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From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

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6 hours ago

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From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. We adhere to strict standards of editorial integrity to help you make decisions with confidence. Some or all links contained within this article are paid links. You probably know the importance of retiring with a hefty, well-diversified portfolio of assets. But what if some of your assets are actually hidden liabilities? Here are the top seven tempting but deceptive money drains that you could trap yourself in before retirement. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has an important message for the next wave of American retirees — here's how he says you can best weather the US retirement crisis Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) If you're financially secure, splurging on your 'dream car' can be the ultimate temptation. But the average new car loses roughly 30% of its value within the first two years alone, according to Kelley Blue Book. New cars also often have higher insurance premiums compared to used cars. The depreciation rate slows down after those initial years, which means buying a modestly used car at an affordable price is a better way to secure your financial future. Plus, you can benefit from a lower insurance bill. According to a MarketWatch study, full-coverage insurance on new cars averages $168 per month, while used car owners typically pay $150 monthly. That means new car owners pay an extra $216 a year. You can lower your insurance premiums further by shopping around and comparing rates from leading providers through OfficialCarInsurance. Simply answer some basic questions about yourself, your driving history and the type of vehicle you drive then OfficialCarInsurance will show you rates from reputable insurance providers like GEICO, Allstate and Progressive. The best part? The process is completely free and won't affect your credit score. Get started and find rates as low as $29 per month. Buying a timeshare in Cabo Verde and spending your retirement on a beach is undoubtedly attractive, but there are caveats. Timeshare ownership involves steep initial costs, recurring maintenance fees, low resale potential and rigid usage schedules. On top of that, the secondary market is notoriously poor, and many owners struggle to exit their agreements. Instead of locking yourself into a timeshare, consider creating an annual travel fund for vacation rentals in your retirement plan. One option is opening a high-yield savings account. These plans can offer up to 10 times the national APY of 0.41%. There is a market for luxury collectibles such as vintage cars, designer handbags and luxury watches, but that doesn't mean a Rolex deserves a spot in your retirement portfolio. Collectors of all kinds can be fickle. What's considered valuable today may not be worth as much by the time you retire. Diamonds, for instance, were a popular collectible, but prices have declined by 26% in just the last two years, according to The Guardian. With that in mind, it might pay to avoid the glamorous and focus on safer investments like corporate bonds or dividend stocks. Investing small sums consistently can be rewarding, thanks to the benefits of compounding interest. For instance, investing $30 each week for a period of 20 years can add up to over $76,000, assuming it compounds at 8% annually. Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — Buying lottery tickets or going all in on a new cryptocurrency is rarely a good idea, regardless of your age. But the risks are magnified when you're older and approaching the end of your career. Instead of indulging in wishful thinking that a meme-coin or random penny stock is going to make you rich overnight, consider the safer path to retirement. Focus on assets that are relatively stable and can act as a hedge against inflation, like gold. A gold IRA can be a valuable tool — it combines the inflation-resistant properties of the precious metal with the tax advantages of an IRA. One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Thor Metals. Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to potentially hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainties. To learn more, you can get a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. Rental income from a robust portfolio of real estate is a great way to enhance your passive income in retirement. But if you're on a fixed income, you should recognize the fact that your capacity for risk is much lower. As a retired landlord, you can't afford a sudden housing market crash or interest rate volatility. One option to make your dollars stretch is to consider tapping into the $36 trillion U.S. home equity market by investing in home equity agreements (HEAs). Homeshares allows accredited investors to gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top cities across the country through their U.S. Home Equity Fund. This approach enables investors to unlock lucrative real estate opportunities without the headaches of buying, owning or managing properties. With risk-adjusted target returns ranging from 14% to 17%, the Homeshares U.S. Home Equity fund offers accredited investors a low-maintenance alternative to traditional property ownership. Despite what salesmen might say, whole life insurance isn't always the ideal retirement vehicle. These plans can usually be more expensive than term life insurance, and you have limited control over how the capital is invested. Instead, you could consider term life insurance that protects your loved ones if the worst comes to pass. With Ethos Insurance you can sign up and get instant life insurance without any medical exams or blood tests. The process takes just 10 minutes, and you can get up to $3 million in coverage starting at just $2 per day. Ethos has a 30-day free look period with a money-back guarantee, meaning you can get a full refund if you aren't satisfied. JPMorgan sees gold soaring to $6,000/ounce — use this 1 simple IRA trick to lock in those potential shiny gains (before it's too late) Are you rich enough to join the top 1%? Here's the net worth you need to rank among America's wealthiest — plus a few strategies to build that first-class portfolio You're probably already overpaying for this 1 'must-have' expense — and thanks to Trump's tariffs, your monthly bill could soar even higher. Here's how 2 minutes can protect your wallet right now Access to this $22.5 trillion asset class has traditionally been limited to elite investors — until now. Here's how to become the landlord of Walmart or Whole Foods without lifting a finger This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

