In the blur of adult life, it’s surprisingly easy to lose touch with people.

When I was younger, I felt comfortable stopping by friends’ houses just to say hi and see what they were up to. No plan, no pressure, and also no reason. In fact, not knowing the outcome was part of the fun! 

But as life got busier, I realized there was often a small internal hesitation when I thought of reaching out to someone: I don’t want to interrupt… It’s been too long… I should have something important to say… So instead, I’d think of someone fondly, feel a brief tug of connection, and then move on with my day, letting the moment pass.

It didn’t feel right. And so, after some false starts, I landed on an approach that removes nearly all of that friction.

I regularly send this 10-word message: “You crossed my mind, and I wanted to say hi.”

A simple text, that’s it. No explanation. No request. No expectation. Just a small signal that says: You matter to me. (If you feel inspired, add an emoji or two, like I usually do!)

You can send this to pretty much anyone in your life, past or present, including friends, colleagues, mentors, or loved ones. It’s simple, unpolished, and almost disarmingly small. And better yet, it always lands.

This message works because it asks for nothing. There’s no obligation baked into it, no implied follow-up, no pressure to perform closeness or produce a meaningful response. It leaves the other person completely free to reply immediately, to reply later, or not to reply at all. In doing so, it creates a sense of emotional safety that many messages unintentionally lack.

In a world that feels increasingly transactional and rushed, being remembered is surprisingly powerful. 

We’re living through what some researchers have begun calling a “friendship recession,” a quiet but profound decline in how people experience and sustain connection. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 20% of 30- to 49-year-olds feel lonely or isolated all or most of the time, while 24% of 18- to 29-year-olds report feeling the same.  

Loneliness among workers is on the rise, with as many as 20% of employees reporting daily loneliness, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report. The same goes for 22% of remote workers and 25% of those under 35. 

Against these backdrops, sending a simple message to someone who crosses your mind matters. There is meaning in simply being thought of and connected with.

I don’t remember the first time I sent this message intentionally, but I do remember noticing how much people appreciated it. 

Sometimes the responses are immediate, and sometimes they arrive hours or days later. Some are quiet (“Thanks for reaching out.”), and others are effusive (“It’s so great to hear from you!”). 

What surprises me isn’t just the warmth of the responses, but also how every so often the timing feels wildly serendipitous. More than once, someone told me they had just been thinking about me. Or they were having a particularly hard day. Or I’d been in one of their dreams recently. To me, this highlights how we’re all more connected than we realize, even when we’re not in touch.

Sometimes, the exchanges naturally end there. But more often than not, they turn into a text conversation, call, or in-person coffee or lunch that adds momentum and connection to my day.

Over the years, I’ve shared this habit with others, and I often hear the same concerns: Wouldn’t that feel awkward? What if they don’t respond? What if it seems random? 

What I’ve gotten comfortable with is that any discomfort is on my (the sender’s) side — and that it’s super brief. Once it’s sent, a message that asks for nothing rarely feels intrusive. And if someone doesn’t respond, it doesn’t negate the kindness of the gesture. The message still did its work.

So who crossed your mind? Send them a quick message. You don’t need any other reason.

Sara Sutton is the founder of Liveand.Love, a platform built around the idea that small actions can meaningfully shape how we experience our days and relationships. She previously founded FlexJobs, Remote.co, and JobDirect, and is widely recognized for her work advancing remote and flexible work. Her insights have been featured by the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Forbes.

Want to lead with confidence and bring out the best in your team? Take CNBC’s new online course, How To Be A Standout Leader. Expert instructors share practical strategies to help you build trust, communicate clearly and motivate other people to do their best work. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 25% off the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Offer valid March 16 through March 30, 2026. Terms apply.

When Naseema McElroy was 25, she owned five rental properties. It was how she thought she was going to build her wealth.

By taking advantage of subprime lending practices that allowed borrowers with weak credit histories to easily obtain high-interest mortgages in the early 2000s, McElroy figured she would borrow as much as she could to purchase multiple properties and it would all work out in the end, she tells CNBC Make It.

Then about a year later, in 2008, the housing market crashed.

