Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su plans to ask Congress for an additional $4.7 million to help the Employee Benefits Security Administration implement SECURE 2.0 retirement legislation package provisions. The EBSA's budget "has not increased proportionally with the increased responsibilities," Su said in prepared testimony.

Under the SECURE 2.0 retirement legislation package, the Employee Benefits Security Administration must establish an online search tool to help people find lost retirement accounts by Dec. 29, and the agency is currently seeking voluntary information from plan administrators, with a deadline of July 17. The goal of the new search tool will be to "help participants and beneficiaries locate their money more quickly and more efficiently, helping plans reduce their missing participant counts," EBSA said.

Inflation is likely to take longer than expected to decline to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, Chair Jerome Powell says. "We've said at the [Federal Open Market Committee] that we'll need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2% before it would be appropriate to ease policy," Powell says. "The recent [inflation] data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence."

Firm owners often struggle with knowing when to "prioritize lean operations to maximize profits and cash flow, and when [it is] necessary to prioritize investing heavily in infrastructure to support future growth," writes Matt Sonnen of Coldstream Wealth Management. Sonnen offers tips for profit maximization and promoting growth, noting that a balancing act is necessary to create a healthy, sustainable business.

Some financial advisors advocate for using health savings accounts as "medical IRAs" to amass tax-free money, but very few people max out HSA contributions or invest their balances, in part due to a lack of education and guidance. Advisors can help clients boost their HSA balances by offering to manage the accounts just as they do with IRAs, writes Steve Garmhausen.

Multiple strategies may help clients give to their children in a tax-efficient manner while they are still alive, including giving money directly to an educational institution to pay for college, writes financial planner Evan Beach. In addition, if a child's income falls below certain thresholds, they can sell stock received from their parents without incurring a capital gains tax liability.

There are many problems with using the 4% rule as a retirement spending guide, including the potential of living longer than expected and encountering emergency situations, write tax experts Robert Bloink and William Byrnes. They recommend basing spending on market returns and inflation or using the IRS' required minimum distributions tables.

Two-thirds of pre-retirees expect to encounter more obstacles than previous generations did, and 69% said they do not necessarily believe they will be able to retire at 65, according to a Nationwide Retirement Institute survey. After watching their parents make a successful transition into retirement, "[t]oday's investors are having a tougher time picturing that for themselves as they grapple with inflation and concerns about running out of money in retirement," said Eric Henderson of Nationwide Annuity.