By Christine Benz of Morningstar

If unanticipated expenses exceed your emergency fund, here’s a look at where to go next.

1. Your own emergency fund/short-term securities

Emergency funds should be held outside of tax-sheltered wrappers and include highly liquid investments like bank savings accounts, money market accounts, and so on.

2. Low-risk assets in taxable account

Next, look at other taxable holdings: investments in brokerage accounts, outside the confines of tax-sheltered vehicles.

When identifying possible securities that you could sell to raise funds, focus on liquidity, tax consequences, and any commissions you’ll owe.

3. Roth IRA contributions

It’s never great to tap your retirement assets unless you absolutely need to, but the Roth IRA offers more flexibility and has fewer strings attached than other tax-sheltered retirement vehicles.

Specifically, you can withdraw any Roth IRA contributions at any time, without incurring penalties or tax—but you’ll have fewer retirement funds working for you.

4. Life insurance cash values

Cash values that have built up in your whole life insurance or variable universal life insurance policy can be another decent source of emergency cash. You can withdraw money outright and have it deducted from your policy’s face value.

Another possibility is to borrow from the cash value of your life insurance. You’ll owe interest on the loan, and these rates can be reasonable but aren’t always low.

5. 401(k) loan

A 401(k) loan is better than a hardship withdrawal because the interest you pay will get paid back into your account.

On the downside, borrowing from your 401(k) plan short shrifts your retirement savings. Not only will you have less money working for you in the market, but having to pay the loan back with interest also means you’re less likely to be able to make new contributions.

6. Home equity line of credit

If you must take out a loan, a home equity line of credit is one of the better options.

Interest rates on HELOCs are usually reasonable relative to other forms of credit, particularly if you maintain a good credit rating, have a fair amount of equity in your home, and aren’t taking out a huge loan.

But if you’re not a perfect borrower, you could be asked to pay a high interest rate or be denied the line of credit altogether.

7. Hardship withdrawals

Unlike a 401(k) loan, which requires that you pay the money back, funds you take out of a 401(k) via a hardship withdrawal cannot be paid back.

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Moreover, you’ll owe taxes on any untaxed dollars you pull out of the account. You’ll also owe an additional 10% penalty unless you’re age 59.5 or older or your situation meets one of several exceptions.

8. Reverse mortgage

A reverse mortgage allows older homeowners to receive a pool of assets that represents equity in their homes. The homeowners don’t have to repay the loan as long as they’re in their homes, but when they do leave, the borrowed amount, plus interest, is deducted from the home’s value.

Reverse mortgage rates can vary widely, so shop around and read the fine print.

9. Margin loans

A margin account allows you to borrow against the value of the securities in your brokerage account.

This option would be most attractive for those who have assets but don’t want to sell them because that would mean unloading them at a bad time and/or incurring tax consequences. If you expect to be able to repay the money quickly, a margin loan could work.

On the downside, interest rates aren’t always attractive. They’re also risky, because the securities in your account are your collateral.

10. Credit cards

This is usually not a great idea: For most people, credit cards are the single easiest way to wreck your financial standing.

Not only are rates high, but credit card companies have every incentive to keep you paying for as long as possible. Thus, minimum payments don’t make a dent in your loan’s principal.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to  https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance

Christine Benz is the director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar.

If you’re a night owl, this is the perfect time of year for you, as stargazing has now become a late-night delight! Catch an afternoon nap, grab a lawn chair and the June star map. If you have an app like Sky Guide, all the better!

(Mike Lynch)

The transition in the night sky is just about complete. The stars and constellations of winter are pretty much gone, setting well before the sun. In early June you can still see a few holdovers. Among them are Castor and Pollux, in the constellation Gemini the Twins. You can see them side by side in the low west-northwestern sky. A little to the right of them is the bright star Capella in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer.

A little higher above the western horizon, look for a right-leaning backward question mark. That’s the chest and head of the spring constellation Leo the Lion, with the bright star Regulus at the bottom of the question mark, marking the lion’s heart. A triangle of three moderately bright stars to the upper left of the question mark makes up the hind end and tail of the celestial feline. Leo will have a visitor throughout June, the planet Mars, perusing the southern side of Leo.  On the nights of June 16-17, Mars will pass within one degree of Regulus, making for a great show!

