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☆ Average 401(k) account balance tops $112,000, new report shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —The average balance in employer-sponsored savings plans last year was $112,572, well below the $141,542 recorded in 2021. “Vanguard participants’ average account balances decreased by 20% since year-end 2021, driven primarily by the decrease in equity and bond markets over the year,” according to the report. “Among plans with a nonmatching employer contribution, the average contribution was equivalent to 5.1% of pay; the median contribution, 4.1% of pay,” Vanguard noted. The auto enrollment feature has helped boost overall participation in the plans Vanguard oversees. Including what employees kick in, the average total contribution rate was 11.3%.

Persons: ’, nonparticipants Organizations: New, New York CNN, Vanguard Locations: New York, nonparticipants

☆ Coco Gauff Has a Chance to Play the Wise Veteran at the French Open
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Matthew Futterman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The veteran tennis star Rafael Nadal recently made that observation, discussing how quickly a new generation of players assumes the role of the one before. That rival was Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old Russian who has exploded onto the women’s tennis tour over the past five weeks. She plays with an easy, smooth power, unruffled by the size of the stage and the fuss suddenly being made about her. She trades text messages with Andy Murray, the three-time Grand Slam champion. These days, she continues to hunt for her first Grand Slam and top-level tour title.

Persons: Rafael Nadal, Suzanne Lenglen, Roland Garros, Coco Gauff, Gauff, Mirra, Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Serena Organizations: Tennis, Wimbledon, All England Club, Centre Court

☆ Why Do American Diners Have Such a Limited Palate for Textures?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ligaya Mishan | Esther Choi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

What of the worlds that lie between slime and velvet, collapse and refusal, succulence and desiccation? Not only does English lack a robust vocabulary for food textures but, whether as corollary or coincidence, English speakers also tend to value a narrower range of textures. In a survey by the American sensory scientist Jeannine F. Delwiche conducted at Ohio State University in 2002, respondents considered texture significantly less important than taste and scent in its impact on flavor. It is often defined as a confluence of taste, scent and memory, yet other senses intrude. Studies have shown that diners have difficulty identifying flavors when foods are dyed different colors, for example.

And so whenever I get one of those notifications, I know I’m going to have a good time there. kevin roose[LAUGHS]: I actually don’t think I could’ve told you what IBM stood for. kevin rooseSo I’ve thought a lot and written a lot about how and when AI actually is a threat to jobs. The third category is just the jobs that I think are going to be protected, the jobs that we won’t let AI do. But I don’t actually think the speed of it matters at all.

☆ The bad loan term that's back for banks trying to spot a recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

If there wasn't enough banking jargon to blind you, it's time to learn a new piece of it: Welcome to the industry's era of the "criticized loan." "Criticized loans could be paying or performing but a loan could be singled out because of its collateral." At Bank of America, criticized loans to office building projects rose to $3.7 billion out of $19 billion in office loans. But office buildings represent only a quarter of the bank's commercial real estate loans, and all CRE is just 7% of the bank's total loans and leases. "It's almost impossible for us to see office [losses] more than 4 or 5 percent of office loans.

☆ Starbucks pours weak tea on virtual union talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - After more than a decade of infusing its coffee with technology, Starbucks (SBUX.O) is putting a lid on one aspect of the digital transition. The $113 billion Frappuccino maker wants to negotiate with unions in person rather than allowing members to join talks by videoconference. Mobile orders accounted for about a quarter of transactions at U.S. stores in the latest quarter. Starbucks also became one of the first big companies to hold a virtual shareholder meeting after the pandemic struck and it hosted the annual event online again last week. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Those who experience a "gray divorce" can still retire comfortably by making vital life decisions. Spousal support plays a key roleAfter you do your budgeting, you might realize that you have to live with a lot less. Whether you're the one giving spousal support or receiving it, that number will make a huge difference in your financial future. Depending on your state, spousal support may not continue past the retirement age for Social Security, Harounian added. So if you get divorced at 60, you may only receive or give spousal support for five more years.

☆ Converting empty office buildings into apartments sounds like a no-brainer, but big landlords are resisting for one big reason
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Three experts tell Insider office prices need to fall before conversions are commonplace. But for these plans to be successful, the world of real estate must address the elephant in the room: Office buildings are simply too expensive. Moody's laid out some basic math: In 2021, the average New York apartment building traded at $434 a square foot. Now in the US, he's up to the same business but not yet with the vacant office buildings that dot the downtowns of large metropolises. Among them is an older, 130,000-square-foot St. Louis office building, which represents some of the city's most outdated stock, Rubin told Insider.

☆ ChatGPT is for suckers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Chatbots are bullshit engines built to say things with incontrovertible certainty and a complete lack of expertise. What is it that makes human beings trust a machine we know is untrustworthy? After millennia of debate, the world's leading philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists haven't even agreed on a mechanism for why people come to believe things, or what beliefs even are. We want Google results to be true, because we think of Google as a trusted arbiter, if not an authority. The power of storyAnother possible explanation of why we're suckers for chatbots is that we're suckers for explanation.

