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At the start of September, the 119-year-old Clementon Lake Park and Splash World amusement park announced that it would close down after one last summer season.

New Jersey assemblyman and Civil War veteran Theodore B. Gibbs and his sons built what would grow into the longstanding amusement and water park in 1907 to drive tourist dollars toward the Philadelphia suburb of Clementon.

Switching hands and going through multiple iterations over the last century, the theme park eventually ran into financial troubles common to many smaller theme parks that struggle with operating costs and the need to continuously invest in ride infrastructure while also drawing in enough traffic. In 2019, Clementon Lake Park closed down to the public for two years after the company defaulted on a $4.5 billion loan from TD Bank.

Clementon Lake Park and Splash World hits auction block in New Jersey

While the park reopened in 2021 after being bought by current owners IB Parks & Entertainment, its finances eventually reached a point where keeping it open became unsustainable. The park closed down permanently on September 7 and, this week, appeared on a local auction marketplace to be sold to the highest bidder.

The bidding will begin on Oct. 19 and start at $1.5 million. Matthew Reis of RealINSIGHT Marketplace is the broker representing the amusement park in the auction.

Related: Another 119-year-old American theme park closes forever

“Clementon Park & Splash World is a 45+ acre operating amusement and water park fronting Berlin Road in Camden County, the most populous county in Southern New Jersey,” the description of the auction item reads. “Clementon Park & Splash World has more than 110 years of operating history and has been a staple of the local community for generations. The site includes the approximately 23-acre private Clementon Lake and has received numerous upgrades throughout its ownership history.”

The amusement park was expanded significantly in the 1920s with what were then state-of-the-art rides. A fire nearly destroyed the entire site in 1931 while the Splash World water park section was added in July 1993 following a $5 million renovation to modernize the park for the 1990s.

Clementon Park and Splash World opened in southern New Jersey in 1907.Clementon Park and Splash World

What else to know about the Clementon Lake Park auction

The description goes on to say that the buyer could buy the lot as a business opportunity and keep the park operating or tear it down and use the lot for new development such as a hotel or housing tower.

The current owners previously expressed hope that, given the park’s historical significance to the region, a buyer who wants to keep Clementon Lake Park open will surface.

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“It has been a privilege to care for a place that has meant so much to generations of families,” park management wrote in a farewell Facebook post at the end of last summer. “We are hopeful that we will find a buyer who shares our love for Clementon Park and will carry its history and legacy forward.”

Clementon Lake Park is among a string of regional theme and amusement parks that are closing this year due to a double whammy of high operating costs and dropping attendance.

Related: Unusual theme park closing forever in 2026

Paychecks have a price. You pay for the first one with 40 hours a week and a commute.

Very few people ever add up what the second paycheck costs.

For most of the past decade, the answer to money stress sounded simple: Work more.

The 2010s turned the side gig into a badge of honor. Social feeds filled with 5 a.m. routines, “boss” mindsets and the promise that one more income stream would finally put you ahead.

You probably know someone who drives rideshare after a full workday. Maybe that someone is you.

Weekend delivery runs, freelance projects and online resale shops all make the same promise. Stack enough of them, and you will never have to depend on a single employer again.

The logic feels airtight. More hours should mean more money, and more money should mean more security.

One of personal finance’s most-followed voices says the math often runs the other way.

Vivian Tu, the former JPMorgan trader who built a 10 million-follower audience as Your Rich BFF, argues that hustle culture charges you a fee you never see on a bill.

She calls it the burnout tax. And if you are stacking gigs to get ahead, it may already be eating into what you earn.

Vivian Tu says the grind raises your spending and slows your career growth.Amanda Stronza / Getty Images

Why a second income is now the norm for workers

Extra income is no longer a niche habit. Nearly three-quarters of people with a regular job now depend on at least one secondary source of income, according to a MyPerfectResume survey of 1,000 U.S. workers reported by Moneywise.

That 72% figure needs context. Only 4% of respondents said the extra money comes from a second job, while 14% pointed to freelance or gig work and another 14% to investments.

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The payoff from classic side hustles is thinner than the hype. Bankrate found that 27% of U.S. adults had a side hustle in 2025, down from 36% in 2024.

The typical side hustler earned a median of just $200 a month. Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman credited a strong job market and cooling inflation for the drop in participation.

That $200 matters for everything that follows. It is the number your side hustle has to beat after every hidden cost it creates.

How burnout tax eats into side hustle earnings

Tu put a name to those hidden costs on her Networth & Chill podcast episode “Is Hustle Culture Dead? Gen Z’s Smartest Money Move,” published Sept. 2 on YouTube.

“Burnout tax is real and it hits your wallet hard,” she said.

Her argument is straightforward. Add eight hours of side work to a full-time week, and the time for cooking, laundry, commuting and sleep has to come from somewhere.

Related: Lowe’s wants your kid to skip college for a six-figure job

So you order DoorDash (DASH), call a rideshare and send out the laundry. By Tu’s estimate, a relatively cheap weekly routine ends up costing at least double.

Survey data shows how normal that convenience spending has become. A FinanceBuzz survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted with Bank of America (BAC) in August 2026, found:

63% of Americans get food delivered at least once a month

72% of Gen Z orders delivery monthly, versus 47% of baby boomers

Gen Z averages 5.1 takeout meals a month, about double the boomer rate of 2.5

45% of Gen Z respondents felt embarrassed by how much they spend on delivery

Convenience memberships cost the average American $264 a year

Here’s what that looks like in dollars. Say a busy week pushes you to swap three home-cooked dinners for $20 delivery orders that would have cost $6 to make.

