Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The S&P 500 is ending 2025 within striking distance of the 7,000 mark, capping a year in which resilient earnings and easing inflation kept pushing U.S. equities to fresh highs. Investors are now debating whether that momentum can carry into the final trading days of the year and set the tone for 2026. I see…
Housing watchers hoping for a dramatic break in 2026 are likely to be disappointed. Forecasts point to a market that is slowly normalizing from the extremes of the pandemic era, but still strained by high prices, only slightly lower borrowing costs, and a chronic shortage of listings. The result is a year that looks less…
Stretching $1,500 a month in the Southwest is still realistic if you know where to look. Drawing on detailed reporting about hidden retirement towns, I focus here on smaller communities where housing, utilities, and daily expenses line up with modest Social Security checks while still offering scenery, culture, and basic services that retirees actually use….
When a longtime home suddenly jumps $500,000 in value, it can feel like a once-in-a-generation chance to change your child’s financial trajectory. Selling that house to a daughter at a steep discount sounds generous, but it also drops you into a thicket of tax rules, mortgage hurdles, and family expectations that can echo for decades….
Real estate just beyond the périphérique is no longer a consolation prize for buyers priced out of central Paris. A sweeping transport upgrade and shifting lifestyle priorities are redirecting demand into once overlooked suburbs, reshaping everything from pricing to urban identity. The result is a “great revolution” in how the French capital’s wider region is…
President Donald Trump is preparing a sweeping housing push for 2026 that could reshape everything from mortgage terms to construction costs, and the ripple effects are likely to show up quickly in home prices and rents. After several years of strained affordability, his promise of “aggressive” reform has raised hopes for relief while also stoking…
Mortgage rates have zigzagged enough in the past few years to leave even confident homeowners second-guessing whether to refinance now or sit tight. The decision is rarely about a single number on a rate sheet, it is about how a new loan will interact with your budget, your plans for the home, and the hidden…
Nearly 10,000 rooms tied to Marriott’s fast‑growing short‑term rental experiment have gone dark in a matter of days, leaving guests locked out of units, luggage in hallways, and vacations abruptly canceled. The sudden Chapter 7 collapse of a Marriott‑linked operator and the implosion of its partner Sonder have turned a bold bet on “apartment‑style” stays…
Home purchases that once felt like a sure thing are increasingly falling apart before closing, as buyers and sellers collide with a far more fragile economy. Deals are being abandoned at rates that rival the most volatile stretches of the past decade, and the fallout is reshaping expectations on both sides of the closing table….
Home builders are advertising mortgage rates that look almost impossibly low, turning financing into the main sales pitch rather than the house itself. Those offers can help buyers clear today’s affordability hurdles, but the structure behind them often shifts risk and cost into the future, where it is harder to see. I want to unpack…
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