Retire with MONEY

Here's Why Concert Tickets, Food Tours, and Other Experiences Are Hot Holiday Gifts This Year by Kristen Bahler This season of excess, more Americans are adding secondhand gifts and “experiences” to their wish lists. Marking a dramatic shift from the scarves and slippers that traditionally fill holiday gift packages, new data points to growing consumer awareness of environmental waste, climate change, and the impact rampant consumerism has on both.

The Best Stocks for 2020, According to 3 Investing Pros Who Outsmarted the Market by Ryan Derousseau After a decade of steady gains, and with the S&P 500 near record highs, it’s not easy to find stock-market bargains. But investors who remain patient — and willing to overlook a few warts — can still find plenty to buy, according to stock pickers with proven track records. We’ve come a long way from the dark days of 2009.

Mutual Fund Managers Are Mixing Politics with Picking Stocks — And It May Be Affecting Your Returns by Rob Curran As if mutual fund investors didn’t have enough to worry about, here’s one more thing: Your portfolio manager’s politics. Of course, it’s no secret that our political feelings can cloud our judgment. Democrats and Republicans routinely report different views about the health of the U.S. economy.

Holiday Travel Can Be Mayhem. Here's How I Save Money and Minimize Stress by Gina Zakaria Traveling for the holidays isn’t always fun. From flight delays to long transit times, there are so many factors out of our control. While holiday travel plans will not always go as expected, there are things you can do to make your journey a little less stressful and a little more pleasant — and a bit more budget-friendly.

Only 1 in 7 Home Ads Mention a Dining Area. Here's Why That Could Be a Big Mistake, by Shaina Mishkin Some home sellers may be leaving money on the table — the dining room table. Listings that tout their dining areas are priced significantly higher than the median home, according to a new analysis from real estate web site Zillow.

I Almost Didn’t Get My Dream Job Because of Impostor Syndrome by Corina Leslie When I was 25, the editor-in-chief of a national newspaper in Romania put me in charge of two sections. I thought it was pure luck. Not much qualified me for the job, and I figured I just happened to be there at the right time. For years, when people asked me what I did for a living, saying I was a journalist made me feel like a fraud, so I’d always respond, I work at a newspaper.

Is Paying for Disney+ Worth it Just to See Baby Yoda? Here's What Finance Experts Say About Subscription Overload by Julia Glum Question: What’s tiny, green and making me reconsider my monthly entertainment budget? Answer: Baby Yoda. The internet has spent the past couple of weeks collectively raving about Baby Yoda, a character in the newly released Star Wars show The Mandalorian. And though he may or may not be a baby and may or may not be Yoda, I love him, too.

Venmo the Bride? Your Guide to Wedding Etiquette in the Social Media Age by Alix Langone It’s that time of year again, when your Instagram and Facebook feeds fill up with posts of happy couples sharing the news of their recent engagements. December is the most popular month to pop the question, and for many millennials, that means one thing: save that Christmas check from Grandma. Because you know what’s coming next. Weddings. Lots of them.

How to Support Your Retired Parents Without Sinking Your Own Retirement Plans by Martha C. White Denise Clark was at her wits’ end. Her elderly mother, who had already drained a modest 401(k) and tapped the family home for a home equity line of credit, wanted Clark and two siblings to subsidize her living expenses. Items included non-essentials such as a brand-new car loan and generous birthday gifts for extended family members, to the tune of hundreds of dollars — each.

At Least 80% of Shopping Apps Leak Users' Data. Here's How to Protect Yourself by Alix Langone If you’re planning to do some of your holiday shopping from your cell phone this year, you might want to think twice.

Investors in Active Mutual Funds May Get Surprise Tax Bills This Year. Here's Why by Ryan Derousseau Even when returns look good, actively managed mutual funds can’t catch a break from the popularity of passive investments. This time it’s taxes. If you invest in a mutual fund you probably know that you can expect to owe capital gains tax when you sell your shares and reap a profit.

If You Use Your 401(k)'s Default Option, You Could Be Making These 3 Big Mistake by Rob Curran Target-date mutual funds, the default investment option in millions of retirement savers’ 401(k)s, offer an age-appropriate portfolio of stocks and bonds. But to get the most out of them, you still need to avoid some simple mistakes. Target-date funds first appeared in 1994 (targeting then-sci-fi-sounding years like 2020).

How to Tell If You're Burned Out at Work (and What to Do Next) by Sylvia Giltner How did we get here? Working longer hours now practically feels like a necessity. Millennials, especially, tend to think about work beyond their job descriptions and even forget to take their vacation time. But the gains can often be minimal, while the consequences can have long-lasting effects on your career.

Help! I Think I'm a Bad Tipper. What Are the Rules for Ubers and Coffee Shops? by Julia Glum I don’t believe in the concept of guilty pleasures — people shouldn’t feel ashamed of anything they enjoy — but if I did, one of my guiltiest would be taking Ubers. Not the brand Uber, specifically; I use that as an umbrella term for all the ride-hailing apps targeted at city dwellers like me.

"All the Best Black Friday Freebies You Can Get at Stores This Year — Starting on Thanksgiving Day," by Chloe Wilt It’s the season of giving, and some stores are already feeling generous — provided you swing by this week to shop for Black Friday deals. If you go shopping on Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday 2019, many retailers will thank you with giveaways and freebies.