Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Buying a home with a small down payment has long been a goal for first-time buyers, and the federal agencies that set mortgage limits just made it easier for 2026. With the Federal Housing Finance Agency raising the baseline conforming loan limit to $832,750 and HUD updating FHA loan ceilings effective January 1, 2026, borrowers…
Buying a home with cash sounds like the ultimate power move. No monthly payments, no interest charges, no lender breathing down your neck. Yet a surprising number of high-net-worth households choose to carry mortgage debt even when they could write a check for the full purchase price. The reason is not financial carelessness. It is…
California’s homeowners insurance market is fracturing under the weight of wildfire exposure, regulatory friction, and carrier withdrawals that have left growing numbers of residents without reliable coverage options. The state’s insurance regulator has moved to approve a new catastrophe modeling framework meant to stabilize the market, but the reform carries a built-in tension: it asks…
Rising auto insurance costs have become a significant burden for American drivers, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that the motor vehicle insurance component of the Consumer Price Index surged between December 2024 and December 2025. Consumer Reports has released a new analysis identifying the ten cheapest new cars to insure, incorporating factors like…
Drivers are shuffling billions of premium dollars as they abandon frustrating auto insurers and flock to competitors that feel fairer and easier to work with. I look at five carriers widely reported as losing customers and pair each with a company that those drivers are likely switching to, based on satisfaction data, switching surveys, and…
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending February 7, 2026, is hovering near 6.8 percent, keeping home loans firmly in expensive territory. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics January jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls rising by 353,000 and the unemployment rate holding…
Mortgage borrowers have been handed an unexpected boost as Nationwide cuts the cost of new fixed deals, dragging headline rates back towards the mid‑3% range and reviving talk of a fresh mortgage price war. The move sharpens competition just as expectations grow that borrowing costs will fall further over the next couple of years, raising…
New federal data shows more homeowners are falling behind on their mortgages in places where incomes are lowest, raising fresh concerns about housing stability. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mortgage performance portal, which tracks loans that are 30 to 89 days past due, now points to rising early trouble in many lower-income communities. The worry…
Donald Trump is promising to tackle high mortgage costs head‑on, with ideas ranging from a $200 billion push to cut borrowing costs to a new 50‑year home loan. The pitch sounds simple: force rates down fast and give stretched buyers immediate relief. Yet the housing and bond markets are complex, and that is where this…
More than 1 million homeowners now owe more on their mortgage than their property is worth, the highest level of negative equity in seven years. That kind of imbalance can feel like a financial trap, but experts say the right response depends less on the headline number and more on your income, your time horizon…