The FIDO Alliance released an online resource to explain why passkey technology is superior to passwords and how businesses can adopt it.

My husband and I have been married for five years. During that time, a battalion of well-meaning relatives — starting with my parents and extending all the way to aunts and uncles — have tried to convince us to have children. Despite these persistent pleas, we aren’t convinced. The world just feels too chaotic and we’re unsure if we want to subject a child to it.  Increasingly, other American adults are making a similar choice. As of 2018, 16.5 percent of adults 55 and over in the US didn’t have children. According to a Pew Research Center survey released in July, the number of US adults younger than 50 who don’t have children and say they are unlikely ever to have them rose from 37 percent in 2018 to 47 percent in 2023. The top reason cited by this group is that they just don’t want to.  Chances are, well-meaning folks (like my parents) have asked child-free adults at some stage: “You may be carefree now, but what happens when you get old?”  Does having no children place us at a disadvantage? The Pew survey also found that one in four adults aged 50 and older without children frequently worry about who will care for them as they age, and one in three worry about having enough money.  Certainly, children can offer peace of mind, a person to lean on as you face the realities of aging. But the truth is, “even when people have children, those children don’t always become the safety net that one might think,” says Kate Granigan, chief executive officer of LifeCare Advocates and president of the Aging Life Care Association Board.  Seniors can live flourishing lives without kids, experts say, but they need to be prepared to lean on other people, financially plan for the future, and make use of support services. Presently, the majority of older adults without involved partners or children are not adequately prepared for their future care and end of life, according to the AARP. This needs to change. “Being able to have some foresight … and [knowing] how to prepare in the best way possible can really help people thrive and age well,” says Granigan.  Many adult children tend to be the ones who keep an eye on their parents and coordinate necessary help. You want to find people to fill this role, says Beth Eagen, a Seattle-based geriatric social worker. Befriend people in the communities you’re in and invest in the relationships in your life, advises Stacy Reger, a geropsychologist in Los Angeles, California.  These people may not be doing all your care, but they can watch your back. “You may have a friend or colleague or someone that you’re close with that is also in your same position … and you can create a group that checks in on each other,” says Granigan.  Not only are these relationships fulfilling, they mean you have someone to call for ad hoc assistance, like a ride back from the supermarket if you have a particularly heavy shop or a lift to the emergency room.  As you form new connections, be open to multi-generational friendships. If everyone in your life is your age and people start getting ill at similar times, it will be harder for them to help when you need it, Eagen explains. When planning where you will retire, Eagen and Granigan also encourage choosing an area with a “village” and signing up for it. Villages are not-for-profit associations around the country that connect seniors with others in the neighborhood to create a community that looks out for one another. If you need a car ride, help with household tasks, or want to participate in social activities, the village will coordinate. Annual membership fees can be up to $1,000, but increasing numbers of villages are introducing a “pay as you can” model and subsidizing fees for those who can’t afford it. Jay Zigmont, a certified financial planner for child-free adults, advises clients in their mid-40s to purchase long-term care insurance. In general, long-term care insurance covers the nonmedical support you may need to perform activities of daily living, like eating, bathing, walking, and taking medication. It pays for the costs of at-home caregivers, adult day care, transportation, and senior living arrangements, like nursing homes and assisted living facilities. More than half of US adults turning 65 are expected to require some sort of long-term services and support as they age, and many people are unaware that Medicare, the government health program for seniors, does not cover these supports. The earlier you buy a long-term care policy, the better the price, and the smaller the likelihood of having a condition that disqualifies you from coverage, Zigmont says. Paying for it upfront is expensive, but the price is locked in, he says. Alternatively, you can pay for it annually. If you miss a payment, the policy gets canceled, and you will not get a comparable policy again. If you don’t purchase insurance, you will likely be paying for long-term care out of pocket, says Zigmont, author of the upcoming book The Childfree Guide to Life and Money. Medicaid, a government health program for low-income people, only covers care once you’ve burned through your assets.  