Author: Money Mechanics

The organization behind the Academy Awards released new Oscar rules on Friday, including several that address the use of generative artificial intelligence. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that only performances “credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be eligible for Academy Awards. Similarly, the academy said that screenplays must be “human-authored” to be eligible. The academy also said it has the right to request more information about a film’s AI usage and “human authorship.” These rule changes come as an independent film is in the works with an…

(Image credit: Getty Images)The stock market is sitting on a knife-edge, and interest rates are still top of mind, which has investors wondering what the Federal Reserve will do next.Add in tax season being fresh in everyone’s minds, and it’s no surprise that many people are thinking about their retirement accounts and asking themselves: What should I be doing with my money?While most people focus on getting their taxes filed or making that last-minute IRA contribution, this is also the perfect time to step back and look at the bigger picture. Are you contributing strategically, or are you just checking…

(Image credit: Getty Images)The shift from saving to spending changes everything. Behaviors that were “good enough” during accumulation can become expensive once withdrawals begin.According to research from Morningstar, behavioral mistakes cost investors an average of 1.2% annually. In retirement, that drag can matter more because there’s less time to recover from avoidable errors.The good news is that the biggest risks are often behavioral, which means they can be addressed. Here are seven common patterns that can undermine retirement security and what to do instead. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from…

A captivating architect-designed residence on the south side of Moon Mountain in Santa Fe, NM, has hit the market for $3.25 million. With its museum-quality interiors, the home at 7 Altazano Drive was conceived as a place where architecture, art, and landscape converge, an approach reflected in its inclusion in Archaeo Architects’ portfolio under the theme Stone, Water, Light. Built in 2001 for the current owner, philanthropist and art collector Sharon Ettinger, the home was designed to showcase her significant collection of Native American art, as well as to serve as a place to host charity events.”Sharon is an incredible collector…

Mark Zuckerberg held a company town hall on April 30 to address Meta employees directly about the layoffs. It was the first time he had spoken to staff about the cuts since Reuters first reported the plan in March. What he said did not reassure them. And what he did not say may have worried them even more. What Zuckerberg told Meta employees about layoffs Zuckerberg was direct about why the layoffs are happening. “We basically have two major cost centers in the company: compute infrastructure and people-oriented things,” he said in the session. “If we’re investing more in one…

In-brief analysis April 28, 2026 Data source: Bloomberg, L.P.Note: Weekly average is for the week running Monday–Friday. Prices for natural gas in Europe and Asia have diverged from those in the United States since the February 28 closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Futures prices for liquified natural gas (LNG) delivery to the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the European benchmark price, increased to $14.80 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) for the week ending April 24, 35% higher than before the closure, according to data from Bloomberg L.P. In East Asia, the…

In-brief analysis April 29, 2026 Oil and gas producers operating in Alaska reported increases in proved reserves in 2024 at a time when low prices triggered a decrease in nationwide proved reserves, according to our recently released U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2024 report. Alaska’s crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves increased 5%, and natural gas proved reserves increased nearly 7% in 2024. U.S. proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate totaled about 46 billion barrels at year-end 2024, a 1% decline from 2023. U.S. proved reserves of natural…

RenaissanceRe’s third-party capital and insurance-linked securities management unit Capital Partners is considered an “important source of resilience” for the company and a key differentiator, especially for clients that “value, scale, reliability and flexibility,” according to CEO Kevin O’Donnell.Speaking during RenaissanceRe’s first-quarter earnings call yesterday, O’Donnell explained that the RenaissanceRe Capital Partners division continues to deliver as expected, driving attractive earnings through fee income that complements the reinsurer’s investment and underwriting earnings. O’Donnell said that fee income, “Performed equally well this quarter,” saying, “We reported total fee income of approximately $94 million. Performance fees were the main driver of the upside,…

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – Hubbert Peak Theory is having a quiet second life. Not as prophecy, and not as an obituary for oil, but as a structural framework that has finally been stress‑tested by scale, capital, and technology. The shale era did not disprove Hubbert. It revealed what his model assumed but never had to confront: that geology alone does not set production paths once extraction becomes industrialized.   King Hubbert’s original formulation rested on a simple insight. Oil production from a finite resource base rises, peaks, and declines as reservoirs are depleted. For conventional…

A dramatic diamond-shaped residence that serves up a feast for the eyes around every corner has just hit the market in Georgia for $799,000—complete with a jaw-dropping spiral staircase that appears to float in the air. The Tom Mozen-designed architectural marvel is nestled in the East Cobb woods in Marietta, GA, and features an array of eye-catching features, including a suspended spiral staircase, geometric windows, and wood-beamed ceilings. From the outside, the pointed property looks more like a living sculpture than it does a residential home, rising up from the surrounding woodland like an onyx gem. Yet for those who…