Marco Vdm | E+ | Getty ImagesIf you’re ready to focus on retirement in 2025, early January could be the perfect time to boost your 401(k) plan contributions, financial experts say. More than half of American workers feel they are behind on retirement savings, according to a Bankrate survey that polled 2,445 U.S. adults in August.But starting in 2025, your 401(k) plan has a higher contribution limit — and a special catch-up for older investors — that could help grow your nest egg.More from Personal Finance:5 advisors offer important tips for managing your money in 2025Here’s how to pick the right…
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The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Beijing-based cybersecurity company on Friday, blaming it for helping Chinese hackers infiltrate U.S. communications systems and conduct surveillance across four continents.In an announcement, the department said the company, Integrity Technology Group, had supported a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as Flax Typhoon in a campaign to break into foreign networks between the summer of 2022 and 2023, saying it found the group had “routinely sent and received information from Integrity Tech infrastructure.”The action came after the Treasury Department revealed in a letter to lawmakers this week that a Chinese intelligence agency had breached…
Sports betting company DraftKings’ logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.Budrul Chukrut | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesDraftKings is upping the ante.The sportsbook is testing out a new subscription service called DraftKings Sportsbook+ designed to provide paying customers a boost in odds.The $20 per month subscription service launched quietly on Dec. 28 for select customers in New York and will offer participants up to a 100% profit boost on winning parlays. For example, a two-leg parlay would receive a 10% boost, a six-leg parlay would receive a 50% boost, and an 11-leg parlay would get the full 100% boost. The maximum…
Should the United States follow the surgeon general’s call on Friday for cancer warning labels on alcohol, it would join a tiny contingent of nations that advise drinkers of the risk.The World Health Organization concluded in 1988 that alcohol is carcinogenic to humans, and it has for years said that the harms of alcohol were well documented. “No safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers can be established,” the W.H.O. reported in 2023.But a group of researchers noted in a study published in 2020 that only a quarter of the world’s countries require any health warnings on alcohol. Their language…
Vistra Corp. has entered the new year with a running start after closing out 2024 as one of the best-performing stocks in the market. The independent power producer’s shares have jumped 18% since Tuesday, after more than tripling in value last year. Vistra ended 2024 as the second-best performing stock in the S & P 500 behind Palantir , an unusually strong run for a relatively obscure power company. Vistra is viewed by investors as a nimble power company that is well positioned to quickly serve surging electricity demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Investors are anticipating that Vistra…
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the courthouse after a jury found him guilty of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York on May 30, 2024.Justin Lane | Via ReutersA judge on Friday rejected a request that he dismiss the New York criminal hush money case against President-elect Donald Trump and set Trump’s sentencing for Jan. 10, less than two weeks before he is due to be sworn in for a second term in the White House.Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, in a written order, also said he is…
And now, 16 thoughts from an unanticipated three-day College Football Playoff quarterfinal bonanza.1. Let me start by acknowledging the awful New Year’s tragedy in New Orleans, a beautiful city that goes all out every year for its much-beloved bowl game. I have made many Sugar Bowl visits to the French Quarter, and in fact, the last time I was there, stayed right on Canal Street. Hats off to all involved for figuring out how to hold the game in a timely manner while ensuring the safety of all who attended.2. The folks who designed the 12-team College Football Playoff did…
Britt Allcroft, a British producer, director and writer who adapted the antics of a cheerful, impetuous locomotive into a TV series, “Thomas & Friends,” which became a sprawling franchise and a longtime favorite of children and adults, died on Dec. 25 in Los Angeles. She was 81.Her death was confirmed by her daughter Holly Wright.Ms. Allcroft was the driving force behind bringing Thomas the Tank Engine, an animated locomotive first conceived in a series of children’s books in the 1940s by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry, to television screens. The series spawned a movie, merchandise and even theme parks, ballooning into…
Investors looking to boost their portfolio should consider allocating some funds to U.S. senior loans, according to Nuveen. The assets are debt instruments issued by well-known companies, like American Airlines and Burger King-parent Restaurant Brands , that are considered below investment grade. They are structured and syndicated by banks to large groups of lenders, such as mutual funds and institutional investors. Senior loans — which are also referred to as syndicated loans, floating rate loans or bank loans — typically have floating interest rates tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). These days, those yields can top 8%. The…
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos doesn’t want to go back in time. Almost everything, including infant mortality, global literacy and global poverty rates, has improved over the last 50 years, Bezos said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit last month — except for one factor.”When people talk about the good old days, that’s such an illusion,” Bezos said. “Almost everything is better today than it was … with one exception, which is the natural world.” The world’s oceans, rivers and forests have been polluted and depleted to fuel humankind’s growth over the last five centuries, he added.Amazon is part of…