“I was really naive,” McElroy says. Suddenly, she owed lenders more than what her properties were worth. To avoid foreclosure, she says she was forced to sell two of the investments for less than what was left on their mortgages. Two other properties were foreclosed on, and eventually she says she had to declare bankruptcy.

Since then, the now 44-year-old labor and delivery nurse has grown her net worth to over $1 million, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She owns her primary home, but the majority of her wealth comes from investing in the stock market through broad-based index funds, documents show.

The biggest lesson she says she’s learned from the experience: “Real estate is one form of investing, but it’s not the only form.”

While there can be upsides to investing in real estate, it’s significantly riskier than investing in the stock market and can require a lot more work than many investors anticipate, says Alex Caswell, a certified financial planner and founder of Wealth Script Advisors in San Francisco, California.

On social media, “there’s been a popularization of the idea that real estate is somehow a silver bullet in terms of building wealth,” Caswell says. However, in reality, becoming a successful real estate investor requires extensive research and dedication, he says.

Before purchasing a property, Caswell says investors should consider a swath of variables, including how much it could appreciate, property taxes, maintenance costs, insurance expenses and the best way to finance the purchase.

All of these variables rely on assumptions, and adding all of your assumptions together can create “a lot more of an unpredictable investment experience,” Caswell says.

Additionally, becoming a landlord like McElroy may not be as easy as collecting a monthly check, Caswell says.

“I just remember how hard it was to be a landlord,” says McElroy, who was also working full time as a health-care administrator at the time.

On top of constant costs associated with maintaining her homes, she says collecting rent and dealing with tenants became a constant struggle.

McElroy says she never generated as much revenue from the venture as she expected, and looking back, McElroy says her failure to understand the true costs associated with real estate before taking on so much debt became the biggest money-related mistake she has ever made.

If you’re not looking to commit to becoming a full-time real estate investor, Caswell says you’re probably better off prioritizing financial security by investing in the stock market through retirement and traditional brokerage accounts.

If you want to “dabble” in purchasing property, only do so once you’ve saved enough to retire comfortably, he says.

“The risk and the level of dedication to succeed in a real estate venture is going to be so great that if you fail at it, it could really set you back financially,” Caswell says.

Want to lead with confidence and bring out the best in your team? Take CNBC’s new online course, How To Be A Standout Leader. Expert instructors share practical strategies to help you build trust, communicate clearly and motivate other people to do their best work. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 25% off the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Offer valid March 16 through March 30, 2026. Terms apply.

Gigi Gonzalez has a new rule for herself: She doesn’t work Fridays.

“Fridays are my errand day,” says Gonzalez, 36. “That’s when I go to the dentist. That’s when I take my dog to the groomer [or] when I get my nails done.”

For the rest of the workweek, Gonzalez keeps her schedule tight, working Monday through Thursday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

That wasn’t the case one year ago, when Gonzalez says she logged a more traditional 40 hours of work a week as her own boss running The First Gen Mentor, where she’s a financial educator, content creator and author.

It’s not that she’s landed a sudden windfall or considerably increased her rates. Rather, Gonzalez moved from Chicago to Valencia, Spain, with her husband in May 2025. Since then, her personal expenses have gone down enough to make a 16-hour workweek possible.

The move has transformed her work-life balance, her finances and her outlook on a long-term future abroad.

Gonzalez’s journey abroad kicked off in 2019. One day, she was discussing her financial services job at a high-school career day and advised students to study abroad if possible, something she regretted not doing herself.

After repeating her regret through seven different presentations that day, Gonzalez decided it wasn’t too late for her to live abroad as an adult. She says she spent the next two years saving about $20,000 with the goal of taking a year-long sabbatical from work.

The Covid-19 pandemic upended her plans, so in April 2021 Gonzalez says she used her savings to launch her own business, The First Gen Mentor, where she offers financial education to first-generation students and young professionals of color. A few years into being her own boss, Gonzalez realized she could do her job from around the world, and she revived her plan to move overseas.

After some research, she and her husband set their sights on Spain, where Gonzalez can apply for citizenship after two years of residency through her Mexican citizenship. (She currently holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico, where her parents were born.)

Spanish was Gonzalez’s first language, so there wouldn’t be a major language barrier. Plus, Spain launched its digital nomad visa in late 2023, which allows foreign freelancers, remote workers and self-employed business owners to live in the country while earning money from overseas.

