I was recently speaking with a woman who is in committed relationship, but there is a significant asset and income disparity between her and her partner. She wants to take the next step in their relationship but worries about all the legal and financial ramifications that come with marriage, so we discussed the possibility of a domestic partnership. Here are the financial and practical considerations in choosing between marrying your partner and choosing a domestic partnership. Tax Implications Many people associate marriages with tax benefits. With some exceptions, filing joint taxes can lower tax rates and result in increased deductions.…

Shares in Burberry strutted higher on Friday as the company announced better-than-forecast sales for the end of 2024. At £12.38 per share, the FTSE 250 fashion house was last dealing 15.7% higher in end-of-week trading. Sales continue to fall at embattled Burberry but at a lesser rate than analysts had predicted. Retail revenues were down 7% in the three months to December, to £659 million. This was down 3% at stable exchange rates. Comparable store sales were down 4% year on year. Market consensus had suggested a fall of around 12%. Asia Leads The Drop Poor demand in Asia Pacific…

Tariff Day has left us with Canada and Mexico in the crosshairs. With North American trade in focus, this may actually give a respite to stocks with supply chains elsewhere and light a fire under them. Today we’ll talk about two dividend growers that have serious upside. One has a supply chain independent of Canada and Mexico, while the other has no manufacturing worries but some misguided RFK fears. The pair returned 138% and 199% during Trump 1.0, and, if history rhymes, the duo could return triple-digits again during Trump 2.0. ADI Returned 138% During Trump 1.0 Our first stock,…

Key News Asian equities were mixed overnight as Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand, and South Korea all underperformed while Taiwan was closed. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), People’s Bank of China (PBOC), Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the National Financial Supervision Administration held a joint press conference to discuss the “Implementation Plan for Promoting the Work of Entry of Long-Term Capital”. The conference was held at 9 am to ensure nobody missed it, though, in an unfortunate pattern, the delivery failed to meet expectations as both Hong Kong and Mainland China slid…

In the most recent election, the country overwhelmingly chose a Republican president, Senate, and House of Representatives. There were several reasons for the landslide victory, including out of control spending in Washington and a massive federal debt. Over the years, and especially during the pandemic, the federal government amassed an enormous amount of debt putting significant pressure on succeeding generations. With the new DOGE commission under the Trump administration, we could see a return of fiscal sanity in Washington. However, even if Washington begins to act with fiscal prudency, the enormous debt will take years to pay and in the…

“America First” echoed through the World Economic Forum as President Trump delivered a stark message to global business leaders: manufacture in America for low taxes, or face tariffs. This renewed protectionist stance highlights a persistent challenge in international trade – what happens when partners don’t play by the rules? While free trade agreements promise mutual benefits through comparative advantage and open markets, the reality often diverges from this ideal. Countries frequently employ tactics like dumping – selling products below their domestic market value – or providing government subsidies to gain unfair advantages. These practices can devastate domestic industries and distort…

President Trump wasted little time in announcing the Stargate Initiative, a $500 billion private sector deal to expand U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure. Spearheaded by tech giants OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, Stargate represents the largest AI infrastructure project in history. Two key factors increasingly constrain AI’s growth: the rising electricity demand for data centers and evolving regulatory challenges. Data centers, which power AI training and deployment, consume immense energy, strain power grids, and drive up costs. A single Chat GPT search uses 10 times the computing power of a traditional Google search. As AI models scale up, their energy consumption surges,…

Is cash trash? Folding green may seem anachronistic. But Rick Kahler, president of Kahler Financial Group in Rapid City, S.D., begs to differ. Larry Light: So is that paper in the wallet hopelessly old-fashioned and best avoided? That sure is an assumption some hold. Rick Kahler: The CrowdStrike software failure in late July that disabled computers all over the world may contradict this assumption. Many of us were temporarily unable to complete simple financial transactions. Airline travel was disrupted. At least one major retailer closed stores. Some financial planning and investment advisory firms had to suspend trading for clients’ accounts.…

In trading on Wednesday, shares of AT&T were yielding above the 5% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $1.11), with the stock changing hands as low as $22.02 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) back on 12/31/1999 — you would have paid $146.88 per share. Fast forward to 12/31/2012 and each share was worth $142.41 on that date, a decrease of $4.67/share over all…

According to NextEarningsDate.com, the Exxon Mobil XOM next earnings date is projected to be 1/31 before market open, with earnings estimates of $1.79/share on $88.23 Billion of revenue. Looking back, the recent Exxon Mobil earnings history looks like this: The company has the following long-term earnings per share chart: And with quarterly revenue that looks like this: But earnings reports can often uniquely bring abrupt volatility to a stock, in either direction, as investors digest the fundamental details. And that volatility can be a stock options trader’s dream come true — so such traders will be interested to know that…