Expert Issues Warning Over US Bank Accounts Sitting Idle

Expert Issues Warning Over US Bank Accounts Sitting Idle

Rudro Chakrabarti  Mon, April 20, 2026

Money Can Now Be Turned Over To State.  Secure your money ASAP

Katelyn Fugate thought she was doing something nice for her young son. A few years back, she opened a savings account for him — a small starter fund he could build on one day. Recently, she decided to check in on it.

The balance was zero. Fugate told Scripps News she went to check the balance hoping to start adding to it again. Instead, she found the account empty. (1) The bank had declared it dormant after five years of inactivity, closed it and shipped the money off to the state's unclaimed funds department. Worse, when Fugate went looking for it, she couldn't find the money at the bank or the state.

"It's definitely not at the bank; they've turned it over. I can't find it on the missing funds [website] as of yet," she said.

How Dormant Accounts Get Swept Up By The State

The process is called escheatment, and it's the law in all 50 states. (2) When an account goes long enough without customer-initiated activity, the bank is required by state law to hand the balance over to the state treasurer's office as unclaimed property.

How long is "long enough" varies. Most states set the dormancy period at three to five years for bank accounts — and the trend has been toward shorter windows. Over a recent 16-year stretch, 17 jurisdictions cut their dormancy periods for bank properties to three years, down from five or seven. (3)

Automatic activity doesn't reset the clock. Auto-deposits and interest postings don't qualify as customer-initiated activity (4) — only a deposit, withdrawal or transfer you personally make resets it.

Before the money leaves, banks are required to attempt to contact you — typically by mail to your last known address. If the letter goes somewhere outdated or gets tossed as junk, escheatment continues without you. In some cases, the bank may simply mail a check for the remaining balance — little help if that check lands at an old address.

The Fees Hit Before The State Does

Ted Rossman, a principal analyst at Bankrate, told Scripps News that some banks flag inactivity after as little as six months  he said. "Sometimes the threshold is a bit longer."

Inactivity fees typically run $5 to $20 per month. For a small account — say, a few hundred dollars set aside for a child — those fees can wipe the balance out entirely before the state ever sees a dime.

There's a secondary cost most people overlook: once a bank closes a dormant account, any scheduled transactions tied to it fail, which can trigger late fees or missed income depending on what was running through it. And under Regulation DD, banks must continue paying interest on dormant interest-bearing accounts (5) — but if the monthly dormancy fee exceeds the interest earned, the balance still shrinks.

There's A Lot Of Forgotten Money Out There

Roughly $70 billion in unclaimed property is sitting in state coffers, waiting for rightful owners to come claim it — money from forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, safe deposit boxes and old brokerage holdings. About one in seven Americans has some of it. In fiscal year 2024, states returned $4.49 billion to owners (6) — a fraction of what they're holding.

California alone holds more than $15 billion in unclaimed property and has returned roughly 3.5% of it, according to a recent CBS News investigation. (7) The scrutiny has now reached Washington: a bipartisan bill called the SAFER Act, introduced this month by Reps. Sam Liccardo and Mike Lawler, would limit when states can take custody of securities, digital assets and investment accounts under unclaimed property laws.

Most states place no statute of limitations on claiming escheated funds, meaning owners can demand their money back at any time. The reclamation process varies by state, though — and some are notoriously slow, as Fugate is discovering firsthand.

How To Keep Your Accounts Out Of The State's Hands

Rossman's fix: keep the account moving, even a little.

Read More: https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/us-bank-accounts-idle-money-state-seizure

Argentina Got This Warning Before Its Collapse. America Just Got It Last Week.

Argentina Got This Warning Before Its Collapse. America Just Got It Last Week.

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man)  April 20, 2026

In early December 2001, ‘normal’ life very suddenly ceased to exist in Argentina— anything that remotely resembled a functional society came to an abrupt end. And that is by no means an exaggeration.  The banking system collapsed. Financial transactions ground to a halt. Desperate people looted supermarkets for food, and then grocery shelves emptied. Energy ran short.  Riots broke out in the streets, and police were shooting citizens in the face.

The crisis raged so much that the President of Argentina fled the country by helicopter. Five presidents rotated through the office in two weeks. Then the country defaulted on $93 billion in sovereign debt— the largest default in history at the time.

Argentina was left in such a deep constitutional crisis that it didn't even have the money or the legal framework to hold an immediate election.

This wasn’t exactly a surprise.

For years leading up to the crisis, Argentina had been struggling. The country was in the midst of a major economic depression. Unemployment was high. GDP was shrinking. Inflation was increasing. Crime was rising.

And yet, even with all of that negativity, life was at least in the ballpark of normal.

Basic services still functioned. Grocery stores had food. Banks were open and had money. And, even though unemployment was high, the vast majority of people still had jobs.

But it all collapsed in the span of three weeks. Poof. All because of too much debt.

