Retirement

Our cognitive biases can get in the way of saving for the future, especially for retirement. Here’s how to recognize and overcome them. Sara Fernandes was 26 when she got her first credit card. “It felt like free money,” Ms. Fernandes said. “Like suddenly I could buy stuff and not worry about paying for it.

You can still put money in an I.R.A. for 2022, and that’s better than not investing at all. But an early start would have given you a great advantage, our columnist says. If you haven’t put money into an individual retirement account for 2022, do it before the April deadline. That’s a standard tax tip

Doing taxes in 2023 feels a lot like it did before the pandemic. Still, there are some meaningful changes to keep in mind. The 2023 tax filing season is probably most notable for what’s missing: After three years of stimulus payments and pandemic tax breaks, nearly all of those extra benefits have faded away —

Readers were intrigued by my newsletter last Friday, “The Perfect Retirement Investment Nobody Wants.” It was about a concept, never realized, for a hybrid product combining long-term care insurance with an immediate annuity — a stream of monthly payments that begins right away and lasts as long as you live. Some readers said such policies

Kentucky passed a law targeting banks and their climate policies. Bankers sued the attorney general. Whose definition of investment risk should prevail? Bow-tied bankers do not often sue a state’s lawyer in chief. So when it does happen, it’s time to pop the popcorn and gather around to watch. In October, Kentucky’s attorney general ordered

Two of your biggest financial risks in retirement involve your health, but they’re almost opposed to each other. One is that you will require expensive long-term care early on. You will probably die young, but not before going broke from nursing home bills. Another is that you will stay healthy enough to live a very

Three big 401(k) administrators are making it easier for workers with accounts of less than $5,000 to transfer the money to their new employers’ plans. Moving retirement savings when switching jobs is about to get easier for millions of workers with small balances. The changes aim to stem what retirement researchers call a “leakage” of

Higher interest rates made annuities more attractive in 2022. Better quality products are increasingly available, but consumers still need to read the fine print. In a kinder universe, retirees wouldn’t need to worry about market volatility or outliving their money. But 2022 was a nail-biter: Bonds plunged alongside stocks, and many people in or nearing

Angry protests over a plan to raise France’s retirement age pile uncertainty on small businesses, but most are siding with the demonstrators. Maxime Clausier stood inside the barricaded entrance of his butcher shop in central Paris and surveyed the swelling crowd of protesters outside his door. He had closed early Tuesday amid the latest demonstrations

New developments that integrate senior housing into age-diverse apartment buildings offer a more affordable alternative to isolated suburban retirement communities. Getting older comes with challenges. For the architect and designer Matthias Hollwich, one of the more taxing ones is something often taken for granted: moving. His point — that leaving behind friends, social connections and

Misconceptions about passive income abound, namely that it’s easy to earn. Luca Alboretti was enticed by the thought of making money in his sleep. He was looking to supplement his income as a real estate agent in 2018 when he created an online store selling golf products, an idea he had hatched after watching a

When you invest and where matters for taxes. But a few rules of thumb can stave off some nasty surprises, our columnist says. Tax planning is usually the least of my financial concerns. Most of the time, just making a living, paying the bills and salting away money in suitable investments are much bigger deals.

Hidekazu Yokoyama has spent three decades building a thriving logistics business on Japan’s snowy northern island of Hokkaido, an area that provides much of the country’s milk. Last year, he decided to give it all away. It was a radical solution for a problem that has become increasingly common in Japan, the world’s grayest society.

Across East Asia, populations are graying faster than anywhere else in the world, and while younger generations shrink, older workers are often toiling well into their 70s and beyond. TOKYO — All Yoshihito Oonami wants to do is retire and give his worn body a rest. Instead, every morning at 1:30, Mr. Oonami, 73, wakes

The Secure 2.0 Act provides for direct government contributions to retirement accounts for low- and moderate-income workers, though that won’t start until 2027. Gig economy workers lag behind those with traditional jobs in saving for retirement, but parts of a new federal law can help them catch up. Nontraditional workers — like contractors, freelancers and

A measure to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 is expected to expose more people to age discrimination: “Companies in France won’t hire them.” During her 38-year career as a sales and marketing manager, Christine Jagueneau rarely thought about retirement. But when her job at a French industrial company was eliminated just before

Countries and companies are facing an aging crisis, and experts say policymakers and business leaders need to rethink how they deal with older workers. The long-life paradox Today’s 5-year-olds have it even better than you think. In the wealthiest nations, more than half of these tykes will live to at least 100, the Stanford Center

The offspring of many East Asian immigrants are raised to support their elders in their later years. That gives a segment of Americans challenges others don’t face. A few months ago, I texted my mother to let her know that I had paid her electric bill (as I do every month), and that it was

Most employers allow you to take funds out of your retirement account, but the withdrawals come with significant downsides. Our columnist discusses other options. Hardship withdrawals from workplace retirement accounts are edging upward — another sign, along with rising credit card debt, that Americans have been feeling financial pain from inflation. “Their budgets are stretched

Younger investors who are navigating market volatility and trying to save for retirement are finding that roboadvisers lack the personal touch. Breana Jones started investing in 2014, building up her retirement savings and putting aside money to buy a house. “I have youth on my side,” said Ms. Jones, a 32-year-old Los Angeles resident and