6 years old, and that age has been steadily rising over time, too.

Your ability to retire early depends largely on your salary, capacity to live far below your means, and aggressiveness of your investments. If you're serious about becoming part of the FIRE movement, you should discuss your goals with a financial advisor. 

Related: 5 Things Retirees Can Do With Their Cars

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That’s where these retirement withdrawal strategies come in.

Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

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On the upside, food inflation is technically slowing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices in November 2022 spiked 10.6% year-over-year … but in November 2023, food prices had risen by “just” 2.9% in a year’s time. Fortunately, those gains appear to have softened a great deal with at-home food prices rising just 1.6% in the twelve months leading up to November 2024 over the preceding 12-month period. On the downside, that’s a larger grocery bill yet again, but the rate of growth has practically flat-lined. Still, since that hasn't turned negative, prices are still elevated and you're likely looking for ways to lower what you spend on food.

Consumers need to do something, and that something can’t be “eat less.” That means as food prices continue to climb, people need to utilize every way possible to save money at the grocery checkout line.

What can you do to fight back against higher food prices without emptying your cart? Let me share with you several commonsense tips on how to save money on groceries.

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If you’re in the latter category, you’re a lot less likely to fall victim to impulse purchases.

Trust me: If you wander into Trader Joe’s without a plan, something will spark your interest and magically float into your basket. And that’s one way to artificially inflate your grocery bill.

Writing a list (and actually sticking to it) will shelter your grocery budget from spur-of-the-moment buys. Plus, you won’t forget any items and waste gas making multiple shopping trips!

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To start with, curbside pickup also helps to reduce impulse buys—after all, if you’re not roaming the store, you can’t grab anything that isn’t on your list. Also, buying groceries through an app or website makes it simple to compare prices and target only items that are on sale. Lastly, shopping online does the number-crunching for you, which could help you stay within your budget.

While grocery delivery is even more convenient, it might not help you save money. You usually have to pay a fee, and you should tip the driver, if you have your groceries delivered. Conversely, some grocery stores allow for free pickup, while others only charge a nominal fee.

Related: 31 Millennial Spending Habits & Income Statistics to Know

Different types of products can be cheaper at different grocers (and other stores). As a for-instance, hygiene products are often cheaper at stores like Target and Walmart than they are at grocery stores. So if that’s the case for your local stores, make the occasional journey elsewhere to stock up on different products.

Use this tip cautiously, though, because what you save on product prices, you could end up losing in gas costs.

Related: 10 Senior Discounts for Restaurants + Grocery Stores

But you should also compare a product’s prices against competing products … and even its own prices!

Per the former: If you’re not a brand loyalist, you can save a lot by buying a competitor’s version of a product, or even the store-brand version. We’re not necessarily telling you to replace Coca-Cola with Pepsi, but you probably won’t find much difference past price between, say, two brands of salt or two brands of pepper.

Per the latter: Especially if you buy certain products frequently, you should keep tabs of what that product costs over the course of time. If you keep track of chicken breasts and see that they typically cost $3.00 per pound, then you notice a price reduction to $2.50 per pound, you can jump on the opportunity to save.

Young and the Invested Tip: Don’t just keep track of price, either! Some goods’ prices might stay the same, but the producer will simply shrink the goods’ size—a phenomenon called “shrinkflation.” So make sure you’re also paying attention to package size so you know you’re getting the best deals.

Related: How to Achieve Financial Minimalist to Reduce Stress

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It’s extremely common to purchase food with a plan in mind, then let that food migrate to the back of your pantry shelves or refrigerator. Being more conscious about using up whatever you have on hand will 1.) ensure you use food before it expires and is wasted, and 2.) keep you from accidentally purchasing items you already have.

Both of these things will in turn save you money on your next shopping trip.

Related: 10 'Frugal' Habits That Aren't Actually Saving You Money

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You can get some bulk items from regular grocery stores. However, many people prefer to buy in bulk from a wholesale club, such as Costco or Sam’s Club. These stores typically require you to be a member, which involves an annual fee, so if you rarely buy in bulk, the savings might not exceed the membership fee. But frequent bulk buyers can more than make up for the fee—and enjoy savings on other goods and services, from gas to tire replacements to vision care.

Be smart about bulk, though—not every item should be bought in super-sized quantities. Specifically, don’t buy anything in bulk that can easily spoil or expire unless you know you can use all of the product before the expiration date.

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And if you do get a craving for out-of-season produce, consider buying the frozen version. (And even better, the next time your favorite frozen fruit or veggies are on sale, stock up so you’re ready for the offseason.) As long as there are no added sugars or other ingredients added, frozen produce maintains its nutritional value. It can even be more nutritious than “fresh” food that was shipped from far away and left on store shelves for a long time.

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Indeed, rather than put together a grocery list and hope what they’re buying is on sale, many savvy grocery shoppers actually plan their meals around sale-priced items. Is there a boffo sale on steak? Stock up and make a few fresh meals from it, and freeze the rest to be used when steak isn’t on sale. Have a coupon for raspberries? Well, apple pie can wait a couple of weeks.

Related: 12 AARP Discounts + Benefits You Don't Want to Miss

The best coupon app for you depends on where you make most of your grocery purchases. For instance, if you frequently shop at Target, getting Target Circle might make sense. And if you love Whole Foods (and a host of other stores, for that matter), you might want to consider downloading Capital One Shopping.

The Capital One Shopping app applies the best available deals at checkout, potentially giving you some jaw-dropping prices. Plus, the service offers rewards you can redeem for free gift cards. Users can also put items on a watchlist, and the app will notify them when the item goes on sale (or if the price otherwise drops).

Related: 50+ Best Money-Making Apps That Pay You Real Money

Grocery stores usually have a consistent sales schedule. So if you pay close enough attention, you might notice that far more items are on sale on specific days of the week, or that certain special deals only occur on certain days.

Pay attention to these calendar-specific discounting trends. Saving more money could be as simple as changing your weekly grocery run from Sunday to Wednesday.

Related: How to Get Free Stocks for Signing Up: 9 Apps w/Free Shares

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And it can also save you money on groceries.

To start, you make many of the same type of meal at once, so you’re using the same set of ingredients. Depending on how many meals you’re making, you may be able to get ingredients in bulk. Plus, knowing you have food that just needs to be heated up can help you avoid the temptation of getting fast food at the end of a long day.

According to the USDA, freezing keeps food safe almost indefinitely. Being safe doesn’t mean it stays the same quality, though, so make sure to look up how long various meals will stay tasty.

Related: Frugal vs. Cheap: What's the Difference?

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Utilize other protein sources, such as beans, Greek yogurt, lentils, tofu, peanuts, and more. If you’re mainly reducing your red meat intake, this money-saving strategy could also improve your cardiovascular health. And you never know—you just might find some new favorite meals.

Related: 12 Bank and Credit Card Fees We Hate Paying

There is some time and labor involved in gardening, but many people find the savings worth it. Plus, it’s very possible that what you grow is more flavorful than what’s available at the grocery store.

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of seven top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

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And among the ways you'll do that is by making some strategic upgrades—leveling up what you own, your surroundings … even yourself.

Which upgrades will serve you best? Read on as I discuss a number of life improvements that can make you safer, more comfortable, and better connected during retirement. 

The following ideas aren't so much about treating yourself as they are about increasing your everyday quality of life. The right upgrades will make you happier, more relaxed, and could even end up saving you money in the long run.

Prioritize the following upgrades in retirement.

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Consider the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, a nationally representative survey of Americans aged 50 to 80 years old. According to its 2024 poll, one-third (33.4%) said they felt isolated from others and a lack of companionship in the past year. 

Respondents were more likely to say they lacked companionship and felt isolated if they were female, between the ages of 50 to 64, made less than $60,000 per year, or had poor or fair health.

Communication devices, such as smartphones and tablets, can help seniors stay connected with loved ones. Phone calls, video chats, texting, and social media allow them to stay in touch with people without always needing to go somewhere or have someone come to them. 

In retirement, don't scrimp on devices that make you feel social and connected.

Strategic home renovations before you retire, or in early retirement, can make you safer and more comfortable. Some of the renovations you may want to consider include (but aren't limited to):

-- Installing grab bars outside of showers, baths, or toilets

-- Switching to induction cooktops

-- Replacing flooring to be softer and less slippery

-- Installing ramps

-- Installing touchless water faucets

You might not need all of these features now, but it's best to make changes in preparation, rather than waiting until your old layout feels hazardous. Renovations can be expensive, but it's worth splurging for safety.

Related: 10 Home Improvement Investments That Don't Pay Off

For example, you might upgrade your Sam's Club membership to the higher tier that includes free select same-day or next-day delivery. Delivery services are especially useful if you have mobility issues or lack transportation options.  Or you might get a membership to a local gym, such as the YMCA or Anytime Fitness. It's important to maintain strength and endurance as you age. Gyms can also be social environments. 

Don't assume you can't afford the services you seek. Many companies offer discounted memberships and subscriptions for seniors. No, I'm not just referring to AARP discounts (though those can be useful too). 

Related: 12 Free Things for Seniors to Do

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Not all retirees require these systems, but if you have health issues or are often home alone, they might be worth it. Alert systems offer peace of mind not just for you, but also for your loved ones.

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A person turning 65 today has a nearly 70% chance of requiring some type of long-term care services before they pass away, according to LongTermCare.gov. Around 20% will need it for over five years, and the average length is three years during one's lifetime. Unfortunately, LTC is expensive. In 2024, the median annual outlay for an in-home health aide was $77,792, a Genworth/CareScout survey says. For a private room in a skilled nursing facility, it was $127,750. Multiply those numbers by three to five years, and you're looking at a substantial sum.

Despite the high chance of needing long-term care and the massive price tag that comes with it, only 3% to 4% of people in the United States age 50 and older pay for a long-term care policy, per LIMRA data. If you're retired, you might want to purchase (or upgrade) your current LTC insurance or consider a hybrid insurance policy or annuity with an LTC element.

Related: Health Care Costs in Retirement [Amounts + Types to Expect]

A few useful vehicle adaptations you might consider at some point:

-- Adjustable brake and accelerator pedals 

-- Tilt and telescoping steering wheel

-- Larger dashboard controls

-- Automatic tailgate closer

-- Automatic side door openers

-- Rain sensor for windshield wipers

-- Lane departure warning

Depending on your situation and how many of these and other features you need, you may either make these upgrades piecemeal or simply upgrade your entire vehicle to something with these features. 

Related: 7 Car Maintenance Tasks That Save You Money

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Don't let embarrassment get in the way of a high quality of life. Hearing aids not only improve your ability to listen to everything around you (which in and of itself is important for your relationships, safety, and personal enjoyment), but they may also reduce cognitive decline and depression.

Some people put off hearing aids because they dread the expense. But that's increasingly a worry of the past, too. As of Oct. 17, 2022, the FDA established a new category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. According to Audiologists.org, prescription hearing aids cost between $1,000 to $3,000 per ear (so $2,000 to $6,000 per pair), while OTC aids cost between $300 to $2,000 per pair.

Over-the-counter hearing-improvement is becoming extremely commonplace, to the point where Apple's AirPods Pro 3 have a software-enabled hearing-aid feature (and a hearing test) you can access while using newer iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

It's easier than ever to get audio aids; retirees with impairments should take advantage of them.

Related: 14 Ways Retirees Can Reduce Their Medicare Expenses

Despite its benefits, many older adults fail to travel for a number of reasons.

In some ways, travel is more expensive for seniors. But if you plan ahead, budget, and make use of senior discounts, this is still a worthwhile activity during retirement and one you may want to splurge on a bit.

And even older adults who could afford to travel put it off or don't do it because they view it as too tiring and/or uncomfortable. Fortunately, there are many ways seniors can upgrade their travel experiences to make it more enjoyable overall.

Older adults can contact train stations or airports to ask about assistance options. For example, some airports have an electric cart service that can transport passengers to their gates. This is an excellent option if you struggle to walk far distances or get lost in crowded areas. Booking direct flights, while typically more costly, can be less draining than having one or more layovers. Seniors might also want to upgrade to a hotel with more amenities or special accommodations, such as one with valet services. 

Related: You May Want to Skip These Popular Retirement Rules

One type of home security to consider is automatic door locks. Electronic locks are far more challenging to pick or break, so they work as an excellent deterrent to criminals. They also ensure you won't forget to lock your door; and if you assign unique entry codes, it's easy to keep track of anyone who's coming or going.

Another option is security cameras or video doorbells. These are useful both when you're home and when you're away. Cameras can both prevent crimes and catch criminals after the fact. Just make sure to choose a camera or smart video doorbell carefully—some are more secure than others, and they might require a monthly plan.

Related: Elderly Scams: Beware These 15 Schemes Targeting Seniors

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Importantly: You don't just need assistance in making sure you have enough money to make it through your retirement—you also need to develop a plan for what you want to do with leftover money and assets when you pass away. That could be as simple as an estate plan that names a few individuals or charities, or as far-reaching as a dynasty trust to administer wealth assets for multiple generations.

Related: How to Choose a Financial Advisor

But while most of us will end up on Social Security, when we choose to start collecting benefits will differ from person to person. Our guide to Social Security timing may help you decide.

How does the 4% rule work, how has it changed, and can it help guide your retirement? Check out our primer on the 4% rule.

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When you were younger, you might have been fine with making a long drive to your favorite shop, and you might have been willing to pay top dollar for your favorite snacks. As a senior, however, you might prefer the convenience of grocery delivery and be more budget conscious. Vibes might become less important; pharmacy services could become a must.

