Author: Money Mechanics

A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Even as more local communities rise up against the proliferation of massive, energy- and water-sucking data centers, some big players in housing are betting consumers would be willing to put mini data centers right on the walls of their homes. Span is a California-based startup that…

On Monday, OpenAI released a new foundation model called GPT-5.5 Instant, which will replace GPT-5.3 Instant as the default ChatGPT model. The company said the model reduces hallucination in sensitive areas such as law, medicine, and finance, while maintaining the low latency of its predecessor. OpenAI released the latest GPT-5.5 model last month with the company claiming improvements in areas like coding and knowledge work. The new model also achieved a score of 81.2 in the AIME 2025 math test, compared to 65.4 for the older model. It also outperformed its predecessor on the MMMU-Pro multimodal reasoning benchmark, with a…

(Oil Price) – OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, is offering huge discounts of up to $33.40 per barrel off the official selling prices for its crude that has to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq’s oil production and exports have been severely crippled due to the hostilities in the Middle East and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is the only way to move Iraqi Basrah crude grades. Iraq was one of the first Gulf producers to slash upstream production and now exports a small part of its crude via a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean coast. But…

(Image credit: Getty Images)War has changed.The conflict in Ukraine, the Houthi campaign and now the operations in Iran have demonstrated something that military planners have long theorized, but the world can now see with its own eyes: A $30,000 drone can destroy a $50 million piece of military equipment.That single asymmetry has enormous implications for national security, for defense budgets and for investors. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters Profit…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Every day now, there is one term we seem to hear constantly on the news: Negotiation.You would think that most lawyers would be pretty good at it, and you might even assume we were all required to take courses about negotiation in law school.Nothing could be further from the truth, and I’m going to tell you why the just-published Never Settle: Persuasion and Negotiation Skills to Get What You Want will, in my opinion, soon knock other “negotiation bestsellers” off their pedestals and will help everyone who’s looking for a commonsense, understandable, actionable guide that takes the…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Americans are worried about the future. Inflation, market swings, the rising cost of healthcare, the long-term fate of Social Security… the list of things keeping people up at night seems only to grow.Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived through her own share of national anxiety as first lady during the Great Depression and World War II, offered a piece of advice that still applies: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”There’s plenty of fear to look at right now. A new Allianz Life study found that…

It’s that time of year again when college is on many people’s minds. Students are preparing to graduate after years of learning, growth, and hard work, and high schoolers across the country face Decision Day as they choose where to spend their next four years.But amid the college admissions and graduation frenzy, there’s another interesting trend to consider: from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Durham, North Carolina, and beyond, so-called “college towns” are emerging as appealing pockets for some older adults.It’s not that hard to see why. Yes, familiarity or nostalgia is likely a factor for some. But the fact is…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Risk is a natural part of investing, and indeed, volatility is the price of admission to building long-term wealth. This is what Ben Carlson, director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management, reminds us in his new book, Risk & Reward.”Risk does exist in the market, and if you want to earn a return on your capital above the rate of inflation, you have to step out and take some risk in some form,” Carlson told me when we sat down to discuss his book, which goes on sale on May 12. “And over the long…

’Sell in May and Go Away’ might turn out to be bad advice this year Which stocks are best positioned to buck the seasonal trend? Discover 9 handpicked opportunities to outperform in the coming months. May has arrived, and with it comes a well-known Wall Street idea: Sell in May and go away. The thinking is simple. Investors sell stocks in May, stay in cash during the summer, and return to the market around October.Historically, this pattern has some backing. Since 1945, the has gained about 2% on average from May to October, compared to around 7% from November to…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Do you wonder how you can save on taxes while giving more to charity? As you reflect on your 2025 tax bill, it’s an ideal time to consider your charitable, financial and tax planning for 2026.To help start your planning, we’ll answer three questions:What tax rules affect charitable giving in 2026?What are some charitable giving strategies that can be used to reduce taxes?Why is a donor-advised fund (DAF) a tax-smart way to give to charity?You’ll walk away with ideas on how to pay less in taxes and have more money to give to charity, whether you choose…