Daily Archives: December 9, 2019

It takes a lot of diligence and dedication to retire early as a self-made millionaire.

Some have done it as young as 28, while others achieve financial independence in their 50s. Either way, early retirement isn't a feat everyone can manage.

As the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement has grown, Business Insider has spoken with many early retirees. They tend to share some common habits that helped them get to where they are today and maintain their financial independence.

Early retirees typically begin on the same path: assessing their financial state, cutting back on expenses, and diligently tracking their progress and spending habits. Once retired, they tend to spend even less and often move to areas with a lower cost of living, focusing on experiences and living a life they love filled with hobbies and travel.

Here are 17 habits of self-made millionaires who retired early.

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17 habits of self-made millionaires who retired early - Business Insider

If you search the internet looking for how much cash you need to retire, you'll find estimates ranging from $1 millionto $10 million. That's about as helpful as a mechanical pencil with no lead, particularly if your retirement savings are currently well short of seven figures.

A definitive, realistic savings target for retirement is the cornerstone of your long-term savings plan. Without it, you're flying blind. So grab some lead for that pencil and let's figure out what your magic number is.

Image source: Getty Images.

As a first step, you should understand a concept called the 4% rule. Financial experts say that in retirement you can safely withdraw about 4% of your savings each year. If you have $1 million in your retirement plans,you can live off $40,000 annually. At that rate, your risk of running dry is very low. In later years, you can adjust that figure up for inflation.

The 4% rule is not an exact science. It doesn't account for volatility in the market or your unique financial situation. But it is useful to make ballpark estimates. Know that the numbers will be starting points for retirement planning, and will require adjustment as your finances evolve.

Before you pull out your calculator, think about the lifestyle that you want in retirement. There is an early retirement movement called FIRE, or Financial Independence Retire Early. Proponents of FIRE save high percentages of their incomes so they can retire before reaching 50. There is a caveat, though, and it involves lifestyle. Successful FIRE households live very frugally, which allows them to stretch $1 million in savings out for 40 or 50 years.

If that's your retirement outlook, awesome. You might consider moving to a city with a low cost of living, such as El Paso, Texas. According to a Move.org study, monthly living expenses in El Paso are just under $1,200. That means you could get by on less than $20,000 a year in income, assuming you have no debt. Using the 4% rule -- $20,000 divided by 4% -- you can translate that into total retirement savings of $500,000.And if you qualify for Social Security benefits, you'd need to save up even less.

But maybe you don't want to live out your days in El Paso, eating a brown bag lunchand walking around the park for fun. In that case, use your current lifestyle as a benchmark. Add up your living expenses for a year, and then make some adjustments based on your ideal retirement lifestyle. Will you drive less because you're not going to work? Gas expenses go down. Will you travel more? Vacation expenses go up. Don't forget to include income taxesplus any costs currently covered by your employer. Healthcare costs deserve their own discussion, so we'll talk about those below.

Once you have your annual expense total, divide it by 4% to find your ballpark retirement savings target. If your annual number is $75,000, for example, you'd need roughly $1.875 million to support your lifestyle for 30 years. That assumes no Social Security income.

You can account for Social Security by estimating your annual benefit by making a my Social Security account and subtracting your estimated benefit amount from $75,000. Then divide the result by 4% again to get your savings number. Say your Social Security benefit will be $12,000 annually. Your savings then need to support annual living expenses of $63,000, which brings your target savings goal down to $1.575 million.

Want to take a guess at what you might spend on healthcare costs in retirement? Here's a hint: It will be way more than what you spend on healthcare today. Fidelity estimated that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2019 will spend $285,000 on medical costs in retirement. And consulting firmMilliman expects those expenses to be $369,000.

Before you disregard those figures as ridiculous, consider that a private room in a nursing home sets you back about $8,500 a month. And the cost of a full-time home health aide can be upwards of $4,000 monthly. One health setback can quickly turn into a pretty major financial setback.

Plan for healthcare costs by adding $250,000 to $350,000 to your target retirement number.

Debt repayments can skew your retirement planning because they're temporary. When we used the 4% rule above, we assumed the $75,000 in expenses would be necessary for the rest of your life. But that's not the case if $6,000 of that $75,000 is for debt payments. Once you pay off those debts, that expense goes away.

If you do have credit card balances, car payments, or personal loans, pay those off before you're done working. Same goes for the mortgage if you can swing it. Then recalculate your living expenses again, and the picture will look much brighter.