In other words: When you reach your golden years, if you haven't thought much about it, you should probably re-evaluate which grocery store chain is best for your needs. And I can help.

So, what is the best grocery chain for seniors? Read on as I compare three of the best-known grocers: Walmart, Sam's Club, and Costco. I'll evaluate all three across a variety of factors that are important to seniors. My hope is that this review will help you make the best decision for your grocery destination.

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Today, I'm going to discuss the following factors you may want to consider:

--Membership price

--Delivery services

--Pharmacy services

--Number of locations

--Selection

--Mobility vehicles

--Value for cost

For you personally, some of these factors may be more important than others. Your chosen grocery store should fit your needs. 

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First, though, we're going to focus on just the cost of getting in the door, as the value in those membership costs will come into play as we look at other categories.

--Walmart: No cost. Any adult can walk into Walmart and start shopping. A membership isn't required. However, some choose to enroll in Walmart+ for special perks and that costs $98/year.

--Sam's Club: $50/yr. (Club); $110/yr. (Plus). A Sam's Club membership costs $50 annually for the Club tier or $110 for Plus. However, Sam's Club offers senior discounts for new members: a 60% cut on Club's price (so down to $20 per year) and a $50 discount on Plus (so, $60 per year).

--Costco: $65/yr. (Gold Star); $130/yr. (Executive). Costco's $65 and $130 annual costs for Gold Star and Executive memberships, respectively, are the same regardless of your age—the chain doesn't offer senior discounts.

The winner? If you don't care about membership perks, it's hard to beat walking into Walmart for free. But if you're open to the idea of a membership model, Sam's Club is the most affordable regardless of your age, but it's a particularly good deal for seniors.

Related: Seniors Can Save More With These 10 Discounted Memberships + Subscriptions

--Walmart: Walmart grocery delivery without a membership requires you to pay a $9.95 delivery fee. A Walmart+ membership offers free, same-day delivery on grocery orders of at least $35.

--Sam's Club: Sam's Club delivery costs differ by plan. Club members pay $12 per same-day or next-day delivery. Plus members' costs vary by order size; they get free same- or next-day delivery for orders of at least $50 (pre-tax), but they have to pay $8 for orders under $50. Both tiers provide Express delivery (within a few hours) for an extra $8.

--Costco: Costco members in eligible ZIP codes can get same-day grocery delivery for free for orders of at least $35. The same-day delivery is powered through Instacart, but you don't need a separate Instacart membership. Want to stock up on non-perishable groceries? Costco offers 2-day delivery; no delivery fee is charged on orders of $75 or more.

The winner? These days, a $35 minimum isn't hard to foot, so both Walmart and Costco will usually beat out Sam's Club for same-day grocery delivery.

Related: Walmart vs. Target: 10 Big-Box Price Comparisons

Walmart: Without a membership, you can have prescriptions delivered for $9.95 per delivery. Walmart+ members enjoy free prescription delivery as soon as the same day with no order minimum. Also, Walmart in-store pharmacies administer a variety of vaccines.

Sam's Club: Members can access some top-notch pharmacy perks. For starters, all members pay $10 or less on more than 600 generics, and discounted prices on brand-name medications at both Sam's Club pharmacies as well as 62,000 other participating locations. Plus members enjoy $0 prescriptions on up to 10 generic drugs: amlodipine, donepezil, escitalopram oxallate, finastride, lisinopril, metformin, montelukast, pioglitazone, sertraline, and Vitamin D. Plus-tier members also get additional savings on pet prescriptions.

Costco: Costco offers a range of immunizations and helps you refill and manage your prescriptions. You can pick up your prescriptions at an Rx locker, get them delivered through Instacart, or have them delivered by mail. Members have exclusive access to $29 virtual doctor appointments for new prescriptions or refills with Sesame. Have pets? You can also use Costco's Member Pet Prescription program to save on cat and dog prescriptions and have them delivered to their homes. 

The winner? Sam's Club and Costco outshine Walmart when it comes to your pharmacy needs.

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Related: Walmart Lovers: Don't Make These Shopping Mistakes

--Walmart: Individual Walmart stores have roughly 140,000 SKUs on a given day.

--Sam's Club: It's estimated to carry between 6,000 and 7,000 products.

--Costco: This warehouse club has the fewest options at only around 4,000 SKUs.

The winner? Walmart, by a landslide—if you covet the widest selection.

But I'd be remiss not to point out that Sam's Club and Costco are able to offer better prices explicitly because they feature fewer brands. And Costco specifically curates its offerings and only sells products it believes are of high quality. It also offers highly rated Kirkland Signature products that many consumers consider to be better than the name-brand counterparts. So if you're looking for the best selection, Costco gets the nod.

Related: Consumers Should Avoid These 10 Products at Walmart

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--Walmart: The store chain has electric scooters for customers to use; they're located near store entrances.

--Sam's Club: Sam's, which is owned by Walmart, similarly offers motorized shopping carts, though some also have manual wheelchairs.

--Costco: Costco has mobility scooters located in front of the warehouse. They're free to use for anyone with mobility issues.

The winner? I'm happy to say this is a three-way tie.

Related: 10 Highly Rated Member's Mark Products to Add to Your Shopping List

--Walmart: It's a household name that most people in the world recognize, though in the U.S. specifically, it boasts a massive 4,600 locations.

--Sam's Club: Walmart's warehouse chain has just 600 locations.

--Costco: The chain's American locations total north of 620 as I write this.

The winner? Walmart, which blows away both Sam's Club and Costco.

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--Walmart: The store received the highest value score of 42 and was therefore ranked No. 1 for value.

--Sam's Club: It ranked No. 5 on the list with a value score of 25.

--Costco: This chain sat right in between Walmart and Sam's Club, with a value score of 35.1 and the No. 3 overall ranking.

The winner? While you might disagree, Walmart is considered the best value among all grocers, while Costco was the best among the warehousers.

Related: 10 Products You'll Regret Buying at Sam's Club

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One way to put that low-cost diversification to work? Collecting dividends. But trying to choose from literally hundreds of income-producing funds could take up a lot more time than you have. So let us help you narrow the field—check out our list of seven top dividend ETFs.

Vanguard ETFs are big, liquid, and tend to track well-constructed indexes, meaning you're not just paying low expenses ... you're actually getting some value out of your fees. And these Vanguard ETFs represent the best of the best.

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There are a few financial perks, too. Eventually, you can start collecting Social Security, make penalty-free withdrawals from your retirement accounts … and, over time, pick up a few tax benefits.

Some tax perks begin as young age 50, though some don't kick in until you've reached your 70s. Regardless, you've worked hard for decades, so you deserve to start reaping some of the rewards once you get older.

Read on as we highlight several tax breaks that are specifically for older adults.

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The age you become eligible for each of these tax benefits ranges from age 50 to 70 ½, so the older you are, the more money you could potentially save.

There is no reason to miss out on these benefits if you qualify.

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The additional standard deduction for the 2026 tax year is $1,650 (up from $1,600 in 2025) per qualifying individual for married couples filing jointly, married taxpayers filing separately, and surviving spouses; that figure is $2,050 (up from $2,000 in 2025) for single and head-of-household filers.

Also, if you are age 65 or older and blind, your additional standard deduction is doubled. Thus, your additional standard deduction for the 2026 tax year would be $3,300 (up from $3,200 for 2025) per qualifying individual if your status is married filing jointly, married filing separately, or surviving spouse; and $4,100 (up from $4,000 for 2025) if you filed as single or head of household.

Related: Should You File Taxes Early? 9 Benefits of Filing Early

To qualify for the Senior Deduction, you must turn 65 within the tax year you want to claim it, you must have a Social Security number (an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, is not enough), and if you're married, you must file a joint return. You can take the Senior Deduction regardless of whether you itemize or take the standard deduction, and you can take it in addition to the additional standard deduction.

All qualified seniors start with a $6,000 deduction. If you’re married and filing a joint return, both you and your spouse start with a $6,000 deduction, for a total of $12,000. However, if your “modified adjusted gross income” (MAGI) is more than $75,000 ($150,000 if you’re filing a joint return), then your $6,000 deduction is reduced by 6¢ for every dollar of MAGI over the applicable threshold. The $6,000 deduction is reduced all the way to $0 when your MAGI reaches $175,000 ($250,000 for joint filers).

For purposes of this deduction, MAGI is equal to the adjusted gross income reported on your tax return, plus any:

--foreign earned income or housing excluded from taxation

--income excluded from taxation for residents of Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or Puerto Rico

Example: Suzanne is 80 years old and single. Her MAGI for the year is $90,000, which is $15,000 over the phase-out threshold for single taxpayers ($90,000 – $75,000 = $15,000). As a result, her deduction is reduced by $900 ($15,000 x .06 = $900). So, her Senior Deduction for the year is $5,100 ($6,000 – $900 = $5,100).

Just note that the Senior Deduction is temporary: Per the reconciliation bill, it is only available between the 2025 and 2028 tax years.

Related: When and How to Adjust Your Tax Withholding

The same isn't always the case at the state level. In fact, 42 states do not tax Social Security benefits, and the needle is pointed in the right direction. That 42 includes two states—Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska—that halted Social Security taxes in 2024, and one—West Virginia—that phased out its tax over a couple of years before eliminating it altogether in 2026.

So, if you're planning a move in retirement, make sure to consult this list of states that tax Social Security benefits before you finalize your decision. While taxation of your Social Security benefits shouldn't necessarily be the sole deciding factor, if you're torn between two or more states as different retirement landing spots, this might help you lean one way or the other.

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Fortunately, individuals ages 60 and older can get free tax counseling and filing assistance through the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) grant program.

Qualified volunteers, who have taken and passed tax law training that meets or exceeds IRS standards, provide "efficient and quality tax assistance" year-round. They also provide tax return preparation assistance during the normal federal filing period (Jan. 1 through April 15) each year.

As an added layer of caution, every return prepared by TCE volunteers undergoes a quality review before it's filed.

Related: How to Get Your Tax Refund Fast

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-- 401(k) (excluding a SIMPLE 401(k))

-- 403(b)

-- SARSEP

-- Governmental 457(b)

The 2026 contribution limit for employees with a 401(k) or equivalent account is $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025. The catch-up contribution amount for 2026 is an additional $8,000 for those ages 50 to 59 or 64 and older, for a total of $32,500. Meanwhile, those ages 60 to 63 enjoy a "super catch-up contribution limit" of $11,250 more, good for a total contribution cap of $35,750 in 2026.

Retirement plans can substantially grow your money over time, so in general, the closer you can get to maxing out one of these plans, the better.

Related: Is Your Retirement on Track? Here Are the Average 401(k) Balances By Age

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IRAs have a number of limitations. The straight-line 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500 (up from $7,000 in 2025), but individuals age 50 and older may make an additional $1,100 in IRA catch-up contributions, for a total of $8,600. Importantly, IRA contribution limits apply toward all IRAs you might have—in other words, you can't contribute $7,500 to each of five different IRAs and/or Roth IRAs, but you can contribute $7,500 across all five IRAs and/or Roth IRAs.

However, people also may only contribute up to their taxable income in a given year, so if you make less than the straight-line contribution limit (say, $5,000), you can only contribute up to what you made.

Also, if you have a Roth IRA, your income may also limit your ability to contribute.

You can contribute to a Roth IRA, up to the straight-line 2026 IRA contribution limit, if you are:

-- Single, head of household, or married filing separately (but you didn't live with your spouse at any time in 2026) with MAGI of less than $153,000 (up from $150,000 in 2025)

-- Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse with MAGI of less than $242,000 (up from $236,000 in 2025)

You can only make a partial contribution to a Roth IRA if you are:

-- Single, head of household, or married filing separately (but you didn't live with your spouse at any time in 2026) with MAGI of at least $153,000 but less than $168,000 (at least $150,000 but less than $165,000 for 2025)

-- Married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse with MAGI of at least $242,000 but less than $252,000 (at least $236,000 but less than $246,000 for 2025)

-- Married filing separately with MAGI of less than $10,000

You can't contribute to a Roth IRA if you are:

-- Single, head of household, or married filing separately (but you didn't live with your spouse at any time in 2026) with MAGI of $168,000 or more ($165,000 or more for 2025)

-- Married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse with MAGI of $252,000 or more ($246,000 or more for 2025)

-- Married filing separately with MAGI of $10,000 or more

You can get more detail in our article on IRA contribution limits.

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HSAs have a lower contribution limit than a 401(k) or IRA. For 2026, the limit is $4,400 for individuals (up from $4,300 in 2025) and $8,750 for family coverage (up from $8,550 in 2025).

The age when you become eligible for HSA catch-up contributions is different as well. Individuals can contribute an additional $1,000 annually in 2025 and 2026, but beginning at age 55, not age 50 like with 401(k)s and IRAs.

Remember: Only people enrolled in eligible high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) can contribute to these accounts.

Related: The 10 Best Fidelity Funds to Own

If you are age 70½ or older, you can make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD)—also known as IRA charitable distribution or IRA charitable rollover—from your IRA to a charity, then exclude that amount from your gross income. The QCD limit for 2026 is $111,000 for individuals (up from $108,000 in 2025), or $111,000 for each spouse up to $222,000 for a married couple (up from $216,000 in 2025).

This break may help donors avoid reaching a higher income bracket, which in turn may prevent the phase-out of different tax deductions, such as personal exemption and itemized deductions. 

QCDs have another advantage.

People with individual retirement accounts (IRAs) typically must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) beginning at age 72 (or 73 if you reach age 72 after Dec. 31, 2022). These RMDs increase an individual's total taxable income. However, once you reach age 72 (or 73), QCDs can count against your RMDs for the year.

