While the best state to retire in the U.S. is also one of the smallest in the country, the worst state to retire is the largest.

Alaska ranks as the worst state in the U.S. to retire for the third year in a row, according to Bankrate’s study of the best states to retire in 2024.

To compile its list of the best and worst places to retire in the U.S., Bankrate ranked all 50 states across five weighted categories:

• Affordability (40%): Analyzes factors such as local and state sales taxes, cost of living and average annual property taxes
• Overall wellbeing (25%): Includes factors such as the number of adults over 62 per 100,000 residents and access to food and health care
• Quality and cost of health care (20%): Looks at factors such as the cost of health care at the state level and the performance of each state’s health system
• Weather (10%): Evaluates data on factors such as a state’s average annual temperature and average number of tornado strikes, earthquakes and hurricane landfalls
• Crime (5%): Examines factors such as the amount of property crimes and violent crimes per 100,000 residents

Bankrate analyzed datasets from a number of sources, including the Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Tax Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Here are the 10 worst states to retire, according to Bankrate.

Notably, Alaska ranks last in the weather category. Although temperatures in Alaska can range from 45 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, they can sink as low as negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.

Alaska can be an expensive place to live, especially for retirees with a fixed income. On average, the cost of living in Alaska is about 30% higher than the rest of the country, according to RentCafe. Housing costs are about 17% higher than the national average, and utilities and health-care expenses are both nearly 50% higher.

On the upside, Alaska can be a very tax-friendly location for retirees. The state doesn’t have income tax, estate taxes or inheritance taxes and doesn’t tax pension payments or retirement benefits from Social Security.

DON’T MISS: Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure 

Lack of affordability appears to be a common thread among the other low-ranking states on the list, which include New York, Washington and California — all known for being relatively pricey.

However, just because a state has a higher cost of living doesn’t necessarily mean you should write it off as a potential retirement destination. You may just need to plan to set aside more money for retirement than you would if you were planning to retire somewhere less expensive.

CNBC Make It’s retirement calculator can help you estimate how much you’ll need to save for retirement based on factors like your current age, savings, income and when you’d like to stop working.

And while living costs can be a key determinant in deciding where you may want to retire in the future, it’s also good to keep other non-financial aspects in mind. For example, access to social and community-building activities is an important, but often overlooked, consideration for retirees, according to Bankrate.

“Having that sense of community and human connection is huge to healthy aging,” Kerry Hannon, a retirement expert and Author of “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work,” says in Bankrate’s study.

“Isolation and loneliness are not something you want to move toward, so look for your community,” she says.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Deryl McKissack is no stranger to spotting toxic traits.

McKissack, 63, is the founder and CEO of Washington D.C.-based construction firm McKissack & McKissack, which she launched with $1,000 from her savings in 1990. She churned through employees who weren’t the right fit in her company’s early years and the business struggled, she says.

Finding the right talent helped grow her company, which now brings in $25 million per year in revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

These three red flags stand out the most when McKissack is hiring employees or evaluating her current talent, she says.

Every boss needs to be able to trust their employees, McKissack says. People who lack integrity are a problem, especially managers who don’t give their teams proper credit.

Alarm bells go off in her head “if someone is saying ‘I did this’ the whole time, and they’re not giving credit to their team,” McKissack says.

McKissack isn’t the only person who says a lack of integrity is a red flag among employees: Heidi K. Gardner, a professional leadership advisor and distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School, similarly calls out workers who pass off other people’s work as their own. It’s unethical, and it gives off the impression that you don’t respect your colleagues, Gardner told Make It last year.

“Maybe they’re unable to actually see how much value the people around them bring to their own success,” she said. “And that inability to appreciate other people’s contributions is a huge red flag for me … It’s anti-collaborative.”

Nearly every team, no matter your industry, needs people who can work well with others. That’s difficult when your co-workers don’t like being around you, or vice versa.

