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☆ 6 Ways to Kick the Bucket List and Rethink Your Trips
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Sebastian Modak | Photographs F. Martin Ramin The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tom Marchant, co-founder of luxury travel company Black Tomato, said expressing what you want from travel helps trip advisers plan accordingly. “We can categorize the experiences we offer by how they make you feel and what you want from a trip, instead of just the destination,” he said. “We can try and create the conditions for those emotions that [we hope] you later associate with the best travel memories.”Philip Fong/AFP/Getty

☆ Bears, Binoculars and Bucket-List Birds: A 15-Day Tour in Ecuador
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Dorothy Spears | Alexis Rockman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a 4:30 a.m. breakfast at the Sani Lodge, where our group was staying, my husband, Alexis, and I pulled on our rubber boots. Our birding guide, Jeison Gualinga, whistled for a canoe while flashing his light among the reeds by the main dock. Our birding trip in Ecuador arose like a bird call, by word of mouth. Our friend Olaf Soltau, a devout birder, was tipped off by a respected birder friend to enlist Pablo Barrera of Adventures Columbia to coordinate a tour. Our trip would culminate with five days in the Yasuní National Park, whose humid green jungles are a birding paradise.

☆ These mid-cap funds can give investors growth without Big Tech, Citi says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tech stocks with healthy cash flow have been the big winners so far this year, and those names are also dominating the growth indexes. One way to dial back your exposure to mega-cap tech while keeping bets on growth is through mid-cap growth ETFs, according to Citi. Another benefit of the mid-cap growth area is that is not as reliant on tech stocks as the large-cap growth bucket, he added. The Citi note highlighted several ETFs that track the mid-cap growth space, including the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) , the Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT) , and the Invesco Nasdaq Next Gen 100 ETF (QQQJ) . These funds do have less concentrated exposure than other popular growth ETFs.

"It really seems like companies have become addicted to junk fees." Junk fees are making companies billions of dollars richer and the practice spans industries, including banking, telecom, entertainment and hospitality. CNBC sorted some of the biggest junk fee offenders into three separate buckets. "Junk hotel fees and these ancillary fees are bringing in about $3 billion a year for the hotel industry," Wolfe told CNBC, citing a Consumer Reports estimate. Watch the video above to learn more about where junk fees hide, how agencies are proposing changes, where policy falls short and whether increased regulatory oversight may be enough to squash junk fees once and for all.

☆ To my son, born in the climate crisis: I see signs of hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Bill Weir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The first looked at the twin crises of Covid and climate change as River was born; the second introduced him to Earth Day and what he could do. Watch Weir investigate “How to Unscrew a Planet,” on CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper,” Sunday at 8 p.m. Energy from clean sources, like this windmill in Texas, is heating and cooling more homes in America than ever before. “We call it climate intervention,” Kelly Wanser told me as we sat under bluebird skies and the Washington Monument. So far, it feels like your future will be marked in new stories to frame our wants and needs, and new tools to build Life As We Know It Could Be.

☆ Touching the sky: A rare solar eclipse and a new hotel in the clouds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Courtesy Amelia Earhart Hangar MuseumAmelia Earhart wasn’t just the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. Camelot Theme Park (England): Set in the leafy Lancashire countryside, the Magic Kingdom of Camelot resurrected tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Scott Audette/AP Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine): This theme park was orphaned in 1986 following the Chernobyl meltdown just five kilometers (three miles) away. Considered the first theme park in Southeast Asia, it featured an artificial lake, huge swimming pool with giant water slides and a Prehistoric Animal Kingdom. Anne Jones/Alamy Stock Photo 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever Prev NextThat’s the question posed by these no-longer-in-operation theme parks around the world.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has been in my wallet for eight years — and I plan never to cancel it. Chase; InsiderThe Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card normally offers a welcome bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases within three months. A bonus that size is worth $800 in cash — or $1,000 in travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal. Also, you can't open this card if you've already got a Sapphire product (even if it's the Chase Sapphire Reserve®). What you need to know about the new Chase Sapphire Preferred bonusThe Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is now firmly in the conversation as the travel card with the best bonus on the market.

☆ 'It totally backfired': The pitfalls of Alzheimer's genetic testing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Julie Steenhuysen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

CHICAGO, April 21 (Reuters) - Wendy Nelson watched her mother slowly die of Alzheimer's disease, unable to move or swallow at the end. When her father's memory began to fail a year later, one of her two sisters doubted it could be Alzheimer's, Nelson said. THE TESTING REVOLUTIONUntil recently, most doctors tended not to order genetic tests to determine Alzheimer's risk, because there were no effective treatments to slow or prevent the disease. US regulators recommend genetic testing before starting treatment with Leqembi. Some members of families with increased genetic risk of Alzheimer's say it might be better not to know at all.

