Financial decisions play an important role in our lives, whether they're about home ownership, retirement planning, or debt management. And just like everything else — your food preferences, taste in music and movies, and idea of what makes for a great Saturday night — those financial decisions will change quite a bit as you age.

But one question drives the evolution of those decisions: Who is at the center of your financial life?

Here's a look at the important financial priorities, questions, and actions to take during each stage of your life — from your 20s through your retirement years. 

Find out how to make the most responsible decisions for the ones you love.

This post is sponsored by Lincoln Financial Group. 

Millennials

Age range: 18-34

Who matters now: Just you... for the most part. While some millennials have kids, the bulk of early adulthood is focused on setting yourself up for financial success. But though you might still be getting some sort of financial support from your parents, it's not too early to start asking about their financial future — because you'll eventually be a big part of it.

Important questions to ask yourself:

- What is your plan for paying off credit card or student loan debt?

- How much and how often will you start investing for retirement?

- How will you adjust your budget to include kids if you have them?

Plan for the future:

- Focus your resources on paying down the biggest debt first — but keep up with minimum payments on all other accounts, too.

- You really can start contributing to your retirement now, even if it's as little as $25 a month. It's a habit that will literally pay off in the end. 

- Before having kids, price out everything from diapers to daycare, and don't forget to include any loss of income if you or your partner might take significant time off or work fewer hours. Start working toward living on the new budget in advance.

By all accounts, Eddie Redmayne is killing it.

But we're not talking about his numerous acting awards, including the Best Actor Oscar he won in 2015. 

No, we're talking about his style game. It's so off-the-charts incredible, we named him the most stylish guy in the world right now.

Basically, it all comes down to this: there isn't anyone else around that can wear suits as well as he does. And it's not like he has just one suit that fits him really well and he wears it all the time.

No, the man has a closet full of suits of every color, shape, style, and texture. He's worn velvet suits, tuxedos in every color, and he's rocked them all. Miraculously, they all fit him like they were born to hug his slender 5'11" frame.

Redmayne has spoken to his love of tailoring and suits, telling Men's Health that he's "always worn suits", so he "always felt at ease in them".

"Maybe wearing them makes me feel subconsciously like I have a proper job," Redmayne said. "A well-cut suit feels like armor. If it’s tailored to fit, you feel strong."

As for his look, Redmayne describes it as "simple and classic." He prefers to add substance with texture and color.

What can you learn from Redmayne's killer style? There's one main takeaway: tailoring matters. He looks like a million bucks in every suit he wears because each one is tailored to fit him perfectly.

So, yes, it is possible to copy Redmayne's style. And every guy should strive to look as good as he does in a suit.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most stylish guys in the world right now, ranked

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So-called "rooftoppers" are adventure-seekers who climb staggering heights to see some of the world’s most incredible views. 

Ivan Semenov is a Russian rooftopper who has risked crazy heights with his friends, Kirill Oreshkin and Angelina Nikolau, to capture unbelievable shots across Russia, Hong Kong, and Dubai.

Semenov started working on his craft back in 2013, after seeing photos of Moscow that were taken from a bird's eye view. He decided he could easily do the same.

Today, he's visited almost all of the major high-rise buildings and structures in Russia, scaling abandoned and towering buildings to capture stunning views. 

While the work is risky, the team calculates which climbs they known they can make to capture some amazing and dangerous photos. 

Take a look at some of the team's craziest shots below. 

SEE ALSO: 19 spectacular photos of tourist attractions around the world that were taken illegally

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Climbing frightening heights allows them to experience completely new views of a city, like in this image of Nikolau posing on a construction crane of a skyscraper in Moscow.

They've scaled the cranes of Moscow's Mirax Plaza building, which rises over 40 floors. To capture this photo, Nikolau and the team climbed more than 780 feet above the crane, giving them the opportunity to witness a magnificent view of the sun setting over the city.

Here, they scaled 462 feet to the top of the Victory Monument in Russia.

Carnivores, listen up: Here's your guide to the most expensive, high-quality steakhouses in 15 of the biggest cities across the US.

Each of these restaurants is known both for its high-end steaks and top-notch service.

These restaurants will give you the full experience, from fancy cocktails to seafood towers and over-the-top cuts of meat. Of course, you'll also be paying up for your prime rib.