If you’re paying out of pocket, bear in mind that long-term care costs can quickly add up: A private room in a nursing home, for instance, can cost around $115,000 a year and goes up by about 5 percent every year, says Zigmont. Do what you need to do to start saving and investing your money now so that “it grows at least 5 percent per year in order to cover your long-term care costs” plus any impending taxes, says Zigmont. Remind yourself that your senior years can absolutely be fulfilling, says Anna Chodos, a geriatrician in the UCSF Department of Medicine. So, start dreaming. Build a mental image of your future self, advises Chodos and Aja Evans, a financial therapist in New York City and author of Feel-Good Finance. “Who and where do you want older you to be? What do you want your lifestyle to be? What’s really important to older you?” are some of the questions Evans poses to her clients. She finds this practice can make saving money for the future feel more imperative and purposeful. As you inch closer to your senior years, brainstorm what you enjoy doing that also gives you purpose — “something meaningful that gives you a reason for getting up every day,” says Chodos. Learn an instrument, write stories, volunteer as a museum guide. Add activities that involve meeting people on a regular basis, like a dinner party club, board games night, or walking group, to foster friendships. When you’re a senior without kids, you will either live in your own place or in one of the many types of senior living arrangements. In assisted living or nursing homes, you are often getting most of the support you need for your daily living. When you live in your own place or in an independent-living community, you can engage support services to help with meal prepping, bathing, medication management, home modifications (if the accommodation allows it), and more, says Eagen. Long-term care insurance can cover the cost of these services, depending on the policy.  Granigan says it’s essential to find out how accessible these support services are in the area you wish to retire, and their associated costs. To get this information, consult the local Area Agency on Aging (use this Eldercare Locator database to find one), a local aging life care professional, or local “villages.” Also consider the opportunities for social connections that will be available to you and how easy it will be to participate in fun, meaningful activities. Are these easily accessible on foot if you can no longer drive? What about public transit, supermarkets, banks, gyms, parks, libraries, faith-based communities, malls, senior centers, and eateries? For adults without children heading into their golden years, it’s especially important to mind your physical and mental health, as well as pay attention to keeping your cognitive abilities sharp, so you can remain independent for as long as possible.  Stay on top of exercising, and do your best to maintain your bone health, balance, muscle mass, strength, and mobility, advises Chodos and Granigan. Control risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, watch your alcohol intake, and keep up with medical visits. If you’re otherwise healthy, see your primary care physician annually to screen for chronic conditions once you turn 60, says Chodos.  You might also consider entrusting your medical care to providers who are younger than you, says Reger, as they are more likely to be able to see your care through to the end.  As for exercising the mind, crossword puzzles and Sudoku are all fine and good, but they aren’t the most effective in helping to preserve your brain function, says Reger. Instead, she says to focus on “engag[ing] in activities that keep you interested and thinking … something where you’re still using the parts of your brain that are active in problem solving and thinking creatively.” “It’s really good if whatever you’re doing involves a social aspect because socializing with other people naturally stimulates our brain,” she emphasizes. “We have to be engaged, processing, and mentally flexible to have even a simple conversation … Speaking to new people, doing outreach, explaining ideas, any of that kind of mental activity is good for our brain.” “Hearing loss is a very strong risk factor for cognitive decline,” Chodos adds, so any changes to your hearing need to be corrected, stat.  Eagen and Granigan say another option is assembling a team of professionals who can guide you through most of the processes outlined above, from financial management to engaging support services. The team may include an elder law attorney, aging life care professional, geriatric social worker, primary care doctor and/or geriatrician, and a financial planner who specializes in the child-free population. These professionals are all experienced at anticipating and steering you away from common pitfalls. With an elder law attorney, spell out what you envision for your assets, medical care, and end of life in legal documents like advance directives and a will. As part of this, you will need to nominate people who’ll make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.  Your senior years can and should be an exciting new phase of your life, whether or not you have children. With a little foresight and thoughtful planning, they can be every bit as fulfilling as you’ve always hoped.  