☆ We Tested Cold-Brew Coffee Makers—Here Are Our 3 Favorites
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Nick Guy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

And many, including our top pick, the Oxo Brew Cold Brew Coffee Maker, make a brew that easily rivals a barista’s best. Best overallBest for saving spaceBest for coffee on tapOthers you should know aboutHow we pickedBest overallbuy side top pick OXO Brew Cold Brew Coffee Maker $41 at Amazon $ 52 Save $ 11 $52 at OXO Making delicious cold brew does not get much easier than with this OXO coffee maker. Best for saving spaceOXO Brew Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker $27 at Amazon $ 34 Save $ 7 $35 at Bloomingdales This is the best cold brew maker if space is at a premium and you don’t drink tons of coffee. GrowlerWerks’ uKeg Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a different kind of cold brew maker, pumping out a brew that has the consistency of a Guinness. Cold Brew Championships–winning baristas to better understand what it takes to make great cold brew coffee.

Persons: Nick Guy, it’s, You’ll, both.We, that’s, There’s, you’re, Takeya’s, there’s, Brew Kit, It’s Organizations: Amazon, System, Brew, Guinness, Cold Locations: Bloomingdales

☆ Wall Street aces its real-life stress test
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

One flaw in this plan is that the Federal Reserve, which designs the stress test, has tended to assume that when bad times come, interest rates would fall, not rise. Because their clients also fear sudden shifts in interest rates, they call on fixed-income securities desks to help offlay the risk. One clear outcome of higher interest rates is that banks are lending less, and more carefully. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsFollow @johnsfoley on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSLarge U.S. banks reported their first-quarter earnings between April 14 and April 19. Both said that trading revenue had declined from first quarter 2022, but it was substantially higher than the last three months of the year.

☆ The fallout from empty offices is coming. Here's where investors could see the pain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Christina Cheddar Berk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

As concerns about regional banks roiled markets, investors weighed another threat: commercial real estate. Also, layered on top of the property value pressure, are the tightening credit conditions brought on by the recent turmoil in the banking sector. There is no doubt this scenario is a toxic mix for the capital-intensive real estate industry. At the moment, many experts say the real estate market isn't causing trouble for banks, but fears about the financial system are likely worsening conditions in real estate because liquidity is being reduced. The biggest concern is seeing how many other companies join Brookfield , Blackstone and Pimco in handing back the keys on office properties, Clancy said.

CD rates are incredible right now, but you should think about your goals and how a CD fits into them. See Insider's list of the best CD rates »Rates vary pretty significantly depending on where you lookFor years, we experienced rock bottom interest rates. 5.00% Minimum Deposit Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. $500 Annual Percentage Yield Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Insider's Featured Savings Accounts UFB Premier SavingsQuontic High Yield Savings AccountCIT Bank Savings Connect Account Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.

☆ Amazon CEO Andy Jassy needs to take a page out of Mark Zuckerberg's cost-cutting playbook at Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Andy Jassy, CEO of Club holding Amazon (AMZN), said Thursday he's committed to investing in overall growth while creating cost efficiencies throughout the enterprise. Jim has said that Amazon needs to cut another 200,000 jobs or more to even approach pre-pandemic staffing of around 798,000 in Q4 of 2019. For example, Amazon has stopped physical store expansion, shuttered Amazon Care and Amazon Fabric, and it's letting go of devices that won't provide solid returns. Jassy also addressed Amazon's stock price during CNBC's interview. AMZN .SPX mountain 2020-04-09 Amazon vs. S & P 500 since April 2020 Bottom line Amazon needs to make additional moves to further reduce its headcount.

☆ Tech companies including Adobe are taking a new look at a big industry debt issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Rachel Curry | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Adobe cloud business insightsDespite the drag of technical debt that the data suggests, some industry executives say it gets a bad reputation. In this sense, technical debt is a signal of iteration. Adobe head of strategic development for creative cloud partnerships Chris Duffey is looking to reshape technical debt. "I would offer to reframe technical debt as the value of insight gathering throughout the innovation creation process," Duffey said. Despite reduction of operational costs, legacy systems in the technical debt bucket are core operational functions that an organization can't just turn off.

☆ Two of Ken Griffin's biggest donations sit on opposite sides of the spectrum
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Griffin, who founded Wall Street giants Citadel and Citadel Securities, donated $300 million to Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). However, it's interesting to see how two of his biggest contributions — DeSantis and Harvard — seem to operate on opposite ends of the spectrum. Click her to read our profile on Ken Griffin's rise to the top of Wall Street. Wall Street is drying out wells to drive up returns in California. Click here for more on the water woes created by Wall Street.

☆ Here's the 13-page pitch deck Stratyfy, a fintech using AI to help lenders work with the underbanked, used to raise $10 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Stratyfy uses AI to help lenders extend more credit to underbanked communities. Here's the 13-page pitch deck Stratyfy used to raise its so-called "institutional seed." Stratyfy works to help lenders eliminate biasStratyfy uses machine-learning algorithms to help lenders remove sharp cutoffs — like those based on credit history lengths or current income — that are often used in their credit decisioning. The core engine uses a lender's traditional credit data, in addition to alternative data, to offer a breakdown of factors in a given borrower's profile. Here's the pitch deck Stratyfy used to raise $10 million.

