In a world of ever-rising inflation, it's easy for even frugal retirees to find they're overspending. Imagine a retired couple in their mid-60s sits down with 18 months of credit card statements, bank downloads,…
A widow turns 61 this year, still works a regular job, and filed for survivor benefits on her late husband’s record last winter. The first check looked right. Then the next one came in…
On the June 11, 2026 episode of Suze Orman’s Women & Money, titled “Caution, Caution, Caution!”, a 54-year-old caller laid out a problem many pre-retirees face. She has $600,000 to invest: $400,000 in a…
A 73-year-old retiree sitting on a $2.5 million traditional 401(k) just hit the year required minimum distributions start. The first check from the IRS comes out to a number most people in this situation…
A private island retirement sounds like a fantasy, but some islands in the Bahamas now sell for less than luxury homes in many American cities. Consider a couple, ages 67 and 65, with a…
It’s a scenario many seniors have faced before. You claimed Social Security at 62 because you liked the idea of getting that money as soon as you could. Now, you’re looking at smaller monthly…
In 2022, the last year there’s data available, the Federal Reserve reported that the median retirement savings balance among seniors ages 65 to 74 was $200,000. If we take that data to heart (which…
A Super Bowl weekend is one of the most in-demand and expensive recurring trips in American life. Tickets, airfare, hotels, meals, and ground transportation commonly run $8,000 to $15,000 per couple, so a realistic…
The decision seemed intuitive at the time. He turned 62, the Social Security checks could start, and waiting felt unnecessary when the money was on the table. He claimed early, collected for several years,…
A married couple, ages 73 and 71, sitting on $1.8 million in a traditional 401(k). Social Security and a modest pension bring in about $80,000. The required minimum distribution this year adds roughly $68,000.…
Paying $2,000 a month in rent is often described as throwing money away. Homeownership, by contrast, is treated as the only reliable path to wealth. Yet under the right conditions, a dividend portfolio large…
Years ago, Marcie spent a semester in Morocco as a college student. It made a lifelong impression, not just on her head, but her heart. While working as a registered nurse, she has often…
A 45-year-old software engineer earning $250,000 walks into open enrollment having already done the obvious things. The full $24,500 pre-tax deferral is going in. The employer match (assumed here at $11,250, or roughly 4.5%…
On the June 11 episode of her Women & Money podcast, Suze Orman heard from a listener named Katie who had completed her estate planning documents with her husband. Yet Katie remained worried about…
She assumed her husband’s Social Security record was worth next to nothing. He died young, at 48, before filing for retirement. She kept working, raised the kids, and built her own modest earnings record.…
