Author: KnowledgeHippo
How do I know if I can retire early? Some people go to great lengths to set their spending, savings and investment goals so that they can retire early. For Justin McCurry — who retired at age 33 with $1.3 million so he could spend more time traveling with his wife and three children — retirement came more than 30 years early. And not by chance. While the main goal is to figure out how much you’ll need and get to that magic number, there are other considerations. Hitting that number can be so exciting that you want to get…
If you’re nearing retirement age and your savings are looking a little thin, you’re not alone. Forty-six percent of baby boomers don’t have anything stashed away for retirement, according to a study by the Insured Retirement Institute, meaning nearly half of future retirees will have to strain their savings if they don’t want to work the rest of their lives. The bad news is that if you’re in your 50s and just starting to save, you’ll have a tough road ahead of you to save enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement. The good news is that it can be done,…
How can I protect my investments from inflation? Even as your investments grow in value, inflation can destroy their value. There are things investors can do to offset the immediate effects of inflation or earn a return that beats inflation over time. But it can be hard to predict. “Returns after inflation are the only ones that matter to investors in the real world,” says Robinson Crawford, an investment adviser at Montebello Avenue. Even if inflation is currently rising more slowly than analysts predicted, it’s best to be prepared. Financial advisors say one of the most consistent hedgers against inflation…
The nervous energy was palpable as hundreds of cyclists, wrapped in colorful Lycra clothing, awaited the start of the 50-mile Half Century Ride from the Santa Fe Railyard, a hub for art galleries, restaurants and a weekly farmers market in Santa Fe, N.M. . Then, finally, we were driving through town as eight policemen on motorcycles jumped ahead to guard the intersections.We drove past the Roundhouse, where the New Mexico Legislature meets. We passed Museum Hill, where four museums explore the Native American Southwest, the Spanish colonial past, and more. Then finally, after about a dozen miles, the Santa Fe…
When President Biden and his aides planned the 75th anniversary of NATO, which opens Tuesday afternoon in Washington, he intended to create an aura of confidence.The message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and other potential adversaries would be that a larger, more powerful group of Western allies had emerged, after more than two years of war in Ukraine, more committed than ever to repelling aggression.But as 38 world leaders began arriving here on Monday, that confidence appears to be at risk. Even before the summit officially began, it was overshadowed by uncertainty over whether Mr. Biden would remain…
Federal Reserve officials use government data to determine when to raise or lower interest rates. Congress and the White House use it to decide when to extend unemployment benefits or send stimulus payments. Investors place billions of dollars worth of bets tied to monthly reports on employment growth, inflation and retail sales.But a new study says the integrity of that data is increasingly at risk.The report, released Tuesday by the American Statistical Association, concludes that government statistics are currently reliable. But that could soon change, the study warns, citing factors such as shrinking budgets, falling survey response rates and the…
When Chelsea Potts took her 10-year-old daughter to a psychologist to be tested for autism spectrum disorder, she decided almost as an afterthought to get tested herself. The result was surprising. Like her daughter, Ms. Potts was diagnosed with autism.Mrs Potts, 35, thought she might have had anxiety or some other problem. A first-generation college student, he had earned a doctorate in education and had risen through the ranks of academia to become a high-level administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. But after her visit to the psychologist, she had to understand how her diagnosis would affect her professional…
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday slammed pharmacy benefit managers, saying in a scathing 71-page report that “these powerful middlemen may be profiting by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies.”The regulator’s study marks a major step-up in scrutiny of benefits managers under the agency’s chair, Lina Khan. It represents a remarkable response for an agency that has long taken a hands-on approach to policing these companies.The FTC has so far stopped short of bringing a lawsuit or other enforcement action against a benefits administrator. But the industry fears the report could lead to a formal investigation into its…
Boeing agreed Sunday to plead guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government over two deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, according to a late-night court hearing.In the settlement with the Justice Department, described in part in the court filing, Boeing also agreed to pay a $487.2 million fine — the maximum allowed by law — and invest at least $455 million over the next three years to strengthen compliance and security programs.The company will be placed on probation under the supervision of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas for…
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital on Monday highlighted the growing number of deadly attacks on medical facilities, vehicles and workers in the country this year. It adds to data from the World Health Organization and suggests that more Ukrainians may be on track to be killed in such attacks this year than last year.Before the strike at the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the WHO recorded 18 deaths and 81 injuries from more than 175 attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Ukraine for the first half of 2024. The organization also recorded 44 attacks on medical vehicles…