Center for Wealth Management

Retirement may feel far off, but a few focused moves this month can make a bigger difference than you might think:

- Put more away now: Even a small 401(k) contribution increase gives your money more time to compound, and catch-up contributions can help savers 50 and older do more.
- Get organized: Paying down high-interest debt, rolling over old accounts, and automating savings can make your plan easier to manage.
- Plan for income: As retirement gets closer, shift focus from simply building wealth to knowing where monthly income may come from later.

See eight moves financial advisors recommend making this month:

8 Money Moves You Can Make This Month To Strengthen Your Retirement Plan It's easy to put off retirement planning, even when you're within a decade of that date. But you don't need a complicated strategy to strengthen your plan.

A fulfilling retirement usually takes more than a financial plan. Here’s how to make the transition more meaningful:

• Plan before you leave: Talk to people who are already retired, consider easing in with part-time work, and think about what you want daily life to look like.
• Bring your values with you: If work gave you connection, creativity, or purpose, look for ways to rebuild those through volunteering, hobbies, travel, or community involvement.
• Create structure: Too much open time can be difficult, while a routine can help support mental and emotional well-being.

See what experts say can help you thrive after leaving the workforce:

5 ways to find purpose and stay active during retirement Infusing retirement with meaning can help people make the most of this new phase of life, experts say.

Many business owners plan to fund retirement by selling their company someday. But a profitable business and a sellable business aren’t always the same thing.

- Profit doesn’t guarantee a buyer: Buyers want a company that can run without the founder. If sales, relationships, or daily decisions depend on you personally, the value may be lower than expected.
- The transition window is getting crowded: Millions of small businesses are expected to change hands by 2035, which could mean more sellers competing for qualified buyers.
- Start earlier than feels necessary: Strong exits usually take years of preparation, from documenting systems to building a team that can operate independently.

If your exit strategy is “sell the business someday,” here’s more about what that requires:

The Missing Piece Of Retirement Planning For Business Owners Many business owners expect selling their company to fund retirement. Learn why business readiness is the missing piece of retirement planning.

Most people plan carefully for retirement finances, but not always for how they’ll spend their time. Around year three, after the travel, projects, and long-delayed plans slow down, the real adjustment can begin.

• Expect the third-year shift: The first two years often stay busy. After that, many retirees may need a new sense of structure and purpose.
• Ask better questions: What brings you joy? Would volunteering, part-time work, or learning something new feel fulfilling?
• Plan for the long game: With retirement potentially lasting decades, it helps to think about goals for the next 5, 10, or even 20 years.

See how building a post-career routine early could help you create a more fulfilling next chapter:

Create a Fulfilling Retirement Routine to Avoid the Common Third-Year Slump Many retirees struggle with a “third year slump” after the excitement of early retirement fades, but creating a meaningful routine can improve happiness and longevity.

AI can sound confident even when new evidence points in a different direction. Researchers are finding this isn't just a quirk, but it may be a fundamental limitation with real consequences.

• Missed evidence: Researchers found AI agents ignored results that contradicted their assumptions in more than half of tested scenarios.
• High stakes uses: In science and medicine, an AI tool that ignores contradictory evidence isn’t only wrong, it’s potentially dangerous.
• Responsible adoption: AI can still be useful for well-defined tasks, but its limits need to be understood before we rely on it too heavily.

See why knowing what AI can't do may be just as important as knowing what it can:

AI bots ignore evidence. Can we trust them with science? Scientists rethink their ideas after experiments. AI agents struggle to learn from evidence and recognize when an idea is obviously incorrect.