Beach bonfires, sunrise sound-bath meditation, and yoga sessions mixed with high-level financial discussions on everything from bitcoin to bonds: That’s the Future Proof Festival, which took place last month in Huntington Beach, Calif.

More than 4,000 wealth advisers and vendors from across the country came to talk about investment strategies, learn about buzzy fintech, and scarf down tacos and ice cream while singing along with Third Eye Blind and the X Ambassadors.

One afternoon I popped into the Vanguard Investments tent to sit down with Colleen Jaconetti, a senior investment strategist for Retirement Solutions at Vanguard. Jaconetti’s focus for the past two decades has been financial planning and digging into the balance between spending on immediate needs and saving for the future.

Here’s what Jaconetti had to say, edited for length and clarity:

Kerry Hannon: You’re known for your behavioral coaching. What is a key driver to saving for retirement?

Colleen Jaconetti: The most important thing is recognizing that if you want to have enough to live on in retirement, you have to start saving early and have a portfolio with low costs.

For a lot of the young people, it’s hard to take money out of their current paycheck for retirement. They’re focused on paying their bills right now. The discipline and the understanding that foregoing something in your early years can pay huge dividends is hard to get your hands around. That discipline helps you hold steady when markets get shaky, which is a key to long-term investment success.

Some of it is just people’s personality. I have one nephew who likes to spend his money as soon as it’s in his hands. It’s his natural inclination. He’s very generous. I’m not criticizing people who spend more. They want to enjoy their life. But it’s harder to get someone like that to understand the value of savings.

Then the second part is education. While you really want to spend now, if you understand that if you save it now that means you can maybe retire three years earlier. That makes it a more tangible thing for younger people.

It helps to understand the trade-offs of small sacrifices. You need to see where in your budget you can consider trimming.

Read more: Retirement planning: A step-by-step guide

What advice would you give a young person just starting to save for retirement?

Set enough aside in your employer-provided retirement plan to at least get the employer match. Many employers contribute anywhere from 50 cents to $1 for every $1 an employee contributes, up to 3% or 4% of their salary. Ideally, workers should aim to save 15% of their pre-tax income each year, including any match. Giving up the employer match would be a huge disservice to yourself.

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Did you have an issue with saving when you were starting out?

No, but I remember exactly how much I made every other week when I started as a senior auditor at Ernst & Young in 1994. I was paying for my apartment and insurance all for the first time, and I was like, wait, where is my money going?

Once you are aware of where all your money goes, you realize that a little bit over here in retirement savings actually will make a huge difference later.

Vanguard has been at the forefront of the movement to help people roll over their 401 (k) savings to an IRA and not cash out when they change jobs — a mistake I made as a 30-year-old. Can you elaborate on that issue?

People say, ‘oh, it’s not that much money, so it’s okay if I just take the cash now because I want to buy a house.’ But you can’t put that money back, and you’re giving up that tax-deferred investment and the compounding for two decades or more, and that’s a lot. When you show people what it would be worth in the future, they usually say, ‘oh wow, I didn’t realize that that amount today would accumulate to be so much down the road.’

If you’re not in retirement yet, but you’re edging up to it, what should you be doing?

This is the time to put together the big picture of what you want to do, and then how much do you need, and what’s the best way to minimize taxes.

The biggest thing is what do you envision doing in retirement? Some people want to be gardening and reading books, and some people are going to be taking two or three trips a year.

It’s figuring out how much do you need to retire and live the life that you want to live. How much Social Security will you get? Can you afford to delay receiving your benefit? Then you need to consider whether you should spend from your taxable or tax-free accounts.

Let’s talk about the angst people have about spending in retirement.

A lot of people get to retirement with a number in mind. I need a million dollars to retire. Whatever it is, they decide to have a number.

Then when they have that, they don’t want to spend from their principal in retirement. So they’re going into retirement with a broadly diversified, low-cost portfolio. They’re all set and then when they look at current yields, all of a sudden, they don’t want to spend their principal.

