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This week’s money news

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This week’s top story: 8 ways to personalize your rental and get your deposit back. In other news: Life insurance for small business, how couples can share the mental load of money management, and how to plan for retirement.

8 Ways to Personalize Your Rental — and Get Your Deposit Back
Cosmetic upgrades can help personalize a rented home, but you will likely pay out of pocket and have to return the home to its original state when you move out.

Do You Need Life Insurance for Your Small Business?
Life insurance is an important part of business planning to protect your family, team and clients.

How Couples Can Share the Mental Load of Money Management
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ — but there are some of them in ‘weaponized incompetence.’

Retirement Could Come Sooner Than You Think — How to Plan for It
Take these steps to strengthen your retirement plan in case you have to stop working sooner than you would like.

Retiring wasn’t easy — even after years of writing about it

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A couple of years ago, I wrote a column about how to have a retirement worth saving for. It ended with a quote from personal finance educator Barbara O’Neill, who reflected on how the pandemic disrupted many retirees’ plans.

“It wasn’t just two years lost, it was two good years,” O’Neill said then. “You don’t know how many of those you have left.”

One of my younger colleagues objected to that sentiment, saying it was a jarring ending to an otherwise upbeat column. But my older co-workers got it. Those of us who currently have good health and energy don’t know how long those blessings will last. There’s no guarantee we’ll get to enjoy the retirements we have planned.

That lesson was driven home in July 2023, when a longtime colleague died at age 61. We’d had many talks over the years about the retirement he had envisioned. It’s heartbreaking that his dreams will never happen.

But his death was the push I needed to make my own decision. By the time you read this, I will have retired from my job at personal finance site NerdWallet.

You can read the rest of the column here.

Investing for retirement — Why you might want to reconsider that 403(b)

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Like many other educators, high school science teacher Robert Curtiss of Dearborn, Michigan, thought he was doing the right thing by investing in his school district’s 403(b) retirement plan. Then federal regulators charged the company handling Curtiss’ investments with fraud.

In July 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. had misled investors — mostly public school employees — about what their investments cost. Equitable often issued quarterly statements showing $0 in fees, when in reality the expenses were much higher, according to the SEC. Equitable agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty to harmed investors.

After hearing about the fine, Curtiss learned that his retirement investments were costing him two to three times what a typical 401(k) investor would pay. Getting his money out would cost even more: the investments, known as variable annuities, had surrender charges of 5% to 6%.

“I felt so frustrated,” Curtiss says. “If I would have known sooner, I would have never put my money there in the first place.” In my latest for ABC News, learn why you might want to reconsider that 403(b).

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story:  3 Signs you’re ready to retire. Also in the news: 2022 Tax bracket, and buying budget tech.

Reluctant to Retire? 3 Signs You’re Ready
Some people do have a choice about when they retire, and yet they can’t quite bring themselves to quit working.

Your Tax Bracket Just Changed for 2022
Federal tax brackets will have the highest inflation-adjusted increase in years.

Stop Buying Cheap Tech
“It was such a great deal,” they said, tossing their new tech into the trash.

Reluctant to retire? 3 signs you’re ready

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Many people don’t have much choice about when they retire. Illness, job loss or caretaking responsibilities push them out of the labor force, ready or not.

But some people have the opposite problem: They do have a choice, and yet they can’t quite bring themselves to quit working.

In my latest for the Associated Press, check three signs you may be ready to retire.

Friday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Why the Good Enough home may just be perfect. Also in the news: How to turn your retirement plan into an early-retirement plan, how to mess up a variable annuity, and why it’s important to calculate the cost of college – not just tuition.

The ‘Good Enough’ Home May Be Just Perfect
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

How to Turn Your Retirement Plan Into an Early-Retirement Plan
Tweaking your ideas about retirement.

How to Mess Up a Variable Annuity
Mistakes can be costly.

Calculate the Total Cost of College—Not Just Tuition
There’s a whole lot more to pay for than just classes.