Your number crunching may reveal that you can live exactly until age 87. But consider your family and what you'd like to leave for them. At a minimum, plan on covering your own funeral expenses. But you could also think about things like college funds for the grandkids or ongoing care for a relative with special needs.

You could bequeath your home or other property to your loved ones for those purposes. Life insurance might be an option, too, if the costs aren't prohibitive. Or you could simply work an extra few years and save more. If you like the last option, increase your target retirement savings number accordingly.

Knowing roughly how much savings you need to retire is the first and most important step of retirement planning. Your next move is to ratchet up your savings, which may feel like you're running a marathon. But just keeping putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll be amazed how much distance you can cover.

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These 5 Factors Will Tell You How Much You Really Need to Retire - The Motley Fool

We live in a world where information has been transformed into one of the worlds most precious commodities. Data is a significant driver of our economies and the backbone of the worlds most powerful technology companies.

Tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google have consolidated their data-driven empires and expanded into new markets, where data fuels everything from dating apps and cloud gaming to automated shopping and online payments.

The cities of the future are also being built on data. These arent Jetsons-esque leaps to flying cars and robot assistants, but subtly significant changes to the hidden infrastructure and advanced systems that make cities work for millions of people every day.

Street sensors that reduce collisions and congestion, heated sidewalks that melt snow, buildings that predict when to heat, cool, and illuminate rooms, emergency and social services that know when and where people need helpthese are the kind of urban improvements made possible when data about the behavior of people and objects is collected.

Image: Sidewalk Toronto

The debate around ethical use of personal data in civic development is affecting local communities and global markets, and its heating up. Its been at the heart of the Sidewalk Labs smart city experiment in Toronto, the city where I live and work. The project, owned by Googles parent company Alphabet Inc., was announced 18 months ago with a proposal to build a $1.3 billion data-driven model smart city on a 12-acre waterfront land parcel known as Quayside. It has since been plagued by resignations, firings, civic resistance, legal action, and significant public concern. Waterfront Toronto, the tri-government body tasked with overseeing the project, stiffened its negotiating stance and on Oct. 31 pushed Sidewalk Labs to offer a deal with better terms for Torontonians on data governance and profit sharing, among other issues.

Public sector and tech community leaders around the globe have been watching. But while representatives of the city of Toronto held its own and reps from Sidewalk Labs listened to public pushback, the first-order question remains:

How can cities around the world benefit from data-enabled technologies without sacrificing privacy?

Privacy paranoia, or surveillance capitalism?

My job is to think about the future of smart cities. In Toronto, Ive worked with city, provincial, and federal governments, startups, corporates, academics, and civic activists to find workable solutions to this wicked question. Together, weve been able to map some of the uncharted territory between the polarizing extremes of privacy paranoia and surveillance capitalism.

Here are some significant challenges, along with the seeds of possible solutions, that Sidewalk Labs provocation has elicited from Torontos data experts.

Meaningful consent in the public realm is currently impossible

Unlike an app, streets and parks cant require their users to check a dialog box consenting to how their personal information will be used before granting access. In public spaces where personal information is collectedtake video footage that records peoples faces in a crowdthere is no easy way for people to opt out of giving their consent. Former Ontario privacy commissioner Anne Cavoukian has an answer to this: Privacy By Design, an international standard she pioneered.

When data collection is minimized and de-identified (the process of anonymizing data) at source, the risk of privacy violations can be dramatically reduced. And when no personal information is collected, consent is not required.

The most valuable insights require access to personal information

De-identifying data at source eases many privacy concerns, but it also strips the data of its most valuable details. Its a bit like building a powerful telescope to see far into space, only to put frosted glass over the lens. University of Toronto professors David Lie and Lisa Austin have proposed a solution in what they call safe sharing sites, a type of technical and legal interface for privacy-protective sharing of personal information.

The trick they propose is to encrypt personal information in a way that preserves the ability to run queries on the encrypted data. Analysts can ask questions that link together personal data, but they only ever see anonymized, aggregated results. All the questions and answers are recorded, creating an audit trail that allows regulators and courts to inspect how the data has been used and to penalize misuse.

Privacy laws are inadequate

Canadas current privacy laws were passed between 1983 and 1990, before Google, Facebook, big data and the Internet of Things. Meaning our current laws and policies are founded on strong principles, but they are in need of a significant refresh.

Digital strategies are under review in all three levels of Canadas government, but policy change is slow, and smart city technologies change much faster. Kristina Verner, vice president at Waterfront Toronto, has suggested a solution in the form of Intelligent Community Guidelines. Modelled after Waterfront Torontos highly successful Minimum Green Building Requirements, the guidelines would set a new standard for responsible data use that conforms with and exceeds all existing privacy legislation. The guideline terms would be developed based on feedback from public consultation, and enforced through contract law.

