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In just a few days, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be making a huge announcement about changes to the program in 2026. A new earnings-test limit will be shared, as well as the maximum monthly benefit.

Perhaps the most anticipated update the SSA will share, however, is an official cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2026.

Image source: Getty Images.

Each year, Social Security benefits are eligible for a raise, based on inflation. Without COLAs, beneficiaries would be pretty much guaranteed to lose buying power over time.

Initial projections are calling for a 2.7% COLA for 2026, but that number doesn’t take inflation data from September into account. If inflation rose substantially last month, seniors could be looking at an even larger boost to their Social Security checks in 2026.

While a 2.7% or higher COLA might seem like something to celebrate, you may want to temper your excitement if you count on Social Security for income. That’s because that COLA may not be yours to keep in full.

Will a Medicare increase eat into your COLA?

Seniors who are enrolled in Medicare and Social Security at the same time pay their premiums for Part B, which covers outpatient care, directly out of their monthly benefits. This means that if the cost of Medicare increases in 2026, it will eat into whatever COLA retirees receive.

In 2025, the standard monthly Part B premium rose from $174.70 to $185. But based on projections from the Medicare Trustees released earlier this year, the standard Part B premium for 2026 could be a whopping $206.50 — an increase of $21.50. It also could cause many seniors to lose out on a good chunk of their Social Security raises.

As of August, the average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers was about $2,008. A 2.7% COLA would result in a boost of about $54 per month. However, if Medicare Part B goes up by $21.50 per month, the typical Social Security benefit might only rise by around $32.50, in practice.

It’s best to have income outside of Social Security

Until the SSA makes an official COLA announcement on Oct. 15, we won’t know for sure what next year’s COLA will amount to. However, even if it’s fairly generous, a large uptick in Part B costs could wipe out much of it.

That’s why it’s important not to be too reliant on Social Security COLAs to keep up with inflation. A better bet? Save well for retirement, and set yourself up with a portfolio of assets that continues to generate income for you.

Those assets could include a mix of stocks and bonds. The stocks should ideally provide growth and income in the form of dividend payments. The bond portion, meanwhile, may be more stable, providing you with steady income you can use to supplement your monthly Social Security checks.

There are other options for generating retirement income, too, like working part-time. And that part-time work doesn’t have to come in the form of a boring job with a strict, preset schedule.

Thanks to the gig economy, you can explore different options for earning some money. You may find that, on top of the extra income being helpful, it’s nice to have a reason to get out of the house on a regular basis and socialize with other people.

No matter what strategy you choose, the key is to have some income outside of Social Security — because while the program’s COLAs do help seniors keep up with inflation to some degree, they also have their fair share of shortcomings.

A LUCKY viewer of a brand new ITV game show has walked away with an eye-watering £1million.

Sienna McSwiggan, 20, secured the top prize last night on Win Win with People’s Postcode Lottery on Saturday night.

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The hotel manager from The Black Country took home the £1million cash prize, as well as two cars, two luxury holidays, a trip to Australia to see The Ashes and Take That tickets.

After answering the winning question correctly, Sienna questioned if it was real and said the money would be life-changing for herself and family.

She said: “I don’t even know what to say. I am in shock.

“I’ve literally got a penny in my account.

“I’m over the moon. It feel like a dream and someone’s gonna wake me up any minute.”

Hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, the quiz show sees contestants battling it out in the studio.

At home viewers can also get involved and play for prizes.

However, the show’s format also allows these viewers to become contestants in the studio.

Once they have bagged a prize, players have to face the ultimate decision.

They must choose between keeping their original prize or risk it all and trade it in to join Millionaire’s row.

Sienna took the gamble and traded a trip to the Maldives for a chance to win big.

The risk saw her take home one of the UK’s biggest telly prizes.

Last month, The Sun reported that another contestant took home a huge £20,000 jackpot.

After answering the final question correctly, Shayanne took home the winning prize.

Previously discussing the format, Mel Giedroyc said: “This quiz is so extra!

“Imagine winning something like a car just by playing along with a gameshow you’re watching on a Saturday night in your pyjamas?

“I can’t wait!”

Sue Perkins added: “If I wasn’t hosting this, I’d be playing it at home; sat in my leopard print onesie, cuddling the dog whilst trying to figure out The Nation’s favourite chocolate bar. Bring it on!”

Speaking to The Mirror ahead of yesterday’s finale, Sue added:  “Saturday’s show really is going to be a night like no other. 

“The thrilling thing, of course, is that all of this is going to be won by one person, and that person might even be a viewer turned contestant, who simply signed up, joined in from their sofa and got the surprise of their life.”

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IT is set to be one of the most momentous occasions in soap history.

For the first time ever, ITV‘s landmark shows will be combining for an epic hour of soap drama that is being teased as changing the course of both programmes forever.

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This January, Coronation Street and Emmerdale will join forces for the aptly titled Corriedale to herald the stars of the new ‘soap power hour’.

It’s a clever, bold and HUGE move by ITV with both programmes having faced mass cast axings, job cuts, dwindling ratings and general backlash from fans over the past few years.

It is hoped by executives that the special show will help to revitalise both shows and kickstart a new era for the programmes – as well as being a clever way to conceal the fact they’ve both lost 30 minutes of screen-time a week.

From next year, both shows will air for just 30 minutes per night – the equivalent of five episodes per week unlike the current six.

But with the epic stunt set to take place, which is currently being filmed on long night shoots and being kept tightly under wraps, there promises to be the deaths of fan-favourite characters from both programmes.

Being such a historic moment in TV means that it should come with an utterly unforgettable death that will go down in the soap history books.

With only one chance to get it right, here is who I think ITV should kill off now.

Eric Pollard

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Yes, you read that right.

Emmerdale bosses need to make an impact and as such, they should volunteer their longest-serving character ever as a sacrifice.

Not only would killing Eric off be the biggest unexpected twist that would have people gasping up and down the country, it would lay the foundations for the village to truly be changed forever.

Having been portrayed by Chris Chittell since 1986, he has become part of the foundation in the Dales.

But as an avid viewer, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that he has fallen into a rather bumbling repeated pattern of storyline in recent years.

Fans often see Eric disappear from screens for a number of weeks before popping back up to have a new brief crisis.

It quickly results in him snapping at anyone in sight and becoming public enemy number one with his grumpy old man act.

But just as quickly as the crisis arises, he soon realises the error of his ways and makes peace with his family and friends in true story-telling fashion.

Frankly, we’ve seen it multiple times and we really don’t need to see it again.

If bosses aren’t planning on placing Eric in a new mass murder plot or turn him into the Dales’ next gangster, I fear his potential plots have naturally come to an end.

Be brave Emmerdale and let go of your longest player if you truly want a memorable moment.

April Windsor

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The other character I think Dales bosses should be offering up to meet their maker in the crossover could not be more opposite to Eric.

If they don’t make their big death the village OAP then yes, a wayward teen schoolgirl is the next best way to go.

Played by Amelia Flanagan, April has been one of Emmerdale’s biggest success stories in terms of transition from very young child performer to a teen actress who is able to hold her own when it comes to lengthy and gritty storylines.

However, her transition from wise-beyond-her-years 10-year-old to a reckless and easily-influenced 15-year-old has never sat right.

Over the past 12 months, goody-two-shoes April has become soap’s most troubled teen ever out of nowhere.