That is $42 a week, or $2,184 a year. It nearly wipes out the $2,400 a median side hustle earns over 12 months.

The long-term price of chasing short-term cash

Tu’s bigger worry is what you give up. Every spare hour spent on gig work is an hour not spent on new skills, networking or a promotion in your primary career.

“It’s like choosing the immediate $50 now over the potential $500 down the road,” she said.

Stacked gigs also bring income swings. Tu recalled the anxiety of her early days running Your Rich BFF full-time, when one month brought in nothing.

“I had a month where I did not make a single dollar,” she said.

Uneven pay makes it harder to budget, save on a schedule or qualify for a mortgage, since lenders want to see stable income.

I know that rhythm well. As a freelance journalist writing for several outlets, my income arrives in lumps, and a late invoice can throw off an entire month.

Tu’s approach for irregular earners is to budget across a full year. She spreads the money from strong months over all 12, so a slow quarter does not become a crisis.

Gen Z is walking away from the grind

Tu sees a generation opting out of the hustle script entirely. Many young workers are “just quitting the game because they don’t think there’s anything to win,” she said.

The engagement numbers back her up. Just 31% of U.S. employees were engaged at work in 2025, and engagement among Gen Z and younger millennials fell to 32% from 40% in 2020, Gallup reported.

The entry-level job market isn’t helping. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates stayed elevated at about 5.6% through the second quarter of 2026, with underemployment edging up to 42%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In my analysis, many young workers are making a cold-eyed bet. When more hours no longer buy a noticeably better life, protecting your time becomes a financial decision.

Where your savings can earn more than overtime

Tu’s alternative starts where you already work. “You should always, always, always be asking for more money,” she said.

She suggests keeping a running file of your wins through the year, such as a product launch or a process you sped up, to build your case before review season. Union members, she noted, usually negotiate raises through their bargaining committee.

Next, check what your cash is earning. Tu cited a 0.32% rate at traditional banks, and the latest national average is 0.37% as of September 2026, according to FDIC data published by the St. Louis Fed.

Top online accounts pay far more. The best high-yield savings accounts tracked by The College Investor paid up to 4.15% APY as of Sept. 21.

Those rates got fresh support on Sept. 16, when the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4%.

On $10,000, a 0.37% account pays about $37 in a year. At 4.10%, the same money earns about $410, and that extra $373 arrives without a single extra shift.

Tu also flagged a costly mistake. Money you put into an IRA or 401(k) can sit in cash if you never pick investments, so check that your contributions are actually invested.

She called health savings accounts a triple tax advantage, since contributions, growth and qualified medical withdrawals can all avoid tax. For 2026, the IRS caps HSA contributions at $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage.

Tu is also chief of financial empowerment at SoFi Technologies (SOFI), which offers savings and investing accounts, according to the Associated Press.

What a sustainable money plan looks like now

None of this means you should turn down extra work. If a second job is covering rent, Tu said plainly that she isn’t knocking it.

The question is whether your hustle still pays after the burnout tax. If your side income is shrinking under delivery fees, missed promotions and idle cash, the smarter move may be fewer hours and better-placed dollars.

“Work should be challenging, not hard,” Tu said.

Rates are rising, and the entry-level job market is tight. That makes the next raise you ask for, and the next dollar you move into a 4% account, some of the most valuable work you will do this year.

Related: Vivian Tu’s IPO warning lands as SpaceX buyers split by $1,851

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Why we love this deal

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but they’re not always a friend to your wallet. As much as we think everyone deserves something that sparkles the way diamonds do, quality pieces usually become a long-waiting wishlist item that many can’t afford to splurge on. But for those who don’t want to spend years pining after a pair of diamond earrings or lusting after a truly stunning diamond bracelet, there are great sales every once in a while that give you the chance to score your sought-after pieces — and Macy’s has an amazing one going on right now. 

For a limited time, the Macy’s Diamond Baguette Cluster Pendant Necklace is on sale 71% off. That means you can score the dazzling piece, which usually retails for $699, for just $200. 

Macy’s Diamond Baguette Cluster Pendant Necklace, $200 (was $699) at Macy’s

Courtesy of Macy’s

Shop at Macy’s

Why do shoppers love it?

Diamonds always make a statement, but this pendant necklace takes it to a whole new level. The sterling silver chain, which measures approximately 18 inches long, has a dangling pendant that features a cluster of diamonds in the center. The necklace has round and baguette diamonds arranged in a round, circular pattern, with an additional border of diamonds around it, which comes together and meets at the top of the charm. All together, the weight of the diamonds equals ½ carat, and they have a color rating of I-J, indicating they are nearly colorless. Although the diamonds are on the smaller side, clustered together, the necklace still catches the eye and adds a strong sparkle to any outfit it’s paired with. 

The pendant itself has a drop measuring ⅔ of an inch, meaning it hangs quite close to the chain with little room in between. It fastens with a spring ring clasp, which feels lightweight and is ideal for lightweight chains and more delicate jewelry pieces. It also gives it a more classic look. 

Related: Walmart’s Swarovski hoop earrings with over 24,000 5-star ratings is 50% off

Since every piece of jewelry should sparkle and shine, when the necklace does get dirty or loses some of its sheen, take it to a local participating Macy’s for a free in-store jewelry cleaning. 

Details to know

Material: Sterling silver.

Carat: ½. 

Chain Length: Approximately 18 inches.  

Pendant drop: ⅔ inch. 

