Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Southwest no longer offers two free checked bags to all travel tiers.Some travelers, like A-List Preferred or Business Select members, still qualify for waived fees.New fees apply to lower fare classes like Basic, Wanna Get Away Plus, and Anytime, while higher-tier fares still include two checked bags. Southwest Airlines built its brand on letting your bags fly free. But recent changes have started to chip away at that promise. While the airline still offers some ways to avoid checked bag fees, they’re not as universal as they used to be. Here’s what travelers should know before they fly.…

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing series in which we ask influential personal finance figures to share their opinion on the biggest retirement mistake you can make. Other articles feature Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey and Grant Cardone.Saving for retirement is only half the battle; spending what you saved wins the war. But for a surprising number of retirees, letting go of that hard-earned cash is easier said than done.This pervasive reluctance, according to MasterClass instructor, author and behavioral finance expert Ramit Sethi, is the single greatest mistake people make in retirement. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger…

Stock futures pointed higher Monday to begin a holiday-shortened week, with investors increasingly confident the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its December meeting. Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were up a respectively 0.7%, 0.5%, and 0.2%. Stock and bond markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will be closing early on Friday. The CME FedWatch tool now is predicting a roughly 75% likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its meeting next month after New York Fed President John Williams signaled Friday that he could support an…

Global asset manager Schroders has teamed up with Thai company Krungthai Asset Management to launch catastrophe bond fund strategies specifically for the Thai ultra-high net worth investor marketplace.The new KTAM Catastrophe Bond Funds will act as feeder funds into an established cat bond fund managed by the Schroders Capital insurance-linked securities (ILS) team. The two new cat bond feeder strategies are called the KTAM Catastrophe Bond Fund Not for Retail Investors and the KTAM Catastrophe Bond Fund Unhedged Not for Retail Investors. They are designed to help open-up access to the diversifying and relatively uncorrelated catastrophe bond asset class to…

Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, arrives to speak during a site expansion groundbreaking ceremony at the Boeing South Carolina (BSC) manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, US, on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. Sean Rayford | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday the U.S. was not at risk of entering a recession in 2026 and claimed Americans would soon benefit from the Trump administration’s economic policies on trade and taxes. “I am very, very optimistic on 2026,” Bessent said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “We have set the table for a very…

ZDNET’s key takeaways Thinner than similar tracker tags by some 30% 18-month battery life, rechargeable using a Qi charging pad Tough, durable, and dust- and water-resistant. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.My Camino Frances hike — well, the last 70 or so miles — starts in a few days for me and my walking buddy, and one of the things that I don’t want to happen along the way is that we lose anything important. Keys, backpacks, wallets, passports, and even coats are finder tagged. I’m an iPhone user, and so I’ve stuck AirTags onto pretty much everything…

Nationally, the average home equity line of credit interest rate remains under 8%, according to the analytics company Curinos. With the holidays looming, a HELOC can be an excellent source of cash when you need it most. According to Curinos data, the average weekly HELOC rate is 7.64%, its lowest point so far in 2025. This rate is based on applicants with a minimum credit score of 780 and a maximum combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) of 70%. Homeowners have a huge amount of value tied up in their houses — nearly $36 trillion at the end of the quarter of…

Would-be homebuyers are sitting on the sidelines, wary of economic uncertainty and still-high housing costs. A dwindling pool of supply is propping up prices.  The median U.S. home-sale price rose 2.3% during the four weeks ending November 16, the biggest increase in seven months. Sale prices are rising despite slow homebuying demand because total inventory is dwindling. Still, it’s important to note that home prices are growing slower than wages and inflation, meaning homebuying is becoming slightly more affordable.  Pending home sales fell 0.8% year over year, a modest decline but the biggest in four months. Many would-be buyers are…

Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki joined The New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast to discuss the gaming platform’s new age verification feature — but he seemed to get frustrated at the number of questions focused on child safety. The interview began with Baszucki describing the feature, which will require all users who want to submit a face scan if they want to access Roblox’s messaging features. But by the time he was asked about a report claiming the company had prioritized growth over safety, Baszucki seemed to tire of the topic, responding, “Fun. Let’s keep going down this.” And when co-host…

(Oil Price)– The United Arab Emirates is ready to invest as much as $50 billion in Canada’s industries, notably energy and artificial intelligence, following a visit by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Abu Dhabi. Reuters reported the news, citing a statement by the Emirati authorities that did not feature any details on the investment agreement. Earlier reports, however, mentioned an investment pact signed by Carney and his hosts in Abu Dhabi. The pact was “a prelude to a trade agreement in any scenario that Canada has been in,” the former premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, who accompanies Carney on his UAE…