Financial Mindset

A single mother who relied on  federal food assistance  lost her benefits in 2020 after Kentucky investigators concluded she’d committed fraud. The state alleged she had made multiple same-day purchases, tried to overdraw her account a few times, entered a few invalid PINs and sometimes made “whole-dollar” purchases that are unlikely during typical grocery runs. The woman from Salyersville in Appalachian Kentucky had an explanation: She worked at the store. She would sometimes buy lunch there and then get groceries after work. Her child would also occasionally use her card. An administrative hearing officer kicked her off the  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)  regardless, based solely on the allegedly suspicious shopping pattern. She sued — and won. “It is draconian to take away SNAP benefits from a single mother without clear and convincing evidence that intentional trafficking was occurring during a time when food scarcity is so prevalent,” Fra...

Thinking of using AI to write a job description for your company? Experts and recruiters are cautioning against it. What’s wrong with automating this part of the often long, difficult hiring process, especially for highly specialized IT roles? While using AI might be a time-saver, according to many in the recruiting world, it also robs the company of the ability to think deeply about what a job requires, as well as an opportunity to connect in a more human way with candidates. Paul DeBettignies, the founder of Launch Hiring as well as founder and strategist of Minnesota Headhunter LLC, said that he doesn’t have a lot of faith in the use of AI for crafting job descriptions. “If we’re going to automate everything, then hiring, finding a job, and recruiting is going to become even more transactional than it’s already been,” DeBettignies said. “We all already say we don’t like it, so we’re just going to do more of it?” DeBettignies added that recruiting has always relied heavily on tec...

Gen Zers are over being told they just need to work harder if they don’t want to be stuck  living with their parents forever . So they’re gambling their paychecks away in the hopes of becoming a millionaire without having to climb the greasy pole—they’re winning (and losing) thousands, and it’s all on camera. On “day 3” in his attempt of becoming a millionaire, @ chrisoneal4 filmed himself losing $4,000 all in the click of a button in Black Jack.  Like him, many of the mostly 20-something male gamblers start out with $1,000. They then aim to double it to $2,000, then again to $4,000, and so on, until they pass the $1 million mark on day 10.  One user, @ tizmtv_ , filmed himself turning $1,000 to $256,000—and losing it on day 9. “There’s now way,” he screamed in disbelief to camera, while hitting the dashboard of his car. But he’s racked up thousands of social media followers in the process and now, he’s trying from scratch all over again.  Most of these videos ...

Shares in China’s Zijin Gold International surged more than 60% on its debut in Hong Kong on Tuesday after raising more than $3 billion in one of the world’s biggest initial public offerings this year. The blockbuster opening comes as gold prices continue to hit record highs amid surging demand for the safe-haven asset to head off broader market volatility and expected U.S. interest rate cuts. The prospect of a U.S. government shutdown and expectations has added to the upward surge for the precious metal, which hit a peak of $3,867.89 Tuesday. Analysts say it could soon hit $4,000, having piled on almost 50% since the turn of the year. Zijin Gold—a unit of Zijin Mining, China’s biggest miner—rocketed 67% to a peak of 120 Hong Kong dollars, valuing it at around 300 billion Hong Kong dollars ($38.6 billion). The company is one of the world’s fastest-growing gold producers, with interests in eight mines located in regions across Central Asia, South America, Oceania and Africa. It sa...

This summer, extreme weather put America’s electric grid to the test. With temperatures reaching well over 100 degrees across the United States, some regions saw the  highest-ever summer peak  in electric power demand as Americans cranked up their air conditioning. These spikes are testing a grid that was built for a different era.  More than 70% of the nation’s power lines and transformers are over 25 years old with many nearing the end of their functional life. The Department of Energy has  cautioned  that this aging infrastructure could have “major consequences on our communities,” increasing the risk of widespread, cascading blackouts. Modernizing the grid is no longer optional, it’s essential. Fortunately, grid operators have tools to manage grid stress that they didn’t have in the past. To help prevent power outages,  utilities should be deploying artificial intelligence tools to analyze power supply and improve efficiency  without placing addi...