Closure: Spring ring clasp.  

Shoppers love the elegant design of this necklace and appreciate that it’s dainty yet still catches the eye and is noticeable to others. “This necklace exceeded my expectations,” one shopper said. Another said they get “so many compliments” on it when they wear it. It’s a great piece for a great price, and shoppers are very pleased with how it looks. 

Shop more deals 

Macy’s Gemstone and Diamond Accent Birthstone Drop Earrings, $250 at Macy’s

Macy’s Diamond Cross Pendant Necklace, $135 at Macy’s

Quality jewelry doesn’t have to be super expensive, and great sales like this one on the Macy’s Diamond Baguette Cluster Pendant Necklace for 71% off prove that. 

Goldman Sachs’ board spent months mapping out a leadership transition, and the blueprint centered on one executive who has been waiting for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) John Waldron would succeed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Solomon as early as late 2027 under the board’s plan. That handoff has stalled because Solomon told senior executives he plans to remain as chief executive for a while. 

Tony Fratto, Partner and Global Head of Communications of Goldman Sachs, disputed the framing, telling the Journal that Solomon has never indicated a timeline for his departure.

Both executives hold identical $80 million restricted stock awards that do not vest until January 2030, locking them in place while the succession question lingers, Goldman Sachs Form 8-K filing showed. 

The standoff raises a key question: who will lead the bank, and when? Mike Mayo, Wells Fargo Securities’ head of U.S. large-cap bank research, flagged the issue in a research note reported by TipRanks.

Also Read: Goldman Sachs CEO offers surprising new take on U.S. economy

Goldman Sachs’s board planned a Waldron takeover that Solomon put on hold

The succession blueprint, detailed in the Wall Street Journal, centered on naming Waldron chief executive by late 2027 or during 2028. Solomon would shift to the executive chairman role for a year or two while Waldron took operational control.

Margot McShane, co-leader of the Global Board and CEO Advisory Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, told Fortune that transitions from chief executive to executive chairman only succeed when the departing leader keeps personal ambitions in check.

The watch-outs are that this only works when the outgoing CEO becoming an executive chair has their ego in check

Waldron’s appointment to Goldman’s board of directors in February 2025 reinforced that plan and his standing as the presumptive next leader, Goldman Sachs announced. 

“It does appear that firmer succession planning is underway,” Stephen Biggar, Product Strategy and Director of Financial Services Research at Argus Research, told Reuters.

Solomon’s decision to signal he wants to stay has undercut that momentum, and Waldron remains in the number-two role after eight years, according to Goldman’s 2025 filing. 

Goldman’s record earnings make it harder to replace Solomon

Goldman under Solomon has posted consecutive record earnings and a fourfold stock increase, results that analysts say weaken the case for a near-term leadership change, Banking Dive reported.

The bank reported $14.28 billion in net earnings and $53.51 billion in net revenues for the full year 2024, its second-highest results on record, according to Goldman Sachs 2024 earnings results.

Record revenues in equities, investment banking fees, and management fees powered those results, while assets under supervision reached $3.14 trillion by year-end.

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Goldman shares traded at approximately $232.05 when Solomon became chief executive in October 2018, Fortune reported at the time.

Mayo has been among the most vocal observers of Goldman’s leadership dynamics during Solomon’s tenure. The board remained firmly behind Solomon, and the chief executive would likely stay “for at least the medium term,” Mayo said in a Wells Fargo research note reported by TipRanks. 

Goldman’s record earnings under Solomon give the board what Mayo called a clear reason to maintain the current leadership structure well beyond the original transition window.

Waldron still has no public timeline for taking on the top job, despite being widely viewed as the expected successor since Solomon took over, Banking Dive reported.

Goldman Sachs has delivered strong earnings and major stock gains under David Solomon, complicating speculation about when leadership could eventually change.Bloomberg / Getty Images

The Carlyle courtship showed Waldron’s patience had limits

Waldron nearly left Goldman once before, and that near-departure makes the current waiting game far more precarious for the board. 

Carlyle Group approached Waldron in 2022 about becoming its Chief Executive Officer after Kewsong Lee stepped down, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Waldron informed Solomon of the discussions and was persuaded to stay, with senior figures reportedly suggesting that the path to chief executive remained open. 

Carlyle ultimately hired Harvey Schwartz, former Goldman President and Co-chief Operating Officer, for the top job, and Waldron remained at Goldman in his current position, Fox Business reported.

Solomon also received approximately $30 million and Waldron $20 million in restricted stock grants in October 2021, Banking Dive reported.

What investors are watching for clarity on Goldman’s succession

Whether Waldron will continue waiting while Solomon holds the top job is the central variable for investors tracking Goldman’s leadership stability, Mayo’s analysis indicated. 

The succession plan, the Wall Street Journal reported, remains unresolved, and board support for Solomon does not guarantee Waldron will stay patient through the decade.

The Board granted both retention packages to “help ensure stability and continuity in our senior leadership over the next five years and maintain a strong succession plan for the future of the firm,” the Form 8-K filing stated. 

Goldman’s next proxy filing in early 2027 could determine whether the board formalizes Solomon’s departure or accepts the growing risk of losing Waldron, Mayo indicated.

Related: Goldman Sachs sends a confident signal

Walmart’s CEO has promised that his chain won’t use dynamic or surveillance pricing.

“Dynamic pricing is a strategy that adjusts prices in real time based on demand, inventory, competitor actions, and other market signals,” according to Salesforce.

