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The Street

Walmart is selling a 3-piece comforter set that comes in 4 colors for only $24

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this deal

You spend so much of your life in bed, so why shouldn’t you make sure your bedroom is the ultimate sleep sanctuary? Having plush pillows and super warm sheets is important, but it’s the perfect comforter that really pulls it all together.

With Walmart Flash deals, top-rated items are significantly marked down for a limited time. Now is your chance to save on the Kinmeroom Down Alternative Comforter Set, which means you can get comfortable bedding without worrying about a hefty price tag. Score a down alternative comforter, two pillowcases, and a duvet insert, all for only $24.

Kinmeroom Down Alternative Comforter Set, $24 (was $40) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

The down alternative comforter, which is available in four colors and made of 100% polyester, provides an enjoyable sleep experience thanks to its soft, fluffy, and warm feel. Designed with hypoallergenic and mite-proof synthetic fibers, the comforter is a great option for sensitive sleepers who suffer from allergies or irritation. The fabric also promotes airflow and absorbs excessive heat and moisture to give you the most comfortable sleeping environment throughout the night.

This specific queen set includes a comforter that measures 88 inches by 90 inches and two pillow shams that measure 20 inches by 90 inches, but there are additional sets available in twin, full, and king sizes.

Related: Walmart is selling a ‘silky soft’ $130 cooling comforter for 74% off

To clean, simply toss it into the machine and wash on cold. You can let it air dry or toss it into the dryer on a gentle cycle.

Details to know

Colors: Four.

Available size(s): Twin, full, queen, and king.

Material: 100% hypoallergenic and mite-proof polyester.

Set includes: The comforter also comes with two pillow shams and one duvet insert.

Care: Machine wash and dry.

Shoppers say the super snuggly comforter is “one of the best sets to buy” with how good it feels on the skin and how well it holds up after multiple washes. It’s “cool to the touch but warm to wrap up in,” another wrote, making it a must-have all year long regardless of the season or temperature.

Bedding doesn’t have to be expensive to be comfortable, but it does have to be comfortable to be worth buying, and Walmart’s deal on the Kinmeroom Down Alternative Comforter Set is the perfect opportunity to see that for yourself. 

A $650 smartphone takes aim at Apple and Samsung’s surging repair costs

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

American smartphone shoppers know the tiresome routine.

A damaged screen might cost hundreds of dollars to repair. A dead battery usually implies sending the phone to a professional. A few years later, the expense of software support or repair can make ditching the whole thing seem easier than holding on to it.

Fairphone aims to change that model.

Dutch smartphone maker is introducing its Fairphone (Gen 6+) to the U.S. for $650, marking the company’s first official flagship-phone launch in the U.S.

The pitch is simple: don’t replace the full phone; repair the part that broke.

Fairphone sells a replacement screen for $90, a new battery for $40, and a new USB-C connector for $20. The phone features 12 modular parts that owners may switch out themselves. Each device comes with a screwdriver.

That’s a very different customer pitch than the paradigm employed by Apple and Samsung, where repairs can be costly and devices are often difficult to open up and repair.

For shoppers, it’s no longer just a question of whether a $650 phone has the finest camera or the fastest processor.

The question is whether a phone might be a better long-term investment by spending less up front and significantly less on repairs.

Fairphone is selling something bigger than a smartphone

Fairphone Gen 6+ isn’t trying to beat the iPhone or Galaxy merely on raw specs.

It’s selling longevity.

The phone comes with a five-year guarantee and will receive software updates until 2033.

Furthermore, it is the only smartphone series to get a 10/10 on the repairability scale from iFixit.

That’s a big deal, because repairs on smartphones can get really expensive.

According to WIRED, getting the screen replaced on an iPhone 17 directly through Apple costs about $329 without an extended service plan.

Fairphone’s replacement screen costs $90.

That’s a difference of about $239 for one basic fix.