McKissack says she needs to actually like her employees’ personalities, because if she doesn’t like to be around you, chances are, clients won’t either. “If I don’t want to be in their presence, then no one wants to be in their presence, usually” she says.

Having a warm, inviting personality at work can potentially take you farther in your career than your capabilities and credentials, self-made millionaire and entrepreneur Steve Adcock told Make It in April.

“Your personality will get you 10 times richer than your intelligence,” said Adcock. “I learned that throughout my career, slowly but surely. I worked with a lot of smart people, no doubt about it. But those smartest people in the office weren’t necessarily the ones getting the raises and promotions.”

McKissack has a three-word mantra for her business: humble, hungry, smart. She says she picked it up from author and business management expert Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Ideal Team Player.”

“We have an insatiable appetite for success,” McKissack wrote on LinkedIn earlier this year. “Humility drives us to make decisions for the collective good … [and] we value emotional intelligence because we know that’s what builds strong relationships.”

Expecting employees to embody those three descriptors — humble, hungry, smart — turned McKissack’s firm into a workforce full of people dedicated to the same mission, rather than one that struggled with low employee engagement, she says.

They’re the “three virtues” of successful team players, according to Lencioni’s book.

“I kept saying, ‘We’ve been stagnant for years. Why am I stagnant?’” says McKissack. “But when I made that decision to make our mission larger than just what we do, bricks and mortar, but make it more about the betterment of mankind, is when we really started changing.”

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Melinda French Gates’ three children grew up in one of the world’s wealthiest families. Not wanting to raise entitled kids, their parents worked to give them something resembling a “middle-class” upbringing, French Gates says.

“I think it was much more of an upbringing like I grew up in: a very middle-class household where money did dictate whether I got an extra pair of shoes that year or not, right? And I thought that was a good principle to have,” French Gates told The New York Times on Sunday.

The billionaire philanthropist grew up in Dallas, one of four children to an aerospace engineer and a homemaker. She married Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1994, and the couple raised their three children together before getting divorced in 2021.

In the interview, French Gates was asked how wealthy parents can possibly “ground kids” — meaning raising them to be well-adjusted and not entitled. Her answer was simple, and relatable to parents across the country: allowances.

“First of all, they had an allowance, so we absolutely did not just buy them things,” French Gates said. “And they either had to buy [something] with their allowance or put it on their wish list, that maybe they’d get it from their grandparents or us on their birthday or Christmas.”

The Gates children, who are now all in their 20s, were also encouraged to save at least one-third of their allowances for donations to charity, which their parents would match, French Gates told Time in 2014.

French Gates was frank with her children about how coming from a family with a lot of money could isolate them from their peers: She warned them to never boast about extravagant trips, as if that sort of thing was typical for everyone, she said.

She never wanted to raise the sort of wealthy kids who’d see their family’s name on a building and believe they were entitled to special treatment, she added.

“You know what?” French Gates told The New York Times. “I went to school with some of those kids at Duke University, and I vowed to myself that if I ever had resources at my disposal, those were not the kind of children I wanted to raise.”

Whether their families are wealthy or not, children who earn an allowance — or get a job — learn how to work for what they want, and the importance of managing their own finances, according to wealth advisor and author Coventry Edwards-Pitt.

Mark Cuban, another billionaire parent, agrees. The serial entrepreneur and investor’s three children grew up with a mandate that they’d have to get a job and earn money to buy the things they wanted, Cuban told Steve Harvey during a 2020 episode of “STEVE on Watch.”

“I tell them: After your health, my No. 1 thing for you all is, I don’t want you to be entitled jerks,” said Cuban, adding: “I’m not going to write you checks. You don’t just get a credit card. You can’t just buy whatever you want.”

If you avoid simply giving your kids everything they want, you can more effectively help train their future work ethic, psychotherapist Amy Morin told CNBC Make It last year. Children who grow up to become highly successful adults typically learn early that “if they want to succeed, it may not come naturally,” Morin said.