Instead of using fixed price lists, teams rely on connected data and automation to recommend or update prices as conditions shift. This helps businesses capture higher margins during peak demand, respond quickly to competitors, and avoid losses when sales slow or inventory builds.

Dynamic pricing can change prices based on market conditions such as demand or inventory. Surveillance pricing goes further by using information about individual consumers or groups to influence the price or discount they see.

It’s a strategy consumers thought Walmart was moving toward when it launched Digital Shelf Tags, which allow the chain to quickly change prices on items. Walmart CEO John Furner, however, has promised it won’t do that.

That’s an interesting story, and one TheStreet published on Sept. 28, but it’s only part of what consumers should be watching. The real story lies in what Apple, Kroger, and Amazon are (and aren’t) saying.

Walmart makes a pricing promise

Walmart CEO John Furner tried to cut off any customer concerns by issuing an open letter. He was blunt in his commitment to what Walmart calls everyday low prices (EDLP).

“Prices can change. We lower them when we can pass savings along. Sometimes they rise because an item costs more to buy or transport. But using someone’s income, shopping history or moment of need to charge them more would violate the EDLP promise our business model is built on. We won’t do it,” he wrote.

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that Furner needed to publicly comment.

“Digital shelf labels make Walmart faster and more efficient, but consumers worry that faster price changes mean somebody is figuring out how much more they can charge them. Walmart drawing a clear line between using technology to run the store better and using it to price the individual shopper is important,” he told TheStreet.

Rivals, to varying degrees, do use pricing that essentially charges more or less for the same items:

Kroger: Kroger collects data on its customers, uses that data to make educated guesses about their interests, needs, and habits, and then tailors promotions and discounts accordingly, according to Consumer Reports.Kroger, it should be noted, believes that “personalized discounts aren’t prices,” according to the same article.

The FTC’s eight-page statement “is the clearest stance the federal government has taken on personalized pricing, which is under scrutiny after numerous reports and investigations, including some by Consumer Reports, found that companies like Home Depot, Instacart, Kroger, Target, Uber, and Lyft charge different customers different prices for essentially the same products and services,” added Consumer Reports.Home Depot and Target have also both denied using surveillance pricing.

“Consumer Reports has spent the past year investigating personalized pricing in retail. We found Instacart running price experiments on unsuspecting shoppers at major grocery chains; Kroger, the nation’s second largest grocer, using its free loyalty program to personalize promotions and discounts; and Uber and Lyft using complex algorithms to offer different prices for the same ride at about the same time,” the consumer watchdog reported.

The price of a Big Mac can vary by location.Shutterstock

McDonald’s uses AI pricing for food

McDonald’s is using surveillance pricing.

The home of the Big Mac has been pushing franchise operators to use an AI-powered algorithm that analyzes data across McDonald’s 14,000 restaurants to estimate “customer willingness to pay in your area,” according to a Reuters report.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s argued that the Reuters report was misleading, since the AI algorithm does not set prices in real time but merely suggests prices to franchisees, who make their own decisions.

“These speculative and uninformed claims attempt to recast a standard business practice as something controversial. AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item,” the spokesperson told The New York Post.

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McDonald’s said that the practice is common.

“The use of pricing recommendation tools and analytics is widespread across industries,” he added. “The pricing portal is a tool, not a mandate, designed to provide restaurant-specific recommendations to help franchisees deliver value for customers and make informed business decisions.”

Retailers are using different prices for different people

As a consumer, I accept that a Big Mac costs more at a rest stop or an airport because those locations generally have higher operating costs. I’m not thrilled at the idea that McDonald’s, or any other company, can use AI to determine that it can get away with charging me more.

In January, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the preliminary findings of a study looking into the pricing practice.

“Researchers looked at how companies like data brokers and credit providers use surveillance pricing services to build a profile about you that’s sold to retailers and how that information can help them set your price,” reported WPXI 11 News.

Alan Mislove, a data privacy expert at Northeastern University in Boston, worked on the study.

“Consumers think this is very unfair,” Mislove told the news station. “They feel like they’re getting ripped off.”

Related: Even Costco can’t fix this growing pricing problem

In this episode, we sit down with Shivant Shrestha of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy to explore the new AI-powered methodology behind the latest Million Dollar List.

Transcript:

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Well, Shivant, it’s great to see you.

Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Thank you for having me.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Really appreciate you coming on, and like I told you before in the green room, I’m always excited to talk about charity. I think charitable donations, and I think Americans are some of the most charitable people. We’re gonna talk in detail about the study, but before, and the work that you all did, but before we get into it, let’s talk about the School of Philanthropy and also the meat and potatoes about the research.

How did you perform it, and who sponsored it?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

So, the research project is called the MDL, or the Million Dollar List. It’s compiled by the Indiana University, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, who are at work, and it documents publicly announced gifts of $1 million or more. So, while it’s not a comprehensive record of all million dollar plus gifts, it is the nation’s most complete dataset on donation level giving of $1 million or more.

This particular report was sponsored by the Gates Foundation, and we conducted this research with the help of a new AI-assisted methodology. So, artificial intelligence helped collect, scrape, and sort the data from publicly available sources online, media sources, articles, various other sources online.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, so before we get into, I’m very curious about the artificial intelligence or super intelligence, depending on who you talk to. We don’t want to go down that road, but I’m interested, how did artificial intelligence help you and the team? Did it speed up the going through the data?

How was it meaningful in terms of the research you provided?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Sure. So, before this phase of the research, this research covers 2021 to 2023. Back then, the million dollar list data was compiled from IRS Form 990s, media reports, and it was all researched by the school through humans.