City-guide app Foursquare crafted this list by identifying the chophouses categorized as "very expensive" via menu analysis.

Foursquare then pulled out the top-rated locations based on user reviews. Where menu details were missing, Foursquare superusers helped to fill in the blanks.

SEE ALSO: 10 trendy Austin restaurants you need to try right now

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SAN FRANCISCO: Alexander's Steakhouse

Location: 448 Brannan Street

Rating: 9.2

Details: When it comes to a seriously high-end steak experience, Alexander's does it right.

From uni and braised short-rib toasts to hamachi shots, the starters are culinary experiments, but the main event is, of course, the meat. Their steaks are served glistening and pink and are endlessly juicy.

LOS ANGELES: Mastro's Steakhouse

Location: 246 North Canon Drive

Rating: 9.3

Details: Foursquare's top-rated steakhouse in Los Angeles is an old-school institution that still delivers.

Start with a bone-in rib eye, add in some of their iconic lobster mashed potatoes, and top it off with a "Flaming Cosmo" cocktail. For dessert? Their butter cake is a crowd-pleaser.

CHICAGO: David Burke's Primehouse

Location: 616 North Rush Street

Rating: 8.7

Details: Chicago's top steakhouse is this David Burke spot, where his creative takes on traditional foods — hot popovers instead of bread, corn dogs made with kobe beef — have earned him a legion of fans. 

The steaks are aged in an on-site salt cave; their 40-day rib eye is a favorite. And finish it off with a cheeky dessert like cheesecake served in lollipop form.

Unbeknown to most, there are transparent wires that wrap around over 200 cities in North America — including Manhattan — to mark a religious boundary.

And every week, there is a "secret operation" to check and repair the wire in time for the weekend. We tagged along to see what it's all about.

Produced by Jenner Deal

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Every spring more than 70 countries around the world turn their clocks an hour ahead for daylight-saving time. If billions of people are literally shifting time twice a year, there must be a pretty good reason why we're doing it, right? Not necessarily. 

Produced by Alex Kuzoian

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Bubble tea originated in Taiwan, but it has since made its way around the globe. We took a trip to NYC's Tea and Milk to see why people crave this freshly brewed tea drink.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Ben Nigh

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For his master's thesis at the École Boulle in Paris, Benoît Malta designed a series of pieces that will challenge your perception of home décor.

Each piece has something about it that turns a passive domestic exercise — sitting in a chair, for example — into an active one.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Alana Yzola.

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Newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making waves.

He's young and quickly becoming a cult favorite in America for his outspoken liberal views. Oh, and the dude also knows how to wear a suit.

Totally outdoing President Barack Obama on his first official visit to DC, the 44-year-old, second youngest-ever Canadian Prime Minister wore a fetching three-piece blue suit. 

Is the vest too much? That comes down to personal preference, but it certainly sets him apart in a world of staid 2-piece navy suits.

(Remember when Obama wore a khaki suit at a press conference and the political world collectively spit out their double red eye? That's the kind of bland world we're dealing with here.)

The differences don't stop there. Trudeau's suit is also cut noticeably slimmer, especially in the lapels and the legs, lending to a more modern fit than your typical head of state.

He even wore burnished tan shoes, instead of the more conservative brown or black.

For the state dinner, Trudeau wore a slim black tuxedo — noticeably better tailored than Obama's, which bunches around his angles in an unflattering way.

Trudeau killed it for his DC visit specifically by staying within the confines of the established political parameters, but pushing them as far as they could possibly go to fit his own personal style.

That's a lesson we could all take, whether you work for a big investment bank or an architecture firm.

SEE ALSO: 11 etiquette mistakes a modern gentleman never makes

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For a variety of reasons — bad taste, pure delusion, or emotional attachment — we often keep clothes that we should actually throw away.

This goes for both genders, but especially for men. Men's fashion trends don't move as fast as women's, so the need to slash, burn, and start again just isn't as urgent.

That obviously doesn't mean men shouldn't edit their closets regularly, though.

And when they do, they should know what to look for — the items guys trick themselves into keeping when they should be thrown away.

Stylist Jessica Cadmus, founder of the Wardrobe Whisperer, serves mostly high-powered professionals, especially in the financial-services industry. She told us that when she takes on new male clients and does a closet edit, the item she has to throw out more than any other is the button-down shirt.