So they overweight their portfolio in dividend-paying stocks and high-yield bonds to get the income that they desire. But what they don’t realize is that you could actually be putting the principal value at risk more than if you just spend from it.

When you think about spending in retirement, don’t be so narrowly focused on preserving principal that you forgo diversification.

Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note.

What’s a spending solution that can ease people’s concerns about running out of money?

Dynamic spending. It’s responsive to annual market performance but the year-over-year spending amount is kept within a set range to provide a level of stability.

For many retirees, our dynamic strategy offers the best of both worlds. It’s responsive to market changes without causing significant fluctuations in annual spending.

This strategy allows them to set controlled maximum (ceiling) and minimum (floor) spending limits. Retirees can spend more when markets perform well or cut spending when they don’t — within limits.

Say a retiree starts with $1 million in a 60% US stocks, 40% US bonds portfolio. You’d start with $40,000 a year in income with a 4% initial withdrawal rate as the basis for comparison and an expected 30-year retirement.

Dynamic spending allows retirees to receive more, say 5%, or $42,000 in income. In practical terms, this could translate to enjoying a higher quality of life, however they define it: more travel, greater ability to donate, or perhaps having greater means to help family members financially.

If there’s a period of prolonged underperformance — especially early in retirement — year-over-year real spending could decline each year. In other words, real spending could drop to $39,000 in year one, $38,200 in year two … down to say $35,000 in year five.

Having the flexibility to make small spending decreases in down markets, and the desire to spend more in a positive market is a compelling strategy for many retirees.

Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work” and “Never Too Old To Get Rich.” Follow her on X @kerryhannon.

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A BARGAIN supermarket has closed its doors for good, as residents mourn the loss to their local highstreet.

The branch is part of a major chain with more than 300 stores across the nation.

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Farmfoods sells frozen food and fresh groceries at bargain prices.

The closure of the Sutton branch in south London was announced last month, with the supermarket finally shutting up shop yesterday (October 5).

It was prompted by the landlord’s decision to redevelop the site, according to MyLondon.

After news broke of the closure, locals took to a residents’ Facebook group to voice their disappointment.

One wrote: “That’s really sad, I love Farmfoods, soon there shall be no shops left in Sutton.”

Another praised the branch, saying it was a “useful shop, especially in COVID times”.

Others were unhappy about yet another loss to Sutton highstreet.

One said: “Sutton could end up a dormitory town as Crawley was, no services, or many shops in town, but plenty of places to live and good transport to get to and from it.”

Another echoed: “Another one gone.”

A third wrote :”There will be nothing left except for flats. No shops anywhere.”

However, the chain does have plans to reopen the site at some point in the future, according to a spokesperson.

Property Director Alistair Kay said: “The closure is due to our landlord intending to redevelop the land the building sits on. No other Farmfoods shops are affected.

“We’re grateful to all our customers for their loyalty shopping with us at the site over the years and will continue to look for suitable opportunities to reopen in Sutton in future.”

Before the closure, the supermarket launched a huge closing down sale – with 50% off all stock.

Deadly Consequences

The attacks had deadly consequences in other regions. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, two individuals — a 50-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man — sustained injuries due to rocket strikes in the Synelnykove district, damaging several houses and vehicles.

Donetsk Oblast faced its own tragedies, with two fatalities and eight injuries reported. Specific incidents included a deadly attack in Velyka Novosilka and another in the town of Toretsk.

In Kharkiv Oblast, a 49-year-old man died when a Russian drone struck his car, while an 87-year-old man was injured in a subsequent airstrike in the same area.

In Kherson Oblast, a 55-year-old man was killed, with 15 others injured across the region. Additionally, the southern city of Odesa was targeted, resulting in injuries and damage to civilian infrastructure.

While Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Zhytomyr oblasts also faced attacks, no casualties were reported there.

A drastic increase in funding and personnel for a Kenyan-led international mission is needed to wrest control of much of Haiti’s capital from the violent grip of gangs, the Caribbean nation’s acting prime minister has said.

