Author: Money Mechanics

Question: I’m 60 with $2.8 million saved. I’m miserable working, but I need health insurance until I can get Medicare at age 65. What are my options?Answer: By age 60, you may be at the point where you’re unhappy at your job and can’t take the grind any longer. If you have a large pile of savings, you may be perfectly positioned to make an early workforce exit.There’s just one problem. Unless you have a spouse who’s still working with a company health insurance plan you can hop onto, you’re going to have to pay for coverage yourself until you…

The April 2025 Consumer Price Index of All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) report indicates that inflation rose by 0.2% for the month, up from the 0.1% drop in March and matching February’s 0.2% increase. These data were released at 8:30 am EST on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Before seasonal adjustment, the year-over-year (Y-o-Y) inflation rate in the all-items index grew by 2.3%, a continued deceleration from 2.4% in March and 2.8% in February. The downside surprise was more welcome news, as the results missed economists’ consensus estimates. The table below is courtesy of Investing.com. The left…

You’ve probably heard that time can be on your side, and compounding interest makes that true if you’re saving and investing 30 years from retirement. Compound interest is paid on interest you’ve previously earned, and the more time you give your money to compound interest, the more you’ll have when you hit your target date. It’s not quite that simple, however, with several types of accounts to choose from and other issues you might want to consider. Key Takeaways A commonly accepted guideline is that you should have saved the equivalent of your yearly income by the age of 30.…

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban advocates that a positive attitude and smile can give young professionals the competitive edge they need as AI reshapes employment and 58% of college graduates struggle to find work.The Power of Being Nice in Business“This tip is really, really simple. It costs nothing, takes no time, and it’s really easy to do,” Cuban said in a 2023 TikTok video filmed during a break from the business reality television series Shark Tank, according to a Fortune report. “Be nice. Smile. Because smiling takes nothing. And we’d all rather do business with somebody who smiles.”See Also: Mark Cuban…

Thank you, Avi. It is an honor to be back with you at the NBER Summer Institute. Thanks to you, Erik, and Catherine for organizing these insightful and thought-provoking sessions this summer.1 Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing across the globe and permeating every corner of the economy at an incredibly rapid rate. This has significant implications for Federal Reserve leaders, both as policymakers and managers of the organization. AI is transforming the economy, including by accelerating how quickly we generate ideas and making workers more efficient, and that, in turn, will affect both sides of our dual mandate of maximum…

10-year yield and mortgage rates In my 2025 forecast, I anticipated the following ranges: Mortgage rates between 5.75% and 7.25% The 10-year yield fluctuating between 3.80% and 4.70% Now the 10-year yield had a noticeable move on Friday as it was trading around 4.34% before the Jackson Hole comments from Powell came out, and then it drove bond yields down 10 basis points before closing out at 4.26%. However, we still haven’t been able to break under 4.18% on the 10-year yield, despite a dovish stance from the Fed that the labor market is finally on its mind after the…

Melaina CanoCourtesy of Merrill Wealth Management Name: Melaina Cano Firm: Merrill Wealth Management Location: Irvine, CA Team Assets (Custodied): $329 million Background: Melaina Cano’s passion for investing was sparked early by her paternal grandfather, a first-generation Mexican American engineer who meticulously tracked his investments and taught her the value of financial literacy. Raised in Orange County, CA, she put herself through college earning a bachelor’s in Finance and Economics while working full-time jobs. After graduating, she began her career at Merrill Lynch as a client associate and advanced through their Advisor Development Program. Today, she leads her own small team…

Mandy Xu ▬ July 21, 2025 Link to Report: Macro Volatility DigestWHAT STANDS OUT:While overall levels of implied volatility remain muted across asset classes, what stands out is the even lower levels of realized volatility. 1M realized volatility for equities, rates, credit, and FX (e.g. USDJPY, EURUSD) are all at or near 1-year lows. In fact, the volatility risk premium (difference between implied vs. realized volatility) is near a 1-year high for a number of asset classes. Equities screens as having the richest cross-asset VRP, with the SPX® 1M implied-realized vol spread widening to a high of 5.2 pts (92nd…

By Krystal Hu (Reuters) -Databricks will acquire machine learning startup Tecton to expand its AI agent offerings, the latest in a string of deals aimed at offering full-scale AI building tools for enterprise customers, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday. Tecton, backed by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, provides software that helps companies analyze and deploy data at scale with low latency. Financial terms of the deal, which consists of Databricks’ private shares, were not disclosed. Tecton was last valued at $900 million in a 2022 private funding round and has about 90 employees. The deal comes on the…

Walmart Inc (NYSE:) will report its results tomorrow, and they matter more than usual because of the fast-changing US tariff policy and its effect on the economy. Investors are closely watching , which in the last two reports have held steady. That sets a positive tone for Walmart’s numbers. If the company avoids a negative surprise, the stock could keep rising and possibly hit new highs. Meanwhile, these market moves are happening while peace talks continue in the background. So far, the talks have brought no concrete progress, but the next step may be a direct and unprecedented meeting between…