Yahoo

8 hours ago

Yahoo

From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. We adhere to strict standards of editorial integrity to help you make decisions with confidence. Some or all links contained within this article are paid links. You probably know the importance of retiring with a hefty, well-diversified portfolio of assets. But what if some of your assets are actually hidden liabilities? Here are the top seven tempting but deceptive money drains that you could trap yourself in before retirement. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has an important message for the next wave of American retirees — here's how he says you can best weather the US retirement crisis Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) If you're financially secure, splurging on your 'dream car' can be the ultimate temptation. But the average new car loses roughly 30% of its value within the first two years alone, according to Kelley Blue Book. New cars also often have higher insurance premiums compared to used cars. The depreciation rate slows down after those initial years, which means buying a modestly used car at an affordable price is a better way to secure your financial future. Plus, you can benefit from a lower insurance bill. According to a MarketWatch study, full-coverage insurance on new cars averages $168 per month, while used car owners typically pay $150 monthly. That means new car owners pay an extra $216 a year. You can lower your insurance premiums further by shopping around and comparing rates from leading providers through OfficialCarInsurance. Simply answer some basic questions about yourself, your driving history and the type of vehicle you drive then OfficialCarInsurance will show you rates from reputable insurance providers like GEICO, Allstate and Progressive. The best part? The process is completely free and won't affect your credit score. Get started and find rates as low as $29 per month. Buying a timeshare in Cabo Verde and spending your retirement on a beach is undoubtedly attractive, but there are caveats. Timeshare ownership involves steep initial costs, recurring maintenance fees, low resale potential and rigid usage schedules. On top of that, the secondary market is notoriously poor, and many owners struggle to exit their agreements. Instead of locking yourself into a timeshare, consider creating an annual travel fund for vacation rentals in your retirement plan. One option is opening a high-yield savings account. These plans can offer up to 10 times the national APY of 0.41%. There is a market for luxury collectibles such as vintage cars, designer handbags and luxury watches, but that doesn't mean a Rolex deserves a spot in your retirement portfolio. Collectors of all kinds can be fickle. What's considered valuable today may not be worth as much by the time you retire. Diamonds, for instance, were a popular collectible, but prices have declined by 26% in just the last two years, according to The Guardian. With that in mind, it might pay to avoid the glamorous and focus on safer investments like corporate bonds or dividend stocks. Investing small sums consistently can be rewarding, thanks to the benefits of compounding interest. For instance, investing $30 each week for a period of 20 years can add up to over $76,000, assuming it compounds at 8% annually. Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — Buying lottery tickets or going all in on a new cryptocurrency is rarely a good idea, regardless of your age. But the risks are magnified when you're older and approaching the end of your career. Instead of indulging in wishful thinking that a meme-coin or random penny stock is going to make you rich overnight, consider the safer path to retirement. Focus on assets that are relatively stable and can act as a hedge against inflation, like gold. A gold IRA can be a valuable tool — it combines the inflation-resistant properties of the precious metal with the tax advantages of an IRA. One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Thor Metals. Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to potentially hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainties. To learn more, you can get a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. Rental income from a robust portfolio of real estate is a great way to enhance your passive income in retirement. But if you're on a fixed income, you should recognize the fact that your capacity for risk is much lower. As a retired landlord, you can't afford a sudden housing market crash or interest rate volatility. One option to make your dollars stretch is to consider tapping into the $36 trillion U.S. home equity market by investing in home equity agreements (HEAs). Homeshares allows accredited investors to gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top cities across the country through their U.S. Home Equity Fund. This approach enables investors to unlock lucrative real estate opportunities without the headaches of buying, owning or managing properties. With risk-adjusted target returns ranging from 14% to 17%, the Homeshares U.S. Home Equity fund offers accredited investors a low-maintenance alternative to traditional property ownership. Despite what salesmen might say, whole life insurance isn't always the ideal retirement vehicle. These plans can usually be more expensive than term life insurance, and you have limited control over how the capital is invested. Instead, you could consider term life insurance that protects your loved ones if the worst comes to pass. With Ethos Insurance you can sign up and get instant life insurance without any medical exams or blood tests. The process takes just 10 minutes, and you can get up to $3 million in coverage starting at just $2 per day. Ethos has a 30-day free look period with a money-back guarantee, meaning you can get a full refund if you aren't satisfied. JPMorgan sees gold soaring to $6,000/ounce — use this 1 simple IRA trick to lock in those potential shiny gains (before it's too late) Are you rich enough to join the top 1%? Here's the net worth you need to rank among America's wealthiest — plus a few strategies to build that first-class portfolio You're probably already overpaying for this 1 'must-have' expense — and thanks to Trump's tariffs, your monthly bill could soar even higher. Here's how 2 minutes can protect your wallet right now Access to this $22.5 trillion asset class has traditionally been limited to elite investors — until now. Here's how to become the landlord of Walmart or Whole Foods without lifting a finger This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