Personal finance is hard no matter what stage of life you’re in. But for Zoomers just entering the workforce, the challenges are also coupled with a lot of uncertainty. And that combination is what brought Carolina to us with her question on this week’s episode of Explain It to Me, Vox’s go-to hotline for all your questions. Carolina is fresh out of college and already stressing about retirement. The older people in her life give her the same advice that generations before her have gotten: start saving immediately, contribute to your 401(k), and don’t touch it for decades until you’re ready to stop working. It’s sound advice, but Carolina wonders if it applies to her and the rest of her cohort. She knows the havoc the Great Recession wreaked on everyday people and the economy at large. “I think people assume the stock market is always safe,” she says. “But then it keeps crashing.” It’s understandable why someone might be hesitant to put their trust in a financial system that had a scare as recently as this summer.  To answer this question, we enlisted Vivian Tu, a.k.a. Your Rich BFF. Vivian is a former Wall Street day trader and currently hosts Networth and Chill (Explain It to Me and Networth and Chill are both part of the Vox Media Podcast Network). Can you enjoy today while preparing for the future? “You’ve got the folks who say ‘I’m going to blow all my cash today. I’m going to go on a shopping spree, because who knows if I get to retire in however many years.’” Tu says. “Then there are folks on the opposite side of the spectrum that say, ‘I need to prepare. I need to only think about retirement…I will have the worst life today so I can have a better future.’” We sat down with Tu to discuss how to plan for the future while enjoying the now, how to protect yourself from financial uncertainty, and how younger generations can adjust to a changing financial landscape.  Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. You can listen to Explain It to Me on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to submit a question, send an email to [email protected] or call 1-800-618-8545. How should we think about balancing living in the now and preparing for the future? I ask folks to find the middle of that barbell. You are allowed to enjoy your life today. I promise you, you are not put on this big green earth to work a 9 to 5 to hate your life. That is not your ultimate purpose. You are allowed to have the little treat. You are allowed to take that trip. You are allowed to go and grab a manicure with a friend because it is fun.  You do not want to have so much fun today at the expense of future you. You want to be able to have fun today and tomorrow.  Practically, what tips do you have for young people who are thinking about retirement? I always tell everyone, there is a special Your Rich BFF method: you need to STRIP. Everyone says, “Oh, did I pick the wrong career?” No, STRIP is an acronym. S stands for savings. First and foremost you want to set aside an emergency fund. In particular, I recommend putting your emergency fund into a high-yield savings account so that your money waiting for that rainy day earns interest in the meantime. If you are a singleton, three to six months of living expenses is a good bet. If you are head of household, you have dependents, I would say closer to 6 to 12.  T is total debt. A lot of us have debt — that is not a bad word. It is just a tool. What I say is rank it from highest to lowest interest rate. Make the minimum payment across everything to keep your credit score high. But then any additional funds you have for debt paydown goes towards the interest rate that is the highest. Up next R: retirement. Take advantage of tax-advantaged accounts through your job. You can also open up an IRA or a Roth IRA.  And then I. This is important; it’s not enough to just open those accounts, you actually have to invest. Take the cash that you’re putting into those accounts and make investments that make sense based on your risk profile. Target date retirement funds or index funds often make sense.  And the last step is so critically important: P — plan. You don’t get to have happily ever after, you don’t get to ride off into the sunset if you do not have a plan. Write down what your goals are, what those milestones are, what you’d like to accomplish, the amount of money it’s going to take to get you there, and then back into what you need to do to get there. How do you protect yourself and those investments from another financial crisis?  It’s really important that your portfolio makes sense for how far you are away from retirement.  So when you’re 20, yeah, you can be 100 percent or 90 percent in the stock market and have 0 percent or 10 percent in bonds. When you’re 50, it should look almost flipped.  But it really depends on how much you’re making and how much you already have. Every single person is a little different.  What about people who are just getting by? How should they prioritize retirement savings?  If they are just getting by, first and foremost we want to try and maximize that income. People always balk when I say this: You need to be asking for a raise somewhere between 10 percent to 15 percent every single year.  Ooof.  I’m not saying you’re getting it  But if you ask for 10 to 15 and you get eight, that’s good, because eight is still going to help keep you above the inflation rate.  Retirement and savings in general are often presented as this sacrifice. You’re going without your fancy groceries now so that future you can go on cruises and golf and do whatever it is that people do when they’re retired. JQ’s moving to Naples in her retirement!  But how do you find that balance? How do you prioritize those things?  I think it’s about providing yourself with a life that you are happy with today while also thinking, “Hey, it’s not like saving for retirement means this money goes into a black hole.” You still get to spend it just later. You’re not just setting this money aside and then getting that same number back in retirement. When you start investing your money, when it has a little bit of room and time to grow, that money gets to work really hard for you. And so you might put in $100,000. That $100,000 could be a couple million dollars in retirement. 

Microsoft has pulled its $1 Xbox Game Pass trial, just days before Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases on October 25th. The 14-day Game Pass trial was removed on October 8th, preventing people from signing up for a trial and playing through the Black Ops 6 campaign without paying for a full month of Game Pass. Microsoft first stopped its $1 trial for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass in March last year, before bringing it back and nerfing it down to just 14 days instead of a full month. The Xbox maker then briefly removed the $1 trial just days before Starfield’s debut in September. It’s not surprising to see the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial quietly removed once again, especially as Microsoft looks to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to boost...