For a consumer who holds on to a phone for several years, those economics can mount up.

Battery replacement is $40. The USB-C port costs $20. Device owners can replace the failed part themselves instead of paying for a full-service repair or replacing the entire device.

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That is the human appeal. A broken charging port no longer has to mean a major bill. A tired battery does not have to push someone toward a new $1,000 phone.

Fairphone’s $650 U.S. launch puts pressure on the sealed-phone modelKevin Dietsch / Getty Images

Fairphone is entering one of the hardest phone markets in the world

The problem is that the U.S. smartphone market is tremendously consolidated.

Fairphone CEO Raymond van Eck told WIRED that American consumers have very little real choice, describing the market as heavily dominated by Apple and Samsung.

That’s not just a matter of brand loyalty.

It’s also about how it’s distributed.

U.S. carriers account for as much as 66% of smartphone sales, according to a 2025 IDC report.

That’s a huge barrier for any phone maker without carrier store placement.

Fairphone is originally offering the Gen 6+ on Fairphone.com and Amazon. The gadget is certified for use on T-Mobile and AT&T networks.

The startup is also talking to big carriers and mobile virtual network operators about retail distribution, van Eck tells WIRED.

That might be the difference between Fairphone remaining a niche sustainable brand or becoming something more mainstream.

The U.S. market has already pushed out other brands of phones.

According to WIRED, OnePlus recently indicated it would depart North America, following the retreat of names such as Sony, HMD Global, and LG Mobile.

Essentially, Fairphone is going into a market that even much larger corporations have struggled to penetrate.

The $650 price is part of the argument

At $650, the Fairphone Gen 6+ is priced lower than many of Apple’s and Samsung’s flagship phones but higher than the cheapest Android devices.

It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor and 12GB of RAM.

The phone is also more than 50% built of fair-trade or recycled materials. Fairphone claims their devices are assembled using renewable energy and are 100% e-waste neutral.

The sustainability pitch still matters to the company.

But Fairphone appears to be increasingly aware that ethics isn’t necessarily the first thing consumers buy.

Van Eck said that the company’s recent growth has come partly from marketing the quality of the product rather than leading with its environmental mission.

That method seems to be working.

Phone shipments jumped 74% in the first half of 2026 compared with the year-ago period.

He also said 80% of Fairphone Gen 6 purchasers were new to the brand.

The results imply the corporation is expanding beyond its typical sustainability-minded customer base.

Repairability could become a bigger consumer issue

Fairphone’s launch in the U.S. comes as the right to repair is becoming more essential to consumers and authorities.

Nathan Proctor, who leads the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s Right to Repair campaign, said that Fairphone’s design demonstrates that modular, easily repairable smartphones are technically possible.

That may be the case as the price of phones continues to increase.

For many families, purchasing a smartphone is not a casual buy anymore.

For some consumers, the cost of a smartphone is as high as that of a laptop or a month’s groceries.

Repairability is increasingly valuable the longer a device stays usable.

Fairphone numbers consumers should know

$650: Starting price of the Fairphone Gen 6+.

$90: Replacement display.

$40: Replacement battery.

$20: Replacement USB-C port.

12: User-replaceable modular components.

5 years: Warranty.

2033: Promised software-support window.

10/10: iFixit repairability score.

74%: First-half 2026 shipment growth.

80%: Share of Gen 6 buyers who were new to Fairphone.

66%: Estimated share of U.S. smartphone sales driven through carriers.

Fairphone is still minuscule compared to Apple and Samsung.

That makes it unlikely to change the U.S. market overnight.

But it’s a question the firm is asking and one that the bigger phone makers may need to address at some point.

Why are pricey repairs and sealed hardware the norm when a consumer can buy a $650 phone, get a broken screen repaired for $90, change the battery themselves, and still get years of software updates?

Fairphone might not dominate the smartphone market.

But it might help the market hold on to a business model people have been buying into for years.