So, historically, the data was collected through the researchers at the school, reviewed news articles, press releases, issued by donors and recipients, and other manually entered relevant information into the database. So, while this was still effective, this approach required significant time and human resources and was still not able to capture the full picture due to the limited scope of media coverage or just the time requirements on our researchers. So, starting with this new data, the data collection was modernized through the use of an AI-driven model.

So, it not only sped up the initial data collection process from these sources, the AI was able to broaden and expand the search for these sources, but it also helped track maybe other sources that humans could not have tracked because the internet has grown, there’s just so much information out there.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I mean, without getting into the details, I think it would actually make the information, the study probably more accurate. So, I applaud you for doing that. And of course, someone is doing the checking, right?

I mean, you don’t just do it and just take it for granted, you have to actually go through and validate and plug it into your own way of actually conducting the research. Let’s talk about some of the key takeaways here. I thought this was really interesting.

First of all, a million dollar donation, that’s pretty generous and it’s very sizable. About how many donations are we talking about here? I mean, the number of, what’s the number that we’re talking about here?

Is it in the tens of thousands, hundreds? What are we talking about?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

From 2021 to 2023, the million dollar list recorded 6,003 donations of a million dollars or above, which amounted to around a total of $109 billion for those three years. So, you’re looking at quite a sizable amount.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I was gonna say that’s not a small chunk of change. What types of organizations or what types of, these are all individuals, right? But what, these are obviously people that are, I guess, have the resources to do this.

Where are they allocating their monies? Is it in research and technology? Is it in medical research?

Do you have an idea of where people are making their donations? I’m sure they have lots of different interests.

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Sure, so actually the million dollar list captures donations from four different sources. Individuals, foundations, so charitable foundations, whether that’s private foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations, and also corporations. So, major corporations, but also businesses, different forms of them.

Finally, we have another category called other, which is new forms of philanthropy. So, it might be a pooled funds or intermediaries. So, people giving their money to these organizations that are then directing their resources to others as they see fit.

And, but you’re right, individual donors. So, families, individuals in the US constituted the largest source of million dollar plus giving, giving a total of 48.5 billion across over 2,500 gifts during the three years.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Okay, so that’s, I guess, the GDP of a small country. That’s pretty powerful, you know, anecdotally, of course. But I think it, what is your takeaway from the study?

I mean, is it that Americans continue to be very charitable, especially maybe more affluent Americans giving back into areas of interest? What are some of the key takeaways here?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Sure, so I think I’ll break this down in two different points. So, going back to your earlier questions, most of this giving was directed to a sector called human services. So, this would include food banks, emergency services, shelters, different other kinds of services provided in the community and society.

And they receive both the, human services receive both the largest number of gifts, around 1,300 gifts, and also the highest value of them. So, around $23 billion, which was followed by public and societal benefit, and then by higher education. So, that’s one of the big key takeaways that the sub-sectors that we’re seeing, it aligns with other broader research conducted by the school, that these are the sub-sectors receiving kind of the bulk of the charitable giving in the US.

And the second point, which you pointed out again, is that, yes, affluent Americans give, are very generous, but we’re seeing this phenomenon called dollars up, donors down, which means that on average, American households are donating less, but the households that are giving, are giving more.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Okay, and so how does that, and I know this, maybe this is kind of, not aligned directly with the topic, but how does this information instruct not-for-profit organizations, or does it? Does it provide, to your last point, does this help them, these not-for-profits kind of frame their ask? Because I would think you want these big donations, but you probably also want smaller donations.

It all adds up, it’s all helpful. So how can, are not-for-profits using, or leveraging this information to streamline how they ask for donations?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

So the Million Dollar List has proven to be a valuable resource for several audiences. So fundraisers and nonprofit professionals are using it for prospect research, to identify donors, to identify affluent Americans who like to support certain causes maybe, or are just broad donors who want their funds to go towards supporting different organizations and different causes. It also helps academics and researchers in the academic space study trends in major philanthropy.

It gives journalists and the general public free access to a record of charitable donations. So it’s being used in many different ways, but certainly nonprofit professionals and nonprofit organizations can use this information to identify donors, understand what kind of trends are ongoing, to see maybe which donors are giving to certain causes, how are they giving, also the timeline. So this report looks at a pivotal time in American history, the world history, actually, 2021 to 2023.

We were facing, we were in the middle of an ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. There was significant economic and socioeconomic disruption. So it tells us how donors were responding at that particular time, where they wanted their funds to go to support certain causes or certain things, where they wanted to see impact during this time.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

So let’s talk about some next steps in terms of the research. We’ve talked about the million dollar list, but how do you build, artificial or super intelligence is always iterative, it’s iterative, it’s always learning. So how do you build on what you’ve done?

I think you mentioned that this is the first time that you’ve used large language, not you, but the team has used large language models to sift through the data. Could you see an expansion into different categories? How would you envision this data being used in the future?

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Sure, so definitely, I think the biggest difference we’ve seen through this new methodology is the scale, speed and consistency of the data that we’ve collected. We probably captured gifts that weren’t reported prominently in the media or were buried in large volumes of data. So while it can scan and connect information across sources much more efficiently, at the end of the day, manual collection or human review is definitely required as you pointed out earlier, because at the end of the day, AI is built by humans.