Legitimate institutions capable of city-scale data governance do not yet exist

In the wake of Cambridge Analytica, citizens are far less trusting of big tech to control their data. Privacy advocates are equally concerned with concentrating citizen data under government control, with warnings of something that could look like Chinas controversial social credit scoring system.

Who decides what data is collected, who it is shared with, and for what uses? My team at MaRSthe largest innovation hub in North America has proposed a new kind of organization: a civic digital trust. Such a body would be characterized by its political and financial independence, democratic legitimacy, fiduciary duty to city residents, and technical capacity to securely share data. Residents would form citizen assemblies to deliberate on allowable public benefit uses of city data. The civic digital trust would also ensure that the benefits of smart city data were equitably distributed to all.

There may be no silver bullet solution, but each of these seeds of solutions have shown early promise. To build on these smaller successes, we may at least have some form of silver buckshot: a portfolio of small and mutually reinforcing experiments in data governance that each solve into different aspects of the challenge.

But we cant afford to shoot first and ask questions later. Experimenting in the cities where we live, work and play demands the highest ethical standards, careful experimental design, safe-to-fail experimental sandboxes, and independent monitoring and evaluation. Nor can these experiments be carried out in isolation if the bigger data governance challenge is to be solved.

Solutions need to be developed and tested together, and in combination with other solutions from around the world.

Just as important as what is tested is who is at the table. If Sidewalk Labs has taught us anything, its that citizens need a central role in setting the agenda and a meaningful role in evaluating data governance solutions. Governments need deeper tech expertise and greater capacity in data governance and regulatory innovation to act as leaders in shaping our future cities. Developers need to operate with unprecedented transparency, openness, and responsiveness to gain and maintain the social license to operate.The Quayside initiative will continue to spin off lessons for cities around the world as it winds its way through evaluations and consultations toward a possible approval at the end of March 2020and almost certainly for years afterward.

One of the most important takeaways may be the development of a playbook for trusted data sharing based on a coordinated campaign of civic-public-private experimentation.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Written by

Alex Ryan, VP of systems innovation and program director, MaRS Solutions Lab

This article is published in collaboration with Quartz.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Can smart cities help their residents without hurting their privacy? - World Economic Forum

A woman signs a check at a restaurant in New Orleans. Nearly 70% of millennial women have experienced financial abuse by a romantic partner. That means, for every 10 women you know in that age group, odds are that seven of them have had a partner use money to control or manipulate them, according to a 2017 survey of 2,000 people ages 18-35 by CentSai, a financial wellness website.(Photo: Jenny Kane, AP)

These letters were published in the Dec. 8 print edition of the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Among the different ways people in relationships are abused, financial abuse is one form that is rarely spoken of. Financial abuse occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases. While it varies in each case, financial abuse can present itself through limiting daily spending, sabotaging employment or education, causing debt, preventing financial account access, or simply stealing money. These tactics are used to control and intimidate a partner into staying in the relationship. Although it is commonly seen in cases of domestic violence, it can also occur alone. Research shows financial abuse is one of the reasons victims are not able to leave abusive relationships. There are people who think it is simple to walk away, however, there are several underlying things such as these that prevent victims from doing so.

Further, financial abuse can have an impact that lasts for years depending on legal issues and prevent financial independence, or long-term security for the victim. That being said, more people should be knowledgeable of this control tactic in relationships. Knowing the signs of financial abuse can help allies give support to victims through emotional support, but also to direct them to available resources, both local and/or national. Finally, understanding the different forms of abuse can help voters this season make informed decisions on using legislation to help support survivors once out of abusive relationships, such as VAWA4ALL.

Rebecca Villanueva, Las Cruces

Recently, our TV screens have been bombarded with negative political ads demanding that Xochitl Torres Small vote against impeachment so that the president can get back to "working for you;"one would assume that means working for ordinary Americans. Two out-of-state PACs are funding these ads: the American Action Network and the Presidential Coalition. Both are "dark money" organizations, which means their donors can remain anonymous. Moreover, each was formed soon after the landmark Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision allowed unlimited election spending by corporations .

The nefariousness of the Presidential Coalition is best left for a separate letter; suffice it to say that in May of this year, even the Trump organization suggested the Coalition be investigated (Swan, Jonathan. "Trump campaign wants David Bossie's organization investigated." AXIOS, May 8, 2019). Let us instead focus our attention on AAN.