To its credit, one of the groups that saw this coming was the IMF, which had warned the Argentine government multiple times about a looming crisis.

Even in early 2001, the same year as the crisis, IMF reports flagged Argentina’s soaring debt-to-GDP ratio, citing its "sharp deterioration in the public finances," and deficits running well above the targets Buenos Aires had agreed to.

Well, the United States just received the same warning from the IMF last week. Even the language in the report is eerily similar.

In its 2026 Article IV consultation on the United States of America, the IMF warned that America's “persistently high fiscal deficits [and] the continued rise in debt‑GDP ratio” creates a "growing financial stability tail risk" for both the US and the global economy.

They stressed "the pressing need to address the US's longstanding fiscal imbalances through a frontloaded fiscal adjustment."

That last part means that Congress must make critical spending cuts NOW. Not later. Time is running out.

The IMF cites US government debt reaching 123.9% of GDP and deficits equal to 7.5% of GDP. More importantly, they point out that the US government has no credible plan to reduce them.

To be fair, America is not Argentina, and the US boasts major advantages— including one of the world's most innovative economies and the deepest capital markets on earth.

But it’s nearly impossible to argue that the US isn’t heading towards a major debt crisis. The rest of the world has already figured this out— and the data prove it.

For example, in the first quarter of 2026, the share of global foreign exchange reserves denominated in US dollars fell by 2.3 percentage points, down to 56.1%.

That’s an unprecedented move in global reserves. To put that quarterly decline in perspective, the US dollar's reserve share declined by roughly 10 percentage points over the previous decade...

... which means that roughly a quarter of that 10-year decline happened in the past 90 days! That’s evidence of a significant acceleration in the world’s loss of confidence in America.

The SWIFT international payments network tells the same story. The dollar's share of international payments dropped substantially in Q1. In the Middle East, for instance, non-dollar transactions jumped from 18% to 31% in three months. In Asia, from 35% to 42%.

Another data point: the world's central banks now hold more gold than US Treasury securities for the first time since 1996.

This comes as no surprise to our readers. We've been writing about this for the past 17 years.

Back in 2009, we were laughed at for suggesting that the United States could one day face a debt crisis. Today even the IMF is saying it.

We often cite that line from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises — "How did you go bankrupt?" "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." The de-dollarization data suggests we're entering the "suddenly" phase.

To your freedom,  James Hickman   Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

P.S.   We've been warning about the US fiscal trajectory for years, long before it was fashionable. For most of that time, these concerns were dismissed as alarmist.

Now it's a mainstream view. And the rest of the world is repositioning.

The sensible course of action is to do the same. International diversification, real assets, a second residency, an offshore bank account — these aren't doomsday preparations. They're rational responses to a fiscal trajectory that is a risk to the global economy.

That is exactly what we cover each month in Plan B Confidential — specific, legal, practical steps to diversify across borders, from second residencies and offshore banking to tax optimization and real asset strategies that make sense regardless of how this plays out.  

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/argentina-got-this-warning-before-its-collapse-america-just-got-it-last-week-155037/?inf_contact_key=0e78a2143153df024cd70fe991ce4b0a0610b17be1dd28ffc304ba09276be34a

There Is No "Fair Share" — There Is Only “More”

There Is No "Fair Share" — There Is Only “More”

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man)  April 16, 2026

In April 1971, Keith Richards loaded his family and his Bentley onto a cross-Channel ferry and drove south until he hit the Mediterranean. He rented a 19th-century villa called Nellcôte on a hillside above Villefranche-sur-Mer, and converted the basement into a recording studio.

Over the following year the rest of the Rolling Stones rotated through the house and nearby properties to record the double album that became Exile on Main St., while staying deliberately out of reach of the British tax authorities.

The top marginal income tax rate in Britain at the time was 75%, and a surcharge on the highest earners pushed the effective rate on the wealthiest past 90%.

Three years later, under Denis Healey's 1974 budget, the top rate on earned income would climb to 83% and the rate on investment income would reach 98%.

Britain would spend the rest of the decade watching capital flee and begging the IMF for emergency loans.

David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, and a long line of less famous wealthy Britons eventually ran the same arithmetic as the Stones and reached a similar conclusion. Capital left the country in every form it could fit into, including bonds, businesses, luxury cars, and rock stars.

But politicians never learn.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey has backed legislation that would push the top federal income-tax rate to 43%.

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is pushing a version that lands at 49%.

Both men describe it, as they always do, as wealthy Americans finally paying their "fair share."

What exact percent is their fair share? Are we to believe they will be satisfied at 43% or 49%?

As always, that phrase is deliberately left undefined.

Never-mind that the top 1% of filers already paid 40.4% of all federal income taxes in 2022 while the bottom 50% paid roughly 3%.

They are also conveniently ignorant of the fact that raising the top marginal rate doesn’t actually raise revenue at all.

