Author: Money Mechanics

I do love some transparency. Jack Wallen/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysKDE Plasma can be highly customized.If you want KDE Plasma to look like Windows 11, you can.It only takes the addition of a theme and a widget to make this work.KDE Plasma is a remarkably customizable desktop environment. On top of being highly flexible, it’s also fast and stable, so it would make perfect sense why you might want to migrate from Windows to a KDE Plasma-powered desktop distribution.But if you want to carry over the look and feel of Windows 11, how do you…

(World Oil) – MCM Energy Partners has completed its acquisition of crude oil and natural gas assets in the Delaware basin from Battalion Oil Corporation, expanding its operated footprint in the core of the Permian basin and adding new development inventory in West Texas.   The assets, located in the West Quito Draw area of Ward County, Texas, include approximately 6,207 net acres across multiple benches in the Southern Delaware basin. The acquisition adds operated production, drilling inventory and development upside to MCM’s existing position in Ward County, where the company is actively drilling and completing wells as part of its Vulcan development…

Key Takeaway Your paycheck isn’t the only way you earn money, and for wealthier Americans, it’s not even the main one.The gap between what you earn at work and what your money earns through investing is the biggest driver of the wealth divide.A median-income family has a net worth of about $192,900, but the top 10% of earners have a median net worth more than $2.5 million, per the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Americans earn money two ways: from their jobs and from their investments—a key reason…

Key Takeaways U.S. credit card debt hit $1.28 trillion in 2025, with average interest rates exceeding 23.5%.Building a $500–$1,000 emergency fund can prevent setbacks during unexpected expenses.Use the debt avalanche or snowball method to prioritize debt repayment while saving. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Americans are drowning in debt. As of last quarter, total credit card balances reached an all-time high of $1.28 trillion, with average interest rates on credit cards at 21%, a 44% increase since 2020. Meanwhile, two-thirds of credit card users who carry a balance report their debt has caused them…

Key Takeaways Stay in control of your finances by creating a budget and adjusting it as needed.Build a healthy emergency fund, which is crucial to avoiding high-interest debt in the event of an unexpected expense.Diversify your investments across stocks, bonds, and other assets to mitigate risk in the event of an economic downturn.Develop multiple income streams to create financial stability and help cushion you against job loss or reduced hours.Choose a financial institution with low fees, strong customer support, and insurance against custody-firm failure. Bolstering your financial security ahead of a recession can save you from financial disaster. Here’s a…

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 24: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. . (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Getty ImagesLast night at the State of the Union, President Trump announced an executive action to create a federal retirement savings option for workers without employer-sponsored plans. “My administration will give these often-forgotten American workers — great people, the people that built our country — access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker,” he said. “We will…

Key Takeaways Married workers hold far higher retirement balances and overall assets than unmarried peers.Divorced, widowed, and separated workers are most likely to tap retirement funds early.Structural income and wealth gaps—not just habits—contribute to the divide, but there are ways to strengthen your position. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. A new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), based on U.S. Census data of workers ages 21 to 64, highlights how typical retirement balances lag what workers should aim to accumulate over time. The findings also reveal a sharp divide based on…

Key Takeaways Traditional retirement planning focuses solely on the goal of retirement, while “die with zero” planning focuses on achieving many goals throughout your life. The goal of the die-with-zero strategy is to spend all of your assets during your lifetime. If you follow it completely, you won’t leave an inheritance to your loved ones. The strategy comes with the risk of running out of money in retirement. It’s possible to balance traditional retirement planning with a die-with-zero mindset to maximize enjoyment throughout your life while minimizing financial risk in retirement. With traditional retirement planning, you typically try to save…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Stocks opened higher Wednesday and stayed there through the close. Impressive gains for mega-cap tech stocks ahead of tonight’s key earnings report from Nvidia (NVDA) boosted the main indexes, while a big rally in bitcoin underscored the risk-on session.At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 49,482, the broader S&P 500 was 0.8% higher at 6,946 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had gained 1.3% to 23,152.Bitcoin, meanwhile, jumped 7.7% to $69,200 – its highest level in over a week – lifting shares of crypto-related stocks Coinbase Global (COIN, +13.5%) and Robinhood Markets…

Iran is seeking to tempt Donald Trump with financial incentives, including investments in its vast oil and gas reserves, as part of efforts to convince the US president to agree a deal on its nuclear programme and avoid war.One person briefed on the talks described it as the offer of a “commercial bonanza”, with Tehran seeking to appeal to Trump’s penchant for deals promising a financial dividend for the US.Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will hold another round of indirect talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva on Thursday.The dangling of investment opportunities was “specifically directed…