From July 2024 to April 2025, the couple saved over $20,000 to move abroad by selling their furniture and focusing on values-based spending. “It didn’t feel like deprivation; it felt like I was budgeting towards a greater purpose of moving abroad,” says Gonzalez, who is a financial advocate for Intuit.

She also limited her impulsive spending. That meant no new furniture, plants or clothes. “Basically, anything I couldn’t pack in three suitcases [wasn’t] going to make the cut,” she says.

Gonzalez got her digital nomad visa in April 2025 and added her husband as a dependent; he works in operations for an international company and secured a transfer to their Spanish subsidiary. Gonzalez’s visa gives her three years of residency, during which she says she plans to apply for citizenship in Spain.

Gonzalez says her cost of living in Spain is much lower than it was in the U.S., which means she can work less, typically 16 but sometimes up to 20 hours per week, and still live comfortably.

As a result, she says her sense of work-life balance has “completely transformed.” She can enjoy the luxury of a slow morning, starting with breakfast, exercise, self-care and lunch before logging on at 2 p.m. when her U.S.-based clients are starting their days.

Gonzalez says some early and aggressive investments are also paying off. During the pandemic, Gonzalez says she invested up to 35% of her income into her retirement accounts. It was enough to hit a number where she’ll be able to stop working and live off the distributions from her portfolio in retirement. Gonzalez currently has over $220,000 stashed for retirement.

“That means that I have enough in my investments now that I don’t have to add more money,” Gonzalez says, “and I can still retire at the traditional age of 65 without adding another dollar, just by letting compound interest do its magic.”

With her retirement income taken care of, Gonzalez says she only has to work enough now to support her everyday spending. “If one day I want to stop [running my business] and just go be a barista or a waitress, I can do that, because I just need to pay for my current expenses,” she says. “I don’t need to earn more to put towards retirement.”

Gonzalez hopes to stay in Spain long-term and says retirement is even more within reach given its lower expenses, especially around medical care. That being said, she says her newfound sense of work-life balance and a slower pace of living don’t make her dread working a few more decades.

“I’m not rushing to retire because I’m semi-retired,” she says.

Gonzalez says her personal expenses have gone down since moving abroad. Rent for her and her husband’s downtown Chicago apartment was $3,700 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit; meanwhile, in Valencia the couple pays 1,900 euros (roughly $2,200 USD) for a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom apartment.

Health insurance is another huge difference. In the U.S., Gonzalez says she and her husband paid more than $400 per month for employer-sponsored coverage with a high-deductible plan; in Valencia, their private health care is about $200 per month with no copays or deductibles.

“It’s really shocking as an American,” she says. “I don’t think twice about going to the doctor for something because there’s no copays; it’s already paid for.”

Not all of Gonzalez’s expenses are lower these days. Doing business in two countries is pricey.

Gonzalez says she employs a U.S.-based tax team to keep her LLC active and in compliance; her digital nomad visa also requires that she registers her business in Spain, so she has a Spanish tax team to help with that.

Given the added complexities of her business since moving, Gonzalez’s $350 monthly tax help has doubled to nearly $700 a month. “It was a big learning curve in the beginning, but I’ve adjusted,” she says.

Gonzalez says that when she told friends and family about her plans to move abroad, many of them didn’t realize how long she’d been planning for it.

“A lot of people see [others] living their best life in Europe, and then they look into the process, they get overwhelmed, and they don’t do it,” Gonzalez says. She recommends people really explore why they want to move abroad. Then, “create the systems and change their money mindset to be able to meet those goals.”

Gonzalez says her big moments of inspiration came from that high-school career day, but also when binging “House Hunters International” episodes or traveling abroad and wishing she could stay longer. It was enough motivation go keep her going through researching, saving up for and adjusting to her new life overseas.

“This is definitely one of the things for me, if I would have been on my deathbed, I would regret never experiencing life abroad,” she adds. “You get one life. Live it right.”

Conversions from euros to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 euro to $1.16 USD on March 9, 2026.

Want to improve your communication, confidence and success at work? Take CNBC’s new online course, Master Your Body Language To Boost Your Influence.

Everyday living costs play a major role in how much money you need to retire.