She went missing for months, became homeless, began underage drinking, went through a heartbreaking teen stillbirth whilst living on the streets and has now found herself a drug mule in a shocking county lines storyline.

I can’t help but think this unexpected character development could be for one bigger reason.

Having faced many brushes with death over her chaotic year, the soap stunt could be the perfect time to portray a real story of a teen tragedy.

Seeing a teenager killed off would have the shock factor to last years if done correctly.

April meeting a tragic end also allows for the soap to delve into family heartache and tragedy following her potential passing.

MY EMMERDALE VERDICT: Emmerdale needs to go to the extremes and for me, it’s either the show’s oldest character or on the flip-side, one of their youngest.

Sean Tully

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When it comes to who Corrie could offer up for their soap death, the first person that comes to mind (and, let’s be honest, most fans’) would be Sean Tully.

How Sean has scraped through 22 years on the Street boggles the mind.

As both a TV journalist and viewer of the programme, I am yet to encounter anyone, either personally or professionally, who would make a campaign to save Antony Cotton’s character from getting the axe.

Of course, Sean does have many ties to the faces of Weatherfield and would likely see some moving performances from them in the aftermath of his passing.

But with the character having truly lacked a notable storyline for close to 10 years, his spot on the soap is purely taking away space from another character who could help provide a much-needed boost to the already fledgling soap.

And let’s be real, Corrie needs to be saving all the money it can amid the ongoing cash crisis.

Whilst killing Sean off would realistically go rather unnoticed in the long-run of the soap, marking the end of such a universally disliked character will have soap fans rejoicing in their droves and for that alone, Coronation Street will have achieved a milestone.

Dee-Dee Bailey

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This is a tough one to say.

But with actress Channique Sterling-Brown having confirmed she has quit the soap for pastures new, killing her off in the New Year stunt may be the only thing that allows her to be remembered as a legacy character.

It is safe to say, amid a crowd of unnecessary and irritating new characters since the pandemic, Dee-Dee has been a true breathe of fresh air.

She exudes classic Corrie and Channique is a formidable actress.

But with her choosing to walk away after just four years, I worry that she’s about to fall into a bad trap.

We have seen it time and time again with incredible actresses leaving soap after just a few short years at the promise of breaking out into even bigger roles.

But despite their talent, they fade into the abyss and the characters are too forgettable to encourage bosses to ever bring them back.

Case and point Amy James Kelly, who played Maddie Heath on Corrie between 2013 and 2015.

She rocked Weatherfield to its core but with Amy quickly being predicted for bigger and better things on Corrie, she quit before she became too tied down to the role.

But her star power soon faded and she failed to be the big star everyone had hoped and Maddie became forgotten about much quicker than expected.

I’d hate this to happen to Channique but I fear it may be written in the stars.

But if bosses decide to place Dee-Dee at the forefront of their most anticipated episode since 2010’s Tram Crash (which did wonders for the legacy of Molly Dobbs played by the iconic Vicky Binns) then they will cement her in the history books for YEARS to come.

Whilst I don’t want to see Dee-Dee die, it could be her only hope of remaining a Corrie icon.

MY CORONATION STREET VERDICT: When it comes to the Corrie death, bosses either need to take one for the team and free audiences from an abysmal character or preserve the legacies of who could have been a Street Queen.

Destiny Wealth Partners reported in an SEC filing on Monday that it sold 59,354 shares of the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) in the third quarter—an estimated $8.1 million transaction based on average pricing for the quarter.

What happened

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Destiny Wealth Partners reduced its holding in the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) by 59,354 shares during the quarter. The estimated value of the shares sold was $8.1 million. The fund now holds 16,430 IBB shares valued at $2.4 million as of September 30.

What else to know

This sale left IBB representing 0.3% of Destiny Wealth Partners’ 13F reportable assets.

Top holdings after the filing:

• JAAA: $46.41 million (5.7% of AUM)
• VUG: $40.11 million (4.9% of AUM)
• DFLV: $32.03 million (3.9% of AUM)
• JCPB: $28.13 million (3.45% of AUM)
• AMZN: $27.70 million (3.4% of AUM)

As of Tuesday afternoon, IBB shares were priced at $149.73. The fund is up about 5% over the year.

Company overview

Company snapshot

• IBB seeks to track the investment results of a biotechnology-focused equity index, investing at least 80% of assets in component securities and economically similar investments.
• It operates as a non-diversified ETF, with periodic rebalancing to maintain index alignment.

The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) offers investors access to the U.S. biotechnology sector through a passively managed fund. With over $6 billion in market capitalization, the ETF provides exposure to biotechnology companies.

Foolish take

Destiny Wealth Partners’ decision to unload roughly $8.1 million in iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) shares adds to a broader theme in markets this year: Institutional investors have been cooling on biotech. The sector has struggled to regain its pandemic-era momentum as investors favor AI, energy, and industrial plays. IBB is up about 5% over the past year, trailing the S&P 500’s 18% gain.

IBB’s two largest holdings—Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Amgen—have each slumped, down about 8% and 7%, respectively, over the past year. That drag has offset strength from smaller, high-growth biotech names focused on oncology and gene therapy. Meanwhile, the fund’s expense ratio of 0.44% sits slightly above broad-market ETF averages, reflecting the niche exposure investors are paying for.

For long-term investors, IBB still offers diversified exposure to the innovation pipeline driving future drug breakthroughs—but near-term returns will depend on FDA approvals, pricing clarity, and investor appetite for higher-risk growth sectors.

Glossary

ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): An investment fund traded on stock exchanges, holding a basket of assets like stocks or bonds.

Biotechnology ETF: An ETF focused on companies in the biotechnology industry, such as drug development and medical research.

AUM (Assets Under Management): The total market value of assets that an investment manager or fund controls on behalf of clients.

13F reportable AUM: The portion of a fund’s assets that must be disclosed in quarterly SEC Form 13F filings, typically U.S. equity holdings.

Non-diversified ETF: A fund that invests in fewer securities or sectors, increasing exposure to specific industries or companies.

Index-based selection: An investment strategy where holdings are chosen to match a specific market index, rather than by active management.

Component securities: The individual stocks or assets that make up an index or ETF portfolio.

Dividend yield: The annual dividend income expressed as a percentage of the investment’s current price.

Total return: The investment’s price change plus all dividends and distributions, assuming those payouts are reinvested.

Rebalancing: Adjusting a fund’s holdings periodically to maintain alignment with its target index or asset allocation.

Pyramid schemes are nothing new. For example, in the 1920s, Charles Ponzi promised investors high returns on postal reply coupons, using the money from new investors to pay returns to earlier investors. Like all pyramid schemes, Ponzi’s collapsed in a heap.

Because scam artists will do anything they can to separate their victims from their savings, it’s vital that seniors understand that they’re prime targets. More importantly, seniors must know how to spot and avoid pyramid schemes.

Image source: Getty Images.

Prime targets

If you’ve spent years strategizing how you’ll retire, scammers consider you a prime target. While they might not be able to con a 21-year-old out of much, they suspect you have plenty of money put away. It may be someone you meet in the park, bowling, or even at church. The scammer may be someone you’ve never heard of, someone who contacts you out of the blue, or someone who’s introduced to you by a friend.

The point is that pyramid schemes and the scammers who operate them see you as a rich source of cash.

Packaged to look like something else

Trying to sell you on a pyramid scheme involves making you believe you’re getting involved in a legitimate pursuit, like a business venture. One only needs to look at Charles Ponzi’s 1920s scam to understand how pyramid schemes work.