For years, Chinese fishermen trawling for fish, shrimp and crab have played cat and mouse with Taiwanese authorities as they closely track boats that near the median line of the Taiwan Strait. MEDIAN LINEOn Saturday, Taipei said more than 40 Chinese planes crossed the Taiwan Strait's "median line", which Beijing does not recognise. Deteriorating relations have made Chinese fishermen more afraid of approaching the line. Several times last year, Taiwan's coast guard detained Chinese fishing crew members, citing illegal trawling, according to official statements. ($1 = 6.8681 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Josh Arslan and Thomas Peter; Writing by Ella Cao and Ryan Woo.

☆ ‘Air’ Review: Ben Affleck’s Sneaker Story
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Do you care enough about a sneaker-endorsement deal from nearly 40 years ago to watch a movie about it? “Air” and its director, Ben Affleck , think that you might, if the sneaker is Nike and the endorser is Michael Jordan . And wouldn’t it be great if people returned to the multiplexes for a reality-grounded story that features no superpowers unless you count Mr. Jordan’s celebrated ability to fly to the bucket? Instead of the usual green-screen overload, Mr. Affleck offers lots of what used to be known as star power, before it became clear that actors no longer drive sales. Welcome to a strange attempt at an underdog tale about a publicly traded corporation with sales in the hundreds of millions and a boss who drives a high-end Porsche.

☆ Yes, that TikToker is wearing an Aldi tracksuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Aldi unveiled a line of clothing and accesories featuring the company's colors and logo. The line, called "Aldi Gear," is available nationwide, and none of the items sell for more than $9.99 each, the company said. The latest products come about a year after the first line of Aldi Gear, which included water bottles, t-shirts, and sandals. Since then, Aldi has opened roughly 2,300 stores in the country and remains one of the fastest-growing grocery chains, according to industry publication Winsight Grocery Business. Roughly half of all grocery stores opened in the US last month were Aldi locations, Winsight reported.

☆ I volunteered to be laid off from Amazon so I could try being a standup comedian
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sarah Whiteman, 26, volunteered to be laid off at Amazon in January as part of its mass job cuts. I joined Amazon Web Services as a recruiter in April 2020, after being laid off from Nordstrom's finance department after the pandemic struck. I absolutely loved working at Amazon, and I moved into different roles before becoming a program manager for a new team handling onboarding across all of Amazon. Even though it was a great role and I loved the team, I volunteered to be laid off as part of Amazon's January 2023 layoffs. So I posted on LinkedIn about how I chose bravery following the layoffs, trying out standup while looking for another role.

☆ From war to peace: Cambodian goldsmith turns bullet casings into jewellery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PHNOM PENH, March 30 (Reuters) - Every week, Cambodian goldsmith Thoeun Chantha turns about five kg of brass casings of AK-47 and M-16 bullets into jewellery. "I'm a victim of the war as a Cambodian who lost family members in it and now the world is at war too," he said. "I make this to show that the world doesn't want war ... we all want peace." The bullets are collected from shooting ranges and military training grounds around the capital, Phnom Penh. Reporting by Chantha Lach and Juarawee Kittisipla; Editing by Kanupriya KapoorOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TikTokers are dropping buckets on the heads of unsuspecting shoppers – but the viral prank took a dangerous turn at a California Target
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A TikTok trend took a dangerous turn at a California Target store. One mother was a recent victim of the prank while she was at a Target in Tustin, California. Clay-Monaghan told Insider the object was more like a cloth-lined laundry hamper, which got stuck when she struggled to take it off, causing her to panic. The rapidly changing lighting and panicked breathing were a recipe for triggering her epilepsy, Clay-Monaghan told Insider. Clay-Monaghan told Insider she and her family are waiting for identification of the boys who attacked her, and that she is still suffering from shock and neurological side effects.

☆ More millennials are turning 40 — and they're changing travel as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

And they're bringing their tech-savviness, social consciousness and spending habits in tow, which is transforming a travel industry intent on staying ahead of the times. "When it comes to nearly all travel behaviors, millennials are the generation most likely to engage — and they do so often," said Lindsey Roeschke, travel and hospitality analyst at Morning Consult. Where millennials stayFrederic Lalonde, CEO of the travel app Hopper, said its customers are twice as likely to stay in a home than a hotel. "It's all driven by our primary users, who are millennials and Gen Z," he said at the Skift Global Forum 2022. Since 2019, Airbnb home rentals increased the most among travelers with children aged six and younger, according to the company.

☆ A cryptic message that's been on Blockbuster's website for months has people wondering if it'll make a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

People recently noticed a message on Blockbuster's website: "We are working on rewinding your movie." The message sparked speculation of a possible comeback and nostalgia for the defunct rental stores. People recently noticed that a message greets you when you visit Blockbuster's website. Before that, the website showed a message from its current owner, Dish Network, directing people to Dish's on-demand service. So far, Dish hasn't commented on whether the message on the website means anything, and the company did not respond to Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.

No matter your destination, single trip travel insurance may be the ticket to protecting your investment and providing peace of mind before, during, and after takeoff. How does single trip travel insurance work? Who needs single trip travel insurance? For example, you'll need travel medical insurance for emergencies as your standard health insurance probably won't cover you abroad. For example, you'll need travel medical insurance for emergencies as your standard health insurance probably won't cover you abroad.

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