Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)As 2026 kicks off, the “Trump 2.0″ economic agenda has moved from campaign promises to portfolio realities. Between trade tensions, the sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and a new regulatory environment, investors are facing a significantly altered landscape from recent years.However, before you overhaul your portfolio like a Trump rally, it’s important to maintain perspective.”History strongly suggests that making wholesale portfolio changes based on the party or person in the White House is unlikely to improve long-term outcomes,” says Bo Ramsey, co-managing partner and chief investment officer at Oxford Financial Group. The U.S. equity market…

As a multinational logistics giant, United Parcel Service (UPS) is seen as something of a bellwether for the economy. Sadly for shareholders, UPS stock has grown only about as fast as the global economy for decades.Partly that’s a function of UPS being a capital-intensive business. Operating a fleet of more than 500 planes and 100,000 vehicles, alongside a highly unionized workforce, means UPS is tethered to “old economy” margins. Meanwhile, the market over the past 20 years has favored “capital-light” tech giants with fat margins over value names that pay hefty dividends.However, a general market preference for growth stocks isn’t…

(Image credit: Getty Images)The first computer-driven advisory service, otherwise known as a robo adviser, launched just over 15 years ago. Since then, the S&P 500 Index has returned more than 700% — an eightfold increase. And automated investment advisers now manage an estimated $1.2 trillion in assets, says David Goldstone, manager of investment research at Condor Capital Wealth Management, which tracks robo advisers in The Robo Report.As the industry matures, many investors have outgrown digital-only offerings and are ready to graduate to a so-called hybrid adviser service, which uses the same technology that drives robo advisers but gives you access…

Key Takeaways Coastal lifestyle, sophisticated healthcare, and expat-friendly communities are cheaper in smaller Middle Eastern cities than in Dubai or Doha.Single retirees in Fujairah, Antalya, Salalah, and Northern Cyprus can expect monthly budgets of $1,000 to $1,500, especially if renting a modest flat and living like a local.UAE retirement visas include stricter income and wealth criteria, whereas Turkey offers flexible residence permits, and Oman offers longer-term residency cards.​ If your retirement dream includes warm seas, sunny winters, and a slower pace of life, parts of the Middle East can deliver all of that at a fraction of what you’d pay…

Key Takeaways Mortgage rates are expected to dip slightly in 2026, which may improve affordability, but borrowing costs will remain relatively high.Housing costs will vary widely by location, with better deals more likely in parts of the Midwest and South than in high-cost coastal and Northeast markets.Buyers may find value by considering adjustable-rate mortgages or new construction, since ARMs offer lower initial rates and homebuilders are offering buyers incentives. Home sales remained near historic lows in 2025, as high housing costs and elevated mortgage rates continued to keep buyers on the sidelines. But housing affordability is expected to improve in…

January 21, 2026 08:33 AM EST United Airlines Made $3.4B in 2025 But Lost Money Flying Passengers FROM 7 minutes ago It does not appear likely that any of the four biggest U.S. airlines—Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines (UAL), American Airlines (AAL), and Southwest Airlines (LUV)—will have made money actually transporting passengers last year. United announced its fiscal fourth-quarter results after the bell Tuesday, and reported it made $3.4 billion in 2025 profit. However, it posted higher cost per available seat mile (CASM), 16.46 cents, than passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM), 16.18 cents. United made $3.4 billion…

3M’s output of new product launches tumbled in the years before CEO Bill Brown took the helm. Brown set a strategy of boosting new product launches, and the results have been impressive. In 2025, 3M launched twice as many new products compared to 2023, and another increase is planned for 2026. 10 stocks we like better than 3M › In August 2024, 3M (NYSE: MMM) CEO Bill Brown diagnosed one of the industrial giant’s core problems just a few months after taking the helm. A years-long slide in innovation, as measured by new product launches, was crippling the company’s growth…

U.S. prices surged sharply on Tuesday, posting one of the largest single-day gains seen this winter as the market quickly repriced near-term supply risk. Front-month Henry Hub futures spiked more than 25 percent and briefly traded near $3.90 per million British thermal units. It is a level not seen in weeks. The immediate driver is the weather. Forecast models over the past 48 hours flipped decisively colder, showing a sustained Arctic outbreak in the Midwest and Northeast into late January. That matters because heating demand had already been running above normal, and storage levels entered the heart of winter thinner…

For today’s mortgage leadership, the most expensive asset on the balance sheet is the borrower’s attention. Yet, in an era defined by an “attention economy,” the industry has spent a decade devaluing that asset through a practice that has become as predictable as it is ineffective: the mass-market email newsletter blast. For years, the industry standard for personalization has relied on a thin veneer of data. Typically, this involves a “Dear [First Name]” merge field followed by three paragraphs of generic market commentary that reads the same in Manhattan as it does in Memphis. To today’s borrower, these are not…

Anker/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeawaysNano Charger has a flexible 180-degree foldable design for travel.13-in-1 Nano Docking Station includes a 6-in-1 removable hub.Prime Wireless Charging Station is a foldable 3-in-1 with a phone-like footprint.Anker earlier this month announced four new products at CES 2026. The new lineup, which includes everything from emoji-displaying wall chargers to docking stations with removable hubs, aims to reduce charging friction “through higher efficiency and more intuitive user experiences” for both frequent travelers and desk-bound professionals.Anker Nano Charger Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station AnkerThe Anker Nano Charger is one of…