Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Most Americans ages 35–44 have retirement accounts, but the Fed’s latest survey shows the median balance for this age group has declined.Among those with a retirement account, the median balance is $45,000 for those in their late 30s and early 40s.This time of life often brings higher pay but rising costs, making this period a challenging but crucial window to build meaningful savings. How Many People Ages 35-44 Have Any Retirement Savings? It’s no surprise that age impacts a household’s income, wealth, and ability to save for retirement. Families tend to see earnings and assets increase through midlife,…

Stocks are ending a positive year on a negative note. A day after major equities indexes closed down for a third straight session, stock futures are pointing lower Wednesday ahead of the final trading day of 2025. Stock markets will operate a normal schedule and close at 4 p.m. ET today, but bond markets will close at 2 p.m. ET for New Year’s Eve. Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down a respective 0.3%, 0.2%, and 0.1%. Yesterday, the indexes finished slightly down for a third consecutive session following a five-session winning streak through Christmas…

This year proved volatile for the stock market. The S&P 500 index swooned in March and April but gained 17.9% through Dec. 24. Of course, no one knows what 2026 will bring, but there have been some signs of economic weakness, particularly in the labor market. Buying the stocks of reliable dividend-paying companies is one way to mitigate the volatility of stock prices. After all, these companies have strong histories of making payouts during various economic climates, which provides a stable source of return. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Target (NYSE: TGT) top my list of dividend stocks to buy right…

Gold and Bitcoin are very often placed side by side as potential rivals in the competition for investor capital. At the same time, it is important to underline several key differences between these asset classes, most notably volatility and the persistent perception that BTC remains a high-risk asset. Looking solely at full-year returns, the clear winner of this comparison is gold, which gained just over 65%, while Bitcoin, by contrast, is still struggling to move even modestly above its current 5% drawdown. The broad correction in BTC and the more local yet dynamic pullback in gold create interesting conditions for…

Selling a business in New Hampshire can be a major win, but the best exits usually come from getting “buyer-ready” before you ever talk to a buyer. Clean financials, documented processes, low owner-dependency, and a simple story that makes your cash flow feel dependable. This guide walks you through the process step by step, then shares trusted New Hampshire resources and quick market notes for the state’s biggest cities. Selling a $1M+ revenue business in New Hampshire? Start with a free valuation. If your company is doing $1M+ in annual revenue, Earned Exits focuses on selling businesses in the $1M–$40M…

This article was originally published on Inman.com.  As we approach 2026, Redfin reflects on a watershed year in the history of American real estate. Here’s our list of the ten most important 2025 trends. 1. The Market Shifted Towards Buyers Since recovering from the Great Recession of 2008, the U.S. housing market has favored sellers. But 2025 has been the year buyers finally stepped back from rising home prices. Comparing sales of the homes listed in the first quarter of 2024 to sales of those listed in the first quarter of 2025, the median number of days that a listing…

True Ventures co-founder Jon Callaghan doesn’t think we’ll be using smartphones the way we do now in five years — and maybe not at all in 10. For a venture capitalist whose firm has had some big winners over its two decades – from consumer brands like Fitbit, Ring, and Peloton, to enterprise software makers HashiCorp and Duo Security – that’s more than armchair theorizing; it’s a thesis on which True Ventures is actively betting. True hasn’t gotten this far by following the crowd. The Bay Area firm has largely operated under the radar despite managing roughly $6 billion across…

(Oil Price)– Surging liquefied natural gas exports from new North American export plants likely pushed global LNG shipments in 2025 by the most since 2022, Kpler data showed on Tuesday. This year, global LNG supply swelled by 4% from 2024 to reach 429 million tons, per the vessel-tracking data from Kpler quoted by Bloomberg. The annual rise in 2025 would be the steepest increase in global LNG exports since 2022, when shipments grew by 4.5% compared to 2021, the data showed. North America was the key supplier of new LNG volumes, as Canada’s first-ever export facility, LNG Canada, started shipments in the…

  How do investors view yesterday’s wild metals market action? That depends on whether they live in the West or the East. In the West, it’s all about getting more fiat and trying to make it great. In the East, the big focus is on getting more . The situation is the same for silver as it is for gold. Can fiat rally against these metals now? It can and savvy currency bugs will use the rally to get more metal. What about rates? The US rates and real estate chart. Most gold analysts believe that if inflation surges now,…

Mortgage rates are lower, home prices are easing and there is more supply on the market for sale. All of that adds up to improved affordability for today’s homebuyers. Saving for a down payment, however, is still the biggest hurdle for first-time buyers. Prices nationally are basically flat compared with where they were a year ago, according to Parcl Labs, which runs daily studies of U.S. home prices. They dipped into negative territory earlier this month and are now just 0.3% higher year over year. The latest S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price index, which reflects pricing from October, showed large…