Ponzi, once known as a financial wizard, convinced well-meaning investors that he’d found a way to make huge profits by buying international postal reply coupons in countries with weakened currencies and selling them at a higher price in the U.S. Ponzi said he was so confident that he promised a 50% return in 90 days.

This was the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade of economic prosperity in the U.S., and many wanted in on the action. The problem with Ponzi’s plan was this: The only people who experienced a payday were those who got in early. The money from those who bought into Ponzi’s scheme later was used to pay the people on board early.

It’s the same with today’s pyramid schemes. No matter what’s promised, only a few will profit and the scheme will eventually collapse, leaving most participants holding the bag. As simple as a pyramid scheme seems, it can suck anyone in, from a new investor to someone who’s been investing for decades.

Red flags

If someone invites you to invest in a new business or one-of-a-kind product, or become part of a multi-level marketing (MLM) enterprise, here’s how you can determine if it’s actually a pyramid scheme:

• More money paid for recruiting others than for product sales. If the program requires you to recruit others to join for a fee, it’s likely a pyramid scheme.
• No genuine products or services sold. According to Investor.gov, fraudsters claim you’ll sell “products,” like online advertising, websites, tech services, or mass-licensed e-books. They’re creating “businesses” that are hard to value to hide the fact that they’re pyramids.
• Promise of high returns. A scammer will promise you fast cash to get their hands on your Social Security, pension, annuity, and other assets. If you see a return, it’s typically paid out of money from new recruits rather than actual sales.
• Promise of passive income. If you’re offered payment in exchange for doing very little, like placing online advertisements on obscure websites or recruiting others, it’s probably a pyramid scheme.
• There is little or no revenue from retail sales. If you look at documents, such as financial statements audited by a certified public accountant (CPA), and those documents show income primarily from recruiting new members, it’s a serious red flag.
• Complex commission structure. Legitimate companies pay commission based on products or services you sell to people outside the program. Be careful if the commission structure is too complex to be easily understood.

Protect yourself

Fortunately, once you know the signs, you’re in an excellent position to protect your interests. Here’s how:

• Be skeptical. If an investment or work-from-home offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Ensure sales generate income. Verify that you’ll earn money from legitimate retail sales, not just recruitment fees.
• Investigate the company. Go online to read about others’ experiences.

Finally, check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and your state’s Attorney General to learn if the company is legitimate and whether there have been complaints. Don’t allow anyone to steal the retirement you’ve planned for so long.

Many top cryptocurrencies have performed well in the last year, including Chainlink (LINK 2.47%). As I write this (Oct. 1), the leading oracle cryptocurrency is up by about 95% year on year. Oracles are the backbone to many blockchain ecosystems because they provide the data that keeps everything running.

Chainlink describes itself as “the missing link between blockchains and the real world.” Not only can Chainlink act as a bridge between blockchain systems and existing networks, it also helps individual blockchains to talk to each other.

It secures over $100 billion in funds on-chain, according to DefiLlama, and claims to have facilitated over $25 trillion in transactions. Put simply, if blockchain continues to gain mainstream adoption, oracle cryptos like Chainlink will play a key role.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why Chainlink still has room to grow

The passing of the GENIUS Act in the U.S. removed a major obstacle that had been stopping blockchain projects, particularly stablecoins, from going mainstream. Now, major financial institutions, banks, payment providers, and even stock exchanges are looking at ways to integrate blockchain technology into their operations.

That integration goes beyond stablecoins to include things like decentralized applications, tokenized real-world assets, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). It isn’t clear what shape it will take, but much of it will rely on smart contracts — tiny pieces of blockchain-based, self-executing code. And smart contracts rely on the type of information that Chainlink provides.

It’s all very well having blockchain code that automatically triggers in certain situations without the need for middlemen. But if the information feeding the code is faulty, the whole system breaks down. Those smart contracts need accurate data, whether that’s on chain or in the real world.

Let’s say you have a decentralized sports betting application. The smart contracts can only pay out if they know which team won and what happened in the game. That comes from an oracle. Similarly, accurate data about, say currency or stock prices, is crucial for stablecoins or tokenized stocks to function.

Chainlink is at the forefront of what could be a new frontier. It recently announced the launch of DataLink, which allows institutions to easily publish data on blockchains. It is partnering with the German stock exchange to make real-time information available on over 40 blockchains. It’s working with the U.S. government to bring macroeconomic data online. And it has been collaborating with Swift, the international payment messaging system, on ways to connect its network to the blockchain.

What might hold Chainlink back

With all those positive drivers, you might wonder why Chainlink hasn’t been able to reclaim its all-time high (ATH) from May 2021. It’s been trading between around $20 and $25 for the past month, but in the last crypto bull run, it topped $50 per coin. That’s partly because we haven’t seen an altcoin frenzy this year — much of the growth has been dominated by Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The bigger reason is Chainlink’s tokenomics. The project has a capped supply of 1 billion tokens, of which almost 680 million tokens are in circulation today. A further 7% of the total supply gets released each year.

Its market cap is around $15 billion today, compared to just over $20 billion at its ATH. This shows that Chainlink has recovered a lot more of its value than the price alone might suggest. It also represents a risk: Until the number of tokens in circulation stops increasing, demand has to go up as new tokens get released, to prevent diluting the coin price. Yep, inflation is a concern in cryptocurrencies, too. 

More broadly, there’s a risk that a stablecoin boom doesn’t materialize in the way the market expects. We’ve seen people get excited about the potential to upend traditional financial systems before, particularly around payments and global money transfers. But it takes time to change systems that have taken a century or more to build. And a high-profile stablecoin de-pegging, security incident, or technical glitch could send institutions back to the drawing board.

Chainlink will be part of the solution

While it isn’t the only oracle blockchain out there, Chainlink is currently streaks ahead of the competition. DefiLllama says it has over 60% of the total value secured. That said, its biggest competitor, Pyth (PYTH 6.06%), is growing and will also partner with the U.S. government. Even so, if the stablecoin or tokenized asset markets are about to boom, there’s ample room for several oracles to flourish.

It’s important to make sure any cryptocurrency investment only makes up a small portion of your wider portfolio. But if you’re looking for a picks-and-shovels approach to the stablecoin boom, Chainlink is worth a closer look. In addition to its growing utility, there may soon be the launch of a couple of spot Chainlink exchange-traded funds (ETFs). That makes it easier to invest in Chainlink and potentially also boost its price.

My colleague, Adria Cimino, recently predicted that Nvidia (NVDA -0.77%) shares, recently trading near $189 per stub, will reach $400 by 2030, only five years from now. I’m bullish on the stock, myself, own a few shares, and expect them to do quite well over the coming decade.

Why do we expect Nvidia to soar over the coming decade? Well, in my view, there are many reasons. A chief one is the continuing growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology — around the world. Nvidia, with a recent market cap of $4.6 trillion, is a leading semiconductor company, and the chips it designs are critical for AI because they help train AI.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Nvidia seems likely to reap plenty of profits from its AI-enabling chips, but it will likely also profit from some significant investments in other companies, such as fellow chip specialist Intel and its customer OpenAI, owner of chatbot ChatGPT. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang foresees up to $4 trillion in annual AI infrastructure spending by 2030 and expects Nvidia to reap a lot of that. More currently, Nvidia is seeing around $600 billion in data center spending this year.

