Author: Money Mechanics

(BOE Report) – The trickle of tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz has gathered pace in recent weeks, as traders adopt stealth measures to make the crossing. While this is freeing some of the vast oil inventories trapped in the Gulf, it does not signal a slow return to normalcy. Instead, it previews the opaque, fragmented energy market the Iran war is set to leave in its wake. More than four months into the conflict, the U.S. and Iran are still struggling to hammer out an agreement to formally end the war and fully reopen the narrow waterway. The near-total…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Private credit became known as a good portfolio diversifier when interest rates rose in 2022, but more recently, worries about these loans are roiling financial markets. Here, we take a deep dive into private credit and what investors need to know about this alternative asset class.What is private credit? The term “private credit” most often refers to direct lending to small and midsize private businesses that takes place outside of traditional banking channels or the public bond market.Borrower companies, numbering in the thousands, might range from mom-and-pop shops with $5 million in annual sales to companies with…

This summer, travelers are bracing for more than just the usual heat waves and hurricanes wreaking havoc with their vacation plans. The conflict between the U.S. and Iran has rippled through airline operations across the Middle East and significantly disrupted the global oil market, with scarcer and more expensive jet fuel prompting airlines to charge more and slash schedules at a time of peak demand. A recent survey from Global Rescue, which sells travel insurance and emergency-evacuation services, found that 85% of Americans are now worried that global conflicts may delay or disrupt their travels.Those concerns come amid a packed…

The SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) IPO is the most talked-about market event in years. But Chris Graebe, an analyst at Weiss Ratings, says the investors who will really profit already got in—and it wasn’t recently. Graebe has spent the last several years guiding everyday investors into private companies before they ever reach a public exchange. In a market flooded with IPO enthusiasm, his message is equal parts exciting and sobering: the biggest returns in any IPO story almost always go to those who wrote checks long before the opening bell. The SpaceX Reality CheckFor retail investors dreaming of a SpaceX windfall,…

You won’t find them at grocery checkouts, but the U.S. penny is back. To celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026, the U.S. Mint has introduced one-year-only design overhauls to almost all circulating coins, which are out now.The rollout includes quarters, nickels, dimes, half-dollars…and yes, the penny.Though President Donald Trump ordered the end of circulating penny production late last year to save taxpayers an estimated $56 million annually, a special “dual-date” penny has returned exclusively for the semiquincentennial. Think of its comeback like Pluto’s status as a “dwarf planet”: Not quite a “regular” planet, yet it makes us feel good. From…

The Italian writer and journalist Lilli Gruber (Gruber Dietlinde) and her husband, French journalist and writer Jacques Charmelot run after a group of geese in the Aniene Rowing Club. Rome, January 7, 2011 (Photo by Massimo Sestini/Mondadori via Getty Images)Mondadori via Getty ImagesWhile traveling in Rome, my colleague and friend, Jeffrey Brown, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and one of the country’s most important retirement economists — reflected on LinkedIn that Italy’s pension system might be too expensive. An option in the Italian system offers a pension after meeting age and service combinations. If by age 63…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Annuities are one of the most polarizing tools in personal finance. Some advisers swear by them, while others tell clients to avoid them entirely.That divide raises a question: Are annuities inherently flawed, or simply misunderstood?The truth sits somewhere in the middle. 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 and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Every summer, Americans fall in love, but not with a person — they fall in love with a piece of property and the idea of planting roots in a vacation spot.The problem with falling in love with vacation property is that even when a vacation home feels like freedom, it can easily turn into a financial anchor.Before you buy that second home, run the real math instead of the Instagram version that tells everyone they should have a picture-perfect home away from home. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor.…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Retirement brings the gift of time, but it can also trigger a new kind of spending anxiety. Many retirees delay upgrades they’ve wanted for years because they worry that “nice-to-haves” will jeopardize long-term security.Yet, research suggests retirees often overestimate the cost of lifestyle changes and underestimate the happiness those changes can create. These five upgrades are designed to deliver an outsize return on quality of life without requiring an outsize budget.A useful mindset shift is to treat many of these choices as reallocations, not splurges. You’re not necessarily spending “more.” You’re intentionally moving dollars away from low-value…

Dear Wealth Wise: We retired at 57 due to a quick succession of inheritances and tax consequences, but are still too young to access our own retirement savings. We did manage to leave our children with no debt from college or graduate school. Now our 25-year-old wants to attend law school to do public interest law, but the changes to federal loan programs and the loan rates would leave over $180,000 in student loans at graduation. Should we consider providing a low-interest personal loan? What implications for our retirement should we consider?— Retired But Still ParentingDear “Retired But Still Parenting”:…