Just note that QCDs must be made directly from the IRA, whether that's electronically, directly to the charity, or by check payable to the charity. Also, donations can be made only to certain qualified charitable organizations, which are defined in the tax code.

Related: Charitable Tax Deduction: What to Know Before Donating

You can thank the residents of Augusta, Georgia, in the 1970s for this tax quirk.

Nicknamed "The Augusta Rule" on account of the people who own and rent out their homes near the Augusta National Golf Club during the annual Master's Golf Tournament that's held there, this special income exclusion lets you exclude any rental income that comes from renting your residence for two weeks or less. (However, be aware that if you use the rule to exclude income, you will not be able to deduct any associated rental property expenses.)

So, if you have short-term rental demand for your residence and a desire to have guests pay to use it, you might be able to tap into this tax loophole.

Technically, anyone can use this "rule." However, older adults are more likely to both have a home as well as flexibility around when they're able to temporarily leave the home and rent it out.

Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

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But, of course, under either scenario you need to have a good feel for where you are right now. For that purpose, check out the federal tax brackets and rates that will apply for your next federal tax return.

That’s where these retirement withdrawal strategies come in.

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A savings account, for many, represents a major step up from the piggy bank. It's better at keeping your money safe. It allows you to withdraw money without breaking out a hammer. It usually provides interest. And they almost always come with a high level of insurance that ensures you'll get your funds back even if the bank goes under.

But for all the praises I have to sing about savings accounts, they're not the end-all be-all solution to your cash-storing needs.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about several substitutes to the basic savings account. While savings accounts are nice, you can sometimes do better—whether that's, say, earning a higher interest rate on your deposits, or enjoying features that give you more ready access to your money.

You don't have to ditch your savings account completely to enjoy the benefits of these other options, either. Many people hold their cash in multiple accounts—a savings account, and one or more of the accounts to be discussed.

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Depending on whether your savings account is through a bank or a credit union, each depositor is typically given up to $250,000 in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance or National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) insurance.

However, the interest rates for traditional savings accounts are much lower than many other types of accounts. And what interest rates they do pay are variable, often changing when benchmark interest rates do. Often, savings account interest rates don't even keep up with inflation.

So if your goal is not just to keep your money safe, but actually allow it to grow (or at least keep pace with inflation), a savings account might not be the best choice.

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Related: 7 Best High-Dividend ETFs for Income-Minded Investors

The main pro of the money market account is that it offers a higher interest rate than your average savings account. Past that, however, they have a few drawbacks.

For one, while they are liquid, they tend to be less liquid than savings accounts. Users can conduct a limited number of transactions per month, which usually includes check-writing privileges and/or a debit card. The Federal Reserve used to cap withdrawals at six per month. That requirement—once mandated by Regulation D—is now gone, and many banks allow more transactions, but some banks and credit unions have kept the six-withdrawal limit.

Some money market accounts also charge monthly maintenance fees, and some also have minimum balance requirements. Lastly, while money market accounts typically earn higher interest rates than savings accounts, many other cash alternatives earn better rates.

Pros

-- Offers interest

-- Allows some monthly transactions (often six)

-- Some accounts come with a debit card

Cons

-- Some accounts (not all) have high minimum balance requirements

-- Interest rates are variable

-- Some accounts (not all) have monthly maintenance fees

Related: The 8 Best Dividend ETFs [Get Income + Diversify]

But money market account yields are typically higher than your traditional savings account. So if you can meet any minimum balance requirements a money market account requires and choose one without monthly fees, this type of account can usually earn you more money.

Who should consider a money market account?

You should consider these accounts if you are looking for a flexible, interest-bearing account to store an emergency fund or other savings you want to keep liquid.

Related: The Best Money Market Account Alternatives

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You can't withdraw your money from a CD unless you're willing to pay an early withdrawal penalty. So, this is a relatively illiquid investment, but the tradeoff is you can earn much higher interest rates compared to conventional bank savings accounts.

A CD can be a good place to store money for a specific future expense that's well down the road, such as a house down payment or a new car.

Pros

-- Fixed interest rates

-- Higher interest rates than a traditional savings account

Cons

-- Illiquidity

-- Rates still not as competitive as other options

Related: The 10 Best Vanguard ETFs for 2025 [Build a Low-Cost Portfolio]

Who should consider CDs?

Anyone looking for a safe, interest-bearing financial vehicle to hold their money should consider a certificate of deposit. Some people choose to create a CD ladder to take advantage of the higher interest rates, while reducing the illiquidity problem.

A CD ladder means they have several CDs that mature at varying dates, so they are never too far away from having a CD mature. As this keeps a portion of your money close to being accessible at any time, some people use CD ladders as an emergency fund.

Related: 11 Best CD Alternatives to Capture Interest With Low Risk

Similar to money market accounts and some traditional savings accounts, HYSA holders usually can only make a limited number of transactions per month. A high-yield savings account typically has lower fees than money market accounts, but it usually doesn't include a checkbook.

Pros

-- Higher interest rates

-- Easy to open with online banks

Cons

-- Interest rates are variable

-- Sometimes have high minimum deposits

Related: The 7 Best Fidelity Index Funds for Beginners

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A high-yield savings account might have more withdrawal restrictions than a traditional savings account, but an HYSA will also earn you a much higher yield.

Who should consider high-yield savings accounts?

A high-yield savings account is another popular place to store money in case of an emergency. These are useful accounts for short- and long-term savings goals. 

Related: The 7 Best Vanguard Index Funds for Beginners

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There are government money market funds, municipal money market funds, and prime money market funds. These funds are a good low-risk, low-return investment.

Pros

-- Can provide a steady income

-- Highly liquid

Cons

-- Not insured by the FDIC

-- Often requires modest annual fees

-- May not keep up with inflation or even lose money

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Who should consider money market funds?

These accounts are low-risk investments, making them a good alternative for investors who want to earn more on cash sitting idle in a brokerage account.

Many brokerage accounts will actually sweep idle cash into their money market funds so you're still earning interest even if you don't have all of your funds invested.

Related: 5 Best Vanguard Retirement Funds [Start Saving More, for Less]

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If you want to buy a savings bond, under 99.99% of cases, you'll need to go to the U.S. government's TreasuryDirect website. Both you and the recipient will need a TreasuryDirect account; a child's parent or adult custodian can set one up for them. You can then gift the child (or anyone) an electronic savings bond if you know the person's full name, Social Security number or Taxpayer Identification Number, and TreasuryDirect account number. Just note that you have to hold a bond in your account for five business days before you can gift it to someone.

And yes, electronic savings bonds are now the gold standard. With one exception, which we'll get to here in a moment, you can no longer buy paper savings bonds.

You have two options when buying a savings bond for a baby, kids, or even adults: Series EE savings bonds, and Series I savings bonds.

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In other words, if you hold a Series EE savings bond for at least the next 20 years, the bond will either earn enough in interest to double its initial value, or the federal government will make a one-time adjustment to the price (adding money) to honor its guarantee.

But remember: The Series EE savings bond will accumulate interest for up to 30 years. If your child doesn't immediately need the money after 20 years, they could benefit from waiting even longer.

You must spend at least $25 when buying Series EE bonds. Above that, you can spend any amount down to the penny. (Example: You could buy $152.57 worth of EE bonds.)

Like with EE bonds, Series I savings bonds require a minimum $25 purchase, but you can select any amount over that down to the penny. But while Series I bonds also accumulate interest over 30 years, there is no 20-year value guarantee like with EE bonds.

Series I also includes the lone exception to the paper-bonds rule. Specifically, you can use your IRS tax refund to buy Series I paper savings bonds, and you can do so in five denominations: $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000. While paper bonds are a rarity, financial institutions still allow you to redeem them.

Pros

-- Safe investment

-- Grows your money over time

Cons

-- No interest paid until maturity

-- Extremely illiquid

Related: 5 Best Fidelity Retirement Funds [Low-Cost + Long-Term]

Who should consider savings bonds?

Savings bonds are great ways to help young people save, so I always think of them as an ideal financial gift for babies, kids, and grandchildren.

Related: 9 Monthly Dividend Stocks for Frequent, Regular Income

-- Treasury bonds (T-bonds): Mature in 20 to 30 years

-- Treasury notes (T-notes): Mature in two to 10 years

-- Treasury bills (T-bills): Mature in 4 to 52 weeks

Treasury bills—which can have maturities of four, eight, 13, 17, 26, and 52 weeks—are sold in increments of $100 (also the minimum purchase amount) up to a value of $10 million. You can typically purchase these through the U.S. government's Treasury Direct or through a bank or broker.

When you buy a T-bill, you lend money to the U.S. government for a specified period of time. The price for a T-bill will vary, but usually will be below the bond's face value, or "par value." (For instance, a $1,000 T-bill might cost $975 to purchase.) When the T-bill matures, you receive the full par value of the bond—so the return on your investment is the difference between the discounted price you paid at auction and the par value of the T-bill.

Like savings bonds, Treasury bills do not pay interest until maturity. Unlike savings bonds, you can hold Treasuries in a brokerage account—and you can sell them there, too, making them far more liquid than savings bonds.

Treasuries are among the most secure investments in the world due to their virtually guaranteed repayment. The federal government hasn't defaulted on a debt payment since moving away from the gold standard in 1971.

When you receive the repayment of your T-bills' face value, the income generated is exempt from state and local taxes. This can make them a good choice for investors looking for reliable, tax-advantaged income.

Pros

-- Very secure investment

-- Has tax advantages

Cons

-- Lower rate of return than alternatives

-- No interest paid until maturity

Related: 5 Best Schwab Retirement Funds [High Quality, Low Costs]

Who should consider Treasury bills?

Treasury bills are a good fit for people who seek an extremely secure investment that provides a higher interest rate than a savings account.

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These accounts typically have high interest rates but also let you access your money at any time. Specific features vary by account. Fidelity's Cash Management Account is currently one of the best options. It offers a high annual percentage yield, has no account fees or minimums, and reimburses ATM fees globally.

Pros

-- Combines features of checking and savings accounts

-- Possibly higher interest rates than traditional banks

Cons

-- Possibly no physical locations to visit

-- Other products might have better interest rates

Related: Best Target Date Funds: Vanguard vs. Schwab vs. Fidelity

Who should consider cash management accounts?

People seeking an alternative to traditional bank accounts should consider a cash management account. These are an excellent choice if you're tech-savvy and don't necessarily have a need for physical bank locations.

Related: Best Vanguard Retirement Funds for a 401(k) Plan

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With an investment account, you can buy various assets, which can then grow your money by appreciating in value, paying dividends, or both.

Compared to the other savings account alternatives in this piece, the investments in these accounts have the highest possible risk, but also the highest possible financial rewards.

Pros

-- No guarantee of returns

-- Some accounts and investments charge fees

Cons

-- Substantial possible returns

-- Some investments can provide a high steady income

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Who should consider investment accounts?

People who seek high returns from long-term investments should consider opening an investment account. However, depending on the type of investments you plan to hold, you might need a healthy risk tolerance.

Related: Best Vanguard Retirement Funds for an IRA

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

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It's also infuriatingly complex in some respects.

According to the 2024 KFF Survey of Consumer Experiences, 37% of respondents said it was either "somewhat difficult" or "very difficult" to understand at least one of five aspects of their Medicare coverage. That's at least better than employer-sponsored insurance (54%) or Medicaid (46%), but it's still a high percentage that shows many Americans don't know Medicare inside and out.

Today, I'm going to clear up some of your Medicare confusion. I've compiled a list of some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Medicare, and (more importantly) answers to those questions. The better you understand this vital social program, the easier it should be to make educated decisions regarding it.

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To help you get some clarity, read on. I'll discuss some of the most popular Medicare questions to help you better understand the ins and outs of this health care program.

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-- Part A focuses on the more urgent and critical aspects of health care, such as inpatient hospitals, hospice centers, inpatient rehab, and more. 

-- Part B delivers coverage for other health care products and services that Part A doesn't cover, such as outpatient hospital visits, physicians' services, some home health services, and durable medical equipment. 

-- Part C is Medicare provided by private insurers. Part C offers what's covered under Parts A and B, as well as the prescription drug care offered under Part D.

-- Part D is also a private-insurance option that covers the costs of self-administered prescription drugs.

Part A is premium-free for roughly 99% of Americans, and you are typically auto-enrolled in the program. The other Medicare Parts usually require a premium, though there are programs that can help you with the cost.

These plans cover different health care needs that fill in each other's gaps. Part A focuses on the more urgent and critical aspects of health care, while Part B covers preventative and medically necessary services and supplies.

Medicare users can typically choose to have Part A, or Part A and Part B. In rare circumstances—namely, you qualify for Part A, but must pay a premium—you can have Part B but not Part A.

Related: Best Vanguard Funds to Hold in an HSA

It's also the most recent. Part C was established in 1985 by the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA), which was passed three years earlier. The act authorized Medicare to contract with private risk-based health plans.

It wasn't until the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) that Part C was officially designated as "Part C." It also was named Medicare+Choice (M+C). The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA)—which also was responsible for the creation of Part D—eliminated the M+C moniker in favor of Medicare Advantage.

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Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

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Effectively, once you and your drug plan collectively spent a certain amount on covered drugs, you would enter a coverage gap, or the “hole” of the donut, in which the plan was limited on what it could pay out. You would only exit that gap once you hit a certain out-of-pocket limit and progressed to catastrophic coverage, where you would pay nothing for covered drugs for the rest of the year.

However, the donut hole was eliminated at the start of 2025.

