Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Technically, you can use home equity financing to pay off a home loan, but that’s often counterproductive.The only ways to access home equity are to sell your home or take out new financing, which comes at a cost. The nearly 50% rise in home values over the past six years—from $243,398 in December 2019 to $357,275 in December 2025—has helped many homeowners enjoy a surge in home equity. This additional value could potentially help you pay down debt or pay for repairs or renovations. However, it’s important to understand that home equity isn’t free money. For one Reddit…

Key Takeaways Renovating to boost your home’s value sounds like a smart way to drop PMI, but appraisals aren’t guaranteed to come in high enough.Most renovations add less to a home’s value than they cost, making it an expensive path to building equity.Paying extra toward your mortgage principal may be a more reliable way to increase equity enough for PMI removal. The collision of high home prices and high mortgage rates has made homebuying very difficult for many Americans over the past few years. In fact, 66% of Gen Z and 59% of Millennials worry about affording a home in…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.City workers anticipate a doubly lucrative bonus season this spring, as payouts are set to be boosted by new rules allowing senior staff faster access to more of their money. The coming bonus round will be the first to reflect regulatory changes that cut the length of bank bonus deferral periods. These were introduced last October, relaxing rules introduced after the financial crisis. This has added to a broader mood of optimism among City professionals working in the financial sector and beyond…

Wepro | Moment | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.A specific kind of loan that helps owners of commercial buildings pay for big upgrades to save energy or water, add renewable power, or improve resilience is seeing huge growth in a lending environment that has been arguably tough.This month, Nuveen closed a $465…

Adam Breeden/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Say you recently picked up a shiny new TV. You unbox it like a kid at Christmas and prepare to indulge in all its visual glory. You think to yourself, “This is 2025. TV technology is sizzling, and it’s going to look amazing no matter what.” So you plug it in and don’t take one look at the default settings. Big mistake.Also: I saw the future of TVs at Samsung’s South Korea lab – and I’m excited for these 3 thingsI’ve been guilty of it. And I’m OK with that because it’s…

(BOE Report) – Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on Friday that it had held talks on energy cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. embassy in the Central Asian country, which is a major energy producer, accounting for around 2% of daily oil supply. In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said that the two sides had discussed “the implementation of Kazakhstan’s strategic priorities in the oil and gas industry”. U.S. oil companies including Chevron and ExxonMobil have stakes in Kazakhstan’s oilfields. The country’s production sharply decreased in recent weeks, after incidents at the Tengiz field took it offline…

Key Takeaways Stocks have brushed off concerns of international conflict that bubbled up earlier in the week, but investors appear to be hedging anyway.Gold is at record highs and flirting with $5,000, while silver topped $100 on Friday. The conflict over Greenland has eased. Investors are still clinging to haven assets. Spot gold prices are inching toward $5,000 even as U.S. stocks shrugged off escalating international tensions from earlier in the week. Other precious metals are also extending recent rallies: Silver topped $100 for the first time on Friday, while platinum prices rose above $2,700. Investors appear to be hedging…

Key Takeaways Intel shares plunged Friday after the chipmaker said it’s grappling with industry-wide supply shortages and higher memory prices.An AI-driven memory shortage has helped sent shares of memory makers, such as Intel supplier Micron, soaring in recent months.  Intel’s stock tumbled Friday after the chipmaker posted a weaker-than-expected outlook. A memory supply crunch that’s raised prices is partly to blame—but those same forces have sent shares of component makers soaring lately. Shares of Intel (INTC) were down over 16% in recent trading, rolling back most of the chipmaker’s gains over the past few weeks. Executives warned yesterday that it’s…

Key Takeaways Spice and seasoning companies, including McCormick and B&G Foods, are raising prices, the companies said on recent conference calls.Company leaders say they’re charging more because of tariffs and higher ingredient costs. Spicing up your leftovers may not save quite as much dough as it used to. Herb and seasoning giant McCormick & Co. (MKC) is raising prices on the consumer goods segment of its business, executives said on a conference call Thursday. The move comes just months after McCormick increased prices to help cover some of the cost of tariffs, CEO Brendan Foley said. “We have some pricing…

Key Takeaways Jump is an advisor-specific AI meeting assistant that automates notes, tasks, CRM updates, and follow-up emails.Integrations with CRMs, planning tools, and meeting platforms make it easy to plug into existing tech stacks.Outputs are generally accurate, but advisors should expect to review and lightly edit emails and transcripts.Pricing is competitive but on the higher end, with usage caps on the entry-level tier. Jump is a client communication and meeting assistant application designed for financial advisors. Core features include pre-meeting briefs, meeting transcripts, automatic task generation, and email assistance. Additional features include AI sentiment analysis (to uncover unspoken client needs)…