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Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I Pretty Much Spent Everything I Earned,' Admits 'Harry Potter' Star Jason Isaacs on His Money Habits
"I pretty much spent everything I earned," actor Jason Isaacs recently admitted, acknowledging that decades of Hollywood paychecks never swelled his savings. The 62‑year‑old, who played Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" film series and Timothy Ratliff in HBO's "The White Lotus," spoke candidly in an interview with New York magazine about how he matched each raise with equal spending. His candor throws fresh light on lifestyle creep—the silent budget siphon now dogging households even as wages climb and prices cool. Lifestyle Creep Bites Even Wizards Isaacs told New York magazine he earned about $40,000 for every "White Lotus" episode—modest by prestige‑TV standards—yet still "expanded my outgoings to match my incomings." Don't Miss: Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Many are rushing to grab $100k+ in investable assets? – no cost, no obligation. Producer David Bernad told The Hollywood Reporter that the cast is paid one equal rate. That flat structure, according to Bernad, values art over earnings and keeps budgets trim. Isaacs' confession echoes past stars who vaulted from indie stages to franchise fame only to watch wealth slip away. "Many feel as though they have to spend more as they progress through career milestones," certified financial planner Matt Saneholtz of Tobias Financial Advisors told CNBC for a story on Isaacs' habits, warning the approach "goes against everything" he teaches about building lasting wealth. Saneholtz says that what begins with a few upgraded purchases—like nicer hotels or premium subscriptions—can quietly grow into a steady habit of overspending. Trending: Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — Planner Urges Automatic Investing Saneholtz advises routing a slice of every raise straight into an investment account before it reaches checking. "You won't miss what you don't see," he said, urging quarterly budget reviews and subscription audits. Fellow planner Robert Persichitte expanded the point, telling Business Insider that high‑ticket items like larger homes lock people into lifestyles that are hard to unwind, making it crucial to distinguish between being rich and being wealthy. Both advisers frame investing as an antidote: every dollar diverted to index funds today can snowball through compounding rather than vanish on fleeting luxuries. Automatic transfers also blunt decision fatigue, Saneholtz said, because savings grow untouched while discretionary funds remain visible for daily needs. Persichitte added that visibility matters: "If your net pay doesn't go up, you don't feel rich, and you don't feel the need to spend." Their shared blueprint—save first, spend later—mirrors guidance in Vanguard's long‑running "pay yourself first" Show Thin Safety Nets Federal Reserve data underline the stakes. Its latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking found just 63 % of adults could cover a $400 emergency with cash, matching 2024 levels yet below the pandemic peak. The Fed has noted rising living‑cost worries despite steady employment gains. Meanwhile a Bankrate poll released last month showed 26% of U.S. adults believe they must earn at least $150,000 a year to feel financially secure, up from 25 % last year. Saneholtz links the numbers, saying lifestyle creep quietly widens the gap between perceived comfort and real financial cushions. Once higher paychecks become the norm, cutting back can feel like failure. He urges clients to automate raises toward retirement goals before lifestyle inflation takes hold. Read Next: Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'I Pretty Much Spent Everything I Earned,' Admits 'Harry Potter' Star Jason Isaacs on His Money Habits originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. 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
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Widespread Interactions With Criminal Justice System Cast Long Shadow On Retirement Savings
A lot of people get arrested and convicted in the United States. Those interactions with the criminal justice system cast long finacial shadows. This is true for retirement savings as well as calculations based on recently released Federal Reserve data show. People who have been arrested and convicted end up with lower retirement savings than people who have not been taken into custody. A recent Federal Reserve survey on people's economic situation includes a series of questions on whether people have been taken into police custody, convicted and served time. The same survey, the Fed's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) also asks questions about retirement savings. Interactions with the criminal justice system are fairly widespread. It is necessary to combine data years to make sure that sample sizes are large enough. In 2023 and 2024, 13.7% of adults said that they had been taken into custody in the past, 6.0% said that they had been convicted and 1.8% of people indicated that they served time. The respective shares of people are higher for Black and Latino people than for White people, with 17.3% of African-Americans and 17.9% of Latinos in 2023 and 2024 saying that they had been taken into custody, but only 12.5% of White adults said that this was the case. A lot of these racial differences are not explained by differences in criminal behavior, but rather, are the result of structural biases against Black and Latino adults. These interactions with the criminal justice system make it more difficult for people to save for retirement. For one, those who have a criminal record will face more labor market obstacles than those without a criminal record. They will work in less stable jobs and receive lower wages. This means that they will have a harder time qualifying for retirement benefits and have less money to put away towards retirement. In addition, people who have been arrested and convicted will have legal fees, but also face other economic challenges, for instance, in renting a house or apartment. They face higher costs, impeding their retirement savings and necessitating more liquidity in their retirement savings, for example, by withdrawing money pre-retirement or taking out loans on their retirement accounts. All of these factors could make it less likely that people have retirement accounts to begin with and more likely that the savings in those accounts grow more slowly. Earlier data already showed differences in retirement savings by interactions with the criminal justice system. Specifically, 48.4% of people that did not have a family member in prison or jail had any retirement savings in 2019, while this was the case for only 37.7% of people with an incarcerated family member. Recent Federal Reserve data for 2023 and 2024 provide additional details on the link between interactions with the criminal justice system and retirement savings. The data allow for a separation of respondents into three distinct groups: Those who were taken into police custody and were convicted, those who were taken into police custody, but were not convicted, and those who were not taken into police custody. The SHED also includes a number of key measures for retirement savings. It is, for example, possible to create one indicator whether people have any retirement benefit – a 401(k) type account, an IRA or a DB pension. It is also possible to create another indicator whether people increased the liquidity in their retirement savings by borrowing from their retirement accounts, withdrawing money from a retirement account or reducing their retirement account contributions. These actions all slow the growth of retirement savings as people need more liquidity. People who had any interactions with the retirement system fare worse in terms of retirement savings (see Figure below). The share of people who worked for somebody else and who were at least 25 years old with a retirement benefit is lower among those who were convicted (65.6%) than was the case for people who were taken into custody, but who were not convicted (76.5%), which was in turn much lower than the share of working people who were never taken into custody (84.5%). Having been convicted, regardless of whether the person served time or not, reduces the chance of having a retirement benefit by almost 19 percentage points, compared to somebody, who had never been taken into custody. And, those who were convicted also need more liquidity in their retirement accounts (see Figure above). In particular, 25.6% of those working for somebody else who were at least 25 years old and who had a retirement account also took out a pension loan, withdrew money before retirement or lowered their retirement plan contributions in 2023 and 2024. The respective shares for the other two groups were 16.2% and 16.0%. Having been convicted thus also goes along with a greater need for liquidity in retirement accounts, which could slow the growth of retirement savings. A substantial share of Americans are arrested and convicted. Convictions can cast a long financial shadow over people's lives. This includes negative correlations between arrests and convictions, on the one hand, and retirement savings, on the other hand. Those who have been arrested and convicted are much less likely to have any retirement plan, for instance. Financial insecurity follows criminal convictions for some time.
Bloomberg
28-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
About 73% of Americans Do at Least OK Financially in Fed Survey
Americans were mostly financially stable and had a slightly less pessimistic view of the economy at the end of last year, according to an annual survey by the Federal Reserve. The report showed how consumers' personal financial well-being was holding up ahead of the presidential election. Some 73% of adults were 'doing okay or living comfortably financially' as of October 2024, little changed from 72% in 2023 but still below the high of 78% seen in 2021, according to the central bank's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking published Wednesday.