It still makes mistakes, it has a mind of its own. So at the end of the day, human review is still required to kind of sift through the information, make sure what is being collected and displayed to us is accurate and also to identify the broader patterns from it. So we still need to see where this methodology and AI in general will take us, but it doesn’t replace human verification, but it does allow us to spend more time validating and understanding the data rather than trying to find it.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I would imagine, and I’m not trying to dump more work on you, but you could actually maybe speed up the delivery of a report. Maybe instead of annually, it could become quarterly. Again, I’m not trying to dump on you, but I think having more data, as you said, having more data in real time probably would be very helpful to assessing the trends.

I guess, it’s really interesting, Siobhan, if we take a step back and maybe we’ll conclude here, I wanna get your perspective. Obviously you’re a researcher, but artificial intelligence really has permeated every part of society. I wanna get your reaction to that.

And you’re in an academic setting, so I’m sure you’re seeing it all over the place in the classroom, in the work that you do, et cetera.

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

For sure. I mean, it’s become, as you mentioned, it’s permeated every level, every sector that we see today. But I think it’s important to make sure that the human aspect of it remains.

There’s, and also to make it work for us, make it work with us, rather than kind of hand off all of the data collection or analysis to artificial intelligence.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, really well said. Well, Siobhan, we’re gonna have to leave it there. It’s great to see you.

Thanks for making a few minutes. Good luck on the future research, and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon.

Shivant Shrestha, MA,  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Sure, thank you so much, Jeff.

Every investing rule carries an assumption about inflation, whether explicitly stated or not. Most of the rules working Americans follow were written when that assumption cost nothing, because inflation sat near 2% and nobody had to price it.

This year, it costs something. Regular gasoline averaged $4.465 a gallon in the week ending Sept. 28, up $1.347 from a year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Consumer confidence just fell to its weakest reading since 2014. That puts a hole in one of the most repeated rules in personal finance, and the hole is worth more than a percentage point.

Dave Ramsey tells investors to skip bonds

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey offers guidance on the Ramsey Solutions webpage.

“We don’t recommend betting your retirement on bonds. You’re better off investing your money in a mix of growth stock mutual funds,” reads the page explaining bonds, published in November 2021 and last updated in September 2023.

The page gives two reasons. Bonds “barely outpace inflation,” and if “interest rates are low and inflation increases, inflation could outpace the return.”

Related: Dave Ramsey has surprising advice for homebuyers

The guidance also carries two links to SmartVestor Pro, the advisor-referral network Ramsey Solutions discloses it promotes for a fee, which is worth knowing when a rule steers you out of an asset class.

His broader philosophy, last updated on his site in April 2026, puts 15% of income into four types of growth stock mutual funds and assumes stocks return 10% to 12% a year.

On the median household income of $87,460, that 15% works out to $13,119 a year, or $1,093.25 a month. TheStreet has examined the 8% withdrawal rate he pairs with those returns.

Dave Ramsey tells investors to skip bonds for growth stock mutual funds.Anna Webber / Getty Images

Why one Treasury breaks Ramsey’s bonds rule

The Treasury sells two kinds of notes. One pays a fixed number, and the other pays a fixed number on top of whatever inflation turns out to be, because its principal moves with the consumer price index.

Ramsey’s page does not separate them, and the difference is the whole story. On Sept. 28, the 10-year Treasury note yielded 5.24%, while the 10-year inflation-linked note yielded 2.90% above inflation, according to the Treasury Department‘s own daily yield curves.

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Subtract one from the other, and you get the inflation rate the bond market is pricing over the next decade, which is 2.34%.

That 2.90% real yield stood at 2.44% on Aug. 31, so it climbed 46 basis points in four weeks.

A $19 billion reopening on Sept. 17 cleared at a 2.653% real yield, the highest for that term since October 2008, TipsWatch publisher David Enna reported that day. TheStreet covered real yields climbing past 2% in July, and they have gone higher since.

Households and the market disagree sharply

Consumers put 12-month inflation at 6.1% on average and 5.1% at the median in September, both up three tenths of a point, the Conference Board reported Sept. 29.

Its Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.7 points to 81.9, against a consensus near 89.2. The Expectations Index dropped to 63.6, a third straight monthly decline and well under the 80 level that has historically flagged recession risk.

“References to prices, the high cost of goods and services, and oil and gas prices in particular, rose to new heights, reflecting September’s surge in fuel costs,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board.

Take the household number at face value, and the arithmetic turns hostile quickly. A 10-year Treasury at 5.24% loses 0.81% a year in purchasing power at 6.1% inflation, so $10,000 comes back worth $9,218 in today’s money.

The inflation-linked note earns 2.90% above inflation whatever inflation does, turning that same $10,000 into $13,309 in today’s money. The spread is $4,091 on a single $10,000 decision.

At a glance

10-year Treasury note, Sept. 28: 5.24%

10-year inflation-linked note, Sept. 28: 2.90% above inflation

Implied 10-year inflation rate: 2.34%

Consumer 12-month inflation expectation: 6.1% average, 5.1% median

Consumer Confidence Index, September: 81.9, down from 88.6

Expectations Index, September: 63.6

Regular gasoline, week ending Sept. 28: $4.465 a gallon

Top national savings rate: 4.20% APY against a 0.65% averageSources: Treasury Department daily yield curves; The Conference Board; Energy Information Administration; Bankrate. The implied inflation rate is TheStreet’s calculation.

The number that squeezes Ramsey’s case

Run the comparison the way an investor actually faces it. A 2.90% real yield is worth the same as a 9.18% nominal return if inflation runs at the 6.1% households expect.

Ramsey’s own page claims stocks return 10% to 12%. At the top of the household expectation, his advantage over a government note carrying no market risk narrows to 0.82 percentage points.