David Marriott, chairman of the board of Marriott International , settled a decades-old pronunciation debate this week during an event with loyalty members at the company’s headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. The third-generation hospitality executive revealed the correct way to say his family’s name—and it’s probably not the way you’ve been pronouncing it. Speaking to a group of 75 loyalty members, in a moment that’s been widely shared on TikTok , Marriott explained that the hotel chain’s name should be pronounced “marry-et,” not “marry-ott.” The pronunciation rhymes with “chariot,” emphasizing the final sound as “et” rather than “ott.” To illustrate his point, Marriott shared a personal story involving his wife, a former English teacher who taught at East High School in Utah—the same school where “High School Musical” was filmed. Marriott said his wife had a student, named Elliot, who kept addressing her as “Mrs. Marriott,” using the incorrect pronunciation. “She finally sat Ellio...

A gunman opened fire inside a  Michigan church  during Sunday services, inflicting casualties after ramming his vehicle into the front door of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township. It was the latest of many shooting attacks on houses of worship in the U.S. over the past 20 years. Here’s a list of some of the most notable attacks. August 27, 2025: Two children were killed and several others were injured in a  shooting  that happened during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis. The shooter, who authorities say died of a self-inflicted gunshot, was a former student at the parish’s school. June 16, 2022: A  gunman opened fire  at a potluck dinner at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, killing three people. He was stopped from doing further damage when another diner struck him with a folding chair and held him until the police arrived. Oct. 27, 2018: Eleven Jews attending services a...

The suspect in the attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Mich., appeared to use a multiple tactics designed to increase chaos and create a “fatal funnel,” according to a security analyst. Donell Harvin, a homeland security and public health emergency expert at Georgetown University, told CNN on Sunday that the attacker may have conducted pre-operational surveillance and come up with a plan that maximizes fatalities and damage. “This looks like a relatively new type of what we call hybrid threat where not only you’re vehicle-ramming to maybe get some chaos but you’re also shooting into a crowd—and may have, it seems, potentially started the fire,” he added. According to local law enforcement, the suspect crashed a pickup truck through the front door of the church, then got out of the vehicle and started shooting with an assault rifle. Minutes later, police arrived on the scene and shot the man, who died and was later identified as Thomas Jacob San...

Striking out on your own can result in much more income than holding a steady job with steady pay, but many entrepreneurs won’t enjoy that premium, according to a recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis . In an analysis of tax and income data from 2000 to 2015, the study found the average entrepreneur made $27,000 annually (in 2012 dollars) at age 25—slightly less than the $29,000 for a paid employee at the same age. But those workers soon switched places, and by age 30 entrepreneurs made $55,000 versus $45,000 for paycheck workers, or 22% more. As they got older, the average income gap between them widened, and by age 55 the self-employed made 70% more: $134,000 versus $79,000 a year. The study also noted that entrepreneurs often have other sources of income when starting out, either from paid employment or a separate business, allowing them to post positive overall earnings even if their new businesses haven’t yet turned a profit. Minneapolis Fed But the dat...

CEOs aren’t shying away from what labor market experts have been saying for months: AI is transforming the workforce. From bankers to consulting firms, business leaders are restructuring rapidly as AI adoption becomes mission critical. CEOs of global companies expect AI investments to more than double in two years, and 61% are actively adopting AI agents at scale, according to a May IBM study . “It’s very clear that AI is going to change literally every job,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said this week during a workforce conference with other business execs, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. And AI has already changed the global retailer, which has developed chat bots to help customers, suppliers, and merchants. The company has also created new roles like an “ agent developer ,” whose job description is to build AI tools to help automate workflow throughout the company. Yet as AI automates some tasks for Walmart workers, that won’t translate to mass layoffs. “Our goal is t...

There may be a straightforward solution for another kind of “lock-in effect” paralyzing the nation’s housing market: fix the tax code. Recent analysis from Moody’s Analytics , led by Chief Economist Mark Zandi and Deputy Chief Economist Cristian deRitis, points directly to outdated capital gains tax caps as the culprit that is keeping millions of homes off the market and out of reach for families who need them most. According to the report, the problem starts with too many empty-nest seniors “locked in” to homes that no longer fit their needs. But instead of selling and downsizing to a smaller home, the prospect of steep capital gains taxes keeps them in their bigger homes. The problem is especially acute in high-cost metro areas, where decades of property appreciation means selling even a modest home can trigger a six-figure tax bill. This “misallocation” in the housing market results in a “logjam” where nearly 6 million older Americans reside in houses far larger than necessary, w...

