Good morning. Not all millionaires had corner offices — some worked the lunch line. Money has a way of surprising you, whether that's a debt that was never yours, a nest egg that's quietly shrinking or wealth you didn't see coming.
On The Money Today:
When a loved one dies, some of the bills that arrive may not be yours to pay
At 75 with $1.5 million invested and $500K in cash, this couple may be losing ground without realizing it
The SpaceX IPO just created 4,400 millionaires — now the question is whether you're getting in
Let's get into it.
They're debt-free, a pension is coming, and $1.5 million is already working. The problem is the $500,000 parked in a bank account — cash that's losing to inflation every year while a third of their portfolio does nothing. Advisers say there's a better move, and it starts with one question most retirees never ask themselves.
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Creditors don't wait for you to grieve — statements keep arriving and the instinct is to pay them. Estate experts say that's exactly the wrong move. Some debts were never legally yours, and paying them before understanding the estate can create costly legal complications.
More than 4,400 SpaceX employees are expected to hit seven figures when the company goes public — including hourly blue-collar workers at launch sites. One launch engineer who almost took a job at GE instead is now sitting on a $13.5 million stake. The real lesson isn't about rockets — it's about what owning the right asset can do for your wealth.
ALSO MAKING THE ROUNDS TODAY
INVESTING: He turned a $10,000 SpaceX grant into about $880,000 before leaving to weld for Elon Musk's rival
RETIREMENT: At 65 and single, one woman reveals the overwhelming reality of aging without family and her story is a warning for anyone without a plan
NEWS: A Texas family donated land for a public park 30 years ago and now it's being sold to a data center developer bigger than two football fields
ECONOMY: Bond traders are begging new Fed chair Kevin Warsh for a rate hike, no matter what it does to your credit card bills
HAVE YOUR SAY
Are you planning to invest in SpaceX?
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See you soon with another quick roundup of the financial news that matters.