Part D enrollees now have three "periods." In the deductible period, they pay full price on covered prescription drugs up to a deductible, which is $615 in 2016. Once they hit the deductible, enrollees reach the "initial coverage period," in which they'll typically pay coinsurance of 25% of total drug costs up to a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap. Once they reach that gap, enrollees will reach the "catastrophic coverage period," in which they pay $0 for covered drugs. (The cap will change each year based on the growth rate in per capita Part D costs.)

Related: What Is Social Security 'COLA'?

-- A disability, and have been receiving Social Security Disability benefits for 24 months)

-- End-stage renal disease (ESRD)

-- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease)

Eligibility is largely based on your work history. For a much more complete picture of these eligibility requirements, check out our primer, "What is Medicare?"

Some people are automatically signed up for Medicare, while others need to take action to sign up.

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The money is held in two trust fund accounts held by the U.S. Treasury. This money cannot be allocated to expenses other than Medicare. 

Related: Best Schwab Funds to Hold in an HSA

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In this situation, you should be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period. That means you can re-enroll for Original Medicare and quickly regain coverage. 

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-- Opt out of your workplace plan and just use Medicare.

-- Drop Medicare Part B and/or D and just use the workplace plan.

-- Use both Medicare and your employer's group plan. 

If you use both Medicare and your employer's plan, each type of coverage is referred to as the payer. The primary payer would contribute up to the limits of its coverage before sending the remaining balance to the secondary payer. Any time the secondary payer won't pay for the rest of the balance, you might be responsible for it. (Note: If your workplace plan is the secondary payer, you might need to sign up for Part B before they will pay.)

However, if your employer has fewer than 20 employees, you usually need to enroll in Medicare during your Initial Enrollment Period. If you get coverage through a spouse's plan, you'll need to check the employer's rules to learn if they must enroll at age 65 or can delay enrollment. 

For Medicare that a person receives for a disability, Medicare.gov states: "You can keep your disability for as long as you're medically disabled. If you return to work, you won't have to pay your Part A premium for the first 8½ years. After that, you might be able to buy Part A coverage and pay a monthly premium. If you can't afford the Part A premium, you may be able to get help from your state."

Related: How to Invest HSA Funds [Level Up Your Retirement Savings]

--Part A: Most Americans get premium-free Medicare Part A. Those who have to pay for Part A premiums will either pay $311 or $615 per month, depending on their circumstances. Also, people who don't enroll in Part A when they first become eligible might have to pay a penalty. 

--Part B: In 2026, the standard premium is $202.90 per month. However, if your income exceeds certain thresholds, you could pay more. (I'll address this in detail below.) Premium costs max out at $689.90 per month for individuals who make at least $500,000.

--Part C: Medicare Advantage premiums vary depending on one's chosen plan. Based on Centers for Medicare data, the projected 2026 average premium will be $14.

--Part D: Part D premiums vary depending on one's chosen plan. However, if your income exceeds certain thresholds, you could pay more, as mentioned above. CMS projects the 2026 average total monthly premium for prescription drug coverage will be $34.50.

That said, a higher income might affect your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. 

For most people, the government covers 75% of the Part B premium, and the beneficiary pays the remaining 25%. However, above certain earnings thresholds, an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) kicks in—depending on your IRMAA, you could be responsible for as much as 85%. (Note: IRMAA is based on income listed on your tax return from two years prior.)

Part D coverage also factors in IRMAA. With Part D, this is an additional amount you pay on top of your plan's premium. For instance, for 2026, someone with 2024 MAGI of more than $109,000 up to $137,000 would have to pay an additional $14.50 per month on top of their monthly premium.

Fortunately, income-based adjustments are rare. Currently, only 8% of Part B enrollees and 8% of Part D enrollees are subject to IRMAA. 

Related: Best Fidelity Funds to Hold in an HSA

If you're incarcerated for longer and convicted of a crime, your benefits will stop. You can get them reinstated after you're released. However, if you are collecting Medicare for a disability and are under age 65, you need to have your Social Security Disability Insurance reinstated before your Medicare coverage can start again.

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Some Part C plans do cover routine dental services. Otherwise, you will have to purchase a separate dental plan.

Related: The Social Security Child's Benefit: How Retirees' Children Can Sometimes collect Social Security

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In some situations, however, Part B will cover an eye exam. For instance, you may receive a covered exam for diabetes-related vision issues. 

Some services related to chronic eye conditions are also partially covered with the policyholder paying 20% of the Medicare-approved amount. 

Often, Medicare Advantage plans cover annual vision exams and offer an allowance for prescription eyewear. But again, if your Part C does not provide this kind of coverage, you'll have to find a private plan.

Some Medicare Advantage plans provide hearing-related coverage, and most cover hearing aids.

Related: 9 Financial Mistakes That Can Quickly Drain Your Retirement Savings

It's recommended to stop contributing to your HSA up to six months before applying to Medicare or in the month prior to your 65th birthday (whichever is closest) to avoid the possibility of tax penalties. Why up to six months? Because Part A coverage is backdated by six months, up to the first month you're eligible for Medicare.

Example: If you turn 65 on Feb. 15, the earliest your coverage can start (based on when you enroll) is Feb. 1. If you don't apply until, say, March 15, benefits would still be backdated to Feb. 1. In either case, you would want to make your final HSA contribution in January to avoid penalties. However, if you turn 65 on Feb. 15 but don't enroll until Dec. 15, then benefits would be backdated to June 1. Thus, you could continue contributing to your HSA until May.

(A reminder: If your birthday is on the 1st of the month, Medicare benefits will begin in the month prior to your birth month. You'll need to factor this in as you determine when to stop making HSA contributions.)

If you already have an HSA, you can still use it to make tax- and penalty-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses at any age, and penalty-free withdrawals for any purpose once you reach age 65.

Your retirement Medicare Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) lasts for seven months. It begins three months before you turn 65 and ends three months after you turn 65. 

However, if your birthday lands on the first of the month, your seven months are a bit different—in that situation, your IEP starts four months before you turn 65 and ends two months after the month you turn 65. (For example, if your birthday is July 1, your IEP would span March to September.)

Premium-free Part A coverage starts on the first of the month in which you turn 65. Part B and premium Part A coverage begins on the first of the month you turn 65 if you sign up before the month in which you turn 65, or the following month if you sign up during the month you turn 65 or the three months afterward.

If you miss your Initial Enrollment Period, you would have to wait to sign up during one of two other enrollment periods:

-- General Enrollment Period (GEP): Jan. 1 to March 31 every year. Coverage begins the month after you sign up.

-- Special Enrollment Period (SEP): An enrollment period triggered by any number of events, including (but not limited to) dropping out of an employer plan, losing Medicaid coverage, and being released from incarceration. Period length and the start of coverage varies depending on your special event.

If you miss your IEP and sign up during a GEP, you often will have to pay a late enrollment penalty, which impacts your monthly premiums. This is a temporary penalty for Part A, but typically a lifetime penalty for Parts B and D. You typically won’t have to pay a penalty if you enroll for Medicare during a Special Enrollment Period.

Disability Medicare works differently. 

Once a person applies for Social Security and is deemed disabled, there is a five-month waiting period before they begin receiving Social Security Disability benefits.

After 24 months of receiving Social Security Disability benefits, a person is automatically enrolled in Medicare. 

(Note: People with ALS can receive Medicare automatically once they start receiving disability benefits, no 24-month waiting period required. People with ESRD can also have the 24-month waiting period waived, but when their coverage begins depends on their circumstances.)

Related: How Much Should I Save Each Month?

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You can find physicians, hospitals, and other care facilities that accept Medicare through Medicare.gov's Care Compare tool. It includes filters and maps to help you find providers wherever you need them. It allows you to search for doctors who have performed specific types of procedures. And it provides other resources to help make choosing a health care provider simpler.

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To start, Medicare is federal health insurance, while Medicaid is a joint federal and state program. 

Medicare is for adults age 65 and individuals with certain disabilities or conditions, while Medicaid is for people with limited income and resources. 

Another big difference between these programs is what people pay. Medicare users typically pay some of their own costs through expenses like premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance. Usually, people with Medicaid don't have to pay for covered medical expenses, though they might have a small copay for some services or items. 

Also, it's possible to be "dually eligible" for both Medicare and Medicaid.

Related: Do I Need a Financial Advisor? 7 Questions to Ask Yourself

Importantly, if you decline Medicare, you might lose your Social Security or Railroad Retirement Board benefits. Also, if you initially opt out of Medicare coverage and later decide to enroll, you might have to pay a penalty.

Related: Is Your Retirement on Track? Here Are the Average 401(k) Balances By Age

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But while most of us will end up on Social Security, when we choose to start collecting benefits will differ from person to person. Our guide to Social Security timing may help you decide.

How does the 4% rule work, how has it changed, and can it help guide your retirement? Check out our primer on the 4% rule.

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It's no wonder why. These accounts are widely offered by employers, they're easy to set up, they offer enormous tax advantages, and in many cases, they come with "free" money (in the form of employer matches).

By and large, contributing to a 401(k) is a pretty straightforward process and an easy way to boost your retirement savings. However, there are a number of mistakes, bad habits, and broken rules that, across the life of your account, could significantly weigh on your full earnings potential.

Let's talk about these common 401(k) mistakes—and how to avoid them.

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But both on the way to building that balance, and once you've called it a career, there are a variety of costly 401(k) mistakes that could stunt your portfolio's growth or bleed it down faster.

We suggest learning from others' errors rather than making those blunders yourself. So read on to learn about some of the most common 401(k) money mistakes and become aware of these dangers.

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But there are more.

For one, there's a Roth 401(k). If you're familiar with the differences between traditional and Roth IRAs, the 401(k) equivalents work similarly:

1. Contributions: Traditional 401(k) employee contributions are made with pre-tax dollars. Roth 401(k) employees contributions are made with after-tax dollars.

-- Historically, employer contributions were placed in a traditional 401(k) account, regardless of whether the employee contributed to a traditional or Roth 401(k). However, the SECURE 2.0 Act, passed in December 2022, allowed (but did not require) employers to begin making matching contributions to Roth 401(k)s.

-- Both 401(k)s allow funds to grow tax-deferred/tax-free as long as that money is in the account.

2. Withdrawals: Traditional 401(k) withdrawals made at or after age 59½ are taxed as ordinary income. Roth 401(k) withdrawals made at or after age 59½ are tax-free (as long as the account has been open for at least five years).

3. RMDs: Traditional 401(k)s have required minimum distributions (RMDs) beginning at age 73. Roth 401(k)s don't have RMDs. 

The tax distinctions are important. If you believe your current tax bracket is higher than the tax bracket you'll fall within during retirement, you're best off with a traditional 401(k), where you avoid taxes now and only are taxed at the later, lower rate. Conversely, if you believe your current tax bracket is lower than the tax bracket you'll fall within during retirement, you can use a Roth 401(k) to take advantage of your current tax rate, then withdraw funds tax-free once you hit retirement.

And some people simply want to have both options available in retirement, so they contribute to both a traditional and a Roth account, whether that's by splitting 401(k)s, or pairing a traditional/Roth 401(k) with a Roth/traditional IRA.

By the way, there are also solo 401(k)s. A solo 401(k) is a small-business 401(k) alternative; you can only have one if you're self-employed, or you own a small business with no employees, or only your spouse as an employee. Solo 401(k)s have different rules than workplace 401(k)s, but are mostly similar in form. And yes, there are both traditional and Roth solo 401(k)s.

If you're unsure how to navigate your 401(k) choices, you should discuss your options with a financial advisor. 

Related: Best Vanguard Retirement Funds for a 401(k) Plan

But if you can't afford to max out your 401(k), you should at least contribute up to the company match.

Let's say you make $100,000 a year, and your employer matches every dollar you contribute, up to 4% of your salary. If you contribute 2% of your salary ($2,000) across the year, they'll match you along the way, giving you another $2,000 in effectively free money. That's great, but remember—your employer will match up to 4%, or a total of $4,000. So if you only contribute 2%, you're leaving $2,000 on the table! So unless it's a true hardship, you should contribute at least up to the company match.

And if you don't contribute the max right out of the gate, you should try to increase your contributions over time, as you make more money. So let's say you start a new job and only contribute 2% annually. Try to make it a goal to contribute 3% the next year, 4% the year after, and so forth.

Related: 13 Baby Boomer Retirement Statistics You Should Know

Interestingly, this advice is going to gradually become antiquated over time.

In 2022, Congress passed the SECURE 2.0 Act. Per that act, in 2025, any companies that established a 401(k) plan following passage of SECURE 2.0 (Dec. 29, 2022, to be specific) will have to auto-enroll new employees, as well as existing employees who haven't already opted out, into their 401(k) plans. Businesses also will have to establish an automatic default contribution rate—of anywhere between 3% and 10%—for any employee that doesn't manually set their own rate.

On top of that, these 401(k) plans will also have to auto-escalate contributions—regardless of whether you chose your initial rate or auto-opted into it. Contributions must be automatically escalated by 1 percentage point per year (example: 3% in 2024, 4% in 2025, 5% in 2026 …) up to a predetermined rate, set by the employer, that must fall between 10% and 15%.

No matter what, you'll have to mind 401(k) contribution limits. In 2025, that's $23,500 annually (up from $23,000 in 2024). However, if you're 50 or older, you can contribute an additional $7,500 in "catch-up" contributions. Workers who are aged 60, 61, 62, and 63 have a higher catch-up contribution limit of $11,250, instead of $7,500. Solo 401(k)s are a little more complicated, as you control both employee and employer contributions; to learn more, check out our solo 401(k) guide.