A new state-by-state analysis from personal finance website GOBankingRates shows that the estimated total savings needed to retire at 65 can differ by as much as $1.46 million depending on where you live.

In Hawaii, retirees need about $2.2 million to stop working at 65 and cover essential living expenses for 25 years, including housing, groceries, transportation, utilities and health-care costs. That is the highest estimated minimum of any state. By comparison, Oklahoma has the lowest estimated total, at $735,284, to cover the same basic costs.

The analysis is based on the average living costs for retirees 65 or older in each state, drawn from the latest data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From there, GOBankingRates subtracted average Social Security payments and estimated the savings needed to cover the remaining expenses using an annual 4% withdrawal rate.

The resulting figures represent a baseline for covering essential costs and don’t factor in discretionary spending such as travel, dining or entertainment. Additionally, the estimates don’t account for factors such as inflation, lifestyle changes or unexpected costs.

Housing is the biggest factor in annual retirement costs, as it varies by roughly $30,000 annually between states. Utilities and health-care costs can range by as much as $5,000 annually, the study finds.

Here’s a look the minimum amount of savings needed to retire at 65 in each state, in alphabetical order.

• Annual cost of living: $53,999
• Savings you need to retire: $789,037

• Annual cost of living: $78,449
• Savings you need to retire: $1,400,286

• Annual cost of living: $66,838
• Savings you need to retire: $1,110,019

• Annual cost of living: $54,859
• Savings you need to retire: $810,538

• Annual cost of living: $83,978
• Savings you need to retire: $1,538,508

• Annual cost of living: $63,091
• Savings you need to retire: $1,016,336

• Annual cost of living: $70,094
• Savings you need to retire: $1,191,417

• Annual cost of living: $63,152
• Savings you need to retire: $1,017,871

• Annual cost of living: $61,125
• Savings you need to retire: $967,190

• Annual cost of living: $56,395
• Savings you need to retire: $848,933

• Annual cost of living: $110,393
• Savings you need to retire: $2,198,902

• Annual cost of living: $60,818
• Savings you need to retire: $959,511

• Annual cost of living: $58,913
• Savings you need to retire: $911,901

• Annual cost of living: $55,657
• Savings you need to retire: $830,504

• Annual cost of living: $55,473
• Savings you need to retire: $825,896

• Annual cost of living: $54,613
• Savings you need to retire: $804,395

• Annual cost of living: $56,456
• Savings you need to retire: $850,469

• Annual cost of living: $56,947
• Savings you need to retire: $862,756

• Annual cost of living: $70,155
• Savings you need to retire: $1,192,953

• Annual cost of living: $73,043
• Savings you need to retire: $1,265,135

• Annual cost of living: $92,639
• Savings you need to retire: $1,755,055

• Annual cost of living: $58,176
• Savings you need to retire: $893,472

• Annual cost of living: $57,869
• Savings you need to retire: $885,793

• Annual cost of living: $52,524
• Savings you need to retire: $752,178

• Annual cost of living: $54,674
• Savings you need to retire: $805,931

• Annual cost of living: $67,452
• Savings you need to retire: $1,125,377

• Annual cost of living: $56,272
• Savings you need to retire: $845,862

• Annual cost of living: $60,572
• Savings you need to retire: $953,368

• Annual cost of living: $67,084
• Savings you need to retire: $1,116,163

• Annual cost of living: $70,401
• Savings you need to retire: $1,199,096

• Annual cost of living: $56,825
• Savings you need to retire: $859,684

• Annual cost of living: $77,773
• Savings you need to retire: $1,383,392

• Annual cost of living: $59,835
• Savings you need to retire: $934,938

• Annual cost of living: $56,087
• Savings you need to retire: $841,254

• Annual cost of living: $57,009
• Savings you need to retire: $864,291

• Annual cost of living: $51,849
• Savings you need to retire: $735,284

• Annual cost of living: $68,681
• Savings you need to retire: $1,156,093

• Annual cost of living: $59,650
• Savings you need to retire: $930,331

• Annual cost of living: $69,664
• Savings you need to retire: $1,180,666

• Annual cost of living: $56,825
• Savings you need to retire: $859,684

• Annual cost of living: $56,395
• Savings you need to retire: $848,933

• Annual cost of living: $55,473
• Savings you need to retire: $825,896

• Annual cost of living: $55,780
• Savings you need to retire: $833,575

• Annual cost of living: $60,879
• Savings you need to retire: $961,047

• Annual cost of living: $69,848
• Savings you need to retire: $1,185,274

• Annual cost of living: $61,493
• Savings you need to retire: $976,405

