Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways The cost of living in Pierre, South Dakota, is lower than the national average, with median home values and rents significantly less than those in other states.South Dakota has no state income tax, making the state capital a great place to stretch your retirement dollars.From hiking and hunting to museums and heritage centers, Pierre offers something for every retiree. Pierre, South Dakota, lies in the center of the state, and is among Investopedia’s top places for retirees for 2026. Pronounced “peer,” Pierre is the second-smallest state capital in the United States. This small city is located in Hughes…

Key Takeaways Using a $3,000 tax refund to pay down credit card debt at a typical 25% APR could prevent about $750 in interest over a year.Paying off debt with a 25% interest rate is like earning a guaranteed 25% return—far higher than today’s savings account rates.If you lack emergency savings, have a very low APR, or qualify for a 0% balance transfer, other uses for your refund may make more sense. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. It’s one of the few things many people look forward to at tax time: the possibility of…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Stocks opened sharply lower Monday in market participants’ initial reaction to U.S. airstrikes on Iran over the weekend. However, the main indexes quickly reversed course to end the day mostly higher.At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2% at 48,904, while the broader S&P 500 was up 0.04% at 6,881 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% higher at 22,748.While a mixed start to the week and month, it was a notable improvement over the 1%-plus losses the three were facing when the stock market opened this morning. From just $107.88 $24.99 for…

Key Takeaways Ted Weschler is one of Warren Buffet’s top investment managers at Berkshire Hathaway.Weschler met Buffett when he was a hedge fund manager, paying millions at a charity auction for the chance to have lunch with the legendary investor.It’s been revealed that Weschler grew his retirement savings to more than $269 million, through exhaustive research, investing in stocks only, making concentrated bets, and focusing on long-term value. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. In a remarkable tale of investment success spanning three decades, Ted Weschler—now one of Warren Buffett’s top lieutenants at Berkshire Hathaway—transformed…

Key Takeaways A one-time $3,000 tax refund invested in a 529 plan could grow to about $12,000 in 18 years at an 8% annual return.529 plans offer tax-free growth when funds are used for qualified education expenses, boosting long-term savings power.While saving for college can be smart, building an emergency fund and paying down high-interest debt should likely come first. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. If you’ve ever gotten a tax refund, it can feel like free money. It may be tempting to put it toward a vacation or funding a home improvement project—or…

Over the weekend, the United States and Israel conducted a coordinated series of missile and drone strikes against Iran, targeting several high-value military installations in an effort to hinder Iran’s nuclear development efforts. These operations resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, marking a significant escalation and immediately heightening regional tensions. Iran quickly retaliated by launching a broad series of missile attacks directed not only at Israel but also at multiple Gulf states, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The repercussions were felt across the region. Several Gulf countries responded by shutting down their…

The main four parametric natural disaster insurance risk pools have committed to a unique collaboration, which will see them explore the creation of a joint risk finance and reinsurance platform.This initiative, aimed at expanding global climate risk protection, brought together representatives from African Risk Capacity Ltd. (ARC), CCRIF SPC, SEADRIF Insurance Company, and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), meeting at The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in late February. The discussions centered on the systemic barriers currently hindering the scale of climate insurance. “We had honest discussions about what is constraining scale today: a persistent undervaluation of insurance in climate…

Nature abhors a vacuum and does something about it. Homebuilders, their business and channel partners, their investors and lenders and their customers abhor uncertainty. But what can and will they do about it? Other than brace for more bumps. More air pockets. More “buying” of sales rather than selling of American households on houses that fit their dreams of a home. The question arises in the first days of a new and potentially all-consuming war of choice, each day directly and indirectly defining greater orders of magnitude of uncertainty, of impact and of consequence. The question arises in the first…

Stripe on Monday released a preview of a new feature that could help AI startups (and other companies) solve the problem of passing through the underlying costs of AI model usage to their customers. Stripe’s feature, however, goes even further than just passing through the costs of the tokens. It allows startups to charge a markup percentage on token usage. So a company can, for instance, charge an automatic 30% above the cost of the tokens that the startup will pay the model maker. As Stripe described it, “Say you’re building an AI app: you want a consistent 30% margin…

Key Takeaways JPMorgan analysts upgraded Netflix stock to “overweight” with a $120 price target Monday, after a period of suspension while the company attempted to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.The analysts said they believe AI’s rise could benefit more than hurt Netflix, among other strengths. Netflix just won another bullish call on Wall Street. JPMorgan analysts upgraded Netflix (NFLX) stock to “overweight” with a $120 price target Monday, after suspending their rating while the streamer attempted to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Shares of the streaming giant climbed nearly 1% to around $97 Monday, adding to their recent gains after the…