At the Fed’s own projection of 3.4% core inflation for 2026, that same 2.90% real yield is worth only 6.40% nominal, and his advantage widens back to between 3.60 and 5.60 points.

The distance between those two outcomes is the entire argument, and it turns on an inflation number nobody has yet.

Why households may be wrong anyway

Consumers have badly overshot before. Their inflation expectations were more unanchored in early 2025 than at the late 1970s peak, once you account for how widely their forecasts disagreed.

That finding comes from Robert Rich and Alexander Cline of the Cleveland Fed‘s Center for Inflation Research, in work published Feb. 2. One-year-ahead expectations peaked above 9%.

The same bank reported in March that anchoring “deteriorated notably for consumers in 2025,” while professional forecasters showed no such weakening. So 6.1% reads as a fear number more than a forecast.

Inflation is still doing real damage at far lower rates. Real home values fell for a 14th consecutive month in July, even as nominal prices rose 1.9%, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index released Sept. 29.

What it means for you

Inflation-linked notes sell in $100 multiples in 5-, 10-, and 30-year terms, and at maturity, you collect the greater of your original or inflation-adjusted principal, according to NerdWallet.

Hold them inside a 401(k) or IRA where you can. The inflation adjustment counts as federal taxable income in the year it accrues, even though no cash reaches you. It does, however, escape state and local tax.

Ramsey’s 15% savings rate holds up, and so does his warning about concentrating in single stocks. The line to check is the one treating every government bond as the same instrument.

If you already follow his allocation, the useful question is whether the fixed-income slice you were told to skip now pays enough to fund a few years of retirement spending without market risk attached. His stance on holding stocks deep into retirement makes that question sharper, not softer.

The next reading of household inflation expectations lands Oct. 27, and the Fed meets before that. Both will move the number this decision turns on.

Related: Dave Ramsey warns Americans on 401(k)s, Roth 401(k)s

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Why we love this deal

Fall is prime movie-watching time. With cooler weather and the cozy season in full swing, one of the best ways to end the day is with a movie night, whether it’s solo or with friends and family. For me, I’m prioritizing all things Halloween, with everything from animated classics to movies that just landed on streaming services. But the one thing that would make any movie night better? A projector that gives you the feeling of a home movie theater. 

Ahead of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days is the perfect time to snag one. The Elephas Roku TV Smart Projector is currently on sale for only $100, which is 23% off its regular price of $120. With projectors often costing $200 or more, it’s a fantastic deal. However, it’s only available for a limited time, with only a few more hours left on the clock.

Elephas Roku TV Smart Projector, $100 (was $130) at Amazon

Courtesy of Amazon

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If you’ve ever wanted a movie theater experience at home, this projector can make it happen. With built-in Roku TV, all you have to do is sign in, and you can watch TV shows and movies from your go-to streaming services with ease. As if it wasn’t easy enough to set up and use, it also comes with a remote control to make navigating it even easier.

The projector is a smart device with all the bells and whistles you could possibly need. It’s compatible with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, making it responsive to voice commands, whether you need to adjust the volume or pause or play. You can also use Apple AirPlay to display and share photos, videos, and music.

It also has a built-in speaker and a clear picture. You get Dolby Audio, as well as manual focus for screens ranging from 40 inches to 150 inches. The projector also has WiFi for a stable connection and Bluetooth connectivity to connect to additional speakers or headphones. 

At only 6.81 inches long by 5.55 inches wide by 2.48 inches high, it’s super compact, too, which makes it portable and easy to move around. You can take it from room to room, or you can set up your very own outdoor theater on your patio or backyard.

Related: Amazon has a ‘clear and responsive’ smartwatch for just $20 ahead of October Prime Day

Details to know

Dimensions: 6.81 inches long by 5.55 inches wide by 2.48 inches high.

Weight: 1.28 pounds.

Features: Roku TV, Dolby Audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, built-in speaker.

Amazon shoppers praise this projector on practically all fronts. Reviewers rave about everything from its picture quality to its overall convenience. “Having Roku built in makes it very convenient because I can access my favorite streaming apps without needing another device,” a customer said. “The picture quality is so good for a compact projector, and it’s easy to move around and set up.” Shoppers also note that the built-in speaker is a win, as it provides “clear audio.”

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The Elephas Roku TV Smart Projector is on sale for $100, but with a limited-time deal, it won’t be for much longer.

The debate over what artificial intelligence will do to workers has been running for years.

Companies argue that the technology will free employees from repetitive tasks and open space for more meaningful work. Critics warn that automation will eliminate jobs faster than new ones can appear. Both sides have data, and neither has settled the argument.

What has shifted is who is weighing in, and where. The executives building AI systems, the investors funding them, and the government officials overseeing them are increasingly in the same room.

The conversations are becoming more specific because the technology is no longer theoretical. It is already being deployed in customer service, software development, financial analysis, and content production at scale.

That backdrop framed a recent meeting at the White House, where some of the most powerful figures in American business and technology gathered to discuss AI and its economic consequences.

What one of them said afterward was brief. It was also difficult to ignore.

Also read: Elon Musk joins Tim Cook in sending strong warning to Americans

What Elon Musk said about jobs and AI

After a White House meeting with President Donald Trump and other artificial intelligence executives, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivered a powerful six-word message, as CNBC reported: “AI will significantly alter the workplace.”

He stopped short of predicting mass unemployment but left little room for the idea that most jobs would remain unchanged. Workers are likely to see their roles evolve as AI systems grow more capable, he said.