Since the end of the Second World War, U.S. federal tax revenue has averaged around 17% to 18% of GDP, dipping toward 15% in deep recessions and climbing near 20% in booms. The swings track the business cycle, not tax policy.

The top marginal rate, over that same stretch, has been all over the map: 91% under Eisenhower, 28% under Reagan by 1988, 39.6% under Clinton, 37% today. Yet regardless of whether tax rates were 91% or 37%, the IRS always collects around 17% of GDP.

The conclusion is obvious: if the government wants to collect more tax revenue, they should focus on setting the right conditions for an economic boom. In short, make the pie bigger for EVERYONE, and hence the government’s slice will grow as well.

Making the pie bigger isn’t that hard, either. America’s private economy is legendary. All Congress has to do is get out of the way. Attempt to run a balanced budget. Restore credibility. Make it easier for businesses and individuals to be productive. REMOVE idiotic laws instead of creating new ones.

But they’re not interested in any of those things.

Congress has documented evidence of hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud. Yet they  do nothing. They have also pledged to do nothing about Social Security— which is set to run out of money in six years.

The regulatory code in the Land of the Free already runs over 188,000 pages. Yet they expand it every session.

This is the opposite of what they should be doing. And instead of figuring out how to live within their means, they just demand more resources... even though it never works.

Britain tried its 98% tax experiment in the 1970s and spent a decade regretting it.

Ironically the current Labour government has forgotten that painful lesson; they recently abolished the 110-year-old "non-dom" regime, and more than 10,000 millionaires have already left the country.

In the United States, Elizabeth Warren's Ultra-Millionaire Tax proposal does not just impose a wealth tax. It bundles her wealth tax with an additional 40% exit tax on anyone who renounces US citizenship.

You do not create a 40% tollbooth at the border unless you fully expect people to try to walk through it.

These are not serious ideas to grow an economy. Rather, they are insidious policies designed to trap people in a system which steals their prosperity. That is why a Plan B makes so much sense.

To your freedom,  James Hickman   Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/there-is-no-fair-share-there-is-only-more-155021/?inf_contact_key=777b6710cfd255750dd3426953caeee29ee4b048ce23149d13a848abfdc3679b

The $13,000 Apartments the Government Won't Let You Buy

The $13,000 Apartments the Government Won't Let You Buy

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black/Sovereign Man)  April 14, 2026

On May 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law, and it essentially said: here's 160 acres of land. It's yours. For free. All you have to do is live on it and improve it.  And between 1862 and 1934, the federal government distributed 270 million acres under the program — roughly 10% of all the land in the United States.

Even as far back as the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers understood that property ownership made people more engaged, more productive citizens. Ownership meant that you had a vested financial interest in your community... and your country.

Over time, that idea fused with the concept of "the American Dream". And for decades that dream was a reality for millions of people.

After World War II, for example, America underwent a massive construction boom. Between  postwar prosperity, the GI Bill, and the arrival of the modern 30-year fixed mortgage,  home ownership surged from about 44% in 1940 to 62% by 1960.

More importantly, housing was affordable.

In 1950, median family income was about $3,000, yet the median home cost roughly $7,350. That’s just ~2.5 times median household income. Plus, with prevailing mortgage rates back then 4.5%, the monthly payments were trivial.

Because of that, families across America could easily make ends meet on a single income.

Today the median home sells for about $412,000. Median household income is roughly $83,700. That puts housing at 5x household income— double what it was in the 1950s.

More importantly, at today's mortgage rate of roughly 6.4%, the monthly payment on a median home (assuming a 20% down payment) consumes roughly 30% of household income.

The down payment is also so high these days that buying a home is nearly impossible, especially for young people or low-income workers. Even in dual-income households, homeownership is increasingly out of reach.

As we discussed on Friday, America’s housing problems go far beyond the ‘greedy’ Wall Street investors that are getting most of the blame for rising home prices.

Construction materials cost 40% more than they did five years ago, courtesy of the Federal Reserve printing trillions during the pandemic and igniting inflation.

Plus the regulatory permitting maze adds enormous costs. In Fremont, California, development fees alone run $157,000 per home before a single nail is hammered. And that doesn’t even include additional permitting costs and utility connection fees.

The government used to give away 160 acres for free. Now local governments charge six figures for permission to build.

Go figure that California, with its endless lip service about affordable housing, is also the epicenter of American homelessness.

But it turns out there's a ready-made solution staring policymakers in the face.

The office property market is a complete bloodbath right now. Between the sluggish economy, AI reducing demand for workers, and the lingering work-from-home paradigm, the prices of office properties across the country have tanked.

More than 200 distressed office buildings changed hands across the country in 2025, with average sale prices down 37% from 2019. In Manhattan, a 920,000-square-foot tower sold for $8.5 million, down from $332.5 million. That’s a 97% decline!

Then there’s 401 South State Street in Chicago, a 485,000-square-foot office building that sold last October for $4.2 million, down from $68.1 million in 2016. That’s less than $9 per square foot.