So — should you invest in Nvidia? It’s not a crazy idea. Yes, it has averaged annual gains of more than 77% over the past decade, but its stock still doesn’t seem wildly overvalued, considering its torrid growth. Its recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 41.5 isn’t too far from its five-year average of 38.9.

If you invest in Nvidia, don’t assume that you’ll enjoy 77% gains each year. Remember that as companies grow huge, it can be hard for them to keep growing rapidly. Still, I suspect that long-term investors buying some shares of Nvidia today will do well over a decade or more.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM 1.50%), also known as TSMC, is one of the premier manufacturers of advanced processors, many of which are used for artificial intelligence. The company’s strong position in this space and its growth over the past few years have resulted in its stock price soaring nearly 200% over the past three years.

Recent research from The Motley Fool sheds some light on how TSMC’s manufacturing technology is a step ahead, how it makes the majority of its revenue, and where most of its customers are located. Importantly, all of these factors work together to set TSMC apart from the competition and make its stock a smart one to own for years to come.

1. The company is a leader in advanced chip manufacturing

TSMC manufactures some of the world’s most advanced processors, and the breakdown of the company’s revenue shows just how much comes from its different manufacturing capabilities. Chip companies use the term chip node to describe how many transistors will fit onto a semiconductor, with the unit of chip measurement being nanometers (nm). Generally speaking, the smaller, the more advanced the processor.

Here’s a snapshot of Taiwan Semiconductor’s top five revenue generators, by chip size:

Data source: Taiwan Semiconductor.

This revenue composition is important to highlight because it shows that a whopping 60% of the company’s semiconductor sales are from the smallest and most advanced processors (3nm and 5nm) on the market.

No other company compares to TSMC’s manufacturing prowess, and it’s likely to continue outpacing the competition. TSMC has already sign 15 deals with tech companies for 2nm semiconductor manufacturing, leaving rivals, including Samsung, far behind.

2. Its advanced processors are driving its growth

Just as important as the technology behind TSMC’s revenue is what technologies those processors power. If we go back five years, smartphones were the driving revenue force for TSMC. Now, it’s high-performance computing (think AI data centers).

The company has dominated the manufacturing of advanced processors so well, in fact, that TSMC makes an estimated 90% of the world’s most advanced processors.

Here is the company’s revenue distribution over the past four quarters:

Data source: Taiwan Semiconductor.

TSMC’s making the majority of its revenue from high-performance computing is important because it shows that the company successfully adapted with the times, moving from its previously dominant smartphone segment to sales from chips to AI data centers.

More growth could be on the way, too, considering that semiconductor leader Nvidia believes technology companies could spend up to $4 trillion on AI data center infrastructure over the next five years.

3. U.S. tech giants drive demand

Taiwan Semiconductor is based in, you guessed it, Taiwan, but the vast majority of its sales come from selling processors to North American companies. About five years ago, North America accounted for just over half of TSMC’s sales, but that’s jumped to 75% currently. China and the Asia-Pacific region tie for second place with just 9% each.

Why does this matter? Some of the most advanced artificial intelligence companies, including Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are based in North America. Taiwan Semiconductor’s shift toward sales in this geographic area is a reflection of the company successfully attracting the world’s leading AI companies to have their chips made by TSMC.

Is Taiwan Semiconductor a buy?

With TSMC making an estimated 90% of the world’s most advanced processors, the company outpacing its manufacturing competition, and artificial intelligence companies poised to spend trillions of dollars to build out and upgrade data centers, TSMC is well positioned to be a great AI stock for years to come.

Just keep in mind that the stellar gains TSMC stock has experienced over the past several years have been a result of the early AI boom, which means future returns may not be quite as impressive.

There are a whirlwind of things happening around Tesla (TSLA -1.41%) right now, both good and bad. On the one hand, the company is dealing with a talent exodus with multiple executives leaving, consumer backlash at CEO Elon Musk’s political antics, declining global sales, and an aging vehicle lineup, just to name a few.

On the other hand, the company believes it can be the most valuable company in the world as it transitions from vehicle production to a company based on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and driverless vehicles. The question remains: Where will Tesla’s stock trade during all of this madness?

Falling behind?

One of the biggest developments for Tesla investors over the summer happened in Austin, Texas, where the company launched its robotaxi pilot. However, three months into its robotaxi pilot with a small number of Model Ys operating, it still requires a safety driver just in case, and it still only operates with invite-only passengers.

Image source: Tesla.

Sure, it was a step forward after the company had long promised such a service, but Tesla is still behind its primary rival, Waymo, which is moving into new cities and doesn’t require a safety driver to supervise its driverless vehicle.

While the slower and smaller initial test may have made investors cautious, Musk remains ambitious. During Tesla’s July 23 earnings call, he noted that the autonomous ride-hailing service would reach across most of the country and “probably” address half the U.S. population by the end of 2025 — lofty targets, to be sure.

No small matter

Make no mistake, this is a huge development for investors and the stakes are high. Tesla’s slow rollout has some onlookers pumping the brakes.

“It’s an acknowledgment that their software isn’t as mature as they thought it was and they’re going to need more time with a safety driver,” said Carnegie Mellon professor Philip Koopman, an expert in autonomous vehicle safety, according to Automotive News. “That’s OK for everyone except the people who invested thinking there’d be a million of these cars on the road by the end of the year,” he said. 

Investors looking for a silver lining might have to squint to see it more clearly, but it’s there. One reason Tesla remains a serious threat to its rivals such as Waymo is because once the autonomous technology and robotaxi become fully autonomous, the automaker can easily produce tons of vehicles from its factories in California and Texas.

Long term, Tesla’s gigafactory production is an advantage. But the company also has a cost advantage over its rivals as it only uses cameras for its self-driving technology, rather than more expensive sensors such as radar and lidar.

Investors also have to keep in mind Tesla may be behind at the moment, but at the same time could make progress faster than its competitors. In fact, if Tesla can change to no safety driver in the next 12 months, that’ll be faster than any other robotaxi company that’s accomplished the feat. For context, Waymo tested for years with safety drivers before going fully autonomous, but that was back in 2020.

What it all means

Tesla’s progress with autonomous vehicles has been slower than desired, but investors should focus on if the company can do it without sensors, and do it effectively. At this point doing it right is much more valuable than doing it faster — that battle may already be over. That said, Tesla has seemingly gone all-in on its future transition from only producing vehicles to becoming an AI, robotics, and robotaxi service company, which could be lucrative if it’s all achieved.

Until then, investors are going to need plenty of patience, especially considering the third quarter is likely to be strong — remember the end of the $7,500 tax credit pulled demand into the third quarter. That should be followed by several rather bumpy quarters for not only Tesla but the broader electric vehicle industry.

Retirement is an exciting chapter in life, but it requires years of careful planning. Even seemingly small mistakes or misunderstandings can throw a wrench in your plans, potentially costing you thousands of dollars.

If you’re nearing retirement age, there’s one particularly dangerous mistake that’s easy to overlook: having an inappropriate asset allocation.

Image source: Getty Images.

What is asset allocation in retirement?

Your retirement portfolio is likely made up of many different investments, and most people own a mix of stocks and bonds. How those investments are divided up within your portfolio is your asset allocation.

As you age, it’s important to adjust your asset allocation so that you have the appropriate balance of risk and reward.

When you’re younger and still have decades left of your career, you can afford to take on more risk with a higher proportion of stocks versus bonds. Stocks are more volatile in the short term, but as long as you have a few years to allow your investments to recover, they’ll generally go on to earn far higher returns than bonds.

