Author: Money Mechanics

Each week in our Ask the Editor series, Joy Taylor, The Kiplinger Tax Letter editor, answers questions on topics submitted by readers. This week, she’s looking at four tax questions from readers pertaining to whether an activity is a hobby or a Schedule C business engaged in for profit. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter or subscribe.)1. Hobby income and expensesQuestion: I like to knit hats. Lately, I have started selling some of the hats that I knit at craft shows. I have a full-time job, and my hat knitting is just a fun extracurricular activity that…

Signing up for Medicare isn’t as clear-cut a process as some might think. That’s because enrollees have a big decision to make — stick with original Medicare (Parts A and B) and pair it with a Part D drug plan, or sign up for an all-in-one Medicare Advantage plan.As of February 2026, more than 35 million people were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. And enrollment in Medicare Advantage has increased steadily in recent years, with 19% of eligible Medicare beneficiaries signing up in 2007 versus 54% in 2025, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).It’s easy to see why so…

Financial conversations can be difficult and uncomfortable, leading many Americans to neglect them altogether.Whether it’s debt, retirement, investing or estate planning, more than 80% of people intentionally avoid discussing financial topics with family and friends, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.While skipping these conversations may seem harmless, the silence isn’t neutral. Delaying these discussions often means delaying important financial decisions, too. As time passes, those missed opportunities can compound, sometimes creating more financial stress than if they had been addressed from the beginning. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed…

In-brief analysis August 7, 2026 Utility-scale battery storage capacity in the United States increased significantly during the last three years, with an annual average growth rate of 70%. By the end of 2025, the U.S. power system had operational battery storage capacity of 43.6 gigawatts (GW). During the first six months of 2026, operators added another 8.3 GW of battery storage capacity, reaching nearly 52 GW of nameplate battery storage capacity, based on our latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Operators anticipate bringing an additional 54 GW of battery storage capacity online over…

A new report from analysts at J.P. Morgan has suggested that while the catastrophe bond market has witnessed exceptional growth in 2026, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and alternative capital are looking more disciplined, exhibiting few of the undisciplined behaviours witnessed in the last soft market.Coming off a remarkable 2025, the catastrophe bond market has managed to break new records in 2026. As highlighted in Artemis’ Q2 2026 Cat Bond & ILS market report, the second quarter of 2026 marked the largest ever quarter recorded for cat bond issuance, as it became the first-time quarterly issuance surpassed $11 billion, beating the previous…

Austin Newsom says his life was once quiet and simple.He lives with his wife in a three-bedroom home just off U.S Route 33 in Louisa, VA, and owns a boat repair shop that operates on the same land. He recently built another house nearby, and planned to move into that one and sell the home he’d spent upward of $80,000 to renovate.Then, Amazon started construction on a data center across the road from his home. “Before this, you were able to sleep past 6 a.m. without crazy noises and just all kinds of sh– going on,” he tells Realtor.com®. “Now it’s…

(World Oil) — U.S. upstream mergers and acquisitions slowed sharply in the second quarter as crude price volatility complicated deal valuations, but competition for premium Permian basin inventory remained strong and activity is expected to accelerate later this year, according to Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR). Total upstream M&A reached $9.1 billion during the quarter, down 76% from the first quarter and 33% from a year earlier, making it the third-lowest quarterly total since 2020. More than 40% of the quarter’s value came from the Bureau of Land Management‘s record-setting New Mexico lease sale, which generated more than $4 billion. Enverus said volatility tied to the…

U.S. equities were mixed in July as leadership narrowed after June’s small-cap rotation. The S&P 500® Index was fractionally lower on the month, near 7,490, while the Russell 2000® Index (RUT) fell 3.1% to 2,931, giving back much of June’s 4.3% gain but remaining up just over 18% year-to-date. The Cboe S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (SPEQX) rose 0.9% and the Cboe Magnificent 10℠ Index (MGTN) added 0.6%.Volatility was relatively stable with the Cboe Volatility Index® (the VIX® Index) sliding from 16.45 to 15.99, while the Cboe S&P 500 Three-Month Volatility Index (VIX3M) stayed near 19. Implied correlation moved higher…

Minority-owned businesses are one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy.The U.S. Census Bureau puts the number at an estimated 1.3 million.And according to the 2024 Minority Businesses Economic Impact Report, they generate nearly $600 billion in annual economic output while posting year-over-year gains in production, employment and wages. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal…

A top Senate Democrat has expressed concerns that brokerage giant Compass Inc.’s private listings network could create a “two-tiered housing market” that “increases risks of civil rights violations” in a letter to the company’s CEO, Realtor.com® can exclusively reveal.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, on Thursday sent a letter to Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and Rebecca Jensen, CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data, requesting information about their recent partnership to create a national database of private listings.”Your partnership threatens to create a two-tiered housing market where insiders pay for exclusive…