Housing in Chicago isn’t cheap. So just imagine you’re young, fresh out of college, and staring at the prospect of paying $1,200 per month to live in a cramped apartment with three roommates.

Instead, you could pay about $13,000 for 1,500 square feet worth of space in the 401 South State Street office building that would be yours to own.

Yes, duh, it’s an office building. So it wouldn’t have the conveniences of a traditional home— like private bathrooms and kitchens. But for $13 grand?!!? Who cares. You'd have your own private space, a roof over your head, and a door that locks.

Frankly, that's not so different from military barracks and university dorms. Americans manage just fine with communal facilities when the price is right.

That's the beauty of capitalism. Such living accommodations aren’t for everyone. But at a low enough price, a LOT of people would happily trade convenience for affordability. Shower at the gym. Eat at the fast-casual spot around the corner. Live with walking distance to work downtown.

Most 20-somethings might think that’s pretty cool— especially compared to the alternative of paying out the nose for rent and never managing to save enough money to buy a house.

Same logic for a family of six crammed into a two-bedroom public housing unit in decrepit conditions; they could have a few thousand square feet to themselves.

Here’s another scenario. Let’s say a family in Topeka, Kansas locked in a 2% mortgage during the pandemic. Dad got laid off and can't find another job locally. But they don’t want to sell the house to move across country, uproot the kids, and buy a new house somewhere else at a 6% rate. So they're stuck.

Instead, Dad buys 1,000 square feet in one of these bankrupt office buildings for less than $10k. His family stays home, he commutes to his new job in a new city, and flies home on the weekends to see his kids. They make it work... which they wouldn’t be able to afford with hotels or an AirBnb.

This would be a genuine ‘starter home’— a place where someone could actually save money and build toward a proper mortgage, instead of hemorrhaging rent to Blackrock every month while still falling behind.

But the government won't allow it.

Zoning codes, building regulations, occupancy requirements— a labyrinth of rules that forbid you from such options.

Let grown adults decide for themselves. That's how capitalism is supposed to work.

Nobody would pay $400,000 for a unit with no bathroom. But $13,000? For a lot of Americans, that's not a sacrifice— it's an opportunity.

The same politicians who claim to care about the poor, the homeless, and young people priced out of the American Dream have the obvious solution sitting right in front of them.

But they won't take it, because that would mean getting out of the way.

To your freedom,   James Hickman   Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC 

PS — Another way to opt out of America's housing affordability disaster is to look elsewhere.

There are plenty of countries where you can buy a beautiful home in a major city for a fraction of what a starter unit costs in the US, and several of those purchases also qualify you for residency or eventual citizenship. So you're not just buying a home, you're buying optionality. We cover the best programs, exact thresholds, and on-the-ground intelligence in Plan B Confidential. 

https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/the-13000-apartments-the-government-wont-let-you-buy-155002/?inf_contact_key=be1b45181a64d92a5aa6bded0feed2af75c74c6d80b7c7d7ab87b128387eaee0

Ray Dalio says economic world order ‘is gone’ — warns of US ‘civil war.’ Preserve your wealth now

‘Let’s not be naive’: Ray Dalio says economic world order ‘is gone’ — warns of US ‘civil war.’ Preserve your wealth now

Jing Pan  Sun, April 12, 2026  Moneywise

In the wake of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, billionaire and founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio, sounded a global fire alarm, and it’s starting to look like he was right.

The short version? The old economic world order is gone, and it’s likely not coming back any time soon.

“Let’s not be naive, ok, and say: Oh, we’re breaking the rule-based system,” Dalio said in an interview with Fortune at the WEF (1). “It’s gone. It’s going.”  Dalio was referring to the current global balance of power between nations, which has hinged on relatively predictable U.S. foreign policy.

However, since March 18, all eyes have turned to Iran.

Due to the war, the price of gas has risen about 80 cents per gallon, put down to the limited supply caused by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz (2). CNN reported in early April that in a speech to the press, the President threatened to bring Iran “back to the stone ages, where they belong (3)”.

This could indicate another lengthy conflict in the Middle East, but it’s only the latest in a series of echoing foreign policy maneuvers spanning the last year. For instance, in April 2025, the S&P 500 had one of the largest dips in its history, driven by U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs (4). The remainder of 2025 saw threats against Greenland’s sovereignty, regular verbal sparring over NATO targets and further shifts in the ongoing Ukrainian War.

Now, with gas at over $4 a gallon on average, many everyday Americans and Wall Street investors are worried about the economic impacts the new energy crisis has triggered.

Wars on multiple fronts could spell disaster

Essentially, wars suck up time and capital while eroding trust. Purchasing debt from a nation actively engaged in a war, for example, could be a bad bet, according to Dalio.