"Button downs rarely have a chance to go out of style prior to the need to remove them from a wardrobe. The reason is that you are actively destroying them whether you know it or not," she told Business Insider. "You can tell a shirt is DONE when you see visible signs of wear like rips, yellowing, waxy seams. Pay particular attention to around the neckline and under the arms."

Here's why your button-down shirts don't look as good as you think they do.

• Dry-cleaning — the chemicals in dry-cleaning cause shirts (especially light colored shirts) to "yellow." They also break down the fibers in the shirt, making them brittle, weak, and susceptible to tearing.
• Industrial irons — the high level of steam and the clamping mechanism from most industrial irons can exaggerate seams and make them look waxy, especially on darker colored shirts. No one wants random shiny elements on their shirts.
• Your deodorant — acidic deodorants, those with alcohol (fragrance), and high aluminum content will also yellow your shirts. Additionally the aluminum remains inside the underarms of the shirts and stiffens them considerably. The chemical/sweat build up also prevents airflow, which in turn creates more sweat, which ultimately causes yellowing.  

According to Cadmus, how long you should keep a shirt really depends on how often you wear it. On the short side it could be six months, on the long side two to three years.

And there are measures you can take to ensure that your shirt looks good for as long as possible:

• Ask your cleaning person to launder and press your shirts by hand. At the very least, ask your local cleaners to launder them, but note they will still use an industrial iron. This is worth the additional labor, given that most dress shirts average $200 and with improper care will get six months of wear or less when worn in an active rotation.
• Switch to a deodorant that's not acidic and has a neutral pH. Also let the deodorant dry fully before wearing the shirt.
• Wear an undershirt as an extra layer of protection. This model by Tommy John is great because it provides no additional bulk.  
• Wash the shirts after Every. Single. Wear. You do not want the chemicals from your deodorant and your sweat to remain on the garment. They will continue to break down the fibers.  
• Throw a cup of white vinegar (or this wonderful scented vinegar from The Laundress) in with each load of button-downs (wash in cool water). This will help (but not solve) the yellowing situation and will greatly help remove odor.  

Oh, and one more tip from Cadmus.

"Collars get extra jacked up when collar stays aren't removed before an industrial iron comes down on them. Then the shirt is essentially 'embossed' with the outline of the collar stay. Not cute. ALWAYS remove the collar stays prior to ironing of any kind — even hand ironing."

Got it? Now go throw some stuff in the trash. We promise it will feel good.

SEE ALSO: How to buy a blazer that will never go out of style

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Don't let their name fool you — the Little Cupcake Bakeshop in NYC serves more than just cupcakes.

One such example: their impressive triple layer double chocolate cake.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Kristen Griffin

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Afghanistan's female national cycling team is training for a 267-mile ride, from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif. This simple ride is actually an act of rebellion.

Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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After he received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 1981, 22-year-old Mark Cuban followed some friends to Dallas.

He remembers that when he first moved into their apartment, things were so cramped that he'd come in at night after bartending and have to sleep on the couch — or, if that was occupied, the floor. He kept his belongings in a heap.

Cuban didn't have much of a technology background, but landed a job selling PC software. He performed well, but his boss fired him for disobeying an order. Left with no savings but a strong clientele and an interest in the business, Cuban founded his own software-distribution company, MicroSolutions. He and his business partner faced some difficulty along the way — including when a receptionist embezzled and ran away with $83,000 — but they outperformed the competition.

In 1990, when Cuban was 31, he sold MicroSolutions to H&R Block for $6 million and made about $2 million for himself after taxes. It was the first big win of his career, which would eventually see him become a billionaire investor, entrepreneur, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team.

Cuban wrote a blog post in June 2009 — also included in his book "How to Win at the Sport of Business" — that was meant to inspire young people trying to establish their careers in a world that had been ravaged by the economic crisis.

The economy has significantly improved since then, but the lessons Cuban drew from his own experiences are just as valid. We've summarized them below.

SEE ALSO: 4 lessons Mark Cuban taught his 16-year-old 'Mini Me' about business

1. Live cheaply.

You don't need to sleep on the floor of a gross apartment with a bunch of your buddies, but don't let a focus on your outward appearance distract you from your financial obligations.