Once you start nearing retirement, though, your portfolio should lean more heavily toward the conservative side. While bonds often earn lower returns than stocks, they’re also less affected by stock market volatility. If you’re heavily invested in stocks and the market takes a sudden turn for the worse, your retirement fund could plummet right as you’re ready to start withdrawing that money.

Why it’s still wise to invest some money in stocks

If you’re worried about a stock market crash or recession, it can be tempting to throw all of your money into bonds and avoid investing in stocks altogether. While that approach sounds safer on the surface, it can also be costly.

Investing at least a portion of your portfolio in stocks can help you earn significantly more than if you were to invest solely in bonds.

For example, say that by investing conservatively in investments like bonds, you could earn an average rate of return of 5% per year. On the other hand, say that by investing in a mix of stocks and bonds, you could earn average returns of 8% per year — slightly below the stock market’s historic average of 10% per year.

If you’re investing $100 per month, here’s approximately what you could accumulate in both scenarios:

Data source: Author’s calculations via investor.gov.

Investing too heavily in stocks can put your retirement fund at greater risk during a bear market or recession, but investing too heavily in bonds can seriously limit your earning potential.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to what the ideal asset allocation should look like. However, a common guideline is to subtract your age from 110, and the result is the percentage of your portfolio to allocate to stocks. So if you’re 65 years old, you might allocate 45% of your retirement fund to stocks and the remaining 55% to bonds.

Again, this is only a guideline, not a rule. If you’re more risk-averse and comfortable with potentially lower average returns, you might push your portfolio more toward the conservative side. Or if you have other sources of income and can afford to take on more risk with your retirement investments, you might lean slightly more toward stocks to increase your long-term earning potential.

Your asset allocation will depend somewhat on your personal preference, but it’s still important to be intentional about it. By finding the right balance of stocks and bonds, you can better protect your financial future.

On the day that Michele Mulroney was elected president of the Writers Guild of America West, writers won a significant victory. After writers protested ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for days, the network brought the late-night show back on air.

“Our currency is words and stories, and the freedom to be able to express ourselves is really important, and so our members could not feel more strongly about this and of course we will be speaking out and lobbying and working in any way we can to protect this fundamental right,” Mulroney said in a recent interview.

Mulroney, formerly the WGA West vice president and a writer on the 2017 “Power Rangers” movie and 2011 film “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” enters her new role at a time when the industry is facing significant challenges.

Those include major consolidation in the industry as studios look to cut costs and move TV and film production overseas because of hefty financial incentives. The climate has been tough for many writers who have struggled to find work after enduring a 148-day strike in 2023. After the walkout, writers did secure groundbreaking protections for AI in contracts, but they are still confronting AI models ripping off their work without compensation.

As the guild gears up for contract negotiations next year, Mulroney said she plans to build on earlier gains in AI and other areas, and aims to convince the studios to pay more for WGA’s health plans amid rising healthcare costs.

“It’s going to need some support from the companies,” Mulroney said. “Their drastic pullback in production and employment led to a pretty severe industry contraction that has contributed to some strain on our funds. We’ll be looking to them to help fix that with us.”

When asked about whether she thinks there is appetite among WGA’s members for another strike, Mulroney said “it’s way too early to speculate about that.”

“It’s really hard out there in the industry for all industry workers and for many of our members, but our members have shown time and again that when they have to, when it’s necessary, we are ready to fight for the contract we deserve,” Mulroney said.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to comment, but in an earlier statement said its members look forward to working with her “to address key issues for WGA writers and to strengthen our industry with fair, balanced solutions.”

A studio-side source who was not authorized to comment said that the WGA health plan faces “complex financial challenges that require a balanced approach to align with market norms and ensure long-term stability.”

To keep costs down, studios have been moving more productions to the U.K. and other countries offering significant financial incentives, shrinking job opportunities for entertainment industry workers in Southern California. Some have had to move out of state to look for jobs.

Unions including the WGA lobbied for California to boost annual funding for its film and TV tax credit program and succeeded in raising that amount to $750 million, from $330 million.

“This was a real bright spot of good news in an otherwise really bleak and tough time for our industry,” Mulroney said in an interview last week. “Now there needs to be federal action on this, too, so we’ll continue working with our allies to try to keep production in the U.S., and specifically in Hollywood, in Southern California.”

Mulroney declined to comment on President Trump’s renewed threat to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-made films.

Another big worry for writers has been artificial intelligence. The WGA has been outspoken about wanting studios to sue AI companies that writers say are taking their scripts for training AI models without their permission. Earlier this year, studios including Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery took legal action against AI companies over copyright infringement.

“We were glad to see some of the studios come off the sidelines and file lawsuits to protect their copyright from these AI companies that are stealing our members’ work to build their models,” she said. “I think we will probably be dealing with AI and wrangling that for the rest of our lives, right?”

Mulroney, 58, ran uncontested, receiving 2,241 votes or 87% of the votes cast, according to the union. CBS series “Tracker” writer and co-executive producer Travis Donnelly became vice president, and TV comedy show “Primo” executive producer Peter Murrieta became secretary-treasurer.

Mulroney grew up in the U.K., the daughter of a factory worker and a janitor. She’s served on the union’s board of directors for four terms and as an officer for six years prior to being elected president.

Mulroney’s background was in theater and theater directing, but she had always dabbled in writing. In her 20s, she worked in development for a British TV and film studio where she read a lot of scripts, which led her to think, “Maybe I could write one of those things.”

Her first writing gig was for a PBS children’s show called “Wishbone,” about a Jack Russell terrier who imagines himself as a character in literary classics. She’s been a screenwriter for 25 years and is based in West Hollywood with her husband and writing partner, Kieran.

Mulroney succeeds Meredith Stiehm, who led the union during the 2023 strike.

Kimmel coming back on air was a parting gift to Stiehm, said Mulroney, adding that the union is still watching the situation.

“We’re still monitoring,” Mulroney said. “I somehow doubt this is the last instance we’re going to see where censorship and free speech are going to be a topic.”

If I didn’t know better, I might have thought Intermountain Power Plant was already dead.

When I visited last month, most of the desks had been torn from the administrative building, leaving behind scattered piles of boxes and office supplies. A whiteboard featured photos of dozens of newly retired employees. Perhaps most tellingly, the coal pile in the yard out back was tiny compared with my previous visit in 2022.

“Our target is to have no coal left on the floor,” said Kevin Peng, manager of external generation for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Peng was my tour guide at this hulking coal-fired power plant in central Utah, over 500 miles from the city it has powered for the last 40 years. And no, it wasn’t dead yet. One of two massive steam turbines, a General Electric unit installed in 1986, was still sending small amounts of electricity to L.A. and several other Southern California cities following a required air quality test. Soon Unit 1 would shut off, probably for the final time.

Unit 2 would carry Intermountain through its final act. At the moment it was slowly preparing to generate power, releasing puffy white steam through a small vertical pipe near the main smokestack. I stood on the roof for a few minutes near the pipe, letting water droplets fall gently on my face and reporter’s notebook.

“We create our own rain,” Peng with a smile.

Come November, the rain will cease. Same goes for the planet-warming carbon emissions. Los Angeles is closing Intermountain, a watershed moment that will mark the end of coal power in California.

The 710-foot smokestack towers over the rest of Intermountain Power Plant.