☆ Seen Big Ben already? Here's a Londoner's guide to visiting other parts of the city
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Central London's City of Westminster is its political heart, while the City of London is where the capital's financial decisions happen. But be warned: Several paths across Hyde Park are pedestrian-only, and police often fine people who cycle on them. The City of London is a blend of old and new, with St Paul's Cathedral close to skyscrapers as well as Roman ruins. While north London has Hampstead Heath, south of the river is Richmond Park, which dwarfs its northern counterpart in size. There's also a branch in central London's Covent Garden — the flower-filled restaurant The Petersham — that has an sit-down deli and bar.

☆ 2022 was the year the Overconfidence Man fell back to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Maureen Tkacik | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

Naturally, Elon Musk, the platonic ideal of the peculiar self-aggrandizing, self-parodying personality type that thrived during the Trump years and peaked during the pandemic, tops this list. By 2022, the media had pronounced him variously the next Warren Buffett, J.P. Morgan and Charles Koch. "bye bye @trussliz Congrats to lettuce", tweeted Putin's one-time stand-in Dmitry Medvedev, to which Elon Musk could not resist replying, "pretty good troll tbh." Elon Musk speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition in March 2020. Elon MuskIt's weird to recall now that Elon Musk once seemed like, graded on the billionaire curve anyway, a net positive for a cursed American society.

☆ 3 times the US military brought back 'obsolete' weapons to take on new enemies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Miguel Ortiz | We Are The Mighty | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Most military enthusiasts are familiar with the Reagan administration's 600-ship Navy and the reactivation of the battleships USS Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin. However, USS New Jersey was brought back into active service once before. US ArmyAn evolution of the famed M1 Garand of WWII and Korea, the M14 battle rifle became the standard-issue rifle for the US military in 1959. It served as the basis of the M21 Sniper Weapon System introduced in 1968 and M25 Sniper Weapon System introduced in 1991. Though both weapon systems have been largely replaced by the M24 Sniper Weapon System, the M14 lives on as the Mk14 Enhanced Battle Rifle.

☆ Iran faces USA in winner-takes-all match to progress to World Cup knockout stages
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The knockout stage has already arrived for the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) at the World Cup – nothing less than a win on Tuesday will suffice when it takes on Iran in a winner-takes-all match. In the build-up to the game, Iran state media called for the US to be kicked out of the 2022 World Cup after US Soccer changed Iran’s flag on its social media accounts to show support for the protestors in Iran. In the other Group B match, England looks to seal its almost certain place in the knockout stages against Wales. If England defeats Wales, the USMNT would qualify in second place in the group providing it beats Iran; while if England loses, the USMNT would finish first. Tuesday’s fixturesNetherlands vs Qatar: 10pm ETEcuador vs Senegal: 10pm ETWales vs England: 2pm ETIran vs USA: 2pm ETHow to watchUS: Fox SportsUK: BBC or ITVAustralia: SBSBrazil: SportTVGermany: ARD, ZDF, Deutsche TelekomCanada: Bell MediaSouth Africa: SABC

☆ House election results put McCarthy on track for speaker, and Democrats on track for retribution
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( W. James Antle Iii | W. James Antle Iii Is The Washington Examiner'S Politics Editor | Author Of | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, likely the chamber’s next speaker, is holding firm to his pledge to strip three liberal Democrats of their committee assignments when the new Congress is seated next year. That’s not sitting well with Democrats, as they are about to enter the House minority for the first time in four years. By breaking tradition and meddling with committee assignments across the aisle, they had to know they were triggering years of partisan tit for tat. Republicans considered punishing her by taking her committee assignments, but Greene apologized for some of her worst statements, and her colleagues relented. Many lawmakers are discovering social media and cable news are a better path to influence than committee assignments.

☆ Far-right gun group says its members have switched allegiance from Trump to Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The American Firearms Association says its members favor Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump for president. Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential election. The American Firearms Association, citing a poll of its members, announced Friday nearly 69% favor DeSantis for president compared to nearly 29% for Trump. Their survey results in March were reversed, according to the group — nearly 67% for Trump and about 21% for DeSantis. The group posed the question to its 2,000-plus followers on Twitter Thursday: "Who do you support for President: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, or someone else?"

☆ ‘The Peaceful Transfer of Power’ Review: How to Pass a Baton
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Lindsay M. Chervinsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In October, at the last meeting of the Jan. 6 Committee, vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney solemnly repeated a point she had been making since that tumultuous day: democratic institutions “only hold when men and women of good faith make them hold regardless of the political cost.” As the Capitol insurrection dramatically illustrated, that is never truer than during presidential transitions, when the nation is at its most fragile. When lawyer and historian David Marchick agreed in 2019 to head the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition, he couldn’t have known what was coming. But he knew the zeitgeist: he and his colleagues launched a 48-episode podcast, “Transition Lab,” on the history, memory and policy of presidential transitions. His new book, “The Peaceful Transfer of Power,” draws on that project, collecting oral histories from historians, filmmakers, writers, policy experts and former officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations, exploring the best and worst transitions in U.S. history and suggesting reforms that might improve the process.

Before COVID, my wife made a comfortable salary but was unhappy, while I was happy freelancing. My wife got pregnant with our son and became a full-time parent, and it's been great for us. Our son is six months old and my wife stays home with him while I work in his bedroom. It is how queer people have always had to live — making things up as we go and trying to disrupt social expectations. We don't have a lot of money but we are happy with the life we have created for him.

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