The share of American men in the labor force reached a record low this spring, fueled by baby-boomer retirees and young men who are dropping out to study or because they are disabled or sick. (The only time it has been lower was during the first two months of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.)
Everything we need to fix America is right here, writes Jonathan V. Last. And yet we are incapable of doing so. Partly because of the will of the people, decline is a choice. But also because of structural barriers that have developed in the American system.
One of the toughest things to go through as an adult is helping your parents as they get older. The elephant in the room is that life is finite, and both you and your parents might be reluctant to talk about what type of support they might need as they get older. But as difficult as these conversations can be, it's important to make time for them.
Are you setting your kids up for success when you die? Or are you kicking the can down the road ignoring important conversations?
We're living through a moment that doesn't feel stable. Political tension, economic uncertainty, and the persistent fear that technology might outpace us are overwhelming. When the world feels unpredictable, our instinct is to grip tighter. To return to scarcity.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to the lowest reading in the survey's 74-year history. Lower than 2008. Lower than the stagflation of the 1970s. The more interesting question is what sustained economic misery actually does to a population.
Delaying gratification can pay off. But you can delay it too long. If you do, you run out of time to enjoy what you were waiting for.
When it comes to investing, it's the Wild West out there. Here are 10 financial tricks scammers might try on you.
Something big happened in the world of AI the other day: Sam Altman, founder and CEO of OpenAI, and probably the person who's most commonly regarded as the face of the industry, declared that the purpose of AI is not to take people's jobs.
People with access to a workplace retirement plan have a higher savings-to-income ratio.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Comptroller Jules Hurst told Congress last week that the Iran War had cost $25 billion through the first 60 days. The next day, CBS reported that officials familiar with the Pentagon's internal assessments estimated the cost was actually closer to $50 billion. However, even the figure reported as the war's “true cost” is at least $22 billion too low.
- The Pentagon released its first batch of UFO files with little new evidence and plenty of political timing questions.
- The April jobs report blew past expectations with 115,000 new jobs, but the household survey data shows a labor market in suspended animation.
- And OnlyFans sold a 16% stake to Architect Capital at a $3.15 billion valuation, well below the $5.5 billion tag floated just months ago.
Upcoming Event
Cheap Doors in a Loud Market
The chorus of “real estate is dead” has gotten loud again. Elevated rates, regional bank wobbles, vacancy fears bleeding over from office into every other asset class. I get it.
The headlines write themselves. The cycle truth gets lost in the noise: the best multifamily entries happen when capital is nervous, not when it's exuberant.
Lightstone DIRECT just acquired Hidden Lakes Apartments, a 384-unit garden-style community in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They picked it up from the original developers at roughly a 12% discount to comparable sales and a 40% discount to replacement cost. Translation: nobody is building this asset class right now at these prices, which puts a structural floor under what existing inventory is worth.
Grand Rapids itself is the kind of market that quietly grinds higher while the coastal cities hog the headlines. It has diversified employment and steady in-migration, with rents currently more than $100/month below comparable properties. That last gap is the easy money. Bring rents to market and tighten operations. No heroic capex story required.
For a physician investing after-tax dollars, the appeal here is the absence of magic. The deal pencils on operational basics, not on hoping rates fall or cap rates compress.
Lightstone is also writing 20% of the equity themselves, which means we eat the same meal they do.
On May 19th at noon Eastern, Annina Vaisanen will walk through the full underwriting and the projected 12.3% Net IRR over a four-year hold.