Face north and lie back on a lawn chair, and you’ll easily see the Big Dipper in the high northwest sky hanging upside down by its handle. The Big Dipper isn’t an official constellation, but it does outline the rear end and tail of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. Just to the lower right is the fainter Little Dipper, standing on its handle with Polaris, the North Star, at the end of the handle. The Little Dipper doubles as the actual constellation Ursa Minor, or Little Bear.

Extend the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper beyond the end of the handle, and you’ll run right into a very bright orange-red star. That’s Arcturus, the brightest star in the evening sky this month. It’s more than 20 times the diameter of our sun and around 37 light-years away. The light we see from Arcturus tonight left that star in 1988 when the No. 1 movie at the box office was “Die Hard” with Bruce Willis. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bootes the Herdsman, although the constellation really looks more like a giant nocturnal kite with Arcturus marking the tail.

Over in the east, the stars of summer are making their initial evening appearances. Leading the way is the Summer Triangle asterism, made up of the bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair. The highest and brightest is Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the Harp. To the lower left of Vega is Deneb, the brightest shiner in Cygnus the Swan, rising sideways with the asterism known as the “Northern Cross,” within it. Altair, on the lower right side of the Summer Triangle, is the bright star in the constellation Aquila the Eagle.

The full moon in June will officially be on the 11th. It’s often referred to as the Strawberry Moon in Native American culture, and it’s also called the Rose Moon and the Honey Moon along with other monikers. You can’t help but notice that the full moon this month takes a very low arc across the sky from rising to setting. It’s nearly mirroring the path taken by the sun on the first day of winter.

Speaking of seasons, the summer solstice is on June 20-21 depending on where you live on our home planet. On this summer solstice day, the sun shines directly overhead at noon along the Tropic of Cancer. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the longest day of the year and the shortest night of the year. See if you can pull an all-nighter under the stars!

There is a meteor shower this coming week on June 7, although there’s a big catch to it. Most of this meteor shower occurs during the day, making it nearly impossible to see. That’s why it’s called the Daytime Arietids. However, you might see some meteors during the early morning twilight.

Enjoy the beginning of summer stargazing!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

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President Trump is unhappy with Vladimir Putin. The Russian isn’t heeding the president’s entreaties to stop the killing in Ukraine, and Mr. Trump is nonplussed.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.

Separately, Mr. Trump told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.”

Mr. Trump may be the only person in the world still surprised by how Mr. Putin is behaving. The Russian is the same man he’s been for two decades, bent on reconstituting as much of the old Soviet empire as he can get away with. Ukraine is his obsession. He’s not going to modify his ambitions merely because Mr. Trump alternates between begging for peace and scolding outbursts on social media.

Mr. Trump and his advisers fancy themselves steely-eyed realists on foreign policy. No “neocon” idealism for them. But on Mr. Putin they are starry-eyed idealists, mouthing “peace” as if they can make it happen by wishing it were so. Mr. Trump’s naivete is helping Russia continue the killing as long as Mr. Putin wants.

The good news is that the U.S. Senate still has some genuine realists when it comes to Russia. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham has 82 co-sponsors on a bill that would hit countries that buy Russian oil and gas with tariff sanctions. Energy sales are Mr. Putin’s financial lifeline. President Biden refused to apply these so-called secondary sanctions, and Mr. Trump can’t make up his mind.

If Mr. Trump signaled that he supports the Graham-Tom Cotton-Richard Blumenthal sanctions bill, it would sail through the Senate. Combined with the promise of more arms to Ukraine when the current supply runs out, these sanctions might change Mr. Putin’s calculations about the price of war. But GOP senators can act whether or not Mr. Trump approves. They can vote on the sanctions bill, and force the president to face the hard reality of Mr. Putin’s ambitions that Mr. Trump would rather avoid.

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June is Pride month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments and obstacles faced by lesbians, gay men and bisexuals as well as transgender, queer and questioning people.

It’s a big tent by design, and Twin Cities Pride has traditionally drawn a large and diverse crowd that includes a substantial number of straight families, supporters and allies.

Here are five ways to celebrate Pride in the coming weeks.

‘Pee-wee as Himself’

This image released by HBO Max shows Paul Reubens in a scene from the documentary “Pee-Wee As Himself.” (HBO Max via AP)

As a student at the California Institute of the Arts in the early ’70s and a “Gong Show” regular and member of the improv group the Groundlings in the years that followed, Paul Reubens developed any number of zany characters. The one that stuck — a fun-loving man/child clad in a tight suit and red bow tie — made him a superstar.

