Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Gift cards are prepaid stored value cards used for specific stores or online purchases. Some cards charge fees or have expiration dates that reduce their value. Closed-loop cards work with one retailer; open-loop cards can be used more widely. Tracking balances and buying from trusted sources helps avoid scams or lost value. Gift cards and prepaid cards differ in how they are used and reloaded. Gift cards have become one of the most popular and convenient ways to give money, whether for specific stores or online purchases. They offer flexibility for both the buyer and the recipient but…

Key Takeaways You’ll receive 132% of your monthly benefit amount if you wait until age 70 to begin collecting.If you start taking benefits at age 70 versus age 67, your monthly income will be larger, but your total payout through age 81 will be less.You may be able to withdraw your claim for benefits within the first 12 months after you begin collecting if you change your mind and decide to wait. Women generally have a longer life expectancy than men. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s 5.3 years longer: 81.1 years compared to 75.8…

Key Takeaways Gen Z’s biggest money stresses have real fixes.The first goal is to have “fall back money”—$10,000 to $20,000, so one bad month doesn’t send you into debt.You don’t have to choose between paying off debt or investing: A “middle-ground” strategy—do both every month—keeps interest from piling up while still letting you capture market gains.Small habits move the needle fast: Seventy percent of Gen Zers tell surveyors they lose sleep over money. This anxiety has a concrete cause. In 2025, the average credit score for young adults dropped to 676, the steepest decline of any generation.​ We asked Ken…

QBE Insurance Group, the Australia headquartered global insurance and reinsurance company, is back in the catastrophe bond market, seeking $300 million or more of international peak peril reinsurance from a Bridge Street Re Ltd. (Series 2025-2) issuance, Artemis has learned.QBE was last seen in the catastrophe bond market in early 2025, when it secured $250 million of multi-peril protection from the Bridge Street Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) deal. This marked QBE’s first catastrophe bond since late 2013, when it secured $250 million of US and Australian multi-peril protection from the VenTerra Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1) deal. With this new cat bond, QBE is once…

When people ask me about hedging inflation, they aren’t always asking what they think they’re asking. There are two approaches to addressing inflation in your portfolio so that the portfolio grows in real terms. One of the approaches is to try to simply outrun inflation: “If inflation averages 3%, and I have an investment that averages 5%, I’ve succeeded.” This mode of thinking derives, I think, from the fact that all of our education has been in nominal space and in most financial modeling problems inflation is just assumed rather than modeled as a random variable. It turns out to…

BEIJING, CHINA – DECEMBER 3: French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk during a state visit at the Great Hall of the People on December 3, 2025 in Beijing, China. Adek Berry-Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images China said it was open to importing more goods from France in exchange for a “fair, conducive environment” for Chinese businesses in the European nation, President Xi Jinping told his counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday as they met in Beijing. The French president kicked off a 3-day visit to China on Wednesday — his first trip to…

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Which should you buy: a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro? It’s a surprisingly tough question since you can’t go wrong either way. Apple refreshes its lineup annually, equipping its devices with improved hardware and new software features. When purchasing a new Apple laptop, several key factors should be taken into consideration. So, where do you start?You’ll need to first consider a MacBook’s computing power, storage capacity, display, and size. In terms of hardware, the MacBook Pro is the “better” computer. It’s more powerful, features a larger screen, and offers more storage, among other improvements. Also:…

Stock futures were little changed Thursday, a day after the three major equities indexes all rose for the seventh time in eight sessions as weak private-sector employment data furthered traders’ belief that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its meeting next week.  Futures associated with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, benchmark S&P 500, and tech-heavy Nasdaq all were trading within roughly 0.1% of the flat line. The indexes finished up a respective 0.9%, 0.3%, and 0.2% Wednesday, with the Dow adding more than 400 points. Yesterday, the ADP employment reading for November indicated that private payrolls fell by 32,000 last month when an…

Key Takeaways Warren Buffett will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year, after about 60 years at the helm. Buffett doesn’t plan to slow down too much. He said he will continue to go to the office, help with investment decisions, and manage his philanthropic projects. The legendary investor is a real-life example of what numerous studies have shown to be true: Remaining active and engaged in retirement is key to maintaining a healthy brain and body. Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett, among the world’s greatest investors, plans to step down as CEO of…

In celebration of our partners and the impactful work they do to expand economic opportunity, we interviewed several of our Nasdaq Foundation quarterly grant recipients to learn more about their roles, backgrounds, and the importance of their work. We spoke with Matt Dunne, founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), about their work to ensure rural America can lead in the innovation economy by creating tech-enabled ecosystems, connecting founders to capital through the CORI Innovation Fund, and equipping entrepreneurs with AI-powered tools to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.  Tell us about the Center on Rural…