A couple of weeks ago I talked with you about how college is becoming free. If you want to hear that bit, the link to it is in today's show notes. Dozens of colleges and universities, as I've told you, are making college free these days for low-income families. A lot of states are now doing that, too, and not just for low-income households, but for middle class families, too. And hundreds of companies are now paying for college for their employees. It's the newest employee benefit. So I said, you really need to rethink your college planning strategy if college is going to be free. Do you still need to save for college? Well, guess what? Thanks to Congress (who loves to give freebies away to voters), yes, saving for college just might still make sense, even if you never have to pay for college, even if your kids never go to college.

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Links from today's show:

SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022

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Look, we all know that lots of studies have found that highly processed foods raise the risk that you'll suffer obesity, diabetes, even cancer. Well, now a new study says processed foods also increase your risk of dementia.

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Links from today's show:

New study says eating ultra-processed food might lead to cognitive decline

Common viruses may play a role in some cases of Alzheimer's disease

Research shows that early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline

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It's Friday, February 17th. And today, I want to talk with you about connections. No, not not the touchy feely stuff. And no, not who knows who and who can get stuff done and stuff like that. No, I'm talking literally connections: connectivity--the technical aspect of this, because if you can't connect with the person you're trying to connect with, then nothing happens. Connectivity is everything these days.

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Links from today's show:

Unchained Podcast with Laura Shin

Charting Disruption: Custom Content from WSJ and Global X ETFs present a guide to the trends, technologies, and bold ideas transforming our world -- and what's next

Global X ETFs Internet of Things ETF

Self-Care with Jean Edelman Podcast

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It's Thursday, February 16th. We've been talking about scams the past couple of days. Crypto has gotten a lot of criticism lately about scams, even though all the evidence shows you're no more likely to get scammed in crypto than you are in any other asset class. Crooks are crooks. But there's a really interesting story in Forbes - which is the bigger scam: crypto fraud or the lack of transparency at our nation's public pension plans? According to Anessa Santos, public pension funds are the bigger scam. The reason, she says, public plans have been promising all of us that you contribute a portion of your pay to the plan while you're working and you get guaranteed lifetime income throughout your retirement. But that's a lie, she says. And I agree with her.

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Links from today's show:

Forbes: Pension Funds or Cryptocurrency, What's the Bigger Scam?

The Reason Foundation: Unfunded public pension liabilities are forecast to rise to $1.3 trillion in 2022

U.S. Dept. of Labor: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Pew: State Pension Contributions Hit Important Benchmark

Who Stole My Pension by Robert Kiyosaki & Edward Siedle

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It's Wednesday, February 15th. Yesterday, we talked about scams. There's another big scam worth covering, only I don't see many in the media calling it a scam.

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Links from today's show:

WSJ: Six Takeaways From WSJ's Investigation Into the Stock Trades of Government Officials

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It's Tuesday, February 14. Another day, another scam.

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It's Monday, February 13th. I've got a difficult conversation to have with you today. Difficult because it's a touchy subject and I need to choose my words very carefully.

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It's Friday, February 10th. We're living in a digital world these days. No surprise there. It means there's a new threat to our way of life. Cyber-attacks.

Cyber-attacks are growing in number and size. At the World Economic Forum this year, 39% of companies said they have suffered collateral damage from cyber-attacks. 90% of these companies are concerned about future attacks. I don't have to tell you, things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad.

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Links from today's show:

Webinar replay: What's Next for Crypto in 2023

Self-Care with Jean Edelman Podcast on YouTube

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The past couple of days I've been talking with you about retirement, how to calculate in about 30 seconds how much money you're going to need and what to do when you get laid off in your 50s and 60s and you find yourself getting discriminated against because of ageism. Now, I want to talk with you about a related topic, Social Security.

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Links from today's show:

WSJ Op-Ed by Andrew Biggs

The Must-Read Kevin McCarthy Quote on Social Security

A desperate plea - then race for a deal before 'sucker goes down'

Webinar replay: What's Next for Crypto in 2023

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It's Wednesday, February 8th. Yesterday, I talked about the fact that you'll likely need millions of dollars in savings in order to retire in financial comfort. That raised a question from William in Albuquerque. He sent me an email that said the following:

"Ric, no one wants to confront age discrimination. I think it's a potentially huge obstacle to anyone's efforts to achieve financial independence by retirement. I lost my well-paid job at 58 and I went to an unemployment seminar that was sponsored by the state of New Mexico, and the presenter said if you're over 40, getting a new job that is equivalent to the job you just lost is improbable, if not impossible..."

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Links from today's show:

Replay of Feb. 7 Webinar, What's Next for Crypto in 2023

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