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank,” which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Growing up in Nara, Japan, I was surrounded by natural beauty, historic sites, long-held traditions and authentic, delicious food.

When I moved to the U.S. as an adult, I struggled a lot with the culture of fast and processed food. I was a busy, working parent and constantly felt ill or out of sorts because of my diet. So when I became a nutritionist, I decided to focus my work on sharing Japanese eating habits.

Anytime I return home, I am struck by the vibrancy of the elders in my community. Their secrets to longevity are eating with intention, and keeping Ikigai, a Japanese concept which translates to finding one’s purpose.

Here are the eight foods I always keep in my kitchen and eat every day to live a longer and happier life. 

My 99-year-old aunt starts every day with matcha, and so do I. I make sure to serve it in some of the special bowls she gifted me.

Green tea has many health benefits. It contains vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber and protein, as well as anti-inflammatory and illness-fighting polyphenols. Those naturally occurring compounds are high in antioxidants, the nutrients that protect against cell damage.

Since I was in high school, I have practiced Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. Every morning, I sit meditatively with my matcha, chasen (bamboo whisk), hot water and bowl. 

Some of the most popular foods in Japan are miso (fermented soy paste, often used in soup), natto (fermented soybeans) and nukazuke (fermented veggies pickled in rice bran). 

Growing up, my father would always bring back a pile of daikon (radishes) and seasonal vegetables from his local farmer friends. I would sort the veggies, help pickle them and serve them with ginger.

Fermented foods are also packed with probiotics which help with digestion and absorption and can reduce the risk of disease.

Every region of Japan has unique types of miso and pickles, depending on the weather, crops, culture and lifestyle. It can sometimes be hard to get high–quality miso here in New York, so I make my own with three ingredients: soybeans, koji rice and sea salt.

In Japan, you can find seaweed — known as kaiso — in so many dishes and snacks. I think it is safe to say that I have consumed at least one bite of seaweed with each meal for as long as I can remember. 

This flavorful and sustainable staple has many health benefits. It’s low in calories and high in fiber. It also contains a variety of essential minerals and vitamins including iodine, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids.  

At any given time, there are probably anywhere from five to 10 types of seaweed in my kitchen. They all have different flavors and culinary uses.

For example, I’ll throw kombu seaweed into miso soup with some dried mushrooms, or make a salad with seaweeds like wakame and hijiki. Or I’ll use kanten seaweed and red bean paste to make yummy vegan sweets. 

Soybeans are a delicious and affordable daily staple, and I’m always careful to make sure that I’m choosing minimally processed soy products.

My kitchen is not complete without edamame, kinako (soy powder), unsweetened soy milk and, of course, homemade natto and miso. Soybeans are high in fiber, B-vitamins, potassium and polyphenols like isoflavone.

I love red beans, or azuki, too. They are rich in polyphenols, fiber, potassium, protein, B-vitamins — all of which can help prevent inflammation. Red beans are often found in soups and desserts, like wagashi, which are often served with green tea.

The ingredients for wagashi are very simple: red bean paste, sweet mochi rice and fruit. I make it at home without any additional sugar, swapping in dried fruit and cinnamon as natural sweeteners. 

I’m a big fan of tofu because it provides protein, like you would get from meat and dairy, but without any of the cholesterol. It’s also quite versatile. It is always on my shopping list because it can be used in so many different types of dishes.

During the course of the week, I might prepare it as a burger, in dumplings, with veggies in fried rice, in soup, in a vegan curry, in hummus, as a side dish, in salad dressing and sauces and even as dessert.

Sesame seeds are my culinary superhero! Roasted brown or black sesame seeds are a kitchen staple for me, as is tahini. I’ll typically stir fry vegetables and fried rice with ground sesame seeds or paste instead of the oil, to get the whole benefits.

Sesame seeds are high in vitamin B and E, protein, fiber, and minerals like magnesium, calcium and phytosterols, which can help manage cholesterol.

