Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Renovation budgets are getting hammered by scams that hide inside contracts, invoices, and even the materials nailed into your walls, and the losses now run into hundreds of millions of dollars a year. I see a clear pattern in the data: the same tricks repeat across fake contractors, padded change orders, and inflated insurance claims,…
Home prices have finally stopped sprinting ahead, and mortgage rates have eased from their peak, but the cash buyers need upfront is still blocking the door. In much of the country, homes are marginally more attainable on paper, yet the savings hurdle for a down payment keeps stretching the timeline for would‑be owners. I see…
Strategists are heading into 2026 with a cautiously confident view that the S&P 500 can extend its winning streak, even after a powerful run driven by artificial intelligence and mega-cap technology stocks. Their case rests on a mix of solid earnings expectations, still-supportive monetary policy and the idea that the bull market is broadening beyond…
Warren Buffett is stepping away from the trading desk just as the S&P 500 hovers near record territory and optimism about 2026 is building. His recent moves and comments, from shedding index funds to hoarding cash, look less like a quiet retirement and more like a final set of instructions about how to survive the…
Commercial real estate is heading into 2026 with a split personality: parts of the market are quietly stabilizing while others are still under acute stress. The sectors that adapt to new patterns of work, spending, and demographics look set to thrive, while legacy assets that resist change are likely to be repriced, restructured, or written…
General Motors has turned into one of the market’s most surprising momentum stories, with its stock sprinting ahead of Tesla and Ford Motor even as headlines still fixate on electric-vehicle darlings and legacy laggards. The rally is not just a short-term pop, it reflects a deeper reset in how investors are valuing Detroit’s most diversified…
Owning a home has long been sold as the surest path to middle class wealth, but economist Peter Schiff is trying to puncture that story. He argues that for many households, a primary residence behaves less like an investment and more like a slow, relentless drain on cash. I want to unpack why he calls…
The eye-popping $101.5 million figure attached to a secretive Miami waterfront estate has ricocheted through luxury property circles, even as the exact details of the closing remain murky. What is clear is that a sprawling compound in Coconut Grove, long shielded from public view, has become a touchstone for how far high-end buyers are willing…
Across the country, the classic empty nest script is breaking down. Instead of cashing out of large “forever homes” and downsizing, many baby boomers are staying put, even as those properties become harder to sell at the prices they expect. The result is a growing sense of regret among owners who feel trapped in houses…
The S&P 500’s biggest winners this year did more than ride a rising market, they defined the story investors will remember about 2025. A handful of companies turned structural shifts in artificial intelligence, data infrastructure, and digital finance into explosive share price gains, leaving even seasoned traders scrambling to keep up. I want to unpack…