And this isn’t the first time Dalio has warned about a shaky grasp on the current global world order. In an interview in late 2025 on Leaders with Francine Lacqua (5), Dalio was confronted with a blunt question: “Could we be close to another world war?”

He didn’t hesitate. “We are in wars,” Dalio replied. “There is a financial money war, there's a technology war, there's geopolitical wars, and there are more military wars.”

Then came his more unsettling assessment: The U.S. itself isn’t immune.

“We have a civil war of some sort, which is developing in the United States and elsewhere, where there are irreconcilable differences,” Dalio said.

Here’s how things break down on the home front.

Mounting Division

Political opinion in America is sharply divided.

The American Survey Center reported as of 2025 that 71% of Republicans were at least somewhat satisfied with the current state of affairs in the country, and only 12% of Democrats said the same. In 2024, 17% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats were satisfied.

And yet, 61% of Americans across the political spectrum now report dissatisfaction with the current administration and state of the nation (6).

With this in mind, Dalio’s bleak outlook may be more realistic.

It’s a stark warning — especially from someone who also cautioned earlier in the interview that “our power to hurt each other has never been greater.”

He outlined two paths the country could take.

To Read More: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/economy/policy/articles/let-not-naive-ray-dalio-090500188.html

Taboola the same on the Bottom of Posts

How Do I Manage This Much Money?

How Do I Manage This Much Money?

Moneywise   Fri, April 3, 2026

My mom was much richer than I realized, and left me more than I could have imagined. How do I manage this much money?  During the next 20 years or so, Americans will inherit an estimated $105 trillion as older Americans pass down their accumulated wealth to younger generations, in a phenomenon that has been dubbed the Great Wealth Transfer (1).  That means there will be a lot of people who are surprised — even if pleasantly so — to be inheriting money and unsure about how best to manage it.

Jeannie’s mother left her a substantial legacy. While her family was comfortable during her childhood, she had no idea that her parents were scrupulous savers and investors. Now, in addition to her childhood home, which is worth approximately $1.5 million, she has inherited a portfolio of investments worth $6 million.

Jeannie is shocked to find that her mother was so wealthy — and that she now has to manage real wealth for the first time in her life. While Jeannie was unprepared for her legacy, she also doesn’t want to waste this opportunity to improve her life now and in the future.

Here’s what Jeannie could have done to avoid this situation in the first place, and what to do if you find yourself in a similar place.

How To Have ‘The Talk’ With Your Parents

This problematic situation stems from a lack of communication around estate planning.

It’s a pretty common issue, too. In fact, the 2025 Family and Finance Study by Fidelity found that while 97% of families acknowledge the importance of talking about estate planning, almost half of those asked hadn’t actually had the conversation yet (2).

However, although so many older Americans may avoid talking about their estate plans, the adult children of this cohort are equally responsible for opening the conversation. Even if it may be awkward, it helps to frame the discussion as your desire to help them distribute their estate the way they want.

In other words, Jeannie and her mother might have avoided this situation altogether if they had sat down and had the conversation beforehand.

It’s also important to know that it doesn’t have to be a one-and-done talk. The conversation can come as part of a larger discussion about health care, a parent’s decision about aging in place or moving to assisted living and their last wishes for legacy planning.

There are several recommended approaches to carrying out this kind of conversation. For example, The New York Times recommends discussing a parent’s current health, medical history and living arrangements, while also designating a point person in the family to carry out their wishes (3).

Elsewhere, SSHK Law recommends that if your parents hesitate or avoid the conversation about end-of-life wishes, you can reassure them that you want to honor their choices, not take control of their estate (4).

In this way, by breaking up the conversation into a series of smaller discussions, you can help ease anxiety and tension.

Managing A Windfall With Professional Advice

Now that Jeannie has inherited her legacy, she has to start looking forward into the future rather than thinking about the past. In this respect, she is at least lucky that she has the time to make thoughtful choices about how to use the money her mother left behind.

She Can Also Seek Out Advice.

Whenever your financial situation changes substantively, as it did for Jeannie, it’s always a good idea to consult a professional. A financial advisor can guide you through some of the best ways to invest your inheritance to meet your goals — and advise you on the tax and legal implications.

For example, income from certain assets could bump you into a higher tax bracket. Additionally, an inherited IRA might be subject to the 10-year rule, meaning you have to withdraw all the funds within 10 years of the original account owner’s death (5).

To Read More:https://www.yahoo.com/finance/markets/articles/mom-much-richer-realized-left-120000825.html

5 Subtly Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money — That You Should Do, Too

5 Subtly Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money — That You Should Do, Too

These moves don’t have to be reserved for the super rich.

t can feel like the super wealthy have access to some secret money playbook the rest of us never got. And in a way, that’s true. They have connections and access that most of us simply will never have.

But there’s good news: A lot of things the ultra wealthy do with their money are perfectly accessible to us — we just have to be smart enough to take advantage.

These are some of the most subtly genius things all rich people do with their money. The best part? You can do them, too.