“It’s a two-pronged issue, not enough people [and] insufficient equipment of our police forces and the structures in Haiti,” Garry Conille, the country’s interim leader, told the Financial Times.

“As we attack one major neighbourhood, gangs then spread out and attack us in other places, so our police chief has to make a very difficult decision of redeploying his assets,” said Conille, a former UN development worker.

“You can understand why four months into this, we’re not yet finished with one neighbourhood.”

Conille’s call for increased funding was given added urgency by a massacre on Thursday in Pont-Sondé, a town 100km north of the capital, which left at least 70 people dead and displaced more than 6,200, according to the UN.

The attack was carried out by the Gran Grif gang, which swept through the town in the country’s rice-growing heartland, firing at residents with automatic rifles. It is the worst massacre in Haiti since at least 2018, when 71 people were killed by gangs in a slum in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

The UN’s Human Rights Office on Friday called for “increased international financial and logistical assistance” to the Kenyan-led mission after the “horrifying” attack.

Several nations have pledged in recent weeks to send police officers to Haiti to build up the faltering UN-backed mission.

Visiting Port-au-Prince last month, Kenya’s President William Ruto pledged to augment the country’s existing 400-strong contingent with another 600 officers. Reinforcements from Jamaica and Belize have arrived, while Guatemala has promised to send 150 officers.

When the UN approved the mission a year ago, the force was expected to total about 2,500 officers from nations including Bangladesh, Barbados and Chad, providing a significant boost to Haiti’s outmatched police.

But progress has been slow since Kenyan officers first arrived in June.

They secured the country’s main airport but have done little to beat back some 200 gangs that are estimated to control about 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince.

“Every house is transformed into a trap, and you have the gangs putting holes in walls and shooting from these tight holes,” Conille said.

“It’s really a house-to-house operation for the police with high-risk engagement. And then once you finish this engagement, you need to consolidate, which means that you need to bring in the state very quickly.”

Haitians are becoming exasperated with the mission’s slow progress, even as joint operations between international and Haitian police intensify in neighbourhoods under gang control.

“People are angry because they expected more, and they are starting to lose hope,” said Dimitry St Juste, who abandoned a small bar he ran in Port-au-Prince’s violent Solino neighbourhood, and is now living nearby.

“The situation is very bad, people are dying, and houses are burnt down,” said Mélissa Joseph, a Haitian police officer in Solino.

Unable to stem a wave of violence which has displaced about 600,000 people, the government of Ariel Henry collapsed in April and was replaced by a transitional presidential council — led by Conille — tasked with convening Haiti’s first elections since 2016.

The council’s legitimacy was challenged this week when investigators accused three members of corruption.

But the security crisis, which has deepened since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, remains a major hurdle for a vote scheduled to be held next year.

According to Conille, up to 80 per cent of the country’s 7,000-strong force have administrative or other functions, highlighting the migration of some frontline officers and budget restrictions that limit operational roles, while gangs have increasingly cultivated connections with transnational criminal groups.

Conille said funding was the mission’s biggest problem.

The US, which has declined to send personnel but remains the mission’s main financial backer, has contributed $300mn in equipment and support to the mission — including armoured vehicles, communications equipment and the construction of an operating base in Port-au-Prince.

It is estimated the force’s operating costs will total $600mn a year. The UN has only received pledges worth $85mn for the Kenyan-led mission.

The UN Security Council renewed the current force’s mandate on Monday.

A US proposal to upgrade the force to a peacekeeping operation, enabling it to be financed through designated UN funds rather than voluntary contributions, appears unlikely to win support from veto-wielding Russia and China.

The two allies abstained from the vote that established the current mission.

A senior US official said: “The fact that we are pushing for a peacekeeping operation is a clear signal that we want to make the gains that the [international mission] has been able to achieve in its relatively short time on the ground, durable and sustainable.”

Conille said a peacekeeping force “would add value” but as chaos continues to engulf the country it should not be considered “in lieu of the urgent need to reinforce the mission now”.