(Niki Chan Wylie / For The Times)

To hear President Trump tell it, coal is needed for economic prosperity. Just this week, his administration said it would open 13 million acres of public land to coal mining and offer $625 million in handouts to coal plant owners.

Trump & Co. — including Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fossil fuel executive, who insisted the handouts “will be vital to keeping electricity prices low and the lights on without interruption” — are battling the free market. Coal plants generated 16.2% of U.S. electricity in 2023, down from 48.5% in 2007. The main culprit? Competition from cheaper solar, wind and natural gas.

In California, just 2.2% of electricity came from coal in 2024 — nearly all of it from Intermountain. Over 60% was generated by solar panels, wind turbines and other climate-friendly sources that don’t fuel deadly wildfires, heat waves and floods. Thanks to a surge in lithium-ion batteries, there have been no power shortages since 2020.

The L.A. Department of Water and Power, meanwhile, has been making big investments in low-cost renewables, including a record-cheap solar-plus-storage plant that opened this summer. DWP has fired up Intermountain less and less, relying on the plant for 21% of the city’s power in 2019 and just 10% in 2023.

Jason Rondou, the utility’s assistant general manager for power planning and operations, said the coal plant has supplied affordable, reliable electricity for decades. But now there are better options.

“It’s come at a pretty significant external cost — the cost of the carbon emissions,” he said. “For us to move beyond that and move to a cleaner, innovative technology, I think is very exciting.”

Indeed, Los Angeles isn’t just closing Intermountain. It’s built a first-of-its-kind power plant across the street.

The new turbines are designed to burn a mix of 70% natural gas and 30% hydrogen. Although gas is a fossil fuel that exacerbates global warming, hydrogen isn’t. That mix alone is unique for a plant of this scale. But over time, as technology improves, DWP plans to transition to 100% hydrogen — an unprecedented undertaking.

The newly built gas/hydrogen power plant known as IPP Renewed, seen from the roof of the Intermountain coal plant.

(Niki Chan Wylie / For The Times)

Even better, the hydrogen will be “green,” meaning it’s made from renewable electricity rather than fossil fuels.

At times of day when DWP has extra renewable power — such as mild spring afternoons, when the sun is shining and Angelenos aren’t blasting their air conditioners — the utility can use that energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. DWP and its partners have hired a private company to store the hydrogen in giant underground salt caverns just down the road from Intermountain.

Then, when DWP needs extra power — during a heat wave months later, for instance — it can pull hydrogen from the caverns and fire up the turbines. Basically, the hydrogen will function like a long-term battery.

“It’s very different from lithium-ion [batteries],” Rondou said. “For that seasonal storage, that’s where hydrogen can really provide significant benefit.”

Among environmentalists, hydrogen is controversial. Some share DWP’s view that it’s a necessary piece of the clean energy puzzle. Others consider it a distraction from cheaper, more proven technologies, and a threat to air quality, especially in low-income communities of color. They’ve slammed DWP’s goal of eventually converting four L.A.-area gas plants to hydrogen, citing nitrogen oxide pollution and potential methane leaks.

In Utah’s Millard County, conservative local officials have embraced the newfangled technology, along with solar and wind. Unlike Trump, who has slashed hydrogen funding, they have little aversion to clean energy.

“Energy development is really important in our portfolio. And we will talk to everybody. We’re open for business,” said County Commissioner Bill Wright.

Sitting in his living room, as dogs and grandkids wandered past, Wright reflected on his rural county’s long relationship with Los Angeles. The massive tax revenues, the hundreds of jobs. The lack of local control. The fact that nearly all the power goes to California.

Wright would have liked to see DWP keep the coal plant running. But the closure has been in the works for years, so he and his neighbors have had time to adjust. He’s glad L.A. isn’t leaving town entirely — even though the new plant will be smaller, with fewer jobs and a smaller tax base.

“Absolutely, this is a better solution,” he said.

Millard County Commissioner Bill Wright poses for a portrait near Intermountain Power Plant outside Delta, Utah, on Sept. 16.

(Niki Chan Wylie / For The Times)

Wright is hopeful that the Utah Legislature will find a buyer for the coal plant, possibly a data center. One of his colleagues on the county commission, Vicki Lyman, is less optimistic. She’s worked at Intermountain for a dozen years and sees major technical and economic hurdles to restarting a mothballed power plant.

“I’m kind of excited just to see how all this technology’s going to work out,” Lyman said.

It’s still not entirely clear when DWP will start combusting hydrogen. The new plant will burn 100% gas when the coal turbines power off in November, utility officials say, because there won’t be enough hydrogen banked in the salt caverns yet. DWP is targeting the second quarter of 2026 to mix in 30% hydrogen.

For employees, DWP has tried to make the transition as painless as possible. It’s limited layoffs by not replacing retiring staffers, and by offering tuition reimbursement to anyone who chooses to go back to school.

Still, change can be bittersweet. While touring Intermountain, I bumped into plant manager Jon Finlinson, who’s worked there since 1983 and would have retired already if the gas/hydrogen units weren’t running a few months behind schedule. He professed excitement for the new facility. But when I asked him how he’d commemorate the final day of coal combustion, he offered the verbal equivalent of a shrug.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “We don’t have a plan for that yet.”

Really? After 40 years, nothing?

“It’ll be a sad day for all the people that have worked here for their whole life,” he acknowledged.

Intermountain staff member Carl Watson offers a peek into the coal furnace.

(Niki Chan Wylie / For The Times)

Technically, even after Intermountain stops sending coal power to L.A. — as well as Anaheim, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Riverside — there will still be tiny amounts of coal in California’s energy mix. A Riverside County electric cooperative imports coal from out of state, as does Berkshire Hathaway-owned Pacific Power in Northern California. In San Bernardino County, two small coal plants fuel a mining operation.

Together, those coal generators supplied less than 0.2% of the state’s electricity in 2024. (If you want to get really technical, an additional 1.5% came from “unspecified” out-of-state sources, most likely gas and coal.)

But why quibble when there’s cause for celebration? Change is never easy; no solution is perfect; there will always be caveats.

Next month, California is quitting coal. Raise a glass.

The coal pile at Intermountain Power Plant, seen on Sept. 17.

(Niki Chan Wylie / For The Times)

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here.

For more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth on X and @sammyroth.bsky.social on Bluesky.

Correction: Last week’s edition of this newsletter referred to Revolution Wind as a floating offshore wind farm. The project’s turbines are attached directly to the sea floor.

The shutdown of the U.S. government has brought work determined by the Trump administration to be “nonessential” to a halt across the country as thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and ordered not to do their jobs.

The shutdown — the first in six years — began late Tuesday and could last days if not weeks. Many employees may not return to work at all, as the White House’s Office of Management and Budget recently advised federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs in the event of a shutdown.

While much of the fallout remains to be seen, federal agencies that deal with wildfires, weather and disaster response — including the U.S. Forest Service, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency — expect to see some impacts.

Here’s what we know:

The U.S. Forest Service will shut down activities on more than 193 million acres of land across 46 states, including at least 154 national forests, according to the agency’s most recent contingency plan, published in September. Hundreds of recreational sites and facilities will be closed, while work on operations such as timber sales and restoration projects will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Forest Service — the largest federal firefighting entity in the country — will continue its work geared toward responding to and preparing for wildfires, according to the plan. However, the agency will reduce some work related to fire prevention, including prescribed burns and the treatment of vegetation to reduce fire risk.