This corny ‘conservative credit card' ad signals a very scary future for AI

Yahoo

12 hours ago

Yahoo

This corny ‘conservative credit card' ad signals a very scary future for AI

A fresh glimpse at our AI-filled future arrived this week, in the form of an unmemorable ad by a company most people have never heard of. The ad is kind of flat and will probably scan as goofy to everyone outside its target demo, but don't write it off just yet: It could signal the beginning of some very big (and scary) changes. Why you're catching the 'ick' so easily, according to science Waymo is winning in San Francisco Supersonic air travel gets green light in U.S. after 50-year ban lifted The upstart fintech company Coign claims to be a 'conservative credit card company,' a distinction that boils down to the founders' pledge to never donate to liberal causes and candidates. And while that self-definition raises some questions, it pales in comparison to the actual ad. The 30-second clip is a patriotic parade of red-blooded, red-voting Americans boasting about recent Coign-fueled purchases such as deer-hunting gear, a stack of cartoonish gold bars, and the 'biggest American flag' available. But here's the most striking thing about the ad: All of those situations, and all of the actors, were created by AI. There's something a little off about Coign's ad, to be clear. The pacing of the phony satisfied customers' movements feels too jittery at times, and there's an eagle at the end that is not exactly natural looking. While the ad is spiritually the same AI slop as Shrimp Jesus, it doesn't carry the same overtly synthetic visuals. In that regard, it's a lot more casually AI-generated than many of its predecessor ads. When Coca-Cola released an AI-generated holiday spot last fall, it sparked an uproar. Creatives were livid about such a monumentally successful company neglecting to splash out on an all-human production, and even casual observers noticed the glaring flaws in the video: The truck's tires glided over the ground without spinning, Santa's hand was bizarrely out of proportion with the Coke bottle it gripped, and the entire ad sat squarely in the 'uncanny valley.' The same goes for the ad Toys R Us released last year using OpenAI's text-to-video tool Sora: The kindest thing one could say is that its human characters looked marginally more lifelike than the unsettling, motion-captured Tom Hanks from The Polar Express two decades earlier. So far, AI-generated ads have been rare enough and mostly the domain of heavy-hitter companies, making them lightning rods for attention and backlash just about every time a new one is released. The simple fact that they were AI-made has been enough to generate headlines, even before factoring in the slop. But maybe not for much longer. If the Coign ad is any indication, there may be an entire class of AI ads coming that will be subject to far less attention—and far less scrutiny. We're at a precarious moment with AI, collectively feeling out its least objectionable uses through trial and error. So far, uncanny ads from massive companies have triggered backlash, but when lesser-known brands dabble—especially without obvious visual glitches—they often escape notice. Advertising legend David Droga once noted the existence of a 'mediocre middle' in marketing and entertainment, and that may be exactly where AI quietly thrives: in ads from companies too small to spark outrage. Advertising, after all, is already the most disposable and least emotionally protected form of media—expensive to make, widely avoided, and largely unloved. That makes it the perfect Trojan horse for AI—slipping past scrutiny not because it's good, but because few people care enough to notice. On a moral and economic level, the advertising industry should not be diving headlong into a technology that makes large swaths of professional workers expendable. And on an aesthetic level, just because AI technically can create an ad doesn't mean it can create a good one. Once a seemingly harmless use case eases people's minds about a given technological breakthrough, it's only a matter of time before the more flagrantly objectionable use cases take hold. The facial recognition tech that first allowed Facebook users to tag their friends in photos was eventually used to strengthen the surveillance state and threaten privacy everywhere. Today's drones that make aerial photography easier become tomorrow's drones that mistakenly blow up weddings in other countries and threaten to displace delivery workers. Obviously, AI is going to play some role in humanity's future. The size of that role, however, is not yet set in stone. As machine learning creeps into all creative fields, workers need regulations to ensure the technology doesn't spread too far too fast. The good news is that a majority of Americans seem to want AI regulation. Although the House of Representatives recently passed a major tax and spending bill with a provision forbidding state governments to regulate AI over the next 10 years, that clause is getting bipartisan blowback. According to a recent poll, 81% of voters agree that 'advances in AI are exciting but also bring risks, and in such fast-moving times, we shouldn't force states to sit on the sidelines for a full decade.' Even the CEO of generative AI company Anthropic is a full-throated advocate for stricter AI regulation. The people have spoken. Whether they are listened to is another matter altogether. A single, silly credit card ad may seem an unlikely step toward a dystopian future of unfettered AI and full unemployment, but if we laugh it off now, the bill may still come due later. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

This corny ‘conservative credit card' ad signals a very scary future for AI

BMW's New Centerlock Wheels for the M2, M3 & M4 Will Cost You Nearly $20,000

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From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

From lottery tickets to life insurance: Here are 6 ‘bad assets' that could cause you to retire poor in America

This corny ‘conservative credit card' ad signals a very scary future for AI

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