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7 saving strategies you may not have tried yet

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWalletWith the holiday shopping season just starting and prices of many consumer goods continuing to rise, saving money can seem impossible. But those financial pressures also make doing so even more important.“Saving is your margin,” says Eric Maldonado, a certified financial planner and owner of Aquila Wealth Advisors. “When things happen — your car breaks down or there’s a layoff, or smaller stuff like gifts for the holidays — you have something to fall back on.” Maldonado notes that saving can also allow you to have money for fun things.The personal savings rate for Americans has been dropping in the last few months, and as of July was 3.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.Maldonado recommends aiming for a savings rate closer to 20% of your take-home income. “You can live off of 80% and put 20% toward deferred gratification,” he suggests.That guidance matches the popular 50/30/20 budget, which suggests putting 50% of your take-home inco...

Birkenstock stumbles in its stock market debut as Wall Street trades in its wingtips for sandals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Birkenstock shares are stumbling in their debut on the stock market as Wall Street trades in its wingtips for sandals for a day. The 249-year-old German maker of upmarket sandals set a price of $46 per share for its initial public offering of stock, valuing the company at $8.64 billion. The stock opened for trade at $41, which was below the range of $44 to $49 it had been expected to price just a week ago. Birkenstock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the “BIRK” ticker symbol. Birkenstock Holding Ltd. sold about 10.8 million shares in the offering, raising about $495 million. Its shareholders sold an additional 21.5 million shares.The company’s footwear was first cobbled together by Johann Adam Birkenstock in Germany in 1774. The sandals have long been derided as the antithesis of high fashion but have a cult following and this year got a plug in the blockbuster film “Barbie.”“Through the strong reputation and universal appeal of our brand — enabling ext...

Stock market today: Wall Street slips after the first of two big updates on inflation this week

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged lower Wednesday as yields are mixed in the bond market, which has been Wall Street’s main driver recently.The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 97 points, or 0.3%, as of 1:41 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.Wall Street has been mostly struggling since the summer as longer-term yields shoot higher in the bond market, weighing on prices for all kinds of investments. Some relief has come this week, and yields have regressed after officials at the Federal Reserve suggested they may be done raising their main overnight interest rate.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.62% from 4.66% late Tuesday and from more than 4.80% last week, when it reached its highest level since 2007. Besides hurting prices for investments, high yields have jacked up rates for mortgages and other loans, which saps momentum from the economy.But the two-year Treasury yield, which moves...

“Addictive” social media feeds that keep children online targeted by New York lawmakers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by “addictive” feeds from accounts they don’t follow, under legislation proposed Wednesday. The bills offered by state leaders are aimed at protecting young people from features designed to keep them endlessly scrolling, endangering their mental health and development, Attorney General Letitia James said. “Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame,” James said. “This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy.”The regulations sought by James and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, are similar to rules already in place in Europe, where violations could incur fines worth a percentage of re...

El Salvador sends 4,000 security forces into 3 communities to pursue gang members

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador sent more than 4,000 security forces into three communities on the outskirts of the capital to root out gang members Wednesday, as President Nayib Bukele prepared to request another extension of emergency powers to combat crime.Bukele announced the pre-dawn operation in a slickly produced video posted to the platform X. Soldiers and police were sent to surround the densely populated communities of Popotlan, Valle Verde and La Campanera outside San Salvador, the president said.“We are not going to stop until we capture the last terrorist that remains,” Bukele wrote, using a phrase that typically refers to members of gangs who have been accused of drug trafficking, protection rackets and extortion. “We won’t allow small remnants to regroup and take away the peace that has cost so much.”Bukele has used emergency powers granted after a surge in gang violence i n March 2022 to wage an all-out offensive against the country’s powerful street gan...

