Finance & Banking

Retiring Next Year? Discover the Right Monthly Income Target

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Key Takeaways

Financial experts say you’ll need about 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income to maintain your lifestyle in retirement.
For the median U.S. household income ($83,730), you’d need about $5,233 per month in retirement.
Using the 4% rule, that means that you’d need to save $1.57 million in total.

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When preparing for retirement, you’re probably wondering, will I have enough? To answer this, you’ll need to know a few key numbers. First, how much money will you need per month in retirement? And then, how much money will you need to save in total? Read on to learn how to crunch these numbers and get the answers you’re looking for.

How Much Do You Need per Month in Retirement?

First, we need to calculate how much money you’ll need per month in retirement.

If you want to continue the lifestyle you’re living now, just multiply your current income by 75%.

That’s because your costs in retirement will likely be about 70% to 80% of the costs you have now.

So if you currently make the median income in the U.S. per year ($83,730), plan on spending around $62,800 per year, or around $5,230 per month, in retirement.

How Much Do You Need to Save for Retirement?

Now that we know how much you’ll need per year and per month in retirement, we can calculate how much you’ll need to save in total.

There’s a rule of thumb called the 4% rule. It says that for a 30-year retirement, you can safely withdraw 4% of your retirement savings per year, adjusted for inflation each year.

Let’s use the numbers we used above. Someone with the median income in the U.S. ($83,730) can plan on spending around $62,800 per year in retirement. Using the 4% rule, we divide $62,800 by 4%, resulting in about $1.57 million. That’s how much you’ll need to save in total.

Important

Recent studies suggest that with current rates of inflation, retirees should actually limit their withdrawals to 3.7%.

If we use 3.7% instead of 4%, we divide $62,800 by 3.7%, resulting in about $1.7 million. That’s a more conservative estimate of how much you’ll need to save in total.

Factors that Influence Your Spending in Retirement

Your income needs may fluctuate as you move through retirement. You might spend more in early retirement because you’ll be relatively active and enjoying your new lifestyle. At some point, though, you might settle down. During this middle stage of retirement, your spending might decrease. In late retirement, your spending might increase as you face various medical bills and the cost of care.

Your spending will also depend on your location and lifestyle. For instance, if you dream of traveling in retirement, you’ll likely spend more than others who prefer to stay close to home. Retirees who live in certain areas will likely pay more for housing and care, which means they’ll need more income in retirement than someone who lives in a more affordable area.

The Bottom Line

Planning for retirement takes a little math. First, assume that you’ll spend about three-quarters (75%) of your current monthly income in retirement. Then use the 4% rule to discover how much you’ll need to save for retirement in total. Tweak the formula to suit your needs and consider your retirement goals, as well as the cost of living in your area. The more prepared you are, the more you can sit back and enjoy your retirement.

Finance & Banking

Futures Rise After Indexes Tumble on Tariff Uncertainty, AI Disruption Concerns; AMD Stock Soars on Meta Chips Deal

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February 24, 2026 09:02 AM EST

Novo Nordisk Cuts US List Prices for GLP-1 Drugs; Stock Continues to Fall

FROM 1 minute ago

Novo Nordisk (NVO) is slashing U.S. list prices for its GLP-1 medications. The move is not reversing its stock slide.

U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk fell about 3.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, a day after they sank 16% to their lowest level in nearly five years after the Danish firm’s CagriSema obesity treatment delivered less weight loss than that of Eli Lilly’s (LLY) Zepbound.

Before the bell, Novo Nordisk said that effective Jan. 1, 2027, it would lower the list price of Wegovy 2.4-mg injection and 25-mg tablets, Ozempic 0.5-mg, 1-mg, and 2-mg injections, and Rybelsus 7-mg or 14-mg tablets to $675. That would represent reductions from the current list price of approximately 50% and 35% for Wegovy and Ozempic, respectively.

The move “addresses access barriers to our innovative medicines, especially for patients whose out-of-pocket costs are linked to list price,” Novo Nordisk said, adding that the “changes in list price do not have an impact on direct-to-patient, self-pay prices.”

U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk entered the day having lost 56% of their value over the past 12 months. Lilly shares slipped about 1.5% before the bell but have gained 20% over the past year.

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February 24, 2026 08:16 AM EST

Here’s How Much Salesforce Stock Is Expected to Move After Earnings Wednesday

FROM 46 minutes ago

Salesforce is slated to report earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, with traders anticipating a big move from the software giant’s stock in the days that follow.

Based on current options pricing, traders expect Salesforce (CRM) stock could swing up to 9% in either direction by the end of the week. A move of that magnitude from Monday’s close could bring the stock back above $194, recovering some of its recent losses, or drag it down to $162, its lowest level in three years.

Salesforce’s stock has lost about a third of its value since the start of the year amid a broader rout in software stocks after new AI tools from Anthropic added fuel to worries about the technology’s potential to disrupt the industry.

Salesforce stock has lost about a third of its value since the start of the year.

David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Analysts at UBS and Oppenheimer recently cut their price targets for Salesforce to $200 and $275, respectively, ahead of Wednesday’s results. They suggested Salesforce’s growth could be muted in the short term as the company faces some headwinds from growing competition and field checks suggested customers may be watching their spending.

Salesforce is seen reporting adjusted earnings per share of $3.05 on a 12% year-over-year jump in revenue to a record $11.18 billion for the fourth quarter, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Analysts have largely stayed bullish on Salesforce despite the software giant’s recent slump. Of the 20 analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha, 15 have “buy” or equivalent ratings compared to five “hold” ratings. Their average price target of $313 would imply upside of more than 75% from Monday’s close.