1. They Protect Their Portfolio With Precious Metals

If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s that disruptions to the market can come out of nowhere. Between the pandemic, supply-chain issues and bear markets, a lot of people’s retirement savings felt the impact.

That’s why it can be a smart idea to look for ways to protect your retirement savings from the unpredictable. For a lot of people, investing in precious metals is a way to diversify and protect their investments.

One way to do this is with a precious metals IRA through a company like GoldCo. Precious metals often outperform other investments in a volatile market, and their value tends to rise with inflation, making them an effective hedge during uncertain economic times.

Opening a gold or silver IRA is easy, and you can roll over funds from existing retirement accounts. Or you can buy gold and silver directly from GoldCo’s extensive collection.

Worried you may need to sell your precious metals in the future? Goldco offers a buy back program and will purchase your assets back from you at the highest price. Plus, GoldCo has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Want to diversify and safeguard your investments by adding gold and silver to your portfolio? It’s easy to get started here and get your free kit.

2. They Use a Financial Advisor. You Can Get Matched With One for Free

The super wealthy didn’t get that way by mistake. They’re smart: They know how valuable it is to get an expert’s help with their money. The professionals simply know things we don’t.

But for the rest of us, getting a financial advisor sounds expensive and tedious. That’s why we like a company called Unbiased. They’ll match you with a financial advisor in your area — for free.

No two people have the same financial situation, which is why Unbiased matches you with the best financial advisor for your specific situation, so you get an expert in the areas you need.

There’s no obligation to hire the advisor, and Unbiased screens every advisor to make sure you’re only getting matched with the best experts.

3. They Know You Can Get $340/Year in Cash Back on Gas and Other Things You Already Buy

The super wealthy know the devil is in the details — that’s why so many of them keep a close eye on every dollar they spend. It’s something any of us can do by using a free cash-back app like Upside.

Upside pays you cash back when you fill up at the pump and buy other things you already need, like groceries and even meals at restaurants — frequent users earn an average of $340 per year.

Once you download and install the free app, just browse its more than 50,000 participating grocery stores, restaurants and best of all, gas stations, to find a cash-back offer near you. These are always changing, but we’ve seen up to 24 cents back per gallon.

 Claim the offer you want and buy your items with your usual debit or credit card. After, check in with Upside to verify your purchase. Upside will verify your purchase and then add the cash back to your Upside account (this can take up three business days). Then you can cash out directly to your bank account, or via PayPal or gift card.

Upside pays its users $1 million each week, and the app has a 4.7 star rating from more than 250,000 reviews. Just download the free app to see how much cash back you can earn on gas, food and other things you already have to buy.

To Continue and Read More:‍ ‍https://www.gobankingrates.com/genius-wealthy-people-know-2058491/?utm_term=related_link_2&utm_campaign=1268537&utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_content=4&utm_medium=rss

How to Make a Living Will for Free in 4 Easy Steps

How to Make a Living Will for Free in 4 Easy Steps

Rachel Christian, CEPF®  PennyHoarder

Drafting a living will might not be high on your to-do list — but maybe it should be.

A living will is a legal document that details which medical treatments you want — or don’t want — if you’re ever incapacitated or unable to make decisions for yourself.

Don’t get it confused with a last will and testament, a legal document that spells out who inherits your assets after you die. A living will applies only to your end-of-life medical care wishes.

Living wills are also called advance directives, especially when they’re paired with a durable power of attorney. You can draft these documents for free in less than an hour.

We’ll show you how.

How to Make a Living Will in 4 Steps

If you’re ever incapacitated and can’t communicate, a living will and power of attorney can inform your doctors about the type of medical care you want.

Without one, your doctors will rely on your closest family members to make medical decisions on your behalf.

1. Outline Your End-of-Life Instructions

First, you need to think through the kind of life-sustaining treatments and procedures you’re willing to undergo — and under what circumstances.

This can include your preferences on:

• Ventilators

• Feeding tubes

• Palliative care (relief for pain)

• How you define quality of life

• How much effort should be made to keep you alive if you are gravely ill

• Dialysis

• Organ donation

• Resuscitation if your breathing or heartbeat stops

Confronting your own mortality isn’t easy, but writing down your health care wishes in a living will can spare your family members from a difficult situation later, said Jaclyn Roberson, a senior partner at Roberson Duran Law in San Antonio.

“When you hear stories where patients are kept on life support for years or even decades — despite their loved ones’ insistence that they would not have wanted to remain on life support — it’s usually because the patient didn’t execute an advance directive,” Roberson told The Penny Hoarder.

Keep in mind that a living will becomes effective only once two physicians separately determine that you’re no longer capable of making medical decisions for yourself. So as long as you’re conscious and able to communicate, health care providers will always listen to you instead of your living will.

You may have a general idea of what you want your end-of-life care to look like, but it’s hard to predict the future. That’s why the next step — naming a durable power of attorney — is so important.