That framing carries weight because of who is saying it. Musk leads companies that are both deploying AI and building the infrastructure behind it. His businesses use AI for manufacturing optimization, autonomous driving, customer communication, and software development. He is not speaking as an outside observer.

The meeting covered AI’s broader economic impact and raised questions about the responsibilities of companies developing the technology, ABC News reported.

The discussion came as AI policy is beginning to produce real regulatory consequences in Washington and in state capitals across the country. What companies are required to disclose, test, and guard against before releasing AI products is an active and unsettled question.

How AI is already changing what workers do every day

AI systems can already handle writing, coding, research, customer service, data analysis, and image generation at a level that competes with entry-level human output. That is not a forecast. It is the current state of tools that millions of workers and businesses are already using.

The immediate effect on employment is uneven. Some roles are disappearing. Others are being redesigned so that workers manage AI systems, review their output, or concentrate on tasks requiring judgment and human interaction.

A customer service team may shrink while the remaining agents handle more complex cases. A software team may produce more work with fewer developers.

Workers whose jobs consist mainly of predictable, repeatable tasks face the most immediate pressure. Roles built around processing information, drafting standard documents, or completing structured data work are the most exposed to automation.

Those are also among the most common job categories in the American economy.

Musk acknowledged that AI will significantly alter the workplace.Luis Alvarez / Getty Images

How companies plan to use AI to cut costs

For businesses, the financial case for AI adoption is direct.

A company that uses AI to handle routine customer inquiries may need fewer support agents. A software firm may allow developers to complete more work with automated coding tools. Professional services firms are already using AI to process documents, prepare initial analysis, and summarize large volumes of information.

Those changes can improve profit margins. They can also reduce demand for certain types of labor. The net economic effect depends on whether new AI-related tasks and industries generate enough employment to offset what automation removes.

That equation has not resolved itself. Productivity gains from past waves of automation eventually produced new categories of work, but the adjustment took time and was unevenly distributed. AI could follow the same pattern, or it could move faster than previous technological shifts.

Who is liable when an AI system makes a costly mistake?

The White House meeting also focused on accountability. AI executives signed a voluntary commitment to self-police their technology, CNN reported.

AI systems can make decisions, generate content, and carry out multistep tasks with limited human supervision. When those systems produce errors, the consequences can include financial losses, privacy violations, and discrimination.

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Technology companies may face growing expectations to test their products thoroughly, disclose limitations, and build safeguards before deploying AI to consumers and businesses.

The legal frameworks for assigning responsibility when AI causes damage are still being written. Regulators in the United States and Europe are working on rules that would require developers to document how their systems operate and the risks they carry.

Companies that deploy AI in high-stakes areas, including hiring, lending, and medical diagnosis, are under the most scrutiny. Errors in those contexts carry consequences that go beyond customer complaints.

The skills that hold their value as AI takes over routine work

Workers who develop abilities that complement AI rather than compete directly with it are better positioned for what follows.

Critical thinking and professional judgment are harder to automate than information retrieval or document drafting. Communication, relationship management, and industry-specific expertise hold their value when AI handles the routine layer of a job.

Understanding how to evaluate AI-generated output is becoming a practical requirement in many fields. Knowing when a result is accurate, when it is plausible but wrong, and when it needs human review is a skill that does not come built into the tools. Workers who develop that judgment alongside technical fluency are likely to remain in demand.

Companies face their own adaptation challenge. Integrating AI into existing workflows, protecting sensitive information, and building procedures to check AI output all require investment and planning. Businesses that move fast without those safeguards take on operational and reputational risk that is easy to underestimate.

What higher AI productivity actually means for paychecks

Productivity gains from AI could give workers more time for strategy, innovation, and client relationships. They could also allow smaller businesses to access capabilities that previously required specialized staff at larger organizations.

The distribution of those gains is not guaranteed. Productivity increases do not automatically translate into higher wages or better conditions. Companies have discretion over how efficiency gains are allocated, whether to shareholders, customers, employees, or reinvestment.

That is a question of business decisions and policy choices, not of what the technology can do.

Musk’s remarks at the White House reflect something that most people in the industry now accept. The job market is changing because of AI.

How fast that change moves, and who benefits from it, remain open questions that neither executives, regulators, nor workers have fully answered yet.

Related: Goldman Sachs sends strong message on AI and jobs

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Why we love this deal

Closet staples are something we can’t live without. Whether you’re always on the go or want something cozy to lounge around the house, we all have our favorite items that we reach for day after day. If you’re looking for the type of comfort that you want to reach for anytime you’re getting dressed, or you need to replace some well-loved joggers or sweatpants, we’ve found a great deal.

The Ultra Performance Fleece Joggers 3-Pack is on sale at Amazon starting at $38 right now, and they’re made for comfort. They’re the perfect pants to slip on for a morning jog, for a walk to class, or for a night at your friend’s place. They’re great for the gym, for relaxing at home, or for running errands. Whatever your day looks like, these joggers offer all-day comfort starting at only $13 per pair. 

Ultra Performance Fleece Joggers 3-Pack, From $38 at Amazon

Courtesy of Amazon

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Why do shoppers love it?

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Related: Amazon is selling hiking pants for only $30 ahead of Prime Day sales

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Details to know

Sizes: Choose from Small, Medium, Large, 2X, or 3X starting at the $38 price point.

Colors: The heather gray/navy/black color pack is the best price through most sizes, but other color options are available.

Features: These joggers have a zip pocket, two deep side pockets, a waist drawstring, and ankle cuffs. 

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