"It doesn't matter where you live," Cuban writes. "It doesn't matter how you live. It doesn't matter what car you drive. It doesn't matter what kind of clothes you wear."

When you're starting out, prioritize building a financial cushion. Use your 20s to pay off student loan debt, not accumulate credit-card debt. Learn how to ignore the attraction of some unnecessary luxury and instead build savings you can fall back on. You'll thank yourself later.

"The more you stress over bills, the more difficult it is to focus on your goals," he writes. "The cheaper you can live, the greater your options."

2. Take chances.

You shouldn't expect to land your dream job straight out of college, Cuban says. Be open, and if it takes you awhile to find a decent job, don't let your ego keep you from a low-skilled gig in the meantime. If you need to run a cash register or wait tables to pay your bills for a few months, that's fine.

Once you land your first job, you may find that after a few months that it's not a good fit, Cuban says. That's fine, too. Look for something else.

"Finding the right job is a lot like dating," he writes. "It's hard until you start; then when you start, it's great until it's not. Then it's frustrating as hell until you get it right. But when you do, it all comes together."

3. Find a job you love.

Cuban says that there's an easy way to tell if you've found a job that can help you build a career.

"If it matters how much you get paid, you are not in a job you really love," he writes.

This doesn't mean that you should not strive to make as much money as possible, but you need to prioritize your passion over your paycheck if you want to put yourself on a rewarding career path that allows you to thrive.

"If you love what you do so much that you are willing to continue to live like a student in order to be able to stay in the job, you have found your calling," Cuban writes.

See story here.

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A company that specializes in regrowing tissues like cartilage and parts of bone is also trying to cure baldness. Or at least help regrow some of that lost hair.

The treatment, still in the works by private biotech company Samumed, targets certain proteins that scientists think play a critical role in the development and renewal of stem cells, the type of cells that give rise to other types of specialized cells, from eye cells to skin and hair cells.

The hope is that by using the treatment, people with androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss, will be able to regrow some of their lost hair follicles, the layer of cells and connective tissue that envelope the root of a hair and are critical for its growth.

A phase 2 trial presented last weekend at the American Academy of Dermatology looked at the effects of a topical treatment called SM04554 in about 300 men ages 18-55. The men were split into three groups: a placebo group, a group given a .15% dose of the treatment, and a group given a .25% dose of the treatment.

At the end of 135 days, surprisingly, those given the lower dose saw the most hair growth (they saw an increase of roughly 10%). Those on the higher dose saw an increase of about 7%. And those on the placebo, not surprisingly, continued to lose hair. 

Samumed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Yusuf Yazici told Business Insider that he thinks the results make sense, given that it may be possible that the higher dose was over-stimulating cells. 

"There is what we like to call the 'Goldilocks Zone,'" he said.

Samumed saw similar results in their animal studies. 

Yazici said the company is still in the midst of a second phase 2 trial, which will look more closely at how the hair and follicle are growing.  Then, the company plans to get set up for their next rounds of larger, late-stage trials that will further test how well the drug works and if it's safe.

So far, there have been no major problems related to the treatment, which Yazici attributed in part to how localized (applied to the head) the medicine is. 

Beyond hair loss, Samumed is using the treatment mechanism to regenerate cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis as well as certain kinds of cancer and other degenerative diseases. 

SEE ALSO: There's a big problem with walk-in clinics

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Sometimes great risks can lead to incredible photographs. 

Some of the world's most daring travelers have scaled great heights, survived intense weather, and explored remote destinations, all to capture stunning images. 

We teamed up with @BeautifulDestinations, which is currently one of the most-followed travel Instagram accounts, to pull together 10 examples of extreme photographs travelers have taken on Instagram, and what it took for them to get the perfect image. 

From scaling Iceland's icebergs to taking a daring dive off the edge of a cliff, here are the fascinating stories behind 10 risky photos. 