There are few more influential right-wing scholars than the economist Friedrich Hayek — and few whose work is less compatible with the right’s ascendant Trumpian strain. Born in Austria in 1899, Hayek spent his career developing a wide-ranging libertarian social theory. Societies, for Hayek, emerge from the interplay of countless different systems and logics — creating an order so complex that no single entity, not even a government, can fully understand how it all operates. He believed that any attempt to transform such a thing by policy would invariably break part of this system, leading to unintended and often disastrous consequences. This isn’t a good argument against all government interference in the marketplace (as a shallow read of Hayek might suggest). But it is a powerful insight into how societies work, one that provides an especially clear explanation for why planned economies failed so badly during Hayek’s lifetime. It also helps us understand why there’s an authentic strain of right-wing resistance to Trump’s “tariffs and deportations” economic agenda — one that attentive liberals could learn from. For Hayek, there were basically two different types of system or order. The first is an organization, meaning a top-down planned effort where one person or entity lays out the rules for everyone to follow. The second is a “spontaneous order,” a bottom-up system in which the rules are determined over time by enormous numbers of micro-interactions. Take, for example, the ecosystem of the American West. No one person set the rules by which bison, wolves, moose, prairie dogs, and the like breed and interact; in fact, no one dictated that this particular place needed to have those particular species at all. Instead, a system emerged out of thousands of years of interactions between flora and fauna, prey and predator. It has predictable rules and outcomes, but no hand at the tiller. Hayek believed that humanity operated in a similar, but even more complex, fashion.  Our own social order, according to Hayek, reflects centuries of interactions between hundreds of millions of different people and an impossibly diverse set of institutions, ranging from organized religion to different economic sectors to artist collectives. What we call “society” is the spontaneous order that emerges from individuals and organizations interacting and developing oft-unwritten rules that govern those interactions.  “The structure of human activities constantly adapts itself, and functions through adapting itself, to millions of facts which in their entirety are not known to anybody,” he wrote in Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Volume 1. Government, Hayek argued, plays a special role in spontaneous order: It “becomes indispensable in order to assure that [social] rules are obeyed.” The state both protects people’s rights to participate in their corner of the spontaneous order and, at times, can even guide the order toward adopting a different (and perhaps better) set of rules. What the state cannot do well, in Hayek’s eyes, is interfere with discrete and specific interactions inside the spontaneous order.  When the government issues “commands” telling people where and for how much they can sell their goods, for example, it is engaging in an enterprise that bureaucrats and politicians cannot and never will have sufficient knowledge to do adequately. Most economic regulation, for Hayek, is akin to the mass slaughter of wolves in the American West — a shortsighted move with destabilizing long-term consequences. (Recent efforts to reintroduce wolves have been an extraordinary success.)  “The spontaneous order arises from each element balancing all the various factors operating on it and by adjusting all its various actions to each other, a balance which will be destroyed if some of the actions are determined by another agency on the basis of different knowledge and in the service of different ends,” Hayek wrote. It is very easy to take this pro-market line of thinking too far.  We know that certain elements of the economy, like the money supply, can in fact be effectively managed by governments. Hayek’s skepticism of government could bleed over into paranoia, as with his argument in The Road to Serfdom asserting that social democracy would invariably bleed into authoritarianism. In fact, he even went so far as to endorse Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile on grounds that its free-market policies were worth the loss of political liberty. Yet Hayek’s argument is essential to understanding why some government projects, like Soviet-style command economies, tend to fail so spectacularly. When an economic policy aims at fundamental transformation, one in which humans are put in charge of managing a vast swath of ordinary economic activity, the potential for the state to exceed the bounds of its knowledge is obvious.  Hayek did not believe that this was only a problem for socialists. In The Constitution of Liberty, Hayek argued that conservatives’ emphasis on preserving tradition and the nation inclined them toward dangerous forms of state control over society. “It is this nationalistic bias which frequently provides the bridge from conservatism to collectivism: to think in terms of ‘our’ industry or resource is only a short step away from demanding that these national assets be directed in the national interest,” he wrote. So despite unquestionably being a man of the right, Hayek rejected the label “conservative” for his politics (he preferred “liberal” on grounds that “libertarian” was too clunky). Conservatives, he argued, were dogmatic and nationalistic — useful allies against the left, but skeptical enough of liberty that they posed their own set of collectivist dangers. Were Hayek still alive, he would see the vindication of his concerns in the person of Donald Trump. The former president’s two most consistent policy proposals — deporting millions of migrants and imposing a 10-percent tariff on all foreign-made goods — are far more aggressive efforts at reshaping America’s spontaneous order than any tax-and-spend proposals offered by the Harris campaign. Each, in its own way, amounts to a fundamental revision of how the American state and economy operate. Indeed, there’s a reason that some of the most effective critics of Trump’s trade and immigration policies work for the libertarian Cato Institute. Hayek’s heirs, at least those who take his ideas seriously, understand that Trump represents something anathema to their tradition. This story was adapted from the On the Right newsletter. New editions drop every Wednesday. Sign up here.