Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Is there really such a thing as a safe stock? When you buy a share, you own a tiny piece of a business, and any business can develop problems no one suspects.Consider Enron, a consistent money-maker in energy trading, which went from $90 a share to 26 cents in a little over a year. Or Sears, once a solid retail giant and now reduced to just a handful of stores. Eastman Kodak, Polaroid and Blockbuster were all solid citizens that went bankrupt.No stock is safe in the sense that a short-term Treasury bill is safe. But looking…

Key Takeaways Recent research shows that married retirees withdraw about 2.1% of their savings annually, while spending 80% of their guaranteed income, like Social Security. Morningstar’s latest analysis suggests retirees can safely withdraw 3.9% to start, close to the classic 4% annual withdrawal rule Those willing to adjust spending based on market conditions could take out up to almost 6%. Research from Morningstar in December 2025 raised its recommended safe withdrawal rate from retirement savings to 3.9%, up from 3.7% the prior year. But actual retiree behavior tells a different story. The Morningstar figure comes close to the 4% rule,…

Key Takeaways Career breaks are common, with 62% of workers having taken one and 35% considering it in the future.Affordable upskilling, networking, and returnship programs can help professionals reenter the workforce successfully.Know your value and negotiate compensation with confidence, as taking a break doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Whether you took time off to raise a child, care for a loved one, recover from illness, or reassess your career path, reentering the workforce can feel overwhelming. You’re far from alone. LinkedIn surveyed 23,000 employees and found that 62% had taken a break from their careers and 35% expressed interest in…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Eight former UK energy ministers have called for the government to curb restrictions and taxes on the North Sea oil and gas industry, arguing that current policy is worsening energy security while doing little to cut global carbon emissions.The cross-party group — which includes former Tory energy secretary Amber Rudd and one-time Labour business and energy secretary Lord John Hutton — expressed their “deep concern” over the decline of UK oil and gas production. “The premature curtailment of domestic production is not primarily…

Oil traders say a dip before a flip on early headlines that flashed “significant progress” in the latest round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva. Yet progress does not mean a deal and the market is rallying on the belief that we probably are not going to get one. We did get plenty of upbeat spin from the Iranian side and the Omani mediator what may be denial which is one of the phases of grief or delusion or maybe wishful thinking. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi proclaimed that the talks were “the most intense so far” and claiming…

Friday afternoon, just as this interview was getting underway, a news alert flashed across my computer screen: the Trump administration was severing ties with Anthropic, the San Francisco AI company founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth soon after invoked a national security law to blacklist the company from doing business with the Pentagon after Amodei refused to allow Anthropic’s tech to be used for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens or for autonomous armed drones that could select and kill targets without human input. It was a jaw-dropping sequence of events. Anthropic stands to lose a contract…

Key Takeaways Brazil is Travel + Leisure’s top destination for 2026, but retirees can skip the tourist crowds.These six lesser-known towns offer the same natural beauty at a fraction of big-city costs.Your $2,000 retirement visa income goes a long way. A single person can live comfortably on $1,000 to $1,500 a month in these spots—leaving room to save or splurge. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Brazil just landed Travel + Leisure’s 2026 Destination of the Year, and international visitors are already flooding in, with arrivals up 40% this year. But while tourists crowd Rio’s…

(World Oil) – Pelican Acquisition Corporation and Greenland Exploration Ltd., which are in the process of combining to form Greenland Energy Company, have secured Arctic logistics support for planned drilling operations in the Jameson Land basin. The companies announced a strategic agreement with Canadian maritime operator Desgagnés to provide specialized ice-class vessels and Arctic beach-landing capabilities required to mobilize drilling equipment and personnel. The operations will be coordinated with Royal Arctic Line, Greenland’s exclusive maritime logistics license holder. The agreement marks a key operational milestone as the company advances plans for a 2026 drilling campaign in the frontier basin, one of the first onshore oil exploration programs…

Key Takeaways The typical employee contribution rate falls between about 8% and 10%, depending on the data source.When employer matches are added, total savings climb to about 12% to 14% of an employee’s salary.Contribution rates climb with age: workers under 25 save a combined 9.3% of income, according to Vanguard, while those 55 to 64 save 13.8%.If you aren’t reaching the typical figures for your income and age range, you can start by contributing enough to capture your full employer match. The typical American worker is putting away about 8% to 10% in 401(k) and similar savings plans. When employer…

Welcome to the first edition of Market Metrics That Matter, your monthly briefing on European cash equities trends. In next month’s edition, we’ll also begin exploring off-exchange activity.Don’t forget to visit Cboe Europe’s Market Share page for leading insights into European equity trading activity.January 2026 HighlightsEuropean equity trading volumes start the year strongly as activity shifts to Lit and Dark order booksTotal on-exchange average daily value traded (ADVT) in European equities reached €59.6bn, up 35% versus December 2025 (€44.3bn) and 30% versus January 2025 (€46.0bn).Market-wide activity continued to shift away from open and closing auctions towards lit and dark order…