Or, more accurately, Reubens made Pee-wee Herman a superstar and spent more than a decade living publicly in that persona, while pushing himself deep in the closet.

Still, it’s a surprise that the new HBO and Max documentary “Pee-wee as Himself” is the first time Reubens had ever spoken so extensively about his private and public lives. Director Matt Wolf captured more than 40 hours of interviews with Reubens, enough to make two compelling feature-length documentaries. Even more surprising is that until these films, Reubens had never publicly confirmed the fact that he was gay.

As such, “Pee-wee as Himself” delivers stunning revelation after stunning revelation for his longtime followers and abundant evidence of his sheer genius to newcomers. But it’s no hagiography and instead shows Reubens as human being who was both generous and greedy, hilarious and brooding. He radiated warmth and sincerity, but was also deeply wary and controlling. (In yet another shocking turn, Reubens died during filming on July 30, 2023. He had been diagnosed with cancer six years prior and kept it a secret from nearly everyone in his life, including the filmmaker.)

Reubens may have created Pee-wee Herman for adults, but as “Pee-wee as Himself” shows again and again, once the character caught the public’s imagination, he used Pee-wee to tell children — and by extent, everyone else — it’s not just OK to be different, it’s actually a super power. The same goes for kindness and acceptance. There’s a place for everyone in Pee-wee’s Playhouse.

“Pee-wee as Himself” is now streaming on Max.

Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard walks the runway with a rescue dog during the Susan Alexandra x Rachel Antonoff show on Sept. 2024 New York Fashion Week on Sept. 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Actor, comedian and vocalist Sandra Bernhard also happens to be one of the most outspoken queer voices of her (boomer) generation.

She’s spending Pride month on the road, presenting her new show “Shapes and Forms” in some of her favorite cities, including a stop at Minneapolis’ Parkway Theater on June 12.

“When you find yourself back in the swing of things, you’ll arrive at my doorstep just in time to celebrate,” Bernhard said in a news release. “ ‘Shapes and Forms’ is going to turn your world upside down with stories of recent dinners out east to exotic adventures around the globe, interwoven with the songs you’ve come to expect from Sandy — Lana, Stevie, Cat, Lionel, Burt and a million surprises. Kick off your Manolos, shimmy out of your Dior and drop by. Don’t worry, you’ll find a cozy spot somewhere.”

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Bernhard made her name in stand-up comedy and has appeared in dozens of films and television shows, including a six-year stint on “Roseanne,” where she played one of the first openly lesbian recurring characters on American television. Her recent credits include “American Horror Story” and “Pose” (both streaming on Hulu) as well as Netflix’s “Survival of the Thickest” and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” on Disney+. Later this year, she’ll share the big screen with Timothée Chalamet in the feature film “Marty Supreme.”

In a 2019 interview with the Pioneer Press, Bernhard talked about playing Minneapolis throughout her career: “It’s one of my major markets and I’ve been going there since the ’80s. I used to play First Avenue and was always wishing and dreaming Prince would show up and sing with me. It’s a great, groovy town that falls into the category of my favorite American cities, right up there with Chicago and San Francisco.”

Sandra Bernhard; 7:30 p.m. June 12; Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; $91-$141.92 via theparkwaytheater.com.

F1rst Wrestling

Openly gay Minneapolis wrestler Devon Monroe is a two-time Wrestlepalooza champion who will return to the event on June 22, 2025, at First Avenue in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Jess Torres)

Arik Cannon fell in love with wrestling as a kid and, after high school, trained locally at Midwest Pro Wrestling. After spending several years establishing himself on the national circuit, he landed a gig on “Wrestling Society X,” MTV’s short-lived stab at the genre. But he used the money he earned from the show to start F1rst Wrestling in 2007.

“I felt like the product available in Minnesota was stale and old hat,” Cannon said in a 2019 interview. “It was boring, a bunch of weird old guys wrestling in a high school gym. I wanted to try to inject some new life into it — younger, faster, different types of wrestling. It was a slow, uphill battle.”