Nexstar joined Sinclair on Friday in calling off its Jimmy Kimmel boycott just days after ABC returned the comedian to late-night television.  Beginning Friday night, Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to air on the ABC affiliates, which had preempted the show last week over remarks he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.  “As a local broadcaster, Nexstar remains committed to protecting the First Amendment while producing and airing local and national news that is fact-based and unbiased and, above all, broadcasting content that is in the best interest of the communities we serve,” a Nexstar statement said.  “We stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment–and obligation–to be stewards of the public airwaves.” Similarly, Sinclair issued a statement earlier on Friday reversing its decision to keep the comedian off its airwaves. It cited “feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representi...

Newly disclosed records from Jeffrey Epstein ‘s estate, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee Democrats, show that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Steve Bannon were all listed on Epstein’s calendars in the years before his 2019 arrest. The tranche — more than 8,500 documents including phone logs, flight manifests and daily schedules — suggests that Epstein maintained ties with more of the world’s wealthiest and most politically connected figures than previously known after his 2007 plea deal that forced him to register as a sex offender. epstein-3rdtranche-1 Download The documents don’t necessarily implicate wrongdoing by Musk, Thiel, Bannon, or others mentioned. Still, the schedules highlight how Epstein’s social circle included tech moguls, financiers, royals, and political strategists years after his first conviction. High-profile names, tentative meetings A December 2014 schedule includes the entry: “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happenin...

Can you count to 100,000? Most would probably lose steam before they even got to 100. But for Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, that was the whole point. The seemingly impossible stunt was the subject of one the then-18-year-old’s first-ever YouTube videos . Little did he know the domino effect such videos would set off. Now 27, Donaldson sits atop an online content empire: With 435 million YouTube subscribers and over 95 billion lifetime views, he’s among the internet’s biggest stars worldwide. His accomplishments reach far beyond viral videos: They include a nine-figure Amazon TV deal, a multimillion-dollar snack company, and even a forthcoming novel co-authored with James Patterson . Donaldson’s meteoric ascent has given him ambitions of building a diversified entertainment empire, one he hopes one day rivals Disney . But it hasn’t all been driven by daily vlogs or video game livestreams like other content creators . Much of MrBeast’s content reflects a simple but prof...

President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon signed an executive order clearing the way for a deal to put TikTok in U.S. hands, with some of his closest billionaire allies poised to take the reins. “This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said during the signing, adding that the agreement had been greenlit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I have great respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal, because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China and the approval of China.” Who’s in the deal The ownership structure is still being finalized, but Trump revealed that Oracle , and its co-founder Larry Ellison would play a “big” role in managing the app, given that they had already stored much of Tiktok’s U.S.-based data in their servers. Ellison has been an ally  of the President, raising millions for the president’s campaign and advising him during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also added that conservative med...

Wall Street stumbled to a  third  straight  loss  on Thursday as U.S. stocks gave back more of their big gains for the year so far. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% and marked its longest losing streak in  more than a month . The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 173 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.5%. All three indexes are still near their  records set at the start of the week , though. Stocks felt pressure from  reports  showing the U.S. economy may be  stronger than economists thought . While that’s encouraging news for  workers and for people looking for jobs , it could make the  Federal Reserve less likely to cut interest rates  several times in the coming months. The Fed just delivered  its first cut of the year  last week, and officials had penciled in more through the end of next year. That was critical for Wall Street after U.S. stocks shot to records  since April  in large part be...

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon just days into a trial over the tech giant’s alleged use of deceptive practices that the commission said for years tricked millions of consumers into signing up for a Prime membership without their knowledge, and made it unreasonably difficult for them to cancel the service. But the most exuberant celebrations Thursday may be occurring within the executive suites at Amazon’s D.C. and Seattle headquarters. And for good reason. The case, first filed by the FTC in 2023 under then-chair Lina Khan, outlined a variety of ways that Amazon utilized misleading web design tactics, known as “dark patterns ,” to get online shoppers to unknowingly enroll in its Prime program when making a purchase, or make it frustratingly difficult for someone to cancel a Prime membership (which cost $139 a year when the case was filed). The FTC cited a “four-page, six-click, fifteen-option cancellation process”—referr...