Author: troyashbacher

Key Takeaways Net worth is valuable as a personal progress tracker rather than a comparison tool.  Keep your debt-to-income ratio below 36%, and prioritize eliminating high-interest debt first.  Traditional retirement benchmarks suggest having 1x your annual salary saved by age 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67.  Maintain an emergency fund of three to six months of essential expenses in a high-yield savings account. Most people know how they feel about their finances—they may feel stressed, secure, behind, or ahead on their goals. However, relying on your feelings alone will not give you…

Published: Nov. 10, 2025 at 7:11 p.m. ETShares of Beyond Meat Inc. fell more than 8% in extended trading Monday after the company warned of weaker sales in the current quarter, following wider losses and sales that slipped in the third quarter amid dwindling demand for its meat-substitute products.For the quarter ending Sept. 27, Beyond Meat’s BYND revenue fell 13.3% year over year to $70.2 million, but still topped the FactSet consensus estimate of $69 million.

As the year comes to a close, many taxpayers are considering how to handle their end-of-year donations. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed earlier this year, contains several key policies that will affect how many taxpayers itemize, and how itemizers may benefit from deducting charitable donations. OBBBA Changes for Non-Itemizers The OBBBA makes permanent and expands the TaxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. Cuts and Jobs Act’s (TCJA) temporary increase to the standard deductionThe…

In another attempt to make homebuying more affordable, President Donald Trump floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage in a social media post. In response, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, posted that they are “working on it,” and that it would be, “a complete game-changer.”The purpose of a longer-term mortgage would be to lower the monthly payment for homeowners. The longer the term of the loan, the smaller the principal needed each month to pay it off in full. But such a plan has other trade-offs.Using the latest median sale price…

FIRECracker is a world-travelling early retiree. She used to live in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, but instead of drowning in debt, she rejected home ownership. What resulted was a 7-figure portfolio, which has allowed her and her husband to retire at 31 and travel the world. Their story has been featured on CBC, the Huffington Post, CNBC, BNN, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance. To date, it is the most shared story in CBC history and their viral video on CBC’s On the Money has garnered 4.5 Million views.Latest posts by FIRECracker (see all)Photo by Simone Secci…

If you’re a UGC creator (user-generated content creator), making content for brands through platforms like Influee®, Steady®, Billo®, or Cohley®, you might be wondering how taxes work for your brand deals, sponsorships, and collaborations. Unlike a traditional employee, you’re considered a self-employed content creator, meaning your tax obligations look slightly different. Let’s break down what you need to know about your tax responsibilities, tax write-offs, and how to file taxes as a self-employed content creator this tax season. What UGC platforms are and how they work UGC platforms serve as a bridge between businesses and content creators who produce engaging…

Key takeawaysSBA 7(a) and 504 loans may have prepayment penalties. SBA microloans and disaster loans do not.Paying off your SBA loan early can be worth it if the interest savings outweigh any prepayment penalties.Even if you’ll save on interest, make sure early repayment won’t strain your cash flow or financial flexibility.If you have extra cash on hand, paying off your debt early may seem like a clear-cut choice. But if you have an SBA loan, the decision may not be that simple. Many SBA loans have prepayment penalties, meaning paying early can come with an added cost that cuts into…

The share of college graduates earning two majors has doubled in the past decade as students seek an edge in an unpredictable job market. Double majors face significantly less earnings risk than single majors, especially when the fields are unrelated, a 2024 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found. Double majors have surged 100% in the past 10 years, with about 12% of 2023-2024 graduates earning such credentials compared with 6% a decade earlier, according to a new analysis from the The Hechinger Report. Meanwhile, the number of students graduating with two majors at schools like the…

Stocks shot out of the gate Monday and held gains into the close. Sentiment got a boost after the Senate advanced a key procedural measure that could end the record-long government shutdown later this week.At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8% at 47,368, the broader S&P 500 was 1.5% higher at 6,832, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had gained 2.3% to 23,527.The Senate’s short-term funding bill, which still needs to pass the upper chamber with a final vote before it heads to the House of Representatives, does not extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits,…

In This Article This article is presented by Walker & Dunlop. Before buying any property, the investors should ask themselves: Is this a good market? Understanding the local fundamentals is critical if you want to avoid overpaying or investing in a declining area.  In order to be successful, you need to know the economic health, tenant profile, rent trajectory, and market potential of an area before you ever run the numbers on a deal—whether you are buying a 5-unit property in Texas or a 100-unit apartment complex in Georgia. Tools like WDSuite from Walker & Dunlop make that process easier.…