Author: Money Mechanics

The space sector may be on the verge of its biggest moment yet. Reports and rumors are circulating that SpaceX, the world’s largest space company, could announce its long-awaited IPO as early as mid-2026, with early estimates placing its valuation near $1.5 trillion. If that materializes, it would rank among the largest IPOs in history and could send the entire aerospace sector to new heights. But even before SpaceX trades publicly, the space sector is already having a standout year. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) is up about 230% in the past year. Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) has surged more than 700%…

Key Takeaways Net worth is valuable as a personal progress tracker rather than a comparison tool.  Keep your debt-to-income ratio below 36%, and prioritize eliminating high-interest debt first.  Traditional retirement benchmarks suggest having 1x your annual salary saved by age 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67.  Maintain an emergency fund of three to six months of essential expenses in a high-yield savings account. Most people know how they feel about their finances—they may feel stressed, secure, behind, or ahead on their goals. However, relying on your feelings alone will not give you…

Key Takeaways Actual Cash Value (ACV) is calculated by subtracting depreciation from the replacement cost of a property at the time of loss.Insurance policies that use ACV usually result in lower payouts than those based on replacement cost, since ACV considers depreciation.Policyholders often prefer replacement cost coverage because it reimburses the full cost of replacing the lost or damaged item.In property and casualty insurance, ACV is commonly used to determine compensation for damaged or stolen goods. What Is Actual Cash Value? Actual cash value (ACV) is calculated by taking the replacement cost of a damaged or stolen property and subtracting…

Key Takeaways Warren Buffett has pointed out that book value can significantly misstate the intrinsic value of a business. He prefers using intrinsic value, “the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life.” Buffett goes so far as to say, “In all cases, what is clear is that book value is meaningless as an indicator of intrinsic value.” Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Warren Buffett has repeatedly reminded investors that book value is often a poor measure of a business. The calculation itself is simple:…

(Image credit: Getty Images)It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: American investors are feeling the sting of no longer being spoiled.For more than a decade, it almost seemed difficult not to make money in the stock market. That all changed in the post-pandemic financial world; 2022 saw one of the most volatile markets in years. Investors have been nostalgic for the “good old days” ever since, today being no exception.One major player driving market swings in recent years is the Magnificent 7. This ensemble cast doesn’t involve Yul Brynner or Steve McQueen. Rather, it’s the list of seven megacap…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Parents who take enormous care in building their estate plan often spend much less time preparing for the emotional impact of revealing it to the family.Adult children learning about a trust for the first time can feel shock, relief and anxiety in a single meeting. Dramatic inheritance “reveals” have even made headlines (paywall). These reactions stem from a simple lack of common understanding. It’s why 70% of wealth transfers fail.In our family office work, we believe wealth transfer succeeds when it’s rooted in three areas: From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is co-chief executive and head of performing credit at OaktreeInvestors are justifiably concerned about some of the issues that have been raised about private credit in recent months. Rising impairments, questions over valuations, the use of leverage, liquidity mismatches, software exposure in an AI-driven world, and refinancing risks are all real issues.But the current debate risks conflating multiple factors to reach overly broad conclusions. It’s worth separating the fundamentally sound concept of private credit — tailored, non-bank lending — from…

In-brief analysis April 1, 2026 Data source: U.S. Census Bureau After four years of growth, U.S. coal exports decreased by 16 million short tons (MMst) in 2025, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Exports totaled 93 MMst in 2025, compared with 108 MMst in 2024. Thermal coal exports fell by 18%, and metallurgical coal exports fell by 11%. The decrease in U.S. coal exports largely reflects a 92% decrease in exports to China in 2025 compared with 2024, after China imposed a 15% additional tariff on imports of U.S.…

If you’re thinking about selling a business in Colorado, I’d approach it as a positioning exercise first and a transaction second. After writing about financial deals, private businesses, and buyer behavior for more than two decades, I can tell you this much: owners usually leave money on the table long before the listing ever goes live. They do it through messy books, vague growth stories, owner-dependent operations, and unrealistic pricing. Colorado can be a strong market for good businesses, but buyers here still want the same thing buyers want everywhere else: clean numbers, low friction, and confidence that the business…

SiFive, a company founded in 2015 by the UC Berkeley engineers who created an open source chip design, has landed a $400 million oversubscribed round that values the company at $3.65 billion. This deal is interesting for a bunch of reasons. For one, SiFive’s RISC-V open chip design is based on the RISC processor, not Intel’s x86 or ARM, the two major types of CPUs that currently feed Nvidia’s GPU computer system AI empire. Also, Nvidia was investor in this round, alongside a long list of VCs, private equity, and hedge funds. The round was led by Atreides Management, founded…