–Aaron McDade

February 24, 2026 07:49 AM EST

AMD Stock Soars on Massive AI Chips Deal With Meta

FROM 1 hr 13 min ago

As part of a massive deal for AI computing power, Meta Platforms may wind up owning up to roughly 10% of Advanced Micro Devices’ stock. AMD investors evidently are enthusiastic about the news.

AMD (AMD) shares soared 10% in premarket trading Tuesday after the semiconductor giant inked a deal with Meta (META) to provide the Facebook and Instagram parent with 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs to power its AI infrastructure.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed but The Wall Street Journal reported the deal was worth more than $100 billion.

The companies said that shipments supporting the first gigawatt deployment are set to begin in the second half of 2026.

As part of the transaction, Santa Clara, Calif.-based AMD issued Meta a performance-based warrant for up to 160 million shares of its stock, “structured to vest as specific milestones associated with Instinct GPU shipments are achieved.” AMD currently has just over 1.6 billion outstanding shares.

“We’re excited to form a long-term partnership with AMD to deploy efficient inference compute and deliver personal superintelligence,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. “This is an important step for Meta as we diversify our compute. I expect AMD to be an important partner for many years to come.”

AMD shares entered the day down about 8% year-to-date, having dropped sharply earlier this month despite reporting strong quarterly results. Meta shares, which are down roughly 3.5% in 2026, edged lower before the bell, while AMD rival Nvidia (NVDA), which reports its highly anticipated earnings Wednesday, slipped more than 1%.

February 24, 2026 06:42 AM EST

Stock Futures Edge Higher After Indexes Tumble on Tariff Uncertainty, AI Disruption Concerns

FROM 2 hr 20 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed 0.3% higher.

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S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.

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Nasdaq 100 futures also were up 0.2%.

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Finance & Banking

Here’s How Much Elder Caregivers Charge in 2026—Is Your Family Paying Fair Rates?

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Key Takeaways

Home care rates vary from $25 per hour in Mississippi to $44 per hour in South Dakota—geography, not care quality, drives the biggest price differences.
Nearly one-third of families end up paying more than they expected for care, often because they started researching costs after a health crisis forced their hand.

Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise.

If you’re hiring a home caregiver for a loved one in 2026, what state you live in may determine a lot about how much you’ll pay.

Families paid a median of $34 an hour for a home caregiver in the U.S. last year, according to an annual report by A Place for Mom, an assisted care and senior living comparison site. That’s up 3% from a year ago.

Many families assume Medicare will cover long-term senior living—in general, it doesn’t. According to Tatyana Zlotsky, CEO of A Place for Mom, “that realization often comes at the worst possible moment: during a health event, a hospital discharge, or a sudden decline.” Zlotsky added that families often “don’t accurately estimate or understand the costs of each type of care and what they include.”

A Coast-to-Coast Price Check on Home Care

The national median masks enormous state-by-state swings. Mississippi families pay $25 an hour for home care. In South Dakota, the same service costs $44.

High-cost states like California and New York don’t even crack the top five. Instead, the priciest states include South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, Minnesota, and Washington—places where thin labor pools and rural geography push caregiver wages higher.

On the affordable end, the South dominates. Alabama and Louisiana both sit at $26 per hour, while Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas round out the bottom five.

Fast Fact

More than 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and roughly 70% of people who reach that age will need some form of long-term care. Medicare doesn’t cover most home care services, leaving families to shoulder costs that financial advisors say too few people plan for.

More Demand, Fewer Workers, Higher Bills

Three forces are pushing up the pricing of at-home care.

Workforce shortages keep pushing caregiver wages up; there aren’t enough workers to meet demand from a rapidly aging population. Inflation has raised operating expenses—food, insurance, transportation—that agencies pass along to families. And post-pandemic demand has tightened the market, giving agencies less reason to compete on price.

The 3% year-over-year jump in home care costs outpaced the broader consumer price index. And home care isn’t the only category climbing. Assisted living rose 4.4% to $5,419 a month; memory care jumped 3.7% to $6,690 a month.

For families weighing home care versus these kinds of facilities, Zlotsky noted “there is a threshold when full-time home care can be more expensive than senior living, especially in some of the lower-cost states.”

Stop Guessing, Start Comparing

The biggest risk isn’t a high hourly rate but not knowing the rate until an emergency hits. Only 18% of people say they understand care costs well, according to A Place for Mom data. About one-third reported they paid more than they expected after a move.

“What surprises many families is that the monthly rate you see advertised is just the starting point,” Zlotsky said. As care needs increase, additional services can raise costs faster than expected.

Lily Vittayarukskul, founder of long-term care planning platform Water Lily, built her company after watching her own family navigate a relative’s terminal illness without a plan.

“I saw intimately firsthand a lot of the core devastating effects of not talking about the topic ahead of time, on both your finances, your family, your familial relationships, but honestly, your quality of life that you get by not doing the planning,” she said.

Start planning by benchmarking your state. If you’re in a state where the median sits near or above $40 per hour, build your budget at the higher end. If you’re in the South or Midwest, rates in the mid-$20s to low-$30s are typical, but limited supply in some rural markets can still push costs above the median.

Compare several agencies before signing. Hourly rates reflect starting prices, but actual costs vary by the type of care (companion care vs. skilled nursing), hours per week, and whether you need overnight or weekend coverage. Ask about rate increases, too: with costs climbing 3% annually, your starting rate won’t be your rate a year from now.

“Start the conversation before a crisis forces it,” Zlotsky said. “Even one honest conversation this week can make a meaningful difference later.”