2. Consider Naming a Durable Power of Attorney as Well

Many experts recommend creating a durable power of attorney along with your living will.

A durable power of attorney is a legal document that appoints a person — usually called your health care proxy or agent — who can make important health care decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to do so.

Why is it important to appoint a health care agent if you’ve already detailed your wishes in a living will?

“It can help you in future situations that you have no control over and can’t predict in advance,” said Sandra Choi, an estate planning attorney at Choi Law Firm. “You can certainly detail health care preferences and share your opinions (in a living will), but the medical power of attorney assigns the actual decision-making process to another adult who will act on your behalf.”

For example, you might go in for a routine surgery but remain unconscious after the procedure. The doctor will propose a few options for the next operation.

“Your health care proxy, under the medical power of attorney, will make the choice,” Choi explained.

Your health care agent will be the point of contact for your medical team and can make decisions about anything you didn’t cover in your living will.

In some states, a living will and durable power of attorney are outlined in the same document.

You can appoint anyone as your health care agent, including your spouse, an adult child, a sibling, a friend or even your lawyer.

You can also name alternate health care proxies in case your first choice is unwilling or unable to act on your behalf.

Generally, a power of attorney expires if you become incapacitated, but a durable power of attorney remains valid even if you can’t make decisions for yourself.

Trying to get your affairs in order? Here are five estate planning moves you can make for under $100.

3. Write Your Living Will

To Continue and Read More:  https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/retirement/how-to-make-a-living-will/?aff_id=319&aff_sub2=pandemic-mistakes&rc=off-c-4-41080&aff_sub=rc-off-c-4-41080

4 Things To Consider Before Tapping Into Retirement Funds

4 Things To Consider Before Tapping Into Retirement Funds

Josephine Nesbit   Sun, March 22,   GoBankingRates

There’s a great deal of planning that goes into retirement, especially when it comes to deciding if, when and how to tap into your nest egg. Assessing your retirement fund is more than just covering your expenses. It can also affect your taxes, long-term income and investment growth.

Whether you’re approaching retirement age or considering withdrawals earlier than planned, here are several things to consider before tapping into your retirement funds.

What Are Your Needs?

Before tapping into your retirement funds, ask yourself how much you actually need and if it’s necessary.

According to the 2025 Annual Retirement Study from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement, 64% of Americans worry more about running out of money than death. Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life, noted that a strong retirement strategy can help address how long savings need to last.

Once funds are withdrawn from retirement accounts, it may be difficult or impossible to replace them. Modest withdrawals, if repeated over time or taken earlier than planned, can also shorten a portfolio’s life span.

What Are Your Sources of Income?

What are your predictable sources of income outside of your retirement accounts? This could be Social Security, pensions, part-time work or other income streams.

Social Security is often the baseline for guaranteed retirement income, helping cover essential expenses. While $2,071 per month, which is the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit for January 2026, per the Social Security Administration, doesn’t replace a full paycheck, it can help you reduce the amount you need to withdraw from retirement savings.

How Does Your Investment Mix Affect Your Withdrawal Rate?

To Continue and Read More:  https://www.yahoo.com/finance/markets/articles/4-things-consider-tapping-retirement-144905486.html

3 Mistakes That Wipe Out Million-Dollar Nest Eggs

 3 Mistakes That Wipe Out Million-Dollar Nest Eggs, According to a CFP

Jake Safane   Sat, March 21, 2026   GoBankingRates

For many people, reaching $1 million or more in retirement savings sounds like a surefire way to retire comfortably. But before you start dreaming of carefree golden years, it’s important to understand that million-dollar nest eggs can easily be wiped out by simple mistakes.

The problem usually isn’t blowing through your retirement savings by buying a yacht the day you leave your job, or seeing all your investments wiped out from a stock market crash. There are ways to prevent these types of mishaps, like through diversification, adjusting investment risk as you age and knowing what you can afford.

Still, some less flashy issues can easily bring down your retirement plan. In a recent YouTube video on his Retirement Made Simple channel, Kevin Lum, a certified financial planner (CFP) and founder of Foundry Financial, shared the following three mistakes to watch out for.

1. Not Planning for Long-Term Care

The first mistake to avoid, according to Lum, is not accounting for the cost of long-term care. This could be factoring in the cost of long-term care insurance, along with expectations of uninsured costs.

While it’s not easy to know exactly what care you’ll need, you don’t want to ignore the issue altogether. Working with a financial planner, you might be able to more accurately model how much to budget, based on factors like your age, health history and insurance.

But if you ignore the issue altogether, that can be expensive. Around 70% of adults age 65+ will need long-term care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and they’ll need this care for about three years.

A Schwab analysis, based on Genworth data and this three-year timescale, then suggests that a retiree now might need to budget $226,512 for an in-home health aide or $350,400 for a private room in a nursing home, and those costs could significantly increase in future years.

