Winter heating bills are expected to rise sharply this season, with costs projected to jump 9.2% compared to last year. New estimates from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, or NEADA, show the average U.S. household will spend $995 on heating this winter — $84 more than last year.
What's something that's relatively simple that most investors don't do? Automate, consolidate, and four more things you can do to improve your investment plan.
The exchange-traded fund market is bursting at its seams after adding over 1,000 ETFs so far in 2025, but few have earned a role in investor portfolios. The proverbial spaghetti cannon has fired a torrent of new launches that has easily outstripped last year's record of 750 new ETFs.
Prediction markets came into the spotlight last year when they began offering Americans the opportunity to bet on elections en masse. This could be done legally on Kalshi, after a long legal fight, or via VPN on rival Polymarket, which only recently acquired approval from the CFTC to operate legally in the US. But predictions markets have come to sports gambling.
Millennials and Gen Z are accused of treating finance like a game. They trade options, buy meme coins, play prediction markets and bet on sports as if the entire economy were a casino. What seems like recklessness to parents and grandparents is actually a worrisome form of economic adaptation.
You have probably heard the phrase “sandwich generation” – a term coined in the 1980s to describe people in their 40s to 60s caring for ageing parents while raising children. A growing number of gen-Xers and millennials are now joining in – but in this era it feels more like a triple-decker sandwich generation.
As 2025 comes to a close, affordability is the lens through which all policymakers are being judged. That's true for the Fed, too. After reducing its policy rate last week, Fed Chair Powell was asked how this step to support the labor market made sense, given that inflation was people's number one concern.
This year's environmental backdrop is familiar: emissions are rising and nature is continuing to decline. But there have nevertheless been bright spots in 2025. Targeted action in clean energy, conservation and indigenous rights have led to some tangible positive results for the climate and nature.
Spending a few hours a week helping others may slow the aging of the brain. Researchers found that both formal volunteering and informal acts, like helping neighbors or relatives, were linked to noticeably slower cognitive decline over time. The benefits added up year after year and didn't require a huge time commitment. Even modest, everyday helping packed a powerful mental payoff.
A growing body of evidence demonstrates that the experience of awe that visual arts can trigger has mental and physical health benefits for us. They are similar to the restorative effects produced by awe-inspiring natural settings, such as a mountain vista or open sea, but we can access them more easily. The best part is you don't need to know anything about the art you are looking at.
We've all heard the advice: buy experiences, not things. But that isn't just lifestyle wisdom; there's psychology behind it. Every time you spend money, you go through three emotional phases: anticipation, the experience itself, and the memory that remains. Those phases shape your happiness far more than the price tag.
