Financial Mindset

The state of New York is forming an exploratory committee to consider whether Lake Placid and New York City should bid to co-host a future  Winter Olympics. The announcement Monday from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office suggested a dual-hosting format, the likes of which Milan and Cortina pulled off at this year’s Olympics . It does not mention a year, though with the 2034 Games going to Salt Lake City and with Switzerland tabbed as the preferred bidder for 2038, the first likely available spot for New York to host would be 2042. “The time is now to return the Olympic flame back to New York,” Hochul said. Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980 — the year of the  “Miracle on Ice”  when the underdog U.S beat the Soviet Union in men’s hockey on home ice. It also spent time in the mix as an emergency backup for this year’s sliding sports when the venue in Cortina was riddled with construction delays. The exploratory commi...

The newest installment of the movie that made Pixar a powerhouse and Steve Jobs a billionaire just secured the biggest opening weekend in the history of the Toy Story franchise. Just over 30 years after the original movie was released, Toy Story 5 amassed a staggering $312 million for its opening weekend, topping Toy Story 4 ’s $238 million debut in 2019. The newest film, which follows Woody and Buzz Lightyear as they battle a shiny new tablet for the attention of their owner, Bonnie, has already trumped its eye-popping budget of $250 million.   Another $100 million worth of marketing costs means the film is not yet profitable. But if its opening weekend is any indication, Toy Story 5 is set to break records.  Since the first film was released in 1995, the franchise has driven $16 billion in revenue to Disney , which bought Pixar in 2006, thanks in part to retail sales for consumer products, games, and publishing, which add to the franchise’s massiv...

Having a sick pet is emotionally a lot to handle. But now with the skyrocketing costs of emergency vet care, it can mean Americans are looking at their bank accounts first before making important decisions about their pet’s care. It’s because many households haven’t or don’t have the capacity to financially plan for that moment. New 2026 data from Rover’s Cost of Dog Parenthood Report shared with Fortune found 38% of pet parents couldn’t cover an emergency vet visit without taking on debt—even though nearly nine in 10 said they’d felt financially prepared before bringing a pet home.  Meanwhile, only 10% of pet parents have set aside any savings specifically for emergencies.  “Younger owners think of their pets like family, but often have to delay vet care or defer their own personal financial responsibilities to service the costs of taking care of their pets,” Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, a veterinary medical advisor for Rover, told Fortune.  A t...

U.S. stock futures fell and oil prices rose after peace talks between the U.S. and Iran got off to a rocky start on Sunday, with President Donald Trump wasting no time with threats to renew war. Futures tied to the Dow Jones industrial average fell 191 points, or 0.37%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.52%, and Nasdaq futures lost 0.74%. U.S. oil futures rose 2.1% to $78.19 a barrel, while Brent crude climbed 1.2% to $81.53. Gold dropped 1.5% to $4,180.40 per ounce. Earlier in Switzerland, Vice President JD Vance said both sides had already made “great progress” in talks, saying the U.S. side represented an “outstretched hand” toward the people of Iran. But after Iran said Saturday that it’s closing the Strait of Hormuz again as Israel continues attacking Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, Trump told Fox News on Sunday he spoke with Iranian officials and warned them, “You close it and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to yo...

The male labor force participation rate in the U.S. has been falling for generations, perplexing economists who have struggled to come up with an explanation. According to the Labor Department’s latest data , the rate for men 20 years and older was 69.5% in May, down from 76% in May 2006. That means fewer men were employed or unemployed but actively looking for a job. The male participation rate peaked at 86.4% in 1950, but slid to 79.7% in 1970, and 76.4% in 1990. By contrast, female participation rose steadily until the 1990s, peaked in 2000, and has dipped only slightly since then. Numerous theories have been thrown around to try shedding light on the more recent declines among males. After the housing bubble popped and triggered the Great Recession, for example, the sudden loss of construction jobs was partly blamed for men dropping out of the work force. The introduction of more advanced video games since the early 2000s has even been cited as a cause for ...

President Donald Trump may have signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the war late Wednesday, but it doesn’t resolve a much darker issue: Iran’s nuclear weapons.   While Iran affirms that it won’t develop nuclear weapons in the agreement , curbing the actual process of making those weapons—stockpiling and enriching uranium—is left to be finalized later. Crucially, the MOU states that in the meantime, Iran will “maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program.” “What the negotiators are trying to capture is that Iran takes no further advances with its nuclear program, but they should have considered that the status quo is pretty poor,” Andrea Stricker , a national security expert specializing in nuclear weapons, told Fortune . “If I were negotiating, I would have insisted that restoration of monitoring and access would have to be something that Iran had to do in the MOU because it’s so important.” Iran hasn’t allowed the UN watchdog responsible for mo...

U.S. and Iranian negotiators headed to a Swiss venue Saturday for talks on adding key details to their  interim agreement to halt  the war , hours after Tehran said it closed the  Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in  Lebanon  and warned that little might be achieved if the fighting doesn’t stop. U.S. President Donald Trump , in response, unleashed a new threat to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” The agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days. The announcements indicated a rough start to the technical-level talks that key mediator Pakistan said will begin Sunday, with Qatari mediators also participating. U.S. Vice President  JD Vance  left for Switzerland on Saturday evening, just as Iranian state TV posted video showing Iran’s negotiators arriving there. They are led ...