• Annual cost of living: $69,971
• Savings you need to retire: $1,188,345

• Annual cost of living: $54,122
• Savings you need to retire: $792,109

• Annual cost of living: $60,019
• Savings you need to retire: $939,546

• Annual cost of living: $58,545
• Savings you need to retire: $902,686

Want to get ahead at work with AI? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course, Beyond the Basics: How to Use AI to Supercharge Your Work. Learn advanced AI skills like building custom GPTs and using AI agents to boost your productivity today. Use coupon code EARLYBIRD for 25% off. Offer valid from Jan. 5 to Jan. 19, 2026. Terms apply.

A majority, 65%, of singles feel hopeful about dating in 2026, according to a January survey of 1,000 U.S. singles, ages 18 to 79, by DatingNews.com.

They’re looking to meet other singles in multiple ways: 73% use dating apps, 48% meet through friends and coworkers, and 24% through interest-based or lifestyle events.

If you’re single and looking to meet someone, there are green flags you can look out for during your search, says Sabrina Romanoff, a New York-based psychologist and relationship expert for Hily, a dating app.

“The biggest thing in dating is that we have no idea who the person on the other end of the table is,” she says. The goal is to get a sense of that. Here are five traits she recommends looking for.

“Almost anyone can put up that facade of being the perfect partner for the first month of dating,” says Romanoff. But someone who’s really interested will continue to show that interest over time.

That could mean active listening and following up on elements of your life, for example, like asking about a problem at work after you brought it up or arranging a date around an activity you’ve told them you love.

The key is to make sure that care and focus continue — not just during dates but between them, too.

Everyone makes mistakes or messes up in life. We’re human.

But a good partner can take accountability, apologize and know they’re not inherently a bad person; they just have room to grow, says Romanoff.

In a situation where someone is 20 minutes late to a date, the difference is between saying “you’re being ridiculous” or “you’re being so rigid,” says Romanoff, and simply saying, “I’m so sorry I’m late.”

You want a partner who believes “we’re allowed to mess up, and we’re allowed to evolve from our flaws together,” she says.

A lot can go wrong in a day and there’s very little we have control over. But how the person you’re dating reacts in these moments is very telling. “How do they treat wait staff?” says Romanoff. “How do they deal with slight inconveniences?”

Are they patient? Can they see things from another perspective? Do they get angry quickly?

Everyone has moments of frustration, but if they’re consistently “very rude, very rushed, very aggressive,” she says, that’s an indication of how they handle stress, and that will show up frequently in a potential future life together.

In any relationship, it’s important to feel calm and safe. That’s where a potential partner’s clear intent comes in.

Dating someone who can communicate what they want in a relationship and follow through on those declarations can help. If they say they’re interested in a long-term partner, for example, are they slowly integrating their life with yours? Are they introducing you to people that matter to them and exposing you to some of their favorite activities?

“How we feel in dating is a big reaction and reflection of what our partner is showing us,” says Romanoff, adding that, “when your partner is uncertain or ambiguous about what they want, it inevitably breeds anxiety.”

It’s easy to mistake sparks and chemistry for a genuine connection. But those signs can actually be an indication that a former, unhealthy relationship dynamic is at play for you, maybe something you experienced with a parent. You’ll want to steer clear of that, says Romanoff.

Instead, check in with yourself during your dates and see if you felt a sense of ease and a natural flow of conversation. And after your dates, consider if anything they said gave you pause or if you feel like you have to perform for them every time you get together by buying a new outfit, for example.

“If you feel grounded and at ease rather than anxious after seeing them,” says Romanoff, “that’s your gut instinct telling you that you can trust them.”

Want to lead with confidence and bring out the best in your team? Take CNBC’s new online course, How To Be A Standout Leader. Expert instructors share practical strategies to help you build trust, communicate clearly and motivate other people to do their best work. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 25% off the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Offer valid March 16 through March 30, 2026. Terms apply.