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 five questions on the 20% tax deduction for qualified business income or QBI. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter or subscribe.)1. Did the OBBB extend the QBI deduction?Question: I know the qualified business income (QBI) deduction was going to expire at the end of 2025. Did the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) extend this federal income tax break?Joy Taylor: Yes. The OBBB not only extended this popular tax break that…

Median rent by apartment size  Bedrooms  Median Rent 0-1  $1,650 2 $1,920 3+ $2,199 Source: Redfin, data as of August 2025. Regional Variation  In general, rents remain highest in larger cities and lower in smaller metropolitan areas and rural counties. In August 2025, New York City posted a median monthly asking rent of $3,397. When you expand the search to the larger metro area, metro New York also commands one of the highest median asking rents. More affordable metros include Louisville ($1,297 median) and St. Louis ($1,413 median). Smaller Midwestern/Southern markets show a high share of $1,000-and-under listings. For example,…

The White House recently announced a landmark deal with pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Nordisk that will impact Medicare beneficiaries and others in the coming months. The agreement cuts prices for GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, while expanding Medicare coverage for these weight-loss medications. The news is a turnaround from a Trump administration announcement earlier this year blocking Medicare from covering obesity drugs.With the new deal, Medicare will no longer only cover these drugs for diabetes or heart issues, but for obesity itself, potentially saving beneficiaries hundreds of dollars each month.Why it matters: In the U.S., over…

By Timour Azhari and Christoph Steitz RIYADH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -U.S. firm GE Vernova and Germany’s Siemens Energy are in talks to supply gas turbines to a $7 billion project aiming to rebuild ​Syria’s war-damaged power sector, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Syria signed a deal with a ‌subsidiary of Qatar’s Power International Holding in May to build four combined-cycle gas turbine power plants with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. The ‌agreement also includes a 1,000-MW solar component. Siemens Energy and GE Vernova could both be awarded contracts for the project, one of the people said, adding, however,…

Bitcoin has slipped below the key level of 100,000 as selling pressure has increased over the past few days. It has also broken below the 0.50 Fibonacci correction level at 99,600, which traders have watched for months. This zone acted as an important balance area and a decision point for the uptrend that ran from April to October. The drop toward 97,500 after the break shows that sellers still guide the market. Rising volume on the daily chart supports this view and signals that the move has a more institutional character rather than random selling. Short-term moving averages show a…

Beazley has returned to the catastrophe bond market seeking $100 million of natural catastrophe reinsurance, once again using the Lloyd’s owned ILS structure to issue this London Bridge 2 PCC Limited (Fuchsia 3 – 2025-1) deal.The London headquartered specialty insurance and reinsurance underwriter is also in the market with its latest cyber catastrophe bond at the same time, the fourth under PoleStar Re, as we reported earlier this week. This will be Beazley’s seventh 144A catastrophe bond issuance, as the company continues to demonstrate its appetite to leverage the capital markets to source efficient reinsurance for its peak exposures, both…

President Donald Trump is blaming the meat packers and U.S. cattlemen for rising beef prices, but the tariffs on beef from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, feed, farm equipment and machinery are all adding to the price surge.The United States is a big buyer of Australian, Brazilian, and New Zealand beef exports.Brazil is the second-largest beef-producing country and the largest beef-exporting country in the world.Brazilian beef exports tracked by Panjiva plummeted in July and August after multiple tariffs resulted in a layered 76.4% total rate being implemented for Brazilian beef. Trump imposed a 50% tariff rate for many Brazilian goods…

In the United States, about 43 million people have student loan debt, totaling over $1.8 trillion. For borrowers, it can be difficult to meet other financial goals while also making student loan payments. However, it’s possible to do both. Follow these five tips to manage your student loans while still saving for retirement. 1. Pick the Right Repayment Plan If you have federal student loans and don’t choose a repayment plan, you’ll be automatically enrolled in the Standard Repayment Plan. Your monthly payment will be determined by the amount you owe and your interest rate, and your loans will be…

(World Oil) – Increased oil supply from OPEC and its allies will continue to put pressure on crude prices next year, while liquefied natural gas prices will likely fall later in the decade, according to Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth. “Oil prices in 2026 are likely to feel more pressure than LNG prices,” Wirth said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “There’s a lot of oil supply that’s coming back from the OPEC+ countries that have been holding supply back.” Back in August, Chevron correctly called the drop in oil prices in the second half of this year, and…

Key Takeaways The U.S. Treasury Department is no longer producing the penny, and it will start disappearing from circulation early next year.The one-cent coin, first minted in the late 1700s, has become virtually worthless because of inflation. An Investopedia reporter took a ride around his hometown in New Jersey in May to see what he could buy for one penny. The U.S. government is no longer minting pennies, and soon, cash retail transactions will be rounded to the nearest nickel. What, exactly, does a single penny buy you these days? We took a drive around town to find out. On Wednesday,…