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

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When a child is upset, most parents reach for the same question instinctively: “What’s wrong?”

It’s well-intentioned and it comes from care. But after years of teaching conscious parenting and studying over 200 kids, I’ve seen how often that question does the opposite of what parents hope. Instead of opening children up, it can shut them down.

Emotional intelligence develops when children feel safe enough to reflect. Without that foundation, even the most caring questions can feel overwhelming in the moment.

Across my research, one sentence reliably helped children pause, reflect, and communicate more openly: “Tell me what feels hard right now.”

This magic phrase works because it matches how children actually experience emotions in real life. Rather than pushing for clarity or explanations, it creates the conditions where insight can emerge naturally.

During meltdowns, after-school emotional releases, or moments of sudden irritability, children are already on edge. The word “hard” feels human and non-threatening. It signals to your child that they aren’t in trouble and don’t need to justify their feelings, making it easier to stay engaged instead of shutting down or pushing back.

Children don’t need to label emotions precisely. They can describe a situation, a sensation, or a moment that felt overwhelming. Over time, this gently expands emotional language, allowing insight to develop naturally rather than being forced before a child has the words.

Before problem-solving, before advice, before correction, this phrase tells a child: “I can handle what you’re feeling.” Emotional intelligence grows in welcoming environments where emotions are met with steadiness instead of urgency.

Rather than demanding an explanation, this question invites reflection. The child decides how much to share and when, reinforcing a sense of agency over their emotional experience, which is an essential foundation for self-regulation and confidence.

When children feel emotionally safe, their stress response begins to settle. This phrase is especially effective when behavior feels disproportionate or confusing because it prioritizes regulation before reasoning.

By focusing on what feels hard, parents communicate that emotions can be noticed without being rushed or fixed. It teaches kids that feelings can be experienced and moved through rather than avoided or suppressed.

Children learn emotional intelligence through experience, not instruction. When parents respond with calm curiosity instead of control or urgency, they model how to approach emotions with steadiness and reflection. These are skills children eventually apply to themselves.

Our job as parents is to create an environment where our children feel safe sharing their inner worlds. When you adjust your language, you shape the emotional tone of your relationship. Over time, children learn that their feelings are important signals that deserve attention.

Reem Raouda is a leading voice in conscious parenting and the creator of the BOUND and FOUNDATIONS journals, now offered together as her Emotional Safety Bundle. She is widely recognized for her expertise in children’s emotional well-being and for redefining what it means to raise emotionally healthy kids. Connect with her on Instagram.

Want to give your kids the ultimate advantage? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course, How to Raise Financially Smart Kids. Learn how to build healthy financial habits today to set your children up for greater success in the future. 

One thing many workers are keen to leave behind heading into 2026? The 9-to-5 schedule. In its place, many are interested in adopting a practice called “microshifting.”

In Owl Labs’ 2025 State of Hybrid Work report, 65% of workers reported being interested in microshifting, defined as working in “short, non-linear blocks based on personal energy, responsibilities, or productivity patterns.”

“Microshifting appeals to employees not just as a scheduling preference, but as a way to reclaim control over their increasingly fragmented work lives,” Owl Labs CEO Frank Weishaupt tells CNBC Make It. “Employees are improvising solutions to reconcile the demands of their jobs with the realities of their lives.”

During the pandemic remote work boom, many workers had greater control over their time during their workdays. The interest in microshifting could represent interest in keeping that flexibility, particularly among those with some degree of remote or self-directed work, as it may be more difficult for office workers in traditional 9-to-5 jobs.

But microshifting isn’t an entirely new practice. Doug Gregory of Grand Rapids, Michigan, says he’s been doing it as a remote worker for decades, before it had that name, and even more so since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We kind of got used to the idea of being present or available for loved ones,” he says of broader sentiment in the workforce stemming from the pandemic remote work era. “We got used to taking better care of our health.”

While Gregory acknowledges that “not everybody has control over their calendar,” he finds “the day is more fluid” when he’s microshifting.

“If I need to take an hour off during the day to go do something with the grandkid or to go see a doctor or whatever, it’s okay, I make up for it in the evening, I make up for it early in the morning,” he says. “It really comes back to what am I responsible for getting done, how do I do it, and how do I organize my life to do it.”

Gregory previously held sales roles but today is self-employed working in audiovisual integration.

“I earn a living based on outcomes,” he says. “Nobody sends me a check for how many hours I work in a week.”

Microshifting could be particularly useful for parents and caregivers; Owl Labs’ report found caregivers were roughly three times as likely to try microshifting as non-caregivers.

Theresa Robertson of Elkridge, Maryland, is one of them. Robertson says she juggled her work, including a former role as a project manager, with caregiving for her late husband, who had chronic health issues, for 25 years.

“To me, it was just making sure I didn’t lose my job,” she says. “I had to take care of my husband, and I had to work, so I had to figure it out.”

That meant scheduling meetings around his doctors’ appointments and starting some days early or ending others late to take him to those appointments, manage his medications and handle other caregiving responsibilities.

“We had a routine; after I got him settled, made sure he was dressed and he had his medicine and he had his food, then I could relax and focus on work,” she says. “I had more control over my day where I could stop and decide, okay I need to check his blood pressure and then go back to work.”

Some of her jobs during this period, like in project management, were more outcome-based so she was trusted to manage her time as long as she handled her work, she notes.

“As long as I got the job done on time and on budget, they weren’t really looking at did I punch a clock to see was I in the building at 7 a.m.” she says. “I’ve had so many Zoom meetings in hospital rooms because wherever I go I take my laptop and when I can work, I can work.”

Today, Robertson runs a virtual assistant agency, which she says helps her continue to microshift. She sets her hours such that she’s mostly free on Friday afternoons, for example, to tend to personal matters.

