Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Most people think playing it safe and staying at a job you hate is the financially savvy option.However, staying put can also have negative financial consequences.There are a number of red flags to look for when deciding if you should leave your job.Instead of quitting to chase your dreams, consider building a side hustle while keeping your day job.If your side hustle is successful, it will eventually reach the point where it can become your main job. If you hate your job, you’re not alone. Only about a third of American workers feel engaged at work, according to…

Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund, an investment management company, released its Q3 2025 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund primarily focuses on investing in equity securities, targeting U.S. companies that have a market capitalization of at least $1 billion at the time of investment. US equities delivered solid results in the third quarter, driven by continued momentum in AI and strong corporate earnings. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut also supported the market at the end of the quarter. The fund returned 5.11% in the quarter compared to 10.51% for the Russell…

Oil benchmarks finish the last full week of 2025 locked into a narrow band. trades around $58.4–$58.5 per barrel after intraday lows near $57.60, a daily drop of about $0.75 or –1.29% at one point. hovers in the $62.2–$62.4 area after touching $61.49, a similar –$0.75 or roughly –1.2% daily move. Regional blends confirm the same price gravity: Louisiana Light around $60.88, Mars US near $70.06, the OPEC basket close to $61.22, and Bonny Light elevated at $78.62. Products and gas lean higher, with gasoline futures near $1.721 per gallon and U.S. natural gas around $4.344 per MMBtu, up more…

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that the U.S. should focus on bringing in immigrants that help grow the economy as the White House rolls out its long-awaited “gold card” visa.”We’re the only great country that lets other people just come in without vetting them and deciding whether they’re really going to help the economy of America,” Lutnick said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.””Let’s bring in the top of the best,” he said. “Let’s help them grow America and build America. Why should we take people who are below average? It just doesn’t make any sense.”Lutnick said the “average green-card…

Maria Diaz/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysCheck your incoming Internet before fooling with your network.There are simple steps you can take to speed up your Wi-Fi network.To get the most from your network, you’ll need to fine-tune its settings.Even with a Netgear Orbi 970 mesh Wi-Fi network, backed by a 2Gbps AT&T fiber-optic Internet connection, I sometimes have Wi-Fi slowdowns. That’s because my home has two buildings. One’s primarily an office, while the other is where I lay my head. The former is a new 1,000-square-foot building, while the latter is a 3,000-square-foot historic…

Active listings fell 1.4% month over month in November as sellers backed off due to sluggish homebuyer demand. Pending home sales fell the most in nearly a year, and the typical home that did sell sat on the market for 53 days—the slowest November pace in nearly a decade. A silver lining for buyers: Many sellers are cutting prices to attract offers—the typical home that sold last month went for 1.6% below its final list price. Active listings of homes for sale fell 1.4% month over month in November—the biggest drop since June 2023 on a seasonally adjusted basis.  New…

French startup Ÿnsect shot into the spotlight when “Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. touted its merits on the “Late Show” during Super Bowl weekend 2021. Now, nearly four years later, the insect farming company has been placed into judicial liquidation — essentially bankruptcy — for insolvency.  The company’s demise is hardly a surprise, as Ÿnsect had been embattled for months. Still, there is plenty to unpack about how a startup can go bankrupt despite raising over $600 million, including from Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, taxpayers, and many others. Ultimately, Ÿnsect failed to fulfill its ambition to “revolutionize the food…

(BOE Report)– Oil prices posted modest rises on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, supported by robust U.S. economic growth and the risk of supply disruptions from Venezuela and Russia. Brent crude futures climbed 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $62.42 a barrel by 0117 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude added 3 cents, or 0.05%, to $58.41. Oil had risen by more than 2% on Monday, with Brent registering its biggest daily gain in two months and WTI climbing the most since November 14. Prices notched further gains of more than 0.5% on Tuesday. The U.S. economy grew…

Key Takeaways Morningstar found that over the past decade, investors could have earned an 8.2% annual return compared with 7.2% if they had left their investments alone. The analysis suggests that often the best move is no move—unless you automate trading decisions entirely, removing emotion and timing risk from the equation. Warren Buffett has long endorsed such a hands-off approach for everyday investors—favoring simple index funds that have historically yielded better returns on average. Want to earn a greater return on your investments? It might literally pay to do nothing. When investing, you may be accustomed to making regular contributions,…

Key Takeaways Taking advantage of post-holiday sales can save you a lot of money.To make the most of the sales, you need to plan ahead, such as by putting together a list of target items.Winter clothing, toys, holiday decorations for next year, and consumer electronics all tend to see a marked drop in price as retailers clear their holiday stock. Waiting out the frenzy of Christmas sales could actually save you a lot of money. We talked to a trio of savvy shoppers to learn which items you should wait until after Christmas to buy to save some cash. The…