Panama, Costa Rica agree to a plan to speed migrants passing through from Darien Gap

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama and Costa Rica announced a plan to quickly bus thousands of migrants through Panama to the Costa Rican border, as the countries continue to grapple with a steady increase in the number of migrants moving through the jungle-clad Darien Gap.Panama estimates that 420,700 migrants have crossed the Gap from Colombia to Panama so far this year, making it likely the full-year number will top a half million.Industrial-scale smuggling operations in Colombia have now reduced the dangerous crossing to a little over two days for the strongest walkers. The expedited bus service in Panama will likely decrease further the amount of time migrants take to reach the U.S. border, now down to about two and a half weeks.Panama hopes the new plan will disrupt the smuggling networks that charge migrants to get through the country, as well as reduce crowding at reception camps in Panama where migrants stay once they exit the Darien Gap trail.Panama’s National Immigration Ser...

Brampton man faces 16 charges, pepper sprayed police officers during pursuit: PRP

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

A Brampton man is facing up to 16 charges in a stolen vehicle investigation during which the man tried to flee on foot and pepper sprayed responding officers.Peel Regional Police said on October 6 at around 5 p.m., its Strategic Tactical Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P.) was investigating a vehicle with an apparent stolen licence plate in a hotel parking lot in the Hurontario Street and Derry Road area in Mississauga.Authorities said the driver attempted to flee the area in the vehicle, resulting in damage to a police cruiser and civilian cars in the area. The driver then fled on foot.While running, investigators allege the driver tried to unsuccessfully steal a vehicle and carjack another. The man was located by officers a short distance away, but during a struggle, he pepper-sprayed multiple officers before being arrested.The officers suffered minor injuries.On Wednesday, police identified the suspect as 24-year-old Rajbir Singh of Brampton. He’s facing 16 charges, including da...

New national wildlife refuges in Tennessee, Wyoming created to protect toads, bats, salamanders

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two newly created national wildlife refuges in Tennessee and Wyoming will help protect habitats for threatened and endangered species such as toads, bats, shrimp and salamanders, federal officials say. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area and the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee are the result of “decades-long, locally led efforts to conserve habitat for species while maintaining recreational access,” the U.S. Department of Interior said Tuesday in a news release.The two refuges are the latest additions to the National Wildlife Refuge System, a collection of 570 refuges and 38 wetland districts managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area is in the Laramie Plains of the Wyoming Basin and will provide public access to the Laramie River. Officials say it will help protect the Wyoming toad, an endangered amphibian, while also helping conserve other species including the white-tailed prairie dog and migratory...

2nd former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice advises Republican leader against impeachment

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A second former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice asked to investigate taking the unprecedented step of impeaching a liberal justice came out Wednesday against it.Former Justice Jon Wilcox told The Associated Press that there was nothing to justify impeaching Justice Janet Protasiewicz, as some Republican lawmakers have floated because of comments she made during the campaign about redistricting and donations she accepted from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.“I do not favor impeachment,” Wilcox told AP in a telephone interview.Wilcox, along with former justices David Prosser and Patience Roggensack, were tapped by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to look into possible impeachment. Prosser on Friday emailed Vos telling him that he was also against impeachment.Roggensack has not returned numerous messages seeking comment, including Wednesday.Vos floated impeaching Protasiewicz if she did not recuse from a redistricting lawsuit seeking to toss GOP-drawn legislati...

Finland police investigate undersea gas pipeline leak as possible sabotage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:11 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Finnish police said Wednesday they have launched a criminal investigation into possible sabotage of an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was shut down over the weekend following a leak.Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, says it has started gathering evidence at the location of the leak, which was detected in Finland’s economic zone Sunday on the Balticconector pipeline connecting the two NATO allies. A telecommunications cable also was damaged.The purpose of the probe is to establish whether the Balticconector pipeline was damaged intentionally or by accident and by whom. Finnish authorities have already ruled out an operational mishap, saying the damage resulted from “external activity.”Noting that the analysis was still in an early stage, NBI said “traces have been detected in the seabed” near the leak but didn’t give details.Outside analysts have speculated on everything from a ship’s anchor hitting the pipeline to an ex...