Shiitake is a foundational ingredient for many Japanese dishes. The mushroom is packed with protein and vitamins D and B. It also contains lentinan, a polysaccharide which can help fight inflammation. 

I use dried shiitake for overnight dashi (soup stock) with kombu seaweed, miso soup, dressings, vinegar, curry — basically everything.

I will typically buy organic mushrooms from the local farmers market, put them on a bamboo plate, and place them at the window. I’m not the only one who enjoys them. I found out the hard way that my neighborhood squirrels love them too. 

Not just in Japan, but around the world, ginger is known as a healing food. It helps boost immunity and metabolism. It is often my go-to for settling upset stomachs and relieving colds. 

Ginger enhances the flavor of dishes and protects food from spoiling.

I add a generous amount of ginger into miso soup and use it in dressings, sauces, marinades and sweets. It’s the perfect topping for nukazuke, natto, fish and noodles.

Growing up, one of my favorite things to eat was my mother’s umeboshi (pickled plums) with ginger and red shiso pickles. And all year round, to fight illness, I love a cup of ginger tea with dried goji berries, cinnamon, matcha and kudzu. 

I hope that some of my longevity favorites will find their way into your kitchens as well!

Michiko Tomioka, MBA, RDN is a certified nutritionist and longevity expert. Born and raised in Nara, Japan, her approach focuses on a plant-based diet. She has worked in nutritional roles at substance recovery centers, charter schools and food banks. Follow her on Instagram @michian_rd. 

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through Sept. 2, 2024.

President Joe Biden is making another move to forgive student debt for millions of borrowers.

The Biden-Harris administration announced Wednesday that it will begin emailing borrowers on Thursday with information regarding its proposed rules to allow the Secretary of Education to forgive debt for certain federal student loan borrowers.

The email will not specify which borrowers are eligible for the forthcoming relief, nor will receiving an email guarantee eligibility for forgiveness, the administration said in a statement. Borrowers will have until August 30 to contact their loan servicer to opt out of any relief they may otherwise receive.

“The Biden-Harris Administration made a commitment to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible, and today, as we near the end of a lengthy rulemaking process, we’re one step closer to keeping that promise,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the statement.

A draft of the proposed rules was released back in April before going through a public comment period as part of the negotiated rulemaking process — the lengthy one Cardona refers to. This plan has been in the works since the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s initial plan to forgive up to $20,000 of debt per borrower back in June 2023. 

The administration says if the rules are finalized as drafted, eligible borrowers shouldn’t have to take any action to see debt relief. Borrowers who choose to opt out, however, will not have the opportunity to opt back in.

“By providing more information to borrowers on how they can take advantage of our upcoming debt relief programs, borrowers will be prepared to benefit swiftly once the rules are final,” Biden said in a statement. 

As previously reported, the Biden administration’s plan prioritizes borrowers who’ve been in repayment for many years, those who’ve been burdened by “runaway interest” and borrowers who were left with debt from under-performing institutions.

Here are the four groups of borrowers slated to start seeing partial or total loan forgiveness if the rules are finalized this fall:

1. Borrowers who owe more than they initially borrowed
2. Borrowers who have been in repayment for more than 20 years for undergraduate loans or 25 years for graduate loans
3. Borrowers who would be eligible for other forgiveness programs like income-driven repayment or closed school discharge, but haven’t applied
4. Borrowers who enrolled in low-financial value programs 

The administration expects that providing forgiveness for these groups will bring the total number of borrowers eligible for student debt relief up to 30 million. 

Thus far, the administration has approved $168 billion in debt relief for nearly 5 million borrowers through income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs as well as disability discharge and for students defrauded by their academic institutions.

Another group of borrowers — those experiencing financial hardship — can expect a separate proposal to receive debt relief in the coming months, the administration said. The proposed rule still needs to go through a public comment period, but will aim to automatically forgive debt for borrowers at high risk of default or who show other difficulties like high medical costs.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.