Author: Money Mechanics

True boat lovers reject the popular saying that the two happiest days of a boater’s life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. For them, happiness is putting the boat in the water and sailing off, never-ending expenses included.  That devotion drove a boom in boat sales during the Covid pandemic, as many Americans turned to the water to escape. After seeing a spike in sales during the crisis, when most other industries struggled, the recreational boating market is now feeling the impact of consumers’ discretionary spending cuts.  In fact, most boat owners make…

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin now controls a full city block in Miami’s desirable Brickell financial district following a unanimous vote by the City of Miami Commission to approve the sale of a historic site to the Citadel CEO.The nearly $3 million transaction centers on the land beneath the historic James Jackson Cottage, which was constructed in 1905.For decades, the city-owned property has functioned as the headquarters for the Dade Heritage Trust, a prominent local historic preservation nonprofit. As a part of the deal, Citadel agreed to gift the cottage to the trust and pay for the relocation and…

OpenAI launched its first piece of hardware last week — a fancy little keypad built to pair with ChatGPT. Micro, which was developed in collaboration with specialty keyboard designer Work Louder, is essentially an artisanal workplace novelty that many tech enthusiasts will love and that may leave everyone else a little puzzled. OpenAI’s entrance into the hardware market hasn’t arrived without drama. Several weeks ago, Apple sued the AI lab and accused it of trade theft — kicking off what’s certain to be a long-simmering legal battle. Meanwhile, news of another smart home product in development at OpenAI has also…

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) reported sharply higher second-quarter 2026 earnings as executives said the firm’s early and aggressive positioning around artificial intelligence infrastructure is driving investment performance, fundraising and new business formation across the platform. Weston Tucker, Blackstone’s Head of Shareholder Relations, said the firm reported GAAP net income of $2.4 billion for the quarter. Distributable earnings were $2 billion, or $1.52 per common share, and Blackstone declared a dividend of $1.29 per share, payable to holders of record as of August 3. Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman said distributable earnings rose 26% year-over-year, while fee-related earnings increased 22% and net realizations…

Uncertainty and turmoil surrounded many aspects of estate planning for years, causing many people to put their planning on hold. There is no reason now to delay action. We are in a period of relative stability. Whatever the state of your plan, it is easier to create or update it using this checklist of the essential steps for every plan. Review the beneficiary designations. A will and living trust are the main tools for transferring an estate, but they do not control all assets. Assets that fall outside the scope of wills and living trusts include IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, annuities,…

A St. Louis organization is working to revitalize lower- to moderate-income neighborhoods through art—but with a radical twist.​Traditionally, artists move into underinvested neighborhoods, add cultural value, and are subsequently priced out when market-rate developers swoop in.The Art Place Initiative (API) is rewriting that script by helping local artists buy the homes they live and work in.​“For us, artists contributing to the wealth of a neighborhood, but then being the first to be displaced from that neighborhood, is exactly the trend that we are attempting to supersede,” Kaveh Razani, a real estate development consultant for API, told Realtor.com.​Founded in 2019, API…

San Francisco’s median home-sale price dropped to a low of $625,000 in the aftermath of the Great Recession; since then, it has risen over $1 million to more than $1.7 million. The tech industry and recent AI boom have helped propel home prices, enriching homeowners while making America’s most expensive housing market even less affordable for the average local. The luxury market is driving San Francisco’s current uptick in home prices, with prices in the area’s most expensive tier rising far faster than less expensive homes. The typical San Francisco home now sells for over $1 million more than it…

If you’re like me, drinking coffee is one of the few relaxing parts of your day. Yet, do you ever think about the value you receive from your daily cups?The thing is, coffee is a crop, but some companies don’t treat it as such. Instead, they roast beans in large batches and ship them to grocery stores where they sit on shelves and lose peak freshness and taste.With supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts and climate change increasing coffee costs, you’re paying a premium for logistics disguised as quality. Real freshness comes from transparent roasters that can show the methods behind…

Where should you retire? A new analysis from CareScout suggests that retirement security extends beyond investment portfolios and healthcare costs.gettyFor decades, Americans choosing where to retire have weighed familiar questions: Which states have lower taxes? Where are homes still affordable? What is the weather like? How close is the nearest grandchild?Increasingly, another question is drawing attention: How safe is it to grow older there?A new analysis from CareScout suggests that retirement security extends beyond investment portfolios and healthcare costs. Using seven measures—including elder fraud, violent crime, property crime, police staffing, fall-related deaths, traffic fatalities involving older drivers and hospital capacity—the…

When you’re building wealth for retirement, it’s often advisable to go heavy on stocks so your money can grow. But as retirement nears, it’s common to reduce your exposure to stocks and shift more of your assets into bonds for stability and predictable income.There’s no single “optimal” allocation between stocks and bonds to aim for in retirement. The famous 4% rule for retirement withdrawals assumes a fairly equal stock/bond split, but there’s wiggle room in that formula.That sort of split doesn’t work for everyone, though. Recent findings from Fidelity show that 38% of retirement savers ages 65 to 69 may…