SEE ALSO: This Instagram account has earned more than 5 million followers for its travel photos — here's what makes them so beautiful

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"Trolltunga is world famous; it’s the Norwegian rock that juts out over the fjords with a death defying drop ... Anyone else fancy balancing on the edge of infinity with only inches of rock between you and the drop?" — @thiagomlcorrea

"'Big Drop Romance' was taken in Washington of my brother and his fiancé. She was terrified of the idea of hanging over the edge but decided to follow through with it. I shot this from above them, reaching out with a 14mm lens to capture as much of the moment as I could." — @isaacgautschiphotography

This selfie was taken at 6 a.m. at Yosemite National Park. "I left my camera down below on continuous self timer, as I sat there waiting for the sun to come up. I can't quite put into words what it felt like to look out over the valley from this spot, but it's a moment I'll remember forever."— @andrewling

Instagram's 'Rich Kids of London' live insanely decadent lives »

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Melinda Gates is best known as Bill's other half. Some may even say she's his better half.

Melinda — who shares an estimated fortune of $89.4 billion with her husband — has become one of the most powerful female philanthropists in the world as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she helmed virtually on her own for the first six years of operation.

In addition to the pair's education and healthcare initiatives, Melinda takes a personal interest in women's issues around the world. At the forefront of her agenda is expanding the availability of contraception and, most recently,bringing awareness to the concept of time poverty — the notion that hours of daily unpaid work like household chores end up "robbing women of their potential."

"When you invest in women, you invest in the people who invest in everybody else," she wrote in a Fortune article last year outlining the benefits of hiring women in business. "And if you gradually start to take action, it won’t be long before you realize that investing in women is good for your mind, good for your soul, and good for your business."

On International Women's Day, a celebration of women's progress and achievements, here's a look at the incredible force that is Melinda Gates.

SEE ALSO: Melinda Gates reveals the best way for cash-strapped 20-somethings to make a big impact in philanthropy

DON'T MISS: The Bill Gates Interview

Melinda Gates (neè French) grew up in Dallas, Texas, with her parents — a stay-at-home mother and an aerospace-engineer father — and her three siblings. The family belonged to the local Roman Catholic parish.

Source: Telegraph

The Frenches were intent on sending all four of their children to college, so Melinda's father started a side business for rental properties. "We would help him run the business and keep the books," she said. "We saw money coming in and money going out."

Source: Fortune

Melinda was valedictorian and head of the drill team at her high school, Ursuline Academy of Dallas. In 2007, the Gates Foundation donated $7 million to Ursuline for the construction of The French Family Science, Math, and Technology Center — a 70,000 sq. ft. LEED Gold certified laboratory and classroom building.

Source: Ursuline Dallas, Marie Claire

In a lush field in Linton, New Zealand, Jono Williams' all-white Skysphere tower stands alone.

It's probably the most hi-tech building for hundreds of miles.

Designed and built by Williams himself, Skysphere reached completion earlier this February. It sets a new standard of futuristic living, complete with app-controlled lighting fixtures, a voice-controlled beer dispenser in the couch, and the ability to go into "zombie mode," in which the front door automatically locks with a "Good luck" message from Williams' phone.

You can watch the video here:

But let's take a closer look at the details, starting with the fact Williams pulled the idea practically from thin air.

"To be honest, I don't even know where the idea came from," Williams recently told Living Big In A Tiny House. "I was just kinda sitting there, and I had this idea, this vision, and then I just did it. I modeled it on a computer and then built it." 

Skysphere follows up on a smaller treehouse Williams built completely from recycled materials.

The new building, in a similar eco-friendly mindset, relies entirely on solar power as its source of energy.

According to Williams, he built the house to be both portable and strong. It can reportedly withstand an 8.5-magnitude earthquake and 125 mph winds, and still is detachable enough for Williams to uproot it without much effort.

The entire project cost roughly $50,000, Williams states on the Skysphere website, with more than 3,000 hours of his time invested in the DIY home. 

Skysphere isn't totally habitable over the long-term. The building still lacks internal plumbing, so Williams can't build a bathroom or shower just yet. But, like all great treehouses, he's still installed furniture in the 360-degree space, TV included — he just doesn't have to run a cable from his parents' house to use it.

Williams says if he does decide to make Skysphere a fully livable space, he'd construct a "bathroom module" at the bottom of the tower and perhaps a shower in the nearby woods. 

Otherwise, he'll continue flicking on the strobe lights when people are over and projecting cricket matches onto his windows when he'd like to watch a game in solitude.

Which, in the middle of a New Zealand field, perched high in his swanky tree house, doesn't seem all that hard to accomplish.

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