Dungeons and Dragons has come a long way since making its debut 50 years ago.After decades spent as the pinnacle of nerd culture, the popular tabletop game has broken into the mainstream thanks in part to the success of Netflix’s mega-hit show “Stranger Things” and the best-selling videogame “Baldur’s Gate 3.”Indeed, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast has seen its annual revenue grow from $761 million in 2019 to $1.17 billion as of October 2024. The company estimates that 85 million people have played the game since it was first introduced in 1974 — a figure equivalent to the population…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Data centers powering artificial intelligence and cloud computing are pushing energy demand and production to new limits. Global electricity use could rise as much as 75% by 2050, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, with the tech industry’s AI ambitions driving much of the surge.Data centers powering AI and cloud computing could soon grow so large that they could use more electricity than entire cities.As leaders in the AI race push for further technological advancements and deployment, many are finding their energy needs increasingly at odds with their sustainability goals.”A new data center that needs the same amount of…
Yes, you read that headline right. There’s something unique happening between two of the largest exchange-traded funds tracking U.S. semiconductor stocks: One fund is sharply underperforming the other, despite several recent years of relatively in-line performance. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is up about 42% in 2024, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has lagged with a gain of 15%. That gap of more than 26 percentage points is the largest going back more than a decade, according to a CNBC analysis. The massive disparity in performance matters because it means the VanEck ETF is tracking for larger gains than…
Many Americans make New Year’s resolutions as the calendar winds down each year. And financial resolutions like paying down debt or saving more money are some of the most common goals people set year after year.Depending on how you define it, you may not be able to get rich in a single calendar year. But there are steps you can take to increase your wealth, regardless of where you’re starting. With that in mind, here are three investing tips from self-made millionaires on how to grow your wealth in the coming year, drawn from their personal experiences.1. Keep it simpleYou don’t…
Wall Street asset managers are betting on actively managed exchange-traded funds to help grow their revenue and protect their margins, but the space is shaping up differently than the traditional stock-picking business. ETFs have traditionally been associated with low-cost passive management, and the vast majority of money in the space is held by those vanilla funds. But through November, active ETFs had accounted for 27% of net inflows and 77% of new launches in 2024, according to JPMorgan Asset Management. Many industry experts point to a 2019 rule change from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as the start of…
Over 15 years, I interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs and their parents to learn how they were raised.On the whole, these families are very happy with how their kids turned out. The parents say their grown children are not only accomplished and financially successful, but generous and kind. But looking back now, so many of the parents told me there were several things they wished they had known while their children were growing up. DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to earning passive income onlineThese aren’t the same as their regrets. Still, the parents shared with me that, with this knowledge, they might…
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks with CNBC from the New York Federal Reserve on Sept. 26th, 2024.David A. Grogan | CNBCTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leaders Friday that the federal government will hit its debt limit as early as Jan. 14 unless Congress takes action or her department implements “extraordinary measures” to avoid default.Yellen’s letter indicates that the looming debt ceiling fight involving Congress and the new administration is likely to take place in the early months of next year after President-elect Donald Trump failed to get a provision raising or eliminating the debt ceiling tacked on to an end-of-year spending bill.”Treasury…
When I left a 20-year career as a journalist and editor to launch a brand of weighted stuffed animals, my friends and colleagues were shocked. Frankly, I was too. But I knew my career shift was the culmination of a lifelong mission.My family arrived in Columbus, Ohio, from Russia in the 80s when I was two. Mental health was not a topic of discussion. The prevailing wisdom was: If you’re not seriously injured, no need to complain. So as a pre-teen grappling with anxiety and depression, I turned to magazines for information and validation. They helped me feel less alone, and…
Robert Holzmann, governor of Austria’s central bank.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe next interest rate cut by the European Central Bank could be longer in coming after a recent uptick in inflation, ECB Governing Council member Robert Holzmann was quoted as saying on Saturday.”I don’t see any interest rate hikes at the moment. What could happen, though, is that one takes more time until the next interest rate cut,” Holzmann told Austrian paper Kurier.Euro zone annual inflation accelerated in November to 2.2% from 2.0% a month earlier and above the ECB’s 2% target rate.”Yes, there are signs of an upward…
Tech billionaire Elon Musk faced accusations of censorship Friday from fellow conservatives after several prominent right-wing accounts who had criticized Musk’s views on immigration said that they subsequently lost access to premium features on Musk’s social media app, X. At least 14 conservative accounts said late Thursday or Friday that X had revoked their blue verification badge, cutting them off from a variety of premium features, including the ability to monetize their accounts through subscriptions and advertising revenue-sharing, according to a review conducted by NBC News. Some accounts said the number of those affected was far higher. The accounts were all still active Friday,…