The watchdog organization Issue One has unearthed many of American Action Network's principal donors. Millions have been given to AAN by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and Aetna Insurance. Hundreds of thousands have been give by Crossroads GPS (founded by Karl Rove, who wrote the book on reaping political benefit from fostering divisiveness), and additional hundreds of thousands have been given by the American Petroleum Institute and Boeing.

Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Oil do these anti-impeachment Trump supporters sound like your friends and neighbors? Should we support the man who is obviously being supported by them? Before we are all seduced by these slick ads, it is wise to "follow the money."

Robert Wilson, Silver City

I was truly amazed by the latest column by Madeline Sanchez. She is listed as a nurse, but clearly, as this column shows, she must be a theoretical physicist of extraordinary ability. How else can one explain the alternative universe she lives in other than by proving the existence of parallel universes?

In her universe, Donald Trump is a disrupter and that is the reason he was elected and also the reason he is hated and reviled among those (sic) want to retain the status quo. In my universe, he is reviled because he is a serial liar with a narcissistic personality disorder who has destroyed years of careful diplomacy with no clear replacement for this destruction other than nationalistic hogwash. He is hated because he is the hater in chief who attacks without evidence or merit anyone who speaks again him. In my universe, most terror attacks of late have been by right wing adherents spouting support for Trumps policy of hate, notthe antifa groups roaming the streets who populate Ms Sanchez universe.

Finally, Ms Sanchez asks that we focus our attention on the true meaning of Christmas love for one another, indeed even our enemies.I agree. Perhaps Ms Sanchez can find the will to cross the boundary from her alternative universe into the here and now, recognize the hate and sheer incompetence flowing from the White House, call it for what it is, and truly recognize the message of Christmas Peace on earth, good will to men.

Steve McLary, Las Cruces

One of the biggest problems we face in the US is plastic pollution. 9.1 US tons of plastic has been produced since the 1950s. 100 billion bags are used by Americans every year. Because of plastic bags, New Mexico's rivers and national monuments have been polluted. This affects not only the environment but the community of New Mexico since our state attractions are one of the biggest sources of income. The economy gets 6.6 billion of its money from tourism alone.

My solution to the problem is to expand New Mexico's plastic ban to the whole state instead of only Sante Fe. Paper bags will still be available for the tourists who aren't able to use reusable bags but the paper bags will have 5- to 7-cent tax when purchasing them in any store. The tax will apply to all customers using paper except those who have benefits such as SNAP, WIC, etc. In these cases the tax will be covered.

I would also like to expand the program that Santa Fe has where they offer free reusable bags for anyone. Places will be located in cities of New Mexico where people can go to to get the bags so they don't have to buy them out of pocket, this will be possible from the funds we receive from the tax on paper bags.

The ban has been in motion for fove years now and according to an article from NM News Port written by Hayley Estrada and Steven DeAnda, retailers from Sante Fe mention how there has been a significant change to people using reusable bags. More reusable bags will lead to less pollution in our environment, protecting our income, our wildlife, and our environment.

Adrianna Melon-Lujan, Las Cruces

Recently, the El Paso Independent School District experienced the loss of a parent and a 7-year-old girl based on unsafe school zones and reckless drivers. Safety precautions need to be thought of very thoroughly and police presence in school zones should be increased immediately so that incidents such as these can be avoided at all costs.

We need to consider the safety precautions that are already in place and evaluate if they are enough to keep the school zone safe. For example, speed reductions need to be made more apparent for any driver on the street to see. This can include an increase in appropriate signage to alert drivers and also appropriate traffic lights.

I urge the community to begin alerting the local planning and zoning commission of these safety concerns and have legal action done to enforce traffic changes that would make school zones safer for parents and children. Another added benefit to school zones would be to implement properly trained crosswalk guards. The development of a training course for hired cross guards would allow for more qualified guards and therefore a safer school zone. These are the things the city of Las Cruces should consider to makes school zones safer for parents, children, and drivers.

Kaitlyn Jurgens, Rio Rancho

Diane Greenholdt's anger (Letters to the Editor, 4 Dec.) is understandable How long will the Republican Party keep changing diapers in the crib now called the White House?(Yet USA Today should not be blamed;reporting is their duty.By doing so, journalists are exposing the human stupidity.)

Ken Kawata, Las Cruces

Kudos to the mayor and council for approving money to start the process for a new mental health hospital!! Mental illness will be considered the number 1 disability worldwide in 2020 according to Clubhouse International!

Pamela Field, Las Cruces

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Letters to the editor: On financial abuse - Las Cruces Sun-News