“I microshift all the time,” she says. “That’s the only way I’m able to have a life and produce an income.”

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The start of 2026 means many employees are seeing their PTO balances refreshed for the year. With some strategic planning, and travel know-how, you can make your vacation days go the extra mile.

One popular strategy, sometimes called “PTO-maxxing” on social media, involves tacking vacation days onto holidays and weekends to maximize your time off. By doing so, you can get around 40 days off by using just 10 to 15 days of PTO this year, some estimates say.

Of course, PTO-maxxing may not work within everyone’s schedules, team needs and employer policies. But every day you can place strategically adds up.

The U.S. has 11 federal holidays this year, several of which fall on Mondays. If you request off the Friday prior or the Tuesday after, you suddenly have a 4-day getaway using just one day of PTO. Likewise, for holidays that fall on Fridays, requesting the Thursday before or the Monday after creates a 4-day vacation.

The extra day can also save you some money if you’re planning on traveling.

“If you can build in one vacation day on a 3-day weekend, that gives you a little bit of an advantage because you’re not flying on the exact day when everybody else is flying,” says Tom Carpenter, co-owner of travel agency Huckleberry Travel.

For bigger holidays like Thanksgiving, where many people travel to be with family, you might request off Monday through Wednesday, and Friday if your employer does not already designate that a company holiday. With the two weekends on either side of Thanksgiving week, you’d have off 9 days for using 4 days of PTO.

And for those who travel frequently for work, consider adding PTO onto a business trip where possible, since your company has already covered your travel and you’re at that destination already, Carpenter says.

Travel tips

When maximizing your PTO, you’ll also want to bear in mind some tips to stretch your dollar too.

Pay attention to events happening where and when you’ll be traveling that could affect hotel and home rental availability, pricing and crowds. (If you’re not expressly going to the Winter Olympics, February might be a bad time to visit Milan.)

The best window to book a flight is 1.5 to 4 months out as any earlier doesn’t yield any real advantages, and any later will start to see prices increase, Carpenter says. As for flying, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays tend to be cheaper than other days, he adds.

For shorter getaways, look at direct flights from your airport so you can minimize your time in transit and spend more time on the ground at your destination.

Wherever you’re going, plan ahead.

“If you’re looking at a holiday weekend when a lot of people are going to be traveling, that inventory is going to go sooner than on a random midweek trip,” Carpenter says. “There’s no such thing as a last-minute deal.”

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Candidates often worry about making a good impression during the hiring process, but they should be equally attuned to how the company presents itself.

Don’t ignore your intuition if something seems off during a job interview, says Amanda Augustine, a career coach and resident career expert at Resume.ai.

“The candidate experience is oftentimes a reflection of how they treat their employees and the respect they give,” Augustine says.

No matter how great a job looks on paper, “if it’s not a great experience interviewing with them and going through their vetting process, then chances are it’s probably not going to be a wonderful experience once you get in the door,” she says.

These are the top three red flags from hirers that job seekers should watch out for in interviews, according to Augustine.

The hiring team doesn’t have a clear idea of what the role entails

It’s a major red flag if each person you speak to during the interview process “seems to have a different idea in mind as to what they expect you to do” in the role, Augustine says.

From the company’s side, everyone involved in the hiring process should have similar responses to questions like “What does success look like in this role?” or “What are the top three qualifications someone needs to do this job?”

If the hiring team is unclear on what your exact job duties will be, which team members you’ll work with or what your role will be within the company, you’re likely to face unrealistic or unclear expectations as an employee, according to Augustine.

These inconsistencies can also point to larger issues in the company’s culture, she says.

It could indicate that there’s “conflict within the organization” as to what they’re looking for, Augustine says — and “if you take the job, you’re going to be stuck in the middle of that.”

They avoid answering hard questions

Job interviews are a two-way street, Augustine says: candidates are evaluating whether they want to work at a company just as much as employers are evaluating whether to hire them.

If there are any areas of concern, candidates can — and should — ask probing questions like “It seems like there was a large layoff in the past year. How has the team recovered from that, and how has that changed your goals?”

Pay attention to the way your interviewer responds, Augustine says.

“If they shy away from that, refuse to answer or they don’t want to get into it, it’s either because they don’t know the answer or they think the answer will scare you away,” she says. “I would be wary of that.”

It can also be a red flag if your interviewer is reluctant to let you speak with current team members, she says: they may be trying to hide a toxic work environment.

The work environment seems tense

If you’re visiting the company for an in-person interview, it’s crucial to “take stock of your surroundings,” Augustine says.

“Keep your eyes and ears peeled for what’s going on around you,” she says.

She recommends taking note of details like “Where are they having you wait? What’s the vibe around you? Do people seem stressed out? Is it silent? Is it happy?”

Even something as simple as what workers keep on their desks could give you valuable insights into the company culture, she says: “Do they have plants and pictures of their families and that sort of thing, or is it very sterile?”

Another clue to look out for is whether other employees seem to collaborate or keep to themselves.

These factors don’t necessarily indicate that a workplace is toxic, Augustine says, but they can help candidates determine whether the company culture is a good fit. If not, “you’ll want to run for the door,” she says.

How candidates can respond

If you’ve decided that you’re no longer interested in pursuing the role, it’s best to let the company know promptly.

It can feel awkward to tell a company you’re withdrawing your candidacy, but Augustine recommends sending a follow-up email with a simple script:

“Thank you so much for your time today. I enjoyed learning more about your organization. Upon further consideration, I do not believe that this role would be a good fit for me. I wish you the best of luck in your candidate search.”

Regardless of how the interview went, “you’re always going to maintain your dignity, your honor, your professionalism,” Augustine says.

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.