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Most household budgets are built on a few boring assumptions. Mortgage or rent is the biggest line. Groceries and utilities come next. The car payment is supposed to be the known quantity, the predictable line you plan around for five or six years. For a long time, that math more or less held. A new […]

For those hoping to buy a home soon, employment data is a double-edged sword. In my years of reporting on the real estate market and mortgages, I’ve witnessed the good and the bad of unemployment’s impact on homebuyers. On one hand, higher unemployment rates are risky. If you’re among those who lose their jobs, you

Your retirement account dropped 8% in a single quarter, and every instinct told you to sell everything and sit in cash. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone, but Fidelity Investments has data suggesting the opposite move tends to work far better over time. The firm, which manages retirement savings for more than 24.8

Three major stock indexes pulled back on May 7 after touching fresh intraday highs earlier in the session, giving back gains from a record-setting rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 313.62 points to close at 49,596.97, the S&P 500 slipped 0.38% to close at 7,337.11, and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.13% to end at

The average federal tax refund this filing season has climbed to roughly $3,500, representing a jump of more than 10% compared with the same period in 2025, according to IRS data. New deductions introduced through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including breaks on tips, overtime, and auto loan interest, have pushed refund checks higher

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, has hit a new high. On May 7, $2.6 trillion of S&P call options were bought, the most ever in one day, driving prices higher. Some market pundits say we are in a bubble, while others say we are still in the early innings of AI productivity gains. The

Fuel costs are squeezing U.S. airlines from every angle right now. And for American Airlines, the jet fuel bill got a lot bigger in Q1. The Fort Worth-based carrier burned through $341 million more in jet fuel during the first quarter of 2026 than it did in the same stretch a year ago. That’s a

When a flavor become a trend, retailers and restaurants tend to jump on it, and consumers usually embrace that. Starbucks, for example, introduced its signature Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2003 and it quickly built into a hit. That beverage became a seasonal staple, not just at the coffee giant, but also at every other coffee

I have a theory about Costco. When the economy gets confusing, when tariffs are rising, inflation is creeping back, and nobody is quite sure what happens next, people don’t stop spending. They just get smarter about where they spend. Costco (COST) is where smart spending goes. That theory got fresh support this week. April sales

Millions of Americans check their 401(k) balances each quarter without recognizing the name of the product holding their retirement savings. The familiar mutual fund, once the standard choice for workplace retirement plans, is gradually being overtaken by an alternative that most participants are still unfamiliar with. Collective investment trusts, known as CITs, now account for