In the years since, Cannon has remained committed to the idea wrestling is for everyone, regardless of color, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation. To drive home the point, F1rst Wrestling sells a T-shirt with a rainbow-flag colored wrestling ring and the slogan “F1rst Wrestling Is For Everyone.” All proceeds go to the LGBTQ+ nonprofit OutFront Minnesota.

“Pro wrestling has so many negative connotations about it,” Cannon said. “I thought it was time to support a cause we genuinely believe in and want to be known for. It’s not just for likes and clicks, it’s a real thing we believe and stand firm on. And not only do I want everyone to know it’s OK to come to our shows, I want people to know we have all kinds of people in our shows. We want everybody, whoever you are, to come and enjoy this crazy wrestling thing we do.”

Wrestlepalooza, featuring burlesque by Sweetpea and Co. and music by the Denim Boys and Cheap Bouquet; 7 p.m. June 22; First Avenue, 701 First Ave. N., Mpls.; $45.90; axs.com.

BLB Pride Block Party, featuring F1rst Wrestling; 2-5 p.m. June 28; Bryant Lake Bowl and Theater, 810 Lake St. W., Mpls.; $12; bryantlakebowl.com.

Drag shows

There is no stage for Flip Phone’s drag brunches, so performers like Vincent the Destroyer (Adonia Kyle) spend their time dancing their way through the crowd. (Courtesy of Jason Bucklin)

Men dressing as women is as old as the stage itself, but drag in the modern sense began in the late 1800s, when female impersonators became common characters in European stage shows. Drag flourished during the vaudeville era in the U.S., although it was straight men playing women for laughs, with no hint of homosexuality to be seen.

In the middle of the last century, drag moved underground and played to crowds in dingy, hidden gay bars where both the performers and audience members feared arrest. Drag queens played a vital role in the Stonewall riots in 1969, which pushed the burgeoning gay rights movement into the public’s view.

Drag went mainstream in the early ’90s after drag performer RuPaul scored a surprise hit with the dance song “Supermodel (You Better Work)” at the height of the grunge era. Straight people — bachelorette parties in particular — began flooding gay bars to experience drag shows in person. The newfound exposure and acceptance allowed many drag queens to take their show into new venues, from nightclubs to cruises to cable television. (Former local Miss Richfield 1981, aka Russ King, began performing in 1996 and went full-time five years later.)

Once again, it was RuPaul who pushed drag even further into the mainstream with the premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in 2009. In the years since, the show has enjoyed immense success, earning 39 Emmy Awards and two dozen wins. It’s also spawned an industry of sorts through countless spin-off shows and international editions.

The Twin Cities have long been a hotbed of drag and not just during the month of June.

Local promoters Flip Phone Events began offering drag brunches in 2015 and have since expanded into 19 other states and Washington, D.C. During June, Flip Phone has 20 drag events planned, including themed brunches (Prince, Bad Bunny, the Muppets), a disco block party and a one woman show from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” vet Suzie Toot on June 24 at Amsterdam Bar and Hall in St. Paul. For the full schedule and tickets, see flipphoneevents.com.

Other venues that regularly host drag shows include:

The Black Hart of Saint Paul, 1415 University Ave. W.; blackhartstp.com.
Lush Lounge and Theater, 990 Central Ave. N.E., Mpls.; lushmpls.com.
Roxy’s Cabaret, 1333 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.; roxyscabaret.com.
Gay 90s, 408 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; gay90s.com.
The Saloon, 830 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; saloonmn.com.

Twin Cities Pride Festival

While the entire month of June is dedicated to LGBTQ Pride, the official Twin Cities Pride Festival is the big one. Expect to see hundreds of exhibitor booths, dozens of food vendors and three free stages with music and other performances in and around Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis. The Hennepin Avenue parade takes place at 11 a.m. June 29. Other hours include 4-8 p.m. June 27, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. June 28 and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. June 29. For the full schedule, see tcpride.org.

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Other Pride celebrations in the region include:

Anoka Pride Day; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 7; Third Avenue and Main Street, Anoka; anokaprideday.org.

Red Wing Pride; 1-5 p.m. June 7; Bush Street between Third and Fourth avenues, Red Wing; riseuppartnership.org/pride.

STP Pride; noon-8 p.m. June 14-15; Dual Citizen Brewery, 725 Raymond Ave., St. Paul; stppride.org.

WSP Pride; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. July 11-12; West St. Paul Sports Complex, 1650 Oakdale Ave., West St. Paul; wsppride.com.