Here’s What a $1 Million Retirement Looks Like in America

Once a symbol of extravagant wealth, $1 million is now the retirement-savings goal for millions of Americans. For retirees able to accumulate $1 million in savings, the funds translate into inflation-...

Are high-deductible health plans worth it? Here’s who can benefit the most.

Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh financial decisions. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. A...

10 ways American finances actually improved in 2022, despite high interest rates and a slump in stocks

Many Americans are ending the year feeling gloomy about their finances, and you don’t need to be a psychiatrist to figure out why. Runaway inflation gnawed through household budgets as prices soared o...

The bright side of the chip glut: Nvidia, AMD and Intel gaming cards are cheap and very available for Christmas

Plenty of gamers have woken up on Christmas morning in the past two years feeling disappointed that there wasn’t a gaming card under the tree — the gear was too often unavailable, or selling for much ...

Cheap? Maybe. But These Stocks Have Been Dead Money for Decades.

Cheesecake Factory appears to be “running the same play,” wrote J.P. Morgan analyst John Ivankoe in a recent restaurant industry outlook. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment—the stock, he noted,...

Carnival stock is suffering its worst year on record, but looks ‘overly compelling’ to this analyst

Shares of Carnival Corp. have had a really bad year, even worse than the pandemic year of 2020. And that’s what makes Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steven Wieczynski believe the stock is now “overly compell...

This 28-year-old negotiated her pay to $500,000 — and found work-life balance

After growing her salary from $100,000 to $500,000 over a five-year period through switching jobs and negotiating, Amy, now 28, wanted the kind of work-life balance that would allow her to spend more ...

New electric car buying incentives kick in Jan. 1, and a lot has changed. Here’s an explainer.

Congress changed the rules governing electric car tax credits over the summer, but the changes didn’t immediately take effect. Some will kick in soon, while others will taper in over time. The evolvin...

Moving into a retirement community, how to know when you have enough saved, the best RMD strategies and more retirement news

From MarketWatch Retirement:  How much should you have saved for retirement? Aim for these age-related benchmarks as you save for retirement. These are the top 10 mistakes people make when planning fo...

How much should you have saved for retirement?

When I was in my 20s, I was lucky to work for a company that offered a pension plan—and that put me on the road to retirement. Today, unfortunately, company pensions are rare. How can you ensure a com...

AMD Is Morgan Stanley’s Top Chip Stock Pick for Next Year

Morgan Stanley says Advanced Micro Devices stock is providing an attractive buying opportunity on the back of its strong lineup of server processors. On Thursday, semiconductor analyst Joseph Moore ma...

SEC alleges $100 million stock manipulation scheme via social media

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against eight individuals who allegedly earned $100 million via stock manipulation. Charges were filed against social-media users including E...

Vanguard sees a recession in 2023 — and one ‘silver lining’ for investors

The last 12 months was a year of fast-rising inflation, fast-rising interest rates and fast-rising questions about a future recession. Prices went up while stock markets and savings account balances w...

Short selling giant Jim Chanos is still short on Coinbase, Tesla and the FOMO-investment market

Short selling giant Jim Chanos is still pretty bearish on a number of stocks including Coinbase and Tesla, he said on Thursday. In a Twitter Spaces conversation, Chanos was asked about the FTX fiasco ...

Inflation Is Forcing Many Retirees to Put Long-Awaited Plans on Hold—Again

Brenda Dickason dreamed of traveling to Europe in retirement. Instead, the former teacher and police detective spent 2022 watching TV with her husband at their Tucson, Ariz., home and selling homemade...

I sold my late mother’s home for $250,000. I make $80,000 and have $220,000 in student debt. I want to buy a house. Should I use all my inheritance for a down payment?

My mom passed away, and left me her house, which I just sold and will net $250,000. I’m 41 years old with no real retirement savings. I make $80,000 a year, and I am maxing out contributions to my emp...

If you’re over 72 with an IRA, make sure you do this before the year ends

If you’re 72 or older, you have a crucial financial deadline approaching. By year-end, owners of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) who are 72 or older must take their required minimum distribution...

Norwegian Stock Is a Buy, Royal Caribbean Is a Sell, Says Analyst. Here’s Why.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has strong growth opportunities, while Royal Caribbean Group will be dealing with near-term funding requirements, according to a J.P. Morgan analyst. Daniel Adam assumed...

Opinion: Microsoft invested in an AI system that helped me write this column about Tesla

Can an artificial intelligence system help me write articles about investment ideas? Let’s find out. There are two subjects I would like to cover. But I will have help, and as a result there is a thir...

Why this cruise stock remains JPMorgan’s favorite as leisure travel keeps roaring

The outlook for cruise stocks is still “more positive than not,” according to JPMorgan analyst Daniel Adam, but given macroeconomic and financial concerns in the sector, not all names are worth buying...

Cryptocurrency investor losses are being turned into IRS gains — here’s how they’re doing it

The Internal Revenue Service has been turning up its scrutiny on cryptocurrency investors in recent years, and as that happens, more investors have been turning to the tax code’s rules on investment l...

This one great idea can make everyone better with money, older Americans say

Surveys regularly show that older Americans have regrets about lots of things — working too much, choosing the wrong partner, not taking care of their health, etc. There are often financial regrets to...

FTX collapse hits Winklevoss twins with $900M of their customers’ money frozen

Add the Winklevoss twins to the growing list of crypto evangelists feeling the heat following the multi-billion dollar collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Cameron Winklevoss said Monday that ...

Why Splunk Stock Is Worth a Look

These reports, excerpted and edited by Barron’s, were issued recently by investment and research firms. The reports are a sampling of analysts’ thinking; they should not be considered the views or rec...

Moving is not fun. When you’re older, it’s even worse.

Almost everyone who completes a move and settles into their new place sighs and says, “That’s the last time I’m moving.” There’s no research to prove that. But who doesn’t dread moving? It’s stressful...

Opinion: 4 numbers retirement savers need to know heading into 2023

The past couple of years have been challenging for almost everyone invested in stocks or bonds, including anyone saving for retirement through employer-sponsored plans. With markets down across the bo...

‘I wish someone had warned me not to take my current job.’ 1 in 5 employees now reports being ‘miserable’ at work. Sound familiar? If so, this may be the No. 1 money move to make now

Workers are miserable these days Getty Images/iStockphoto Nearly 1 in 5 workers reports being miserable at work, according to Gallup’s recent “State of the Global Workplace: 2022.” And a global study ...

Buying a Car Now? How to Score a Deal With High Prices and Loan Rates Going Up.

Car buyers just can’t catch a break these days. Vehicle prices climbed sharply during the pandemic, and now the cost of financing a new set of wheels is going up. Even if prices ease, interest rates o...

‘Most economists are predicting a recession in 2023’: I own a rental property. Is it a good time to take out a bank loan and renovate — or should I wait?

Dear MarketWatch, Along with a sibling, I own a rental property of more than 40 rooms in the Caribbean, where we do weekly rentals.  It’s near downtown but in need of repairs and renovation.  Is this ...

Apple iPhone wait times have doubled in 4 weeks to 38 days, UBS says

It’s too late to buy an Apple iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max in time for Christmas, as supply disruptions have caused wait times to double over the past four weeks, according to UBS research. As a result, i...

New CIO Wants Cisco to Be a Model for Hybrid Work

Fletcher Previn, Cisco Systems Inc.’s new chief information officer, said he is working to help position the networking-equipment maker as a leader in hybrid work. “Everybody being remote in the pande...