Land access to the capital’s port was closed last week during a spate of attacks, while gangs are expanding beyond the city.

In August, violent gangs retook Ganthier, a town east of Port-au-Prince, after Kenyan and Haitian officers retreated, and have expanded their presence north-west to Cabaret and Arcahaie.

Police fired tear gas at protests that broke out in August in Solino, which is prized by gangs for its strategic location on the road to the airport, and is a stronghold of Jimmy Cherizier, a notorious warlord known as Barbecue.

Joseph, the officer, has not taken part in joint operations with the Kenyans and expressed frustration about their effectiveness.

“The Kenyans and the Haitian police use armoured vehicles, but they continually break down,” Joseph said. “They need more weapons and a lot of ammunition.”

William O’Neill, the UN’s expert on human rights in Haiti, last month said the “humanitarian consequences [of gang violence] are dramatic”, with marauding gangs continuing to receive weapons smuggled from the US despite an international arms embargo.

The World Food Programme estimates almost half of the country’s 11mn population faces acute food shortages.

“The world has a lot of other priorities,” Conille said. “But the case we’re desperately trying to make is that Haitian children are not less deserving than children in Ukraine or Gaza.”

Additional reporting by Andres Schipani in New York

M&S customers are delighted after spotting a classic treat which has made a reappearance on supermarket shelves for the holidays.

Eagle-eyed shoppers noticed Halloween Colin the Caterpillars Chocolate Sponge Mini Rolls are once again being stocked across the retailer’s stores.

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Shoppers could not contain their excitement after spotting the chocolate snack was back in store.

Commenting on a social media post, one said: “I love these”.

While another said: “Omg I need.”

Meanwhile, a third said: “These are what I want.”

The treat, which is a festive take on the classic caterpillar cake, has been rolled out ahead of Halloween on October 30.

The mini chocolate sponge rolls are filled with red-coloured white chocolate buttercream.

To celebrate the spooky holiday, the cakes are covered in milk chocolate and decorated to look like a mummy.

The product retails for £3.75 and contains five mini cakes inside each packet.

However, it is a limited edition product, meaning once Halloween is over shoppers will no longer be able to buy it.

M&S’s range of Colin and Connie Caterpillar sweets and cakes has become a fan-favourite amongst shoppers.

But back in August, the retailer confirmed it had axed some of the treats from the range as part of a product relaunch.

Over the summer, M&S scrapped its Colin and Connie “Together Forever” sweets, leading one fan to comment online: “Sad that Colin and Connie are no longer Together Forever”.

At the time a spokeswoman said: “Our Connie and Colin sweets were discontinued in July 2024 as part of our confectionery relaunch, however within this relaunch we have a brand new product, Colin Party Time, bursting with six flavours in party theme shapes. 

“We also have a full range of Colin sweets including our Colin Softies and Colin Fruit Gums.

She added: “Colin is the original caterpillar character, so he is always going to show up more throughout our confectionery and bakery ranges. “

M&S also confirmed that it is quietly axing the Colin The Caterpillar Fizzy Rainbow sweets.

The sweets were rainbow in colour with a sour sugary coating.

Thankfully, it is not all doom and gloom for M&S shoppers as the retailer confirmed it will bring back an iconic drink this Christmas.

The supermarket’s original snow globe gin liqueur will make a return for the holidays after a hiatus.

Previously, the gin came in two flavours – Clementine and Spiced Sugar Plum – but this year, only the Clementine one will be sold.

Due to the drink’s popularity, back in 2020 customers were given a limit and told they could only buy two at a time.

M&S didn’t sell the liqueur last year, but it is now bringing the iconic drink back.

Why are products axed or recipes changed?

ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders.

Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether.

They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers.

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There are several reasons why this could be done.

For example, government regulation, like the “sugar tax,” forces firms to change their recipes.

Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs.

They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable.

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For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018.

It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version.

Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year.

Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks.

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While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.