Related: 8 Special Tax Breaks for Senior Citizens

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So instead, let's look at it this way: You can make some choices that will improve your odds of meeting your personal investment goals.

401(k) plan investment options, with few exceptions, are limited to a handful of mutual funds. That's opposed to self-directed accounts like brokerages and individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, which allow you to select from thousands of stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, and other assets and vehicles.

These funds will almost always hold dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands, of stocks, bonds, or both. Exactly what each fund holds will depend on its strategy—one fund might hold nothing but small, growth-oriented stocks, while another fund might hold a variety of short-term U.S. Treasury bond issues, while another might hold a 50/50 blend of large-cap stocks and investment-grade corporate debt.

When you first set up your 401(k), you'll be asked how much of each contribution you want to allocate to one or more of these funds. When you make these decisions, you'll want to take into account factors such as how much time you have until retirement and how much risk you're willing to accept. If you're young, you can afford to be aggressive and take risks to grow your money, as you'll have plenty of time to make up for setbacks in the market. The closer to retirement you get, the more conservative you might want to invest to protect your money.

You can research the funds yourself and determine which ones would be right for your particular needs. Or, if you simply want to "set it and forget it," you could sink all of your money into a target-date fund. A target-date fund series will have several funds, each based on a specific year—say, 2025, 2030, 2035, and so on. You select a fund based on the rough year in which you think you'll retire. The fund might start out with an aggressive portfolio, but over time, management will change its investments to become more conservative. So, your portfolio might be stock-heavy in your 20s and 30s, but be heavier in bonds by the time you retire in your 60s.

If you're auto-enrolled in a 401(k) plan but don't make an investment selection, your plan might funnel your contributions into a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA), which is effectively a default fund chosen from among the plan's investment options. And in some cases, that QDIA will be a target-date fund.

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Related: 6 HSA Money Mistakes to Avoid

That's not the case if your 401(k) involves "vesting." With 401(k)s that require you to be vested, all of your contributions will immediately belong to you. However, while your company might provide a match or profit sharing, and those funds will immediately go into your 401(k), that money won't actually belong to you until you reach a certain milestone.

There are two primary types of vesting plans:

-- Cliff vesting: You're 100% vested after a set time. 

Example: You're hired on Jan. 1, 2025. Your company has a 401(k) plan with an employer match. There is a three-year vesting period, thus your 401(k) match will vest on Jan. 1, 2028. If you quit on Dec. 31, 2027, you will forfeit your entire unvested company match. If you quit on Jan. 2, 2028, every cent of your 401(k) is yours.

-- Graded vesting: You become gradually vested across various time milestones.

Example: You're hired on Jan. 1, 2025. Your company has a 401(k) plan with an employer match. There is a five-year vesting period, where 20% of match contributions vests every year. If you quit on Jan. 2, 2026, only 20% of any employer matches are yours. If you quit on Jan. 2, 2028, 60% of any employer matches are yours. If you quit on Jan. 2, 2030, every cent of your 401(k) is yours.

Vesting plans vary by company, but the most common vesting periods are between three and five years.

As you might have guessed, vesting systems exist to help businesses retain employees. If you have a five-year cliff vesting schedule, you'll be a lot more hesitant to look elsewhere for a new job if it means losing, say, four years' worth of company matches in your 401(k). 

Not knowing that your 401(k) has a vesting schedule, or not knowing what that vesting schedule is, could result in you leaving thousands of dollars behind if you quit too early.

This doesn't mean you should never switch jobs before you're fully vested—but you should at least be aware of the consequences.

Related: What Is Medicare? A Guide to Types of Medicare Coverage

In fact, a 401(k) doesn't inherently come with guardrails to keep you from buying and selling your funds whenever you like. (But because there can be significant financial consequences for the employer, who sponsors the plan, many employers set limits on trading.)

It's more a day-trading mindset that you want to avoid.

401(k)s are designed for long-term saving. Paying too much attention to the market's everyday swings will stress you out, and potentially cause you to make some rash decisions that could hurt your longer-term strategy. So, as a general rule, try to avoid checking your 401(k) balance every day, and try to avoid making adjustments to your 401(k) more than once a quarter.

Most people can get away with rebalancing their portfolios just once a year. And if your money is in a target-date fund, it will automatically adjust your target allocation over time. 

And if you're ever unsure, you can talk to a financial advisor about whether and how you should tinker with your account.

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You're well within your rights to do so, but just understand that withdrawing money from your 401(k) too early has significant downsides.

Related: How Long Will My Savings Last in Retirement? 4 Retirement Withdrawal Strategies

First, let's define "early": Funds withdrawn from a 401(k) before age 59½ are considered "early" withdrawals. 

For the most part, early withdrawals are subject not just to income tax, but an additional 10% early withdrawal tax. But there are exceptions. The IRS has a full list of exceptions, but examples include some unreimbursed medical expenses, $5,000 per child for qualified birth or adoption expenses, and up to $22,000 to qualified individuals who sustain economic losses because of a federally declared disaster where they live.

Just know that by withdrawing that money, you're forfeiting that money's ability to grow tax-deferred or tax-free. That will have a much larger long-term impact than pulling the same amount of money out of savings or a taxable account.

Related: Best Schwab Retirement Funds for a 401(k) Plan

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It's easy to see the appeal of investing in company stock when you suspect it will grow significantly in value. After all, who wouldn't want to invest in their company if they thought they were the next Apple (AAPL) or Amazon (AMZN)?

Investing in your company's stock can be wise … but don't go overboard. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) itself doesn't offer direct advice on how much company stock to own, but they note that "some experts recommend investing no more than 10 percent of total investment assets in a single stock, including stock of your company—and that could be too high, depending on your goals and circumstances."

Why should you be cautious? For one, you could end up having too much single-company risk. 401(k)s allow you to invest in funds that might hold dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of securities all at once, dramatically lowering the ability for losses in any one stock or bond to significantly weigh on your portfolio. But if you invest too much in your own company's stock, declines in that stock's worth could leave you hemorrhaging money.

It's also worth noting that your company might restrict when you can buy, sell, or transfer your stock. The biggest risk there is that, in the event your company's stock declines significantly, you might not be able to exit the stock in a timely fashion.

Related: Best Fidelity Retirement Funds for a 401(k) Plan

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1. Keep your money in your old 401(k) plan.

2. Transfer your old 401(k)'s funds into your new 401(k).

3. Roll over your old 401(k) into an IRA.

4. Liquidate your old 401(k) account.

That last option can be a huge mistake.

If you are under 59½ years old, liquidating your 401(k) would require you to pay not only income taxes on that money, but an additional 10% penalty. This would enormously diminish your overall retirement savings. The best way out of that situation would be to reconsider and take the funds from your liquidated 401(k) and put them into a qualified retirement plan (401(k)) or IRA. You would have 60 days from receipt of the funds to do so.

Also, a note: If you have less than $1,000 in your 401(k) account, your employer may automatically cash out your account and send you a check for the balance. In that event, the 60-day rule for handling that distribution still applies.

Plus, you would be diminishing your overall retirement savings. Note that if you have under $1,000 in your account, your employer is allowed to automatically cash out your account and send you a check for the balance. In this situation, you can avoid paying the early withdrawal penalty if you put the funds in a qualified retirement plan within 60 days. Your employer would withhold the income taxes for you.

Related: Does Your Credit Score Matter in Retirement?

That's fine—unless you've had some major relationship changes during that time. In which case, you'll want to make sure to update your beneficiary.

Let's say that 20 years ago, you set your then-spouse as your beneficiary. But 10 years ago, you divorced. Today, you're single. If you pass away, the plan administrator is required to give the proceeds to your named beneficiary … which means if you pass away without changing your beneficiary, your ex-husband would receive those funds. And in fact, beneficiary designations supersede wills, so even if you wrote in your will that you wanted the 401(k) money to go to your siblings, if your ex-husband was still designated as the beneficiary, he would get the money, and not your siblings.

Related: Are You Retirement-Ready? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

Still, if you got a late start, you might not have enough saved for a comfortable retirement. Fortunately, the law allows for workers age 50 and over to make annual catch-up contributions—to numerous accounts, not just 401(k)s—that makes their annual contribution limit higher than their younger counterparts' limit. 

The 2024 and 2025. the catch-up contribution limit for a 401(k) account is $7,500. But starting in 2025, for individuals between the ages of 60 to 63, the catch-up contribution limit is $11,250.

If you fit the age requirement and have enough money to do so, taking advantage of catch-up contributions can be a great way to boost your retirement savings.

Related: Is Your Retirement on Track? Here Are the Average 401(k) Balances By Age

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But while most of us will end up on Social Security, when we choose to start collecting benefits will differ from person to person. Our guide to Social Security timing may help you decide.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

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But it makes sense! Most people sink 40 or more hours per week into their jobs—a massive dance card that suddenly opens up in retirement. And while some of that time might be spent sitting around, much of it probably won't.

Seniors do have to operate on a fixed income, however. Sure, there will be the occasional travel and events with friends, but they won't exactly be touring the Riviera every month, either. Thus, most seniors would benefit from an activity or two that doesn't tug on their wallets.

Whether you're on a fixed income or just naturally frugal, free hobbies are preferable to expensive ones. So with that in mind, I've come up with a list of free things for seniors to do. 

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Just one note: Many hobbies and activities, while free to participate in, might require some amount of gear at the onset. I've intentionally excluded many of those activities, and instead am focusing on things to do that require little to no gear—maybe a pair of shoes or a cheap set of binoculars, but nothing more.

Now, let's discover your next favorite free hobby!

Some of the best sights you can see can be found in America's national parks. And better yet? You can visit national parks for free during certain days of the year. In 2024, these days include:

-- Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 15)

-- The First Day of National Park Week (April 20)

-- Juneteenth National Independence Day (June 19)

-- Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act (Aug. 4)

-- National Public Lands Day (Sept. 28)

-- Veterans Day (Nov. 11)

Some national parks are free every day! And for those that aren't, you can also benefit from a great senior discount on the America the Beautiful Pass.

If you don't live near a national park and aren't sure where to hike local trails, the AllTrails app holds a database of map trails and has crowdsourced reviews, many of which include images.

As someone from the Midwest, I understand that outdoor hiking might not be an option for you every season. That's OK—indoor walking can be great too! Malls are a popular location for indoor walks because they are public places, there are long stretches to walk, and they often have plenty of benches for when you need a rest.

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In 2023, associate professors Rachel Wu and Jessica A. Church wrote in Scientific American to describe their study of adults between ages 58 and 86. The adults took three weekly classes, each lasting two hours, to learn new skills. Their finding?

"Over the course of the intervention, people significantly improved their cognitive scores for memory and attention. In a follow-up study, we discovered that the participants had not only maintained their gains but had improved further: their cognitive abilities after one year were similar to those of adults 50 years younger. In other words, giving these seniors a supportive and structured three-course routine—much like an undergraduate student's schedule—seemed to eventually improve their memory and attention to levels similar to that of a college student."

Most states have at least one tuition-free state university program for seniors. (The exceptions—Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, and South Dakota—still have deeply discounted tuition programs for senior citizens.)

Depending on the state, the minimum age for free tuition ranges from 55 to 65.

Related: 10 Best Fidelity Funds to Buy

These audio-only productions might be monologues, involve interviews, or just feel like you're overhearing friends talking. They can be fiction or nonfiction. Some are run by celebrities or a full production team, but it's also possible your next-door neighbor has one.

There's a podcast on just about any topic that might interest you. Marketing, animals, politics, television, beauty—you name it. Too broad for you? Podcasts can get very niche. There is an eight-part series called Containers that just talks about shipping containers. Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't is about "plants as viewed through the lens of evolution and ecology with a side of deranged ranting, crass humor, occasional profanity, & the perpetual search for the filthiest taqueria bathroom."

Anyone can listen to free podcasts on Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, the Podcasts app, and more.

And if you feel ambitious (and own a microphone), rather than just listening to a podcast, you could even start your own!

Related: 7 Best Wealth + Net Worth Tracker Apps [View All Your Assets]

Do you want to get serious about saving and planning for retirement? Sign up for Retire With Riley, Young and the Invested's free retirement planning newsletter.

Now, if you want to buy books, that won't be cheap. But getting a public library card is free.

Public library membership allows you to go there and read, or check out a few books there and bring them home. Struggle with small print? Library visitors can ask for assistance finding large-print books, which have bigger font sizes to accommodate those with less-than-perfect vision. Want some socialization? You can join a book club to discuss literature.

Also, libraries have far more than just books—you can also borrow audiobooks, movies, CDs, video games. You can utilize free internet access. And a handful of libraries have an even wider array of options, loaning out everything from tools to cooking supplies.

Related: The 7 Best Closed-End Funds (CEFs) That Yield Up to 11%

Online games on your phone or computer are an excellent option as well. Every morning my (senior) mother and I text each other our Wordle scores, which we each do while drinking our morning coffee in our respective homes. The NYT Games app is a fabulous free app—while you can't do the crossword for free, you can play Wordle, Sudoku, Connections, and other games for free.

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A quick look at my city's public library event calendar shows upcoming events including Adult Beginning Sewing, First Friday Films, Saturday Art, Munch Mobile Lunch Van (which offers a free lunch), and a Sculpey workshop (clay sculpting) … and all are completely free.

Check out your local library's website to see whether any interesting events are coming up soon!

Related: 11 Ways to Avoid Taxes on Social Security Benefits

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But nowadays, on the internet, you can find more free fitness classes—via online videos—than any one person could ever complete.