What’s more, the shutdown will delay state grants for forest management and wildland fire preparedness; delay reimbursement for ongoing forest management work on non-federal lands; and may affect states’ ability to train firefighters and acquire necessary equipment, among other impacts, the plan says.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection works closely with the Forest Service to manage fire preparation and response. Cal Fire officials said it does not anticipate any impacts to its ability to respond to blazes, and that the agency is fully staffed.

However, effects may be seen when it comes to federal grant programs that support fire prevention work in the state. For example, private property owners in California who rely on federal funds to conduct vegetation reduction work or create defensible space on their land may have to “front the money themselves” while they await reimbursement said Jesse Torres, deputy chief of communications with Cal Fire.

“The other thing is there are a lot of unknowns,” Torres said. “We don’t know what this is going to look like — is it going to be two days, two weeks, two months?”

Other agencies that play key roles in California’s disaster response and preparation — including the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — are largely deemed essential and will face fewer interruptions, according to their contingency plans.

“We are still operating in our core mission function and providing most of our normal services,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. That includes weather forecasts and extreme weather watches and warnings.

“The things that we do for public safety will continue as normal,” Kittell said.

About 84% of FEMA employees, meanwhile, are exempt from shutdown-related furloughs, according to its plan, which provides few additional details about which operations will cease or proceed.

Officials with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said FEMA staff have advised them that they will continue to make payments for existing disaster declarations made by President Trump, but there’s no guarantee that new or additional disaster declarations or funding will be made available.

FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund — the main source of funding for response and recovery efforts following major disasters — is also running low and is not likely to be replenished during the shutdown. It requires congressional approval for additional funds.

What’s more, FEMA, the National Weather Service and the Forest Service have already been affected by significant budget cuts and layoffs this year as part of the Trump administration’s larger reorganization of the federal government, which it says will help save taxpayers money.

These agencies, including NWS’ parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have lost thousands of employees to layoffs and buyouts and have experienced reduced operations, grant cancellations and the closure of offices and research arms.

The same is true for the EPA, which has undergone staff cuts and layoffs in addition to a considerable shift in its organizational priorities. The nation’s top environmental agency has spent the last several months loosening regulations that govern air and water quality, electric vehicle initiatives, pollution monitoring and greenhouse gas reporting, among other changes.

Experts said the shutdown could further weaken the EPA’s capabilities, as nearly all of its employees — about 90% — will be furloughed. While the EPA’s imminent disaster response work will continue, such as work on oil spills and chemical releases, longer-term efforts including research projects and facility inspections will halt, according to the agency.

Meanwhile, H.D. Palmer, a spokesman with the California Department of Finance, said impacts to the California EPA’s environmental programs should be minimal if the shutdown is brief, but that problems could arise if it drags on long enough to create backlogs and funding lapses.

The average length of government shutdowns over the last 50 years was seven days, Palmer said. However, he noted that the most recent federal shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019 — during Trump’s first term — lasted 35 days.

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Why I park my $25K in an HYSA

I keep about $25,000 in emergency funds and short-term savings. This is the cash I’d tap if my car breaks down, a medical bill pops up, or I want to book a family trip. I need it safe, liquid, and ready to go.

That’s exactly what an HYSA is built for. It’s federally insured (FDIC insurance up to $250,000), so my money is protected even if the bank itself fails. At the same time, it’s still earning me hundreds each year in interest.

Another thing I love: my HYSA doesn’t nickel-and-dime me. I pay no monthly fees, there’s no minimum balance requirements, and no hidden charges. It’s the opposite of my old big-bank account, where I felt like I was paying them just for the privilege of parking my cash there.

And the tech is better, too. The app is clean, transfers are quick, and my cash is back in my checking account within a day or two if I need it.

Bottom line

When you see the numbers side by side, it’s hard to justify leaving big chunks of money in a traditional savings or checking account.

Whether you’ve got $25,000 or even just $1,000, high-yield savings accounts are one of the easiest wins in personal finance.

Stop earning pennies and start earning hundreds. Check out the best high-yield savings accounts today and see how much your cash could earn.

Seventeen days. That’s how much longer Social Security beneficiaries must wait to find out how big their “raise” will be in 2026.

The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) countdown is about to kick into overdrive. But you don’t have to sit on pins and needles in anticipation of the official COLA announcement on Oct. 15, 2025, to have a pretty good feel for what the increase will be.

Image source: Getty Images.

The best COLA prediction right now

If you want to know how big of a Social Security benefit increase to expect, probably the best place to turn is The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). This nonprofit organization has advocated for seniors since 1992, initially as part of The Retired Enlisted Association and then as an independent entity beginning in 1994.

TSCL developed a sophisticated statistical model that projects the next Social Security COLA. This model is updated monthly. It incorporates inflation and unemployment data, as well as the interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

Earlier this month, TSCL announced its final prediction for the 2026 Social Security COLA. The organization projects an increase of 2.7%, a little higher than the 2.5% COLA given in 2025. It’s also slightly above the average benefit adjustment over the last 20 years of 2.6%.

How much additional money will this COLA give retirees? It depends on your current benefit amount, of course. However, the average increase will be $54 per month if TSCL’s model is right.

What could change by Oct. 15?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) already has most of the data it needs to calculate next year’s COLA. It will receive the last piece on Oct. 15 when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases its inflation numbers for September.

SSA doesn’t use the most widely followed inflation metric in the BLS report, the Consumer Price Index. Instead, the agency bases the annual Social Security COLA on a different statistic — the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). As its name indicates, this index measures how much prices have increased for blue-collar workers in urban areas.

The COLA is calculated by determining the percentage increase (if any) between the CPI-W for the third quarter of the current year and the CPI-W in the third quarter of the previous year. SSA only needs to plug in the CPI-W for September to crunch the numbers.

Could the actual 2026 COLA that will be announced on Oct. 15 differ from the 2.7% predicted by TSCL? Absolutely. Inflation could be higher in September than anticipated, perhaps due to the impact of tariffs making their way through the U.S. economy. On the other hand, the effects of tariffs could be more muted than TSCL’s model projects, resulting in a lower COLA. Either way, TSCL’s projected number will probably be close to the actual 2026 COLA.

One “gotcha”

Retirees shouldn’t count on having an additional 2.7%, give or take a couple of percentage points, reach their bank accounts, though. There’s one “gotcha” that will likely reduce how much extra money you’ll receive.

Most retirees ages 65 and older have their Medicare premiums automatically deducted from their monthly Social Security benefit payments. Unfortunately, your Medicare Part B premiums will almost certainly be much higher than the expected 2.7% Social Security increase.

The Medicare Trustees project that Part B premiums will rise by 11.6%. This translates to an extra expense of $21.50, enough to wipe out much of the average retiree COLA of $54. The annual Medicare Part B deductible will also likely jump by $31 to $288 next year.

The countdown is on for finding out the exact amounts for the 2026 Medicare Part B premiums and deductibles, too. While the numbers will probably be announced in October, retirees might not learn how their pocketbooks will be impacted as soon as they learn what their Social Security COLA will be.

With other tech giants sparring over consumer chatbots, IBM (IBM 1.22%) is quietly positioning itself to dominate a different artificial intelligence (AI) battlefield: the enterprise segment.

The centennial tech titan might seem like an unlikely AI winner, but there’s one key factor that could make IBM the surprise star of the artificial intelligence revolution. IBM’s AI solutions are tailor-made for large corporations.

