Author: Money Mechanics

Ann Korchak’s family has been in the New York City rental business for 80 years.Their story began with her husband’s parents, who immigrated to the U.S. and worked as rooming house operators before saving enough to purchase their first building in 1941.Eventually, the couple took over the business and today, Korchak manages two 10-unit apartment buildings on the Upper West Side.She’s far from the image of a faceless, corporate landlord. Her operation is deeply personal—she has family members living as tenants in her buildings and takes pride in maintaining the properties.”We’re not faceless, absentee owners,” she explains. “People know that…

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET key takeaways MacOS can be made even more efficient.These simple configurations can make a big impact.Only one option requires the purchase of an app.I use my MacBook Pro every day. There are several must-use apps I work with when I sit down in my comfiest chair, open it up, and start reading the news and preparing for the words I’m about to write for ZDNET. I also use it to write fiction, so it gets a lot of use.To that end, every time I purchase a new MacBook…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have been publishing quality ratings for nursing homes since 2009. They are known generally as “star ratings,” because the nursing homes are rated from a low of one star to a high of five stars.A recent study tried to assess the value of the star ratings and develop guidelines for how the public can interpret and use them.One finding is that the ratings are volatile. Very few nursing homes maintained the same star rating from year to year. The researchers believe the high volatility reduces the value of the ratings.There were two sources…

(Image credit: Getty Images)I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately that start the same way: “Dan, I’m done.”Done with the volatility of their stock investmentsDone watching their portfolio swing wildly because oil prices are soaring through the roofDone refreshing their brokerage app at 7 a.m. and feeling their stomach drop before their morning coffee goes coldIf this sounds familiar, keep reading because what I’m about to share could turn a very bad beginning to spring into the starting point of a very smart financial move.What’s happening right nowIt’s been a wild ride, to put it politely. Just a few…

(Image credit: Getty Images)April and Tax Day have a way of sharpening investors’ attention. Even for those who planned ahead, writing a check to the IRS can prompt a familiar question: Is there a better way to manage taxes on my investments going forward?To me, it’s often the moment when investors stop looking backward at last year’s returns and start asking harder questions about how their portfolios are positioned for the years ahead.In recent years, higher short-term yields have drawn attention toward cashlike instruments and ultra-short strategies. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed…

Refresh 2026-04-27T13:51:50.504Z When does Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair end? Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair is up on May 15, 2026.In January, President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Chair Powell once his term is up. “Warsh was Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s right-hand man during the 2008-09 global financial crisis and was his primary liaison to Wall Street, which earned him credibility he still retains,” writes Kiplinger investing editor David Dittman. “Markets see Warsh as a source of stability should Trump continue to pressure the central bank. He served on the Federal Reserve Board from February 2006 through…

(Image credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images)Energy is something we cannot do without. It’s been that way since homo sapiens were living in caves. Wood-burning fires helped protect people from dangerous carnivores, kept caves warm, and provided light at night. In short, it was basic.But in much of this century, many of us have taken the availability of affordable energy for granted. We expect that when we turn on the heat at home, it will work. And since the energy shocks of the 1970s, we have expected the cost will not break the bank. Likewise, getting gasoline from the filling station…

Apollo’s former risk chief has warned that some Wall Street-backed life insurers will be ill-prepared to manage policyholder funds in a downturn, raising doubts about one of the past decade’s biggest financial trends.Chak Raghunathan said some newer life insurers could struggle to stay afloat, citing their heavy reliance on private credit and newer savings products that may be vulnerable to policyholder withdrawals.Raghunathan worked at Apollo from 2008 to 2014, lastly as chief risk officer, when the New York-based firm was building its insurance business, now known as Athene.“When you’ve got asset manager owned insurers, who are not traditional life insurance…

Home prices ticked up 0.1% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis.  Prices rose 1.7% on a year-over-year basis–the slowest growth rate on record.  On a local level, prices fell in 13 major metros month over month, with the biggest declines in Texas and the biggest increase in San Francisco.  U.S. home prices inched up 0.1% month over month in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the third straight month of the same increase.  Prices rose 1.7% from a year earlier, the slowest year-over-year growth rate in records dating back to 2012. Home-price growth has been slowing since the…

The race to secure electricity for AI models has reached new heights: Meta has signed an agreement with the startup Overview Energy that could see a thousand satellites beam infrared light to solar farms that power data centers at night. In 2024, Meta’s data centers used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity—roughly enough to power more than 1.7 million American homes for a year—and its need for compute power is only increasing. The company has committed to building 30 gigawatts of renewable power sources, with a focus on industrial-scale solar power plants. Typically, data centers turning to solar power must…