YouTube is a wonderful place to start your search. I've personally enjoyed videos from PopSugar Fitness and Blogilates. A few other highly popular YouTube fitness channels are Yoga With Adriene, Chloe Ting, and The Fitness Marshall.

Related: Health Care Costs in Retirement: Here's How Much to Expect

Also worth noting is the SilverSneakers fitness program, which includes live online fitness classes and, in select locations nationwide, in-person classes. SilverSneakers is designed specifically for adults aged 65+ and is included for free in many Medicare Advantage plans. (Note: Medicare Advantage plans are private health insurance plans the federal government pays for—not state-sponsored health insurance.) You can find locations through SilverSneakers' local tool; I tried it out with my midsized-city ZIP code, and were I old enough to be eligible, I could go to seven fitness locations within about 4 miles.

It also never hurts to reach out to a community pool or gym and ask if they have a free access pass for seniors.

Related: 10 Monthly Dividend Stocks for Frequent, Regular Income

People enjoy seeing birds' colorful features, hearing their melodic chirps, and figuring out their species. It's surprisingly good for you, too. A recent study published in Scientific Reports found "significant positive associations between seeing or hearing birds and mental wellbeing" both in people with and without a diagnosis of depression.

Bird watching can be done at home, parks—really most outdoor locations. If your city has indoor botanical gardens, that can be a good place to spot them as well. To identify birds, consider renting a book from the library or searching identifying bird characteristics online. Binoculars can be helpful but aren't necessary.

Related: Best Fidelity Retirement Funds for an IRA

One way to find out about performances and other events is to take a peek at a local newspaper. Facebook Events is an excellent option if you already have an account. City websites might also provide calendars of events.

Schools often host concerts and other performances, too, you can also check the websites of your local school district to view any upcoming public events.

In many cases, you're doing the event a favor—organizers want as many visitors as possible, but might struggle to spread the word.

Related: 11 Best Vanguard Funds to Buy

Plus, it can often give you free admission to attractions and events you otherwise would have had to spend money to attend. If locally owned amusement parks have a special event, you might run a station for kids before enjoying a few rides yourself. Or you might volunteer at an annual film festival, which often lets you watch some of the films for free.

Related: 12 AARP Discounts + Benefits You Don't Want to Miss

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But unlike, say, a country club membership, senior centers typically don't require dues or registration (aside from signing up for certain events). Activities will vary by location. A glance at the website of a senior center in my city shows upcoming events such as bridge games, a veteran's social, bingo, and more. A center near you might host free poker nights, have painting events, or offer another activity that interests you.

Related: 7 Best High-Quality, High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy

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Still, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “it’d sure be nice to collect these dividends more often,” you don’t have to look far. While they’re not terribly common, American exchanges boast dozens of monthly dividend stocks.

One way to put that low-cost diversification to work? Collecting dividends. But trying to choose from literally hundreds of income-producing funds could take up a lot more time than you have. So let us help you narrow the field—check out our list of seven top dividend ETFs.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

2. Subscribe to Retire With Riley, our free weekly retirement planning newsletter, and

3. Give the article a Thumbs Up on the top-left side of the screen.

4. And lastly, if you think this information would benefit your friends and family, don't hesitate to share it with them!

But that doesn't mean you should stop being frugal once you get there.

Calm down, calm down—I'm not suggesting you forgo all luxuries once you've finally reached your hard-earned retirement. But one of the most important challenges you'll face in retirement is achieving the lifestyle you want without burning through your nest egg too early, so why shouldn't you keep up your focus on maximizing your dollar's value? After all: Frugality should be a habit, and habits aren't meant to be difficult.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about several frugal habits that, if you haven't adopted them already, you can put to work ahead of or in retirement. Importantly, these habits won't just help you save some tangible amount of money—they'll ensure that when you spend your hard-earned cash, you're getting the most in return for it.

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While being frugal sometimes does involve buying things at a cheaper price, the mindset is less about finding the lowest absolute cost, but instead the best overall value.

In the following sections, I'll elaborate on several frugal habits you might want to adopt in retirement.

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Americans commonly find themselves unable to afford medical and dental care. According to the Commonwealth Fund 2023 International Health Policy Survey, 46% of U.S. adults with lower or average incomes said they had a "cost-related access problem" in the past 12 months. Put differently, they skipped or delayed needed health care because of the cost.

The thing is, the worse a medical condition gets, the more it typically costs to treat. So one of the best ways to mitigate costs over the long run is to pony up for routine check-ups and screenings.

Fortunately, older adults often have access to a variety of free screenings, allowing them to catch many potential health issues early. Retirees with Medicare Part B are entitled to roughly two dozen free preventative services, for instance, though eligibility for these is also based on risk factors, age, and Medicare-determined time frames.

Whether you have Medicare or use other health insurance, ask about any free screenings you can have done. The habit of monitoring your health is more affordable than fixing deep-seated problems later.

Related: 10 Items You Should Always Buy Used

Cash has its benefits. It can help you curb unnecessary spending and you can sometimes get a discount for using cash at small businesses looking to avoid expensive card processing fees.

But rewards credit cards have a number of advantages. From a frugality perspective: Rewards cards typically offer points or cash-back rewards, allowing you to stretch your dollar a little further. Plus, rewards cards also boast the perks inherent in many credit cards, such as fraud protection and additional warranty coverage.

Related: Does Your Credit Score Matter in Retirement?

Nonetheless, real is real: Older adults are paying more than many of their younger counterparts for the same products if they haven't downloaded apps for grocery stores, fast food, and entertainment.

A couple of examples?

Target's app sometimes presents Target Circle deals, such as "Buy a $40 health-and-beauty purchase, earn a $10 Target gift card." So if you were going to stock up on vitamins and similar products anyways, you might as well get $10 off your next visit.

Is McDonald's your favorite fast-food treat? Patrons using the McDonald's app can save a significant amount. The app offers limited-time deals such as free French fries (any size) with the purchase of any size soft drink, or a $1 10-piece box of McNuggets. (Deals can vary by region.)

So even if you don't love the idea of downloading yet another store app, it could still save you money in the long run.

Related: Food Costing a Fortune? Here's 12 Tips for How to Save Money on Groceries

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To start: Selling your current home and moving into one that costs less could leave you with a significant lump sum of money. Better still? If that's your primary residence, you could be exempt from capital gains taxes on either the first $250,000 if you're a single tax filer, or $500,000 if you're married and file jointly.

Also, a smaller home often means lower utility bills and property taxes. You might have less cleaning and landscaping to be done, which means you could spend less on hiring people to do these tasks—or even take these tasks on yourself!

Another fringe benefit: Less space might help you curb your shopping habits. A physics concept attributed to Aristotle loosely translates to "nature abhors a vacuum." Put differently: All spaces get filled. When you have a large home, you might feel the need to have pictures on every wall, books on every shelf, and plants on every table. A smaller home might encourage you to be more minimalistic. 

To be clear: Not all retirees can downsize—you might be starting from a small home in the first place, you might plan on family living with you, or there might be other concerns that require a same-sized house in retirement as before it.

Related: Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Before I Retire?

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You might be surprised how many discounted or even free things for seniors exist. Between more affordable meals, travel, and retail prices, you could be saving money on a weekly basis in retirement. Also, you can enhance your savings by becoming an AARP member so you get AARP discounts as well.

Lastly, don't be shy about asking for a senior discount. Some businesses will actually offer senior discounts but not post them up front. 

Say it with me: "Do you offer a senior discount?"

Related: 12 Free Things for Seniors to Do

For example: If you're at least 65 years old, your age automatically qualifies you for an additional standard deduction that can be added onto your regular standard deduction, and at least until 2028, a new Senior Deduction.

For the 2025 tax year, the extra amount of the additional standard deduction is $2,000 if you are single or file as head of household. The extra standard deduction is $1,600 per qualifying individual if you are married and filing jointly or separately. Plus, the additional standard deduction is doubled if you've reached the age requirement and are blind. 

Also as a result of the passage of 2025's budget reconciliation bill, taxpayers age 65 and older can take a new Senior Deduction. The deduction is for up to $6,000 ($12,000 for married couples filing jointly), depending on your income. It can be taken regardless of whether you itemize, and it can be taken in addition to the additional standard deduction. For now, the Senior Deduction is available for the 2025 through 2028 tax years. (Learn more about the Senior Deduction.)

Every year when you do your taxes, make sure you're benefiting from any tax breaks you're owed. Alternatively, you might have a tax professional spot opportunities for you. 

Related: How to Plan for Health Care Expenses in Retirement

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And, of course, you can save money at thrift stores. Not only can you enjoy the normal discounts, but if you're no longer working, you might be better situated to shop on days where certain prices get reduced further, or when new stock hits the floor.

Also, per my suggestion above: Ask about senior and veteran discounts, because those could save you even more money.

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And the financial pressure of utility bills doesn't quit when you're older. In fact, in some instances, you might face higher utility bills. After all, as you age, you might need more heat and light, or use more water as you take longer baths or showers.

If you don't already have good energy-efficiency habits in place, now's the time to start. A few simple starter tips:

-- Draw your blinds during the day to provide more natural light and heat into the house.

-- Turn off lights when you're not using them.

-- Get energy-efficient light bulbs (dimming optional).

-- Install a low-flow showerhead.

-- Install a smart thermostat.

-- Ensure your home has proper insulation.

-- Ensure your home doesn't have leaky pipes.

Related: 10 'Frugal' Habits That Aren't Actually Saving You Money

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Not only is manually tackling your bills an unnecessarily time-consuming process, but it can also be the more expensive route. 

To start, if you forget about a bill, you might be subject to paying a late fee. If it's a credit card bill, you might start paying some heavy interest.

But even if you're diligent with your calendar reminders, you still might want to consider autopay for your bills. Why? Because some companies actually give you a slight discount for opting into automatic payments. For example, some major mobile phone companies, such as Verizon and AT&T, take a bit off of the bills for customers who opt in to autopay. This is also typical for federal and private student loans. 

Who knows? You may enjoy the simplicity of automatic bill payments so much that you start automating your savings as well. 

Related: How Long Will My Savings Last in Retirement? 4 Withdrawal Strategies

It's recommended that you check in with your financial advisor at least once a year, though you might want to do so sooner if you've just been through a major life event (like a divorce or death in the family), or if you're planning on making a large purchase (a car, a home, and so on).

Too-frequent meetings might not be very productive. But you should make it a habit to occasionally check in and ensure your finances are on track.

Related: How Much Does Financial Advice Cost?

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That’s where these retirement withdrawal strategies come in.

But while most of us will end up on Social Security, when we choose to start collecting benefits will differ from person to person. Our guide to Social Security timing may help you decide.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

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Home Depot's freebies are designed to help customers of all skill levels, whether you're a seasoned professional, a first-time DIYer, or even a kid. (No, really! Home Depot even offers workshops for kids.) And while its freebies are generally provided in-person, when applicable, they're also offered online.

If you're looking to get a head start on your projects without spending a dime, look no further. I've compiled a list of some of the best freebie services and items available at Home Depot.

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However, many of Home Depot's freebies fly under the radar—they're not widely advertised, and they don't get prime real estate on their website. But they're still worth checking out.

Here are some of Home Depot's top free services and items you should know about.

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And you won't need to follow your trip to Home Depot with a visit to a generous neighbor to ask about using their saw. That's because a Home Depot employee will cut them to your desired length(s) at the store's Cutting Center.

Home Depot will do a certain number of cuts for free, but how many varies by store. Some will only do a few at a time, while others' limits are closer to 10 or 12. Also, note that some stores might not make cuts under 6 inches for safety reasons.

Related: 7 Contractor Scams to Avoid

On the first Saturday of every month, Home Depot hosts free in-store kids workshops. Some workshops have a theme that matches the season, such as creating haunted candy boxes around Halloween, while others are more timeless, such as making toy excavators.  

The workshops, which are designed for children ages 5 through 12, give kids practice with hand tools, such as screwdrivers, and experience painting. Each Kids Workshops kit also comes with a related STEAM activity your child can do at home.

Adults and kids can arrive any time between 9 a.m. and noon (though supplies are limited, so earlier is better), and kits take 30 minutes on average to build and paint. You can see the upcoming workshops on the website and register for any that you think your kid would enjoy. This could be an easy way for one adult to do some shopping for home essentials while another keeps the child occupied. 

Related: Frugal vs. Cheap: What's the Difference?

The crafts and projects are appropriate for various age groups. For example, younger kids might enjoy the guide on How to Create a DIY Interactive Sensory Board. Older kids might prefer making a fire-glass suncatcher, creating a road-trip game box, or building a milk-carton birdhouse.

These projects are an excellent way to bond with your child and teach them useful skills.

Related: Best Custodial Accounts: How to Start Investing for Kids

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The first type is livestreamed how-to workshops, during which associates help you with projects and explain how to care for different areas of your home. Because they're live, you can ask clarification questions in real-time and participate in polls. A few examples of livestream sessions done in the past include:

--How to Install Tile Backsplash

--How to Update Cabinets

--Power Tool Basics

--How to Plan for Your Bathroom Project

--Electrical Basics

You can filter for workshop categories, viewing days, and viewing times to find livestreams that work well with your goals and schedule.

Related: 12 Free Things for Seniors to Do

You can watch these videos any time you need a little help with home-related tasks. A small sample of available videos includes:

--How to Un-Ding Siding

--How to Install Window Treatments and Blinds

--How to Un-Stop a Disposal

--How to Remove and Install Carpet

--How to Stain a Deck

You can filter by workshop category, such as choosing a room in your home, to more easily find the how-to videos you need.

