Your Money

How do you, or how do you imagine you will, spend money in retirement? Often we believe the most significant expenses will be the extravagant ones, the big ones we save for and dream about. However, reality shows us it is much more mundane, with the largest expenses simply being more of things we already use.

Health care at #1 is not a surprise, but watch out for lifestyle creep in things that may come with more discretionary time, like fitness and wellness, kids and grandkids, and charitable giving.

Here are the 10 top things for which retirees will most likely dig deeper into their portfolios.

1. Health care
2. Home maintenance
3. Travel
4. Transportation
5. Utilities
6. Fitness and wellness
7. Kids and grandkids
8. Taxes
9. Charitable Giving
10. Professional Help

10 Biggest Expenses in Retirement
by Bruce Horovitz

Your Life

Yet, here is another effect of climate change. Allergies are worsening. Rising CO2 levels fuel photosynthesis and, combined with rising temperatures, are boosting plant growth and producing pollen for more extended periods of the year. One study found that the U.S. will face up to a 200 percent increase in total pollen this century if the world continues producing carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, and other sources at a high rate. Under that scenario, the spring pollen season will generally start up to 40 days earlier and last up to 19 days longer than today. The good news is that scientists can determine when pollen waves are coming. However, increased pollen levels will have a broader impact than a few sniffles and headaches. Seasonal allergies affect about 30 percent of the U.S. population and have economic consequences, including healthcare costs and missed working days. In the coming years, those impacts will only intensify. Check out this fascinating read.

Climate Change Is Making Allergy Season Even Worse
by Yingxiao Zhang and Allison L. Steiner

Complexity Simplified

Trivia