So, that could take a big bite out of a million-dollar nest egg, especially if you end up on the high side of the average.

2. Not Planning for Cognitive Decline

Another big issue is not planning for cognitive decline, noted Lum.

He pointed to research from economist Lewis Mandell that financial abilities peak at around age 53 before declining. And while there’s some nuance there, like with investment knowledge peaking around age 70, this still means that many retirees have to face the uncomfortable truth that they’ll be less equipped to make financial decisions later in life, explained Lum.

To Continue and Read More:  https://www.yahoo.com/finance/markets/articles/3-mistakes-wipe-million-dollar-125304222.html

10 Frugal Lessons I Learned From Being Flat Out Broke

10 Frugal Lessons I Learned From Being Flat Out Broke

By Michelle   Saving Money   Invested Wallet

During the years I attended college, and shortly afterward, when I was about 21-22 years old, I was flat out broke. I was living in the middle of a big city all by myself and paying my bills on a server’s salary. I had zero savings and was living paycheck to paycheck just to get by; frugal living was a necessity.

To paint you a better picture of my situation, allow me to elaborate.

My Apartment 

My apartment was old, tiny, lacked air conditioning, and had bars on the windows. It sat right on the edge of downtown–I could either walk right out of my doorway toward one of the best hospitals in the area or left into a lion’s den of run down and disheveled housing, loiterers clearly up to no good, and bars on the window of every business along the sidewalk.

The drain in the bathtub was often clogged, and I usually ended up taking some sort of disgusting, lukewarm bath/shower hybrid every time I wanted to get clean. The sink in the kitchen had to be fixed multiple times before it functioned properly. I had no microwave–just a very small and very old oven.

Speaking of things I didn’t have — furniture. I had no furniture, save for a cheap Ikea armchair, an old wooden table with two chairs that came free from my Grandma’s house, and a mattress that I had classily placed directly on the floor of my bedroom.

My extremely small TV and a DVD player had been gifted to me by a previous boyfriend. They were propped up on top of a crate which also sat on the floor. I had one or two plastic shelving/drawer units scattered around to hold random things like shampoo bottles and bars of soap. My apartment was depressing, at best.

I would venture to guess that most would have considered it unlivable upon seeing it in all of its glory. Back in those days, I was taking frugal living to an extreme — and not because I wanted to. I was just completely and helplessly flat out broke.

10 Frugal Lessons I Learned From Being Flat Out Broke

1. I Can Live Without Things, but Not Without People

Surprisingly enough, my biggest problem was not that I had practically no money or objects to my name, but that I had virtually no friends. Meeting people in a big city is hard, especially if you don’t have the money to hang out in bars, museums, or wherever else you go to meet people.

Obviously, there are free ways to meet people — but I didn’t know what they were. I had spent most of my teenage and college years playing team sports, where friendship came with being teammates, and I had no idea how to go about meeting new people.

As a result, I ended up spending most of my time alone, which I do enjoy and certainly miss now that I have had children and sacrificed any sort of alone time I ever had. (Seriously, why do your kids want to watch you pee?) Despite that, being alone pretty much all the time can get a bit overwhelming after a while, even for the introvert’iest of introverts.

Eventually, I began to long for more people in my life, but I can’t remember ever wishing I had more things to fill my empty apartment. More relationships would have been enough for me.

2. Living Above Your Means Is Even More Stressful Than It Is Stupid

The reason I ultimately decided to move back home from my apartment in the city was a mix of loneliness and fatigue. I was tired of worrying if I was going to be able to pay my rent every month. I was tired of not being able to take a single day off of work, even if I was sick because missing one day of tips would send me straight into the red for the month’s bills.

Working just to live is exhausting. At some point it just became silly. I couldn’t even afford to go out and do any of the stupid fun things that the kids my age were doing. Why was I punishing myself and my finances when I had a warm, comfortable, and (most importantly) free home to go live in? My parents would have loved for me to move back home, so what was I waiting for?

After all, what is the point of living in a big bustling city if you can’t afford any of the bustles?

3. Frugal Things Are Fun Too

I had three main sources of entertainment when I lived in the city: people watching, going to the library, and feeding the ducks. I was basically an 80-year-old man trapped in a 22-year-old girl’s body.

People Watching

I often found myself jogging or walking around the city, both for exercise and just to see what was going on that day. My favorite area to go for prime people-watching was High Street, downtown’s main drag. Walking those sidewalks, I frequently wondered if it had been named for the state of the people who traveled it on foot.

City people are a different breed of people. They are exciting, outgoing, flamboyant, and just plain entertaining. So much different than the buttoned-up small-town folk that I grew up around. I found endless entertainment, just walking down the sidewalks, and observing. Never paid a dime for it either.

To Continue and Read More:  https://investedwallet.com/frugal-lessons-i-learned-from-being-flat-out-broke/