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--How to Hang Wall Décor

--How to Repot a Plant

--How to Replace a Window Screen

--Sanding Basics

--Tape Measure Basics

--How to Tile a Shower

Some guides are also available in Spanish.

Related: Career Compensation Is More Than Salary: 10 Other Financial Perks to Consider

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Like many stores that sell paint, Home Depot will let you take home free sample swatches. This allows you to hold colors up against various surfaces you want to paint to see how it would look in your home. (And afterwards, you could even use the swatches for crafting.)

Once you've picked the perfect color, an associate can shake the paint for you to ensure it's mixed and ready to go. Paint should be stirred before use to recombine components that have separated, which will help evenly distribute the color. 

Finally, you can take home a paint stir stick to mix it up again later as necessary.

Related: Budgeting Priorities if You're Laid Off

Let's say you want a virtual consultation about storage solutions. You would take measurements, then initiate a video chat with a design consultant. The consultant would discuss custom storage solutions, show you product samples, use a 3D digital design tool to help you see options, and offer you a quote for doing the work. Virtual consultations usually last around an hour to 90 minutes.

If you opt for an in-home consultation instead, the design associate would visit your home to talk about your project. Just like with the virtual consultation, they would show you samples, use the 3D design tool, and give you a quote. Better still: The consultant will take measurements for you. In-person consultations generally last between 45 and 90 minutes.

Related: 10 Highest-Rated Kirkland Signature Products You Don't Want to Miss

You won't be able to take enough to fill your room, but you can snag a square to see how it looks in a space and feels between your toes. If you schedule a flooring measure, you can also get curated carpet samples sent to you for free. 

Currently, if you want an in-home flooring measure, you must pay a non-refundable deposit of up to $50, depending on the location. However, the deposit is then credited toward the total cost of your carpet installation. 

If you already know you're planning to buy and have your carpet installed by Home Depot, it makes sense to get curated free samples sent to you. If you're still unsure who you're getting your carpet from, it's best to stick with the in-store samples.

Related: 10 Highly Rated Member's Mark Products to Add to Your Shopping List

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Home Depot offers free in-store pickup in two hours for thousands of eligible items. When you order online, you simply select the Pick Up In-Store option. Once you receive the pickup notification, you can head over to the store's service desk. Then, you show your identification and notification email. 

Don't even want to enter the building? The store also offers curbside pickup. When completing your online order, you choose Curbside Pickup at checkout, assuming your items are eligible. After you receive an email or text message that your order is ready, you can head over. As you're leaving, use the link from your notification to check in on The Home Depot App and let them know you're on your way. (Note: Curbside pickup is only available in select stores between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.)

Finally, you park in the designated Curbside Pickup spot and mark in the app that you've arrived. An associate will bring out your order, look at your identification, and load your items into your vehicle. 

Related: Plan for These 7 Hidden Retirement Costs

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If that sounds good to you, you need look no farther than low-cost pioneer Vanguard, which offers up a number of payout-oriented products. Find out what you need to know in our list of five top-notch Vanguard dividend funds.

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Just about any one of those would be appropriate. But that last part especially speaks to the state's status as an economic powerhouse. It's home to some of the world's largest companies, including Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA), and as a result, California (if it were an independent nation) would in most years be considered the fourth- or fifth-largest economy in the world.

While true, California has also made a lot of headlines over the past few years for bleeding out large companies in favor of places like Texas and Tennessee. Today, I'm going to look at some of the most notable corporate emigrations from California and what has spurred those moves.

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The following companies have relocated from California in recent years. I've included numerous statements from CEOs and co-founders to provide as good an idea as possible as to why they switched states.

But, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, "There's a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area." 

Musk has also had conflicts with the state over COVID-19 restrictions. Specifically, Musk defied Alameda County orders and reopened his Fremont, California factory in May 2020; hundreds of workers at the plant would later test positive for the virus.

In 2021, Tesla packed up the headquarters and headed to Austin, Texas. 

But this is where we'll note that high-profile headlines over companies "leaving the state" don't perfectly convey the situation. For instance, in Tesla's case, the Fremont factory still employs 30,000 people, though there could be some disruption as the company plans to eliminate two of its models and produce Optimus robots on some of the plant's lines instead. Also, in 2023, the company put its engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) engineering in Palo Alto, California.

In mid-2024, Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas." 

The law Musk referred to forbids schools from mandating staff to inform parents of students' gender identities.

Musk is particularly fond of Texas. He incorporated Starbase in 2025. And he moved the aforementioned X to Balstrop, Texas, in September 2024. There were even reports in late 2023 that he planned to open a university in Austin, but after an initial funding, little more has come of it.

As you'll soon see, Texas has become an attractive place for many other companies, too.

Related: 14 Interesting Millennial Retirement Statistics

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Major oil and gas company Chevron had been a California native since the 1870s. However, in 2024, the company decided to relocate to Houston, Texas. 

"While our relocation has very real benefits to our business, we also believe California policymakers have pursued policies that raise costs and consumer prices, creating hardship for all Californians, especially those who can least afford it," Chevron spokesperson Ross Allen said in a statement to Business Insider.

What policies is Allen likely referring to? 

California requires the production and sale of California Reformulated Gasoline, which has higher environmental standards than the federal blends used by the majority of other states. California's blend reduces emissions, but the tradeoff is that it's more costly to refine and results in higher gasoline prices. 

Related: 10 Frugal Habits That Make Retirees' Lives Better

In this case, Neutrogena didn't have any beef with California; it was just a logical move within the company's plan to trim operations. Kenvue laid off 84 employees as part of the move, but all but 10 were offered relocation and employment at other Kenvue facilities. 

Neutrogena was moved to Kenvue's new headquarters in Summit, New Jersey—less than an hour away from the New Brunswick headquarters of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which spun off Kenvue into its own publicly traded company in August 2023.

Related: Financial Prep If You're Worried About Being Laid Off

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"Basing Realtor.com in Texas puts our company at the heart of innovation and inspiration at a moment of national economic renaissance for America," Robert Thomson, CEO of Realtor.com parent News Corp. (NWSA) said in a statement about the early 2025 headquarters change. "We are proud to be housed in a state which understands the crucial role played by business in providing opportunities for personal growth, professional success and community achievement."

Related: 10 Senior Discounts for Restaurants + Grocery Stores

While remote, Bozeman has gained a reputation for being its own high-tech hub. "We want to hire the best, and the talent pool in this part of Montana has attracted dozens of leading technology firms," CEO Will Lansing said in a 2016 announcement announcing a workforce expansion to the state.

The HQ might have moved, but the company still has three offices in California, as well as locations in Delaware, Florida, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia … and Sydney, Australia.

Related: Does Your Credit Score Matter in Retirement?

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"Dallas has emerged as a U.S. hub for corporate headquarters and a compelling corporate talent magnet, particularly among our peers and public companies in the engineering and consulting sectors," a spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times.

Aecom maintains global offices in Los Angeles, however.

Related: 10 High-Paying Jobs You Can Get With 'Vanity Degrees'

"Oracle is implementing a more flexible employee work location policy and has changed its Corporate Headquarters from Redwood City, California to Austin, Texas," a spokesperson told CNBC at the time. "We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work." But even after the move, it still had more employees in California than it did in Texas.

But Oracle's HQ change didn't stick. In 2024, Oracle founder and Chairman Larry Ellison announced that the company would be relocating to a new $1.2 billion campus in Nashville, Tennessee. "It's the center of the industry we're most concerned about, which is the health care industry," he said. "Our people love it here, and we think it's the center of our future."

And yet, the company reportedly is having trouble attracting people to the Volunteer State, Fortune reported earlier this year:

"Yet, dangling rich incentives and a future amenity-laden office has only gotten the company so far. Only about 800 workers are assigned to offices in Nashville, Bloomberg reported, citing documents, compared to more than 5,000 in Kansas City, Mo., the base for health records company Cerner which it acquired in 2021. Another 5,000 employees are based in Redwood City and Austin, collectively. The company logged a net gain of just seven employees in Nashville for 2025, the Nashville Business Journal reported."

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"Designating Dallas as CBRE's global corporate headquarters formalizes how our company has been operating for the past eight years," Lew Horne, president of advisory services for CBRE's Pacific Southwest region, said in a statement.

The company already had a substantial presence in Texas, so the change didn't result in many jobs moving east. Indeed, CBRE retained thousands of employees in California.

Related: What Is the 90/90 Minimalism Rule?

"Houston is also an attractive market for us to recruit and retain talent, and a great place to do business," CEO Antonio Neri said about the move at the time. (Note: HPE actually moved to Spring, Texas: a suburb of Houston.)

But the company maintained ties to California. "Our San Jose campus will remain a hub for technological talent and innovation," Neri said.

Related: 7 Contractor Scams to Avoid

"We seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector's values and commitments," CEO Alex Karp said in the company's prospectus ahead of its September 2020 initial public offering (IPO). Co-founder Joe Lonsdale had also criticized California's income tax rate.

But Palantir's honeymoon with its new home, Denver, didn't last long. In February 2026, the company announced it would be relocating again, this time to Miami, Florida.

While Palantir was Colorado's largest publicly traded company, Gov. Jared Polis said in a news conference that he believed that only about 600 Coloradans worked for the company either directly or indirectly.

While the company hasn't yet specified its reason for moving, the company had been under fire by locals for supplying surveillance technology to the government, including the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Related: Career Compensation Is More Than Salary: 10 Other Financial Perks to Consider

In 2025, California once again ranked the highest on Fortune 500's list as the state with the highest number of corporations generating the largest revenues. It's home to 58 Fortune 500 companies, still beating out Texas, which has 54. So for right now, California remains a highly popular place for companies.

Why, then, do you feel like every day you see a headline about companies fleeing California? It might be the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion. The gist of the phenomenon is that when you've newly noticed or learned about something, it then seems to appear everywhere. So while companies might not be leaving California in hordes, your brain is trained to notice the instances when it happens.

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But even Aristocrats aren't created equally. Check out which dividend growers Wall Street loves the best right now in our list of the top-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

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Often, the role of caregiver falls to one's spouse or child. It's a difficult role by nature, and it can be particularly tough for members of the "sandwich generation" who are simultaneously raising their own children at home.

When we think of caregiving, we think of a lot of physical duties. But today, we want to shine a light on financial caregiving—when a person manages the personal finances of another person who is elderly and/or seriously ill. These tasks may be as simple as paying bills and checking financial accounts for errors, but they can also involve more challenging work such as managing trusts. These responsibilities might fall to you as part of a plan; unfortunately, many people are simply thrust into the situation and struggle to understand what needs to be done.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about financial caregiving. If you're currently a financial caregiver, or you believe you could become one in the future, you'll want to read on to better understand the role and the responsibilities.

The information and analysis contained within this article appears for your consideration, but it does not constitute individualized financial advice. Always act at your own discretion.

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Depending on the type of caregiver, that person has varying levels of control when it comes to the other person's finances. 

Let's review some of the most popular types. 

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This term is also broken down into various types, including durable POA, where the agreement becomes effective upon signing; springing POA, in which an agreement becomes active when the other person is no longer able to be trusted to make sound decisions; and health care POA, which grants a person the power to make health care decisions on someone else's behalf.

POA does have one noteworthy shortcoming: It's not valid after death. This is a good time to remind you that you'll need to make legal and financial contingencies for the event of death that are separate from caregiving plans.

Related: What to Do Before Your Spouse Passes Away

This person has the ability to make deposits, withdrawals, and write checks. While that sounds like having a joint account, it's actually different; here, the convenience account signer does not have any current claim to the money in the account, and they won't necessarily inherit it, either.

Related: What Is the Rule of 55 for 401(k) Withdrawals?

Related: REITs vs Private Placements: An Investment Guide

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Financial institutions might also contact a trusted contact person if it appears the account holder is being scammed.

That said, a trusted contact person does not have access to money or assets in accounts.

Whether or not you seek help, these are some of the tasks that should be on your to-do list.

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Income may include:

--Retirement account distributions

--Pension payments

--Social Security benefits

--Annuity payments

--And more

Expenses may include:

--Mortgage or rent payments

--Utilities

--Transportation

--Insurance

--Uncovered medical expenses

--Other standard costs.

You can then help the person create a budget that covers all of their fixed and variable expenses. Automate bills whenever possible. When automation isn't possible, make calendar reminders for payments to be made. 

Older adults sometimes struggle to get out of saving mode, even when it's clear they need to spend more. So you also might need to help the person change their savings habits.

Related: Budgeting in Retirement: Our Step-by-Step Guide

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Failure to create a financial inventory and check for beneficiaries could mean your loved one's money and other assets go unclaimed. This happens more frequently than you might think; in the U.S., billions of dollars of life insurance currently sits unclaimed.

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You don't want to leave any dollar unaccounted for. That's in large part because it's simply the responsible and right thing to do. But you also want to cover yourself, lest you be accused of stealing money.

When it comes to financial records, spreadsheets are your friend. A financial advisor is your best friend. 

Related: Want to Retire Early? Don't Make These Mistakes

Taxation of senior citizens doesn't end when they retire. They're levied on withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement accounts, even for required minimum distributions (RMDs). Social Security is taxable at the federal level; it's usually not taxed at the state level, but eight states still tax Social Security benefits. 

Other common taxable income to look out for is income from annuities, real estate, and selling assets from taxable brokerage accounts.

The good news? There are special tax breaks for seniors the person might be able to claim.

Related: How Is Your Retirement Income Taxed?

--To start, housing is one of the biggest expenses in most people's budgets. If they are currently living in a too-big home, it might make sense to downsize their home to something more affordable. 

