Author: Money Mechanics

The “sell the dollar” trade is coming up in the chatter I see. I think that economists love making international trade and finance more complicated than it should be, but that is partly a side effect of needing to publish new articles on a continuous basis. My simplistic input on this topic is that people need to stop thinking about “global rebalancing” in terms of flows, price changes can do the job.My guess is that the focus on flows draws from the experience of developing markets, with countries with less developed financial sectors. If a handful of rich people directly…

Key Takeaways Americans can expect to pay anywhere from about $5,700 to over $30,000 per month for nursing home care, depending on the market.Medicare covers 100% of the costs of nursing home care for only 20 days. After that, families must handle the costs.There are steps families can take to try to shield themselves from these high costs, but it’s important to prepare early. There are many reasons why people don’t put their parents in a nursing home as their care needs mount. They may want to help their parents maintain their independence, for example, or protect them from potential…

Key Takeaways The average retirement account balance for Americans in their 70s is $250,000, but the median falls below $100,000. Once required minimum distributions (RMDs) start at 73, have a plan for your taxes. You’ve spent decades building your retirement savings. Now comes the part where you make it last. In your 70s, the questions change. It’s no longer about how much you can save—it’s about how much you can safely spend without running out of money. The average American in their 70s has $250,000 saved, but half have less than $107,000. Whether you’re above or below that line, the…

Key Takeaways Warren Buffett says that emotional intelligence is key to making wise investment decisions. Investors with patience and self-control often outperform those who follow emotion in the market. If you’ve ever bought a stock during a market boom, only to panic and sell at a loss, you already know emotions can be costly.  With recent headlines full of stock market swings, it’s natural for investors to be nervous, but Buffett has stayed calm, slowly amassing a record cash pile for potential future purchases. Why is he so steady when others panic? Buffett told those assembled at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s…

Stock futures pointed to a mostly higher open Tuesday, with several big-name companies set to report quarterly results. However, shares of health insurers sank following a report that the Trump administration is proposing barely raising Medicare Advantage payment rates. Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.2%. Yesterday, the blue-chip Dow, benchmark S&P 500, and tech-heavy Nasdaq finished higher, with the Dow adding more than 300 points, to begin a busy week of tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates. Shares of Dow component UnitedHealth Group (UNH) sank 13% before the…

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%. December 2025 research from Morningstar raised its recommended safe withdrawal rate 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, which is one of the…

Key Takeaways A prominent strategist contends that the real “poverty line” for a family of four is $140,000, not the official threshold of $32,150.Created in the 1960s, the formula used to calculate the poverty threshold does not accurately reflect the realities of modern household budgets, the strategist says. One analysis contends that a family of four is below a meaningful “poverty line” if they earn less than $140,000 per year, far more than the official federal threshold of $32,150.Michael Green, chief strategist and portfolio manager at Simplify Asset Management, wrote in late November about how household finances have changed since…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Tech earnings season begins in earnest tomorrow, with a cool $7tn in market cap reporting in the form of Microsoft, Meta, Tesla and ASML. Predictions, please: unhedged@ft.com. GoldUnhedged has been loudly, persistently and hilariously wrong about gold. If there is a world record for financial pundit wrongness,…

The Trump administration has linked security guarantees for Ukraine to Kyiv ceding the Donbas region to Russia, and there’s speculation that the US and Japan could be working together to support the yen. Plus, Israel’s military announced it had retrieved the remains of the last hostage from the Gaza Strip, and Big Tech companies are on track to dominate borrowing in the US bond market.Mentioned in this podcast:US links security guarantees for Ukraine to peace deal ceding territoryDollar sinks to 4-month low and gold soars past $5,000 as yen leapsIsrael retrieves remains of last hostage in GazaBig Tech’s borrowing spree…

NINGBO, CHINA – JANUARY 22: Employees work on the production line of snowboards at a workshop to meet the orders on January 22, 2026 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China. He Yuankai/Zhejiang Daily Press Group | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesChina’s industrial profits rose 0.6% in 2025 from a year earlier, snapping three consecutive years of declines as officials moved to rein in aggressive price competition and companies sought overseas growth amid weak domestic demand.The pace of growth accelerated from 0.1% in the January-to-November period, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.The recovery last year was driven by…