Image source: Getty Images.

IBM’s secret weapon: Enterprise-class AI

The watsonx platform for generative AI services isn’t trying to write your poetry or plan your vacation. Instead, it’s helping Fortune 500 companies deploy AI with strict attention to data security and regulatory requirements. Combined with Red Hat’s OpenShift platform — IBM’s $34 billion acquisition from 2019 that’s now paying proverbial dividends — the company offers something unique: AI that works within existing enterprise infrastructure.

This isn’t just theory. Banks are using IBM’s watsonx to detect fraud while maintaining compliance with financial regulations. Healthcare systems are deploying IBM’s AI to analyze patient data without violating patient privacy regulations.

It’s all done with auditable data flows. Sure, watsonx will hallucinate from time to time, like any other system based on large language models (LLMs). But when it does, you’ll be able to trace the error back to its original inspiration.

Meanwhile, IBM’s consulting arm helps these enterprises make use of AI solutions. This unique focus on support services creates sticky, long-term business relationships.

The big blue numbers tell the story

IBM’s AI-based Automation segment grew 14% year over year in Q2 2025, while Red Hat revenue continues its double-digit revenue expansion. The enterprise AI market is projected to reach $600 billion by 2028, and IBM is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.

Unlike consumer AI companies burning cash on compute costs, IBM’s enterprise focus means higher margins and predictable revenue streams. While others chase the next viral chatbot, IBM is selling the picks and shovels of the enterprise AI gold rush — and that’s exactly why it will thrive. Buying IBM stock today should set you up for robust AI-boom gains.

As world leaders talked about acting against Israel at the UN General Assembly, more than 360 Palestinians in Gaza were killed, with many more injured, starved and displaced by the ongoing genocide. Israel has killed 66,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

One of the joys of living in California is that you’re never too far away from a great meal.

And the variety of Mexican and Salvadoran cuisine throughout the Golden State is unsurpassed.

Once again, our friends on the LA Times Food team have released a well-researched and delicious list to confirm California’s status as a national food mecca.

Critic Bill Addison spent more than a year traveling throughout the state, tasting and compiling selections for the 101 Best Restaurants in California guide.

In his latest article, he’s highlighted 15 of the best Mexican and Salvadoran spots throughout the Golden State, highlighting popular haunts and hidden gems.

Look, this doesn’t have to be a tacos-versus-pupusas debate (sorry, Brad Pitt is correct). We can enjoy both and other plates on this list.

Here’s a few recommendations from Addison’s guide.

(Bill Addison/Los Angeles Times)

El Molino Central (Sonoma)

A molino is the specific mill used to grind nixtamalized corn into masa, which has been the focus of Karen Taylor’s businesses for decades.

In 1991, Taylor started Primavera, a Bay Area wholesale operation built around tamales and tortillas, and a name under which she sells life-giving chilaquiles for breakfast on Saturday mornings at San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza farmers market.

Nearly 20 years later, she translated what she’s learned about fresh masa into a tiny restaurant in the Boyes Hot Springs section of Sonoma County.

A portion of the menu flows with the seasons: in the summer, light-handed sopes filled with chicken tinga and chile rellenos filled with epazote-scented creamed corn arrive; winter is for butternut squash and caramelized onion enchiladas; and spring brings lamb barbacoa tacos over thick, fragrant tortillas.

Among perennials, look for the chicken tamale steamed in banana leaves and covered in chef Zoraida Juarez’s mother’s recipe for mole — hers is the color of red clay, hitting the palate sweet before its many toasted spices and chiles slowly reveal their flavors.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Popoca (Oakland)

At the most visionary Salvadoran restaurant in California, Anthony Salguero refashions his culture’s version of the beverage chicha, fermented with corn and pineapple, into a sticky, intricately sour-sweet glaze for grilled and braised chicken.

He shaves cured, smoked egg yolk over herbed guacamole as a play on the boiled eggs that often accompany Salvadoran-style guac. He serves a half Dungeness crab with tools to extract the meat and a side of alguashte, an earthy seasoning of toasted pepitas, to accentuate the crab’s sweetness.

Nicaraguan chancho con yuca, a slow-cooked pork stew, is the inspiration for a walloping pork chop marinated in achiote, grilled above glowing almond logs and poised at an angle, like a rakishly worn hat, over braised yuca and red cabbage.

Salguero ran the eatery Popoca as a pandemic-era pop-up in Oakland before finding a more permanent home (brick walls, pale wood floors, shadowed lighting) in the city’s downtown. While he focuses on reimagining the traditions and possibilities of Salvadoran cooking, he doesn’t abandon El Salvador’s national dish: The pupusas are exceptional, made from several versions of masa using corn he buys from Mexico City-based Tamoa.

(Ron De Angelis/For The Times)

Barbacoa Ramirez (Arleta)

Lamb barbacoa — when cooked properly for hours to buttery-ropy tenderness — is such a painstaking art that most practitioners in Southern California sell it only on the weekends.

In the Los Angeles area, conversations around sublime lamb barbacoa should start up in the north San Fernando Valley, at the stand that Gonzalo Ramirez sets up on Saturday and Sunday mornings near the Arleta DMV. You’ll see him and his family wearing red T-shirts that say “Atotonilco El Grande Hidalgo” to honor their hometown in central-eastern Mexico.

Ramirez tends and butchers lambs in the Central Valley. The meat slow-cooks in a pit overnight and, cradled in plush made-to-order tortillas, the tacos come in three forms: smoky, molten-textured barbacoa barely hinting of garlic; a pancita variation stained with chiles that goes fast; and incredible moronga, a nubbly, herbaceous sausage made with lamb’s blood.

Join the line (if it’s long, someone usually hands out samples to encourage patience) and then find a place at the communal outdoor table. Worried that options might run out, Addison said he tends to arrive before 9 a.m., an hour when Ramirez’s rare craftsmanship often inspires a mood where people sit quietly, holding their tacos as something sacred.

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XRP (XRP -0.18%), the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has been one of the more popular cryptocurrencies in the market since Donald Trump was elected president last November, and it has benefited immensely from the administration’s pro-crypto policies. When the administration installed a new leader at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC eventually dropped an appeal in a long-standing lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind XRP.

That removed an overhang on XRP and allowed the company to move forward with its plans for a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), and the expansion of the Ripple ecosystem, which XRP plays a key role in.

Image source: Getty Images.

The technical strength of XRP’s network also may allow it to disrupt international payments. Ripple continues to bridge the gap between mainstream financial institutions/institutional traders and the crypto world. The mainstream players are now more likely to try new things with fewer regulatory risks.

Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has said he thinks that XRP could steal significant volume from SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. Financial institutions use this messaging system globally to send payment instructions to one another. Cryptocurrencies like XRP could provide banks with instant liquidity, allowing them to hold fewer reserves and pre-fund fewer international accounts, providing them with more liquidity and capital flexibility of their own.

If you’d invested $500 in XRP five years ago

Due to XRP’s technical strength, ties to Ripple, and the end of the SEC lawsuit, XRP has been a big winner for investors who saw the opportunity five years ago and managed, perhaps, to invest just $500.

XRP Price data by YCharts

As you can see above, a $500 investment in XRP five years ago would be worth over $5,850 today for a total return of over 1,000%. Consider that the broader benchmark S&P 500 index has returned over 100% in the past five years, which is quite strong, but still not nearly as good as XRP’s performance.