--They also might want to move closer to where you live or even move in with you or another family member.

--If their health is quickly deteriorating, a nursing home or another specialized facility might make the most sense. 

Related: Should Retirees Move? 10 Considerations

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If your loved one has Medicare, it's either Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. Coverage is different depending on which type they chose (and if a Medicare Advantage plan, the specific plan they chose).

Often, Medicare Advantage will pay for several expenses Original Medicare doesn't cover, such as dental and eye exams. On the flip side, while Original Medicare users can go to any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare anywhere in the country, Medicare Advantage plans typically only let people use doctors and providers within the plan's network and service area for non-emergency care. (In other words, if they use an uncovered doctor or hospital, it could become pricey.)

If the person is old enough for Medicare but hasn't yet applied, you should help them enroll as soon as possible, lest they be forced to pay Medicare's late enrollment penalty.

Understanding Medicare now can save you a headache later when medical bills start rolling in. For more information on the different parts of Medicare, consider checking out our guide to types of Medicare coverage.

Related: Medicare FAQs: Your Questions Answered

Commingling can have other unintended, negative effects. For example, if you have a teenager and they apply for collegiate financial aid, the funds in a joint account would be included in your assets. Those funds would also count as yours if you were getting a divorce.

Related: 10 Frugal Habits That Make Retirees' Lives Better

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You'll likely spend both a lot of time and money on the person you're financially caregiving for. Make sure your own finances are protected and that nobody can claim they belong to someone else. Be cautious about signing any contracts for services on behalf of another person; if you agree to be the responsible party, you might end up liable for the expense.

Does your caregiving go beyond just the financial realm? You might be able to get paid for your caregiving through a state Medicaid program if the person you're helping already receives Medicaid. Additionally, several programs help veterans pay for caregivers (even when the caregiver is a family member).

Is the person not on Medicaid or a veteran? Some long-term care insurance policies let families be paid for caregiving. 

In short: If caregiving is putting your own financial wellness at risk, don't hesitate to see if you can get paid for your time.

Related: You May Want to Skip These Popular Retirement Rules

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So if you're looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.

If the answer is "not much," don't worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That's because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.

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But they're not technically guaranteed. Not only is it possible to not qualify for one, the other, or both, but it's also possible to lose these backstops even after you've already started receiving them.

We've previously covered ways of losing Social Security, so today we're going to focus on America's health care safety net. 

Your Medicare coverage can absolutely be discontinued, but exactly how that can happen has been muddied in myths and misinformation. To help you get a clearer picture, I'm going to walk you through the very real ways Medicare could slip through your fingers … and then I'll show you a few ways you won't lose Medicare.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, more than 67 million Americans receive health care coverage through Medicare. While some people receive Medicare coverage because they have a disability or certain medical conditions, most become eligible for Medicare by turning 65 years old.

That's how you get Medicare. But once you have it, it's possible to lose it.

Medicare is complex—indeed, in MedicareAdvantage.com's 2023 Medicare Literacy Survey, almost two-thirds (65%) of Medicare beneficiaries polled said the program is confusing and difficult to understand. Those complexities can confuse policyholders, and in some cases, lead to slip-ups big enough to cause coverage to be discontinued.

Below are several ways to lose Medicare benefits, presented in plain, easy-to-understand language. Understanding these potential pitfalls is important because, in some situations, losing your benefits might be perfectly avoidable.

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You'll often see people refer to "Original Medicare," which refers to two specific parts of Medicare: 

-- Part A: Covers the most urgent and critical aspects of health care, including services at inpatient hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation centers / clinics, hospice centers, and select health care needs delivered in-home.

-- Part B: Focuses more on preventive and medically necessary services and supplies, such as outpatient hospital services, physicians' services, select home health services, durable medical equipment, and certain other medical and health services not covered by 

While around 99% of Medicare users don't have to pay Part A health insurance premiums, just about everyone has to pay for Part B. The standard monthly Medicare Part B premium for 2024 was set at $174.70 for individuals with a modified adjusted gross income [MAGI] of $103,000 or less. The premium amount increases with income.

You're billed for Part B (and, if applicable, Part A) every three months. You'll be given a due date—however, you have a 90-day grace period after the due date in which to pay your premium. If you do not, you risk termination of your coverage, and you will still be responsible for the amount owed.

Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage) and Part D have similar conditions—failure to pay a premium by the end of the grace period may trigger a discontinuation of coverage—though the length of the grace period varies by provider.

Related: Health Care Costs in Retirement [Types & Amounts to Know]

Disability-based Medicare eligibility is determined by the Social Security Administration (SSA). And a person must first qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) before they can become eligible for disability-based Medicare. Once you're eligible for SSDI, you're automatically eligible for Medicare after a 24-month qualifying period. While you wait for Medicare coverage, you might be eligible to use health insurance from a previous employer. To see if this is possible, contact the employer directly.

The majority of disabilities that make a person eligible are permanent or expected to cause death—but not all of them. For people who have disabilities that aren't necessarily permanent to receive benefits, there must be evidence that the impairment has continued or is expected to last continuously for at least a year. 

However, if you recover from a temporary disability, that can mean a loss of Medicare coverage.

Returning to work can sometimes be a sign of a person recovering from a disability. But if your disabling condition still meets the proper guidelines, you can keep Medicare coverage for at least 8½ years after returning to work (more on this later).

There are other instances and rules depending on the disability. For example, Medicare.gov provides an example of qualifying for Medicare because of permanent kidney failure; if you were to get a kidney transplant, your benefits would end 36 months later. 

Again, the SSA is ultimately responsible for ruling on your eligibility for disability-based Medicare. If they determine you no longer qualify for disability benefits as a result of recovering from a SSA-determined disability, your Medicare disability benefits will end, too.

Related: When Should You Claim Social Security?

-- Lying about your income on your application to lower your premiums

-- Allowing another person to use your Medicare card for care or supplies

-- Selling your Medicare number to someone who bills for services not received

-- Giving out your Medicare number in exchange for money or a gift

Importantly, if a scammer gains access to your personal information, they could commit fraud with it—and you could be blamed. So you have to also be aware of scams. Never give away your Medicare number or Social Security Number to anyone you don't know. If a person unexpectedly calls you and asks for this information, it's a scam—these agencies will only call you if you've called and left a message, or if you've already been informed that a representative will return your call. Be aware of phishing scams, in which people try to get you to click malicious links in email. And in general, be cautious of who you provide your Medicare and Social Security numbers to.

Related: Elderly Scams: Beware These 15 Schemes Targeting Seniors

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Medicare plans can be changed or discontinued. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services might discontinue Medicare Advantage or Part D plans that are underperforming. Alternatively, a private carrier might drop a certain plan or go bankrupt and stop offering any plans. 

The good news is that, because your eligibility wasn't affected, you can re-enroll for Original Medicare. You should qualify for a Special Enrollment Period and be able to start up coverage again quickly.

Related: 9 Financial Mistakes That Can Quickly Drain Your Retirement Savings

Let's review a few actions you might think disqualify a person from Medicare but actually don't.

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Typically, if your employer has at least 20 employees, you'll have three choices:

-- Delay Medicare enrollment

-- Stop your employer coverage and just use Medicare

-- Have both types of coverage

If your employer has fewer than 20 employees, you'll generally need to enroll in Medicare during your Initial Enrollment Period. People who get coverage through a spouse must check specific employer's rules to determine whether they can delay or need to enroll at age 65.

And if you're disabled? "You can keep your Medicare coverage for as long as you're medically disabled," says Medicare.gov. "If you return to work, you won't have to pay your Part A premium for the first 8 1/2 years. After that, you might be able to buy Part A coverage and pay a monthly premium. If you can't afford the Part A premium, you may be able to get help from your state."

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However, a higher income could affect your premiums for Medicare Part B and Medicare prescription drug coverage.

Most Medicare beneficiaries pay 25% of their Part B premium, while the government foots the bill for the rest. But if you're considered a high-income beneficiary, you pay a larger percentage of your premium. Based on the income you report to the IRS, higher earners could pay between 35% to 85% of the total premium cost.

Similarly, for most beneficiaries, the government pays a significant portion of the total costs for Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D). Costs vary by plan, but high-income earners pay monthly premiums plus an additional amount, which is again determined by the income reported to the IRS.

Related: Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Before I Retire?

You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident to qualify for Medicare Parts A and B, but you don't need to live in the United States. So unless you renounce your American citizenship, you're good to go.

But just because you can keep Medicare and travel extensively or even live abroad as an American for Part A and Part B doesn't necessarily mean it's the most strategic option. 

If your premiums for Part A are covered, there is only one real significant downside to remaining enrolled: You wouldn't be allowed to contribute to a health savings account (HSA). However, if you must pay Part A premiums, and/or if you have Part B, it might be best to skip coverage as you wouldn't get much use for your money.

Medicare Parts C and D, which are offered by private insurers, have stricter rules. Usually, these plans require you to live within the plan's service area for at least six months out of the year. (That might or might not conflict with your hopes of living as an expat, but it at least leaves plenty of time to travel.)

Related: Should Retirees Move? 10 Considerations

If you are incarcerated for fewer than 30 days, and you previously were covered by Medicare, you will not be covered by Medicare while incarcerated, but you still will be responsible for paying premiums. That said, you will not lose eligibility, and your health care needs will be covered by the penal authorities. Once you are released, your Medicare coverage will resume.

If you are incarcerated for 30 days or more, and convicted of a crime, your Social Security retirement or disability benefits will also stop. However, they can be reinstated after your release. That said, if you are under age 65 and previously received Medicare for a disability, you must have your SSDI reinstated before Medicare coverage will resume.

Related: Retired But Too Young for Medicare? Health Insurance for Early Retirees

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That’s where these retirement withdrawal strategies come in.

How does the 4% rule work, how has it changed, and can it help guide your retirement? Check out our primer on the 4% rule.

Also, do you want to stay up-to-date on our latest content?

1. Follow us by clicking the [+ Follow] button above,

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Despite our lagging healthcare quality, many individuals and employers still seek to reduce their costs for care and look for health insurance to cover themselves or their employees, respectively. Quite often, these health benefits include access to a high deductible health plan and possibly use of an HSA, or a health savings account.

These accounts have become increasingly popular in the past decade and a half as many people seek to control their healthcare expenses by enrolling in qualifying high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to take advantage of their low-cost nature.

However, the question needs to be asked of whether these HDHPs and HSA plans make sense for everyone hoping to save on medical costs and tuck away money in an HSA.

This article examines HSA plans, the HDHPs needed to qualify for them, and the conditions one should consider before pursuing this option.

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HSAs, used in conjunction with HDHPs, are part of a group of health insurance products commonly referred to as “consumer-driven health plans” or (CDHPs). These pairings are designed to increase the sensitivity of individual consumers to the costs of medical services and take actions to save money.

The HDHP and HSA insurance combination allows individuals and/or their employers to make tax-advantaged contributions toward medical care not covered by HDHPs.

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Or, if you buy an HDHP from the Healthcare.gov marketplace, be sure to check whether it is HSA eligible. The insurance plan must specifically state it allows access to an HSA (usually referenced in the plan’s name on the marketplace). Don’t buy any HDHP thinking it will automatically qualify for HSA eligibility.

HSA rules require the account holder to have an HDHP either through their employer or their own policy to make contributions. If an individual contributed funds in the past when they were eligible but no longer qualify, they may still use the funds to cover HSA eligible expenses.

Beyond just having an HSA, there are additional requirements to meet. As stated above, not any HDHP will do. For 2024, the requirements for establishing or having access to a health savings account are:

1. Insured (that’s you) must be covered by an HDHP

2. HDHP minimum deductible for self-only coverage is $1,600 and $3,200 for family coverage ($1,650 and $3,300, respectively, for 2025)

3. HDHP out-of-pocket maximum for self-only coverage is $8,050 and $16,100 for family coverage ($8,300 and $16,600, respectively, for 2025)

4. HDHP coverage can be a traditional medical plan so long as the plan doesn’t cover the first dollar of medical expenses (except preventive care)

5. Cannot have coverage by other comprehensive medical plan, including dual enrollment in HSA and Medicare (HSA may be maintained after receiving coverage by Medicare but contributions must cease).

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The good news is the HSA limits are adjusted each year to account for inflation. As a result, the self-only HSA contribution limit was $4,300 for 2025, but it increased to $4,400 for 2026.

Likewise, if you have family coverage, the 2025 health savings account contribution limit was $8,550, while the limit jumped to $8,750 for 2026.

When making these contributions, they can be done as a lump sum or multiple times throughout the year. Further, if you are 55 or older, you may contribute an additional $1,000 per year as a catch-up contribution.

With regards to the treatment of HSA employer contributions, unlike 401(k) plan employer contributions, these contributions count toward the annual contribution limits. If you a wage and salary employee and receive a Form W-2, you will find your employer contributions in Box 12 with a Code W.

Related: HSA vs. HRA: How Different Are They?

Otherwise, you lose the unused funds contributed to the FSA account. This feature earned this account the “use it or lose it” description.

Both accounts can be used to cover qualified healthcare expenses, however, consumers using the health savings account can have their balances build over time, accumulating resources for future medical needs. Funds contributed to HSAs are owned by the individual, similar to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). After all, if you contributed funds to the account, shouldn’t you be allowed to keep them?

Further, because the money set aside in these HSA plans automatically roll over year after year, the money in your HSA can be invested and earn compounded gains tax-free. Check your HSA plan to be sure you have access to low-cost investment options which track the broader market. If so, investing through an HSA is one of the best investments for young adults, hands down.