Related: Samsung’s $2,100 phone tests how much consumers will pay to fold

Bill Gates has made $2.3 billion on Michael Burry’s former favorite

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

Two legendary investors. One stock. Completely opposite positions. And one of them is sitting on a paper gain of roughly $2.27 billion.

Back on July 1, I reported when Michael Burry shorted Caterpillar for the first time in his career on June 30, writing in his Cassandra Unchained newsletter: 

I have never shorted Caterpillar. Today I shorted Caterpillar. It has always done great for me on the long side in the past.

He entered at $1,060.98. Caterpillar (CAT) has since pulled back to $827.90 as of August 21, according to Yahoo Finance. It is down more than 20% from where he initiated the short. By that math, the man who called the 2008 housing crash is currently winning this particular trade.

But here is the thing about the other side of that bet. The Gates Foundation Trust held approximately 6.35 million Caterpillar shares, valued at $6.77 billion as of June 30, 2026, compared with approximately $4.50 billion as of March 31, according to the trust’s Q2 13F filing. 

That is a roughly $2.27 billion increase in the reported position value in a single quarter.

Even after the drop from the all-time intraday high of $1,073.46 on June 29, 2026, CAT has still returned 100% over the past year, as of this reporting, according to Yahoo Finance. Guru Focus data shows that it is Gates’s second-largest holding at 19.65% of the portfolio.

That is exactly what a patient, concentrated long position looks like when the cycle turns in your favor.

Also Read: History of Caterpillar: Company timeline & facts 

How the Gates Foundation Trust thinks about Caterpillar

I have covered two Gates Foundation trust moves recently. 

The $818 million trim of Berkshire Hathaway, which led to the new $352 million Home Depot position

The new $180 million FedEx Freight stake. 

Each one tells you something about how this portfolio is managed. The new positions rotated toward companies that benefit from domestic economic activity and physical asset maintenance rather than purely financial holdings.

The top five holdings, according to GuruFocus, are Berkshire Hathaway Class B at 21.35%, Caterpillar at 19.65%, Canadian National Railway at 17.95%, Waste Management at 17.30%, and Deere & Company at 6.56%. 

More Caterpillar:

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The portfolio is essentially a bet on the physical infrastructure of North American and global commerce — railroads, waste, construction equipment, heavy machinery.

Caterpillar fits that theme perfectly too. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It sells to the companies building roads, mines, power plants, and data centers. 

Related: Caterpillar tariffs send major signal on margins

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom has been its unexpected tailwind, with data center construction driving demand for the same earthmoving equipment that historically followed commodity and housing cycles.

Caterpillar’s second quarter 2026 results confirmed the scale of what is happening. Caterpillar reported sales and revenues of $20.5 billion in Q2, a 24% year-over-year increase. In fact, it is the first time in the company’s history that it has generated over $20 billion in a single quarter, according to CEO Joe Creed’s statement in the earnings release. 

Adjusted profit per share was $8.17. The company deployed $2.2 billion in share repurchases and dividends in the quarter.

“Strong order rates and a growing backlog reflect broadening momentum across all three of our primary segments,” Creed said.

Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It sells to the companies building roads, mines, power plants, and data centers.Scott Olson/Getty Images

Burry’s case against CAT, and what has happened since

Burry’s CAT short argument was macro and structural: the AI infrastructure spending surge and the valuations it generated across semiconductors and industrials alike were closer to a peak than the market believed.

On that specific trade, the price action has moved in his direction. As mentioned, CAT hit an all-time intraday high of $1,073.46 on June 29, 2026, a day before Burry’s short disclosure at $1,060.98. It has since fallen to $827.90. At that magnitude, Burry’s short has worked.

Related: Michael Burry makes first-ever bet against longtime favorite stock

What is interesting is that Burry described CAT as a stock that had “always done great for me on the long side.” This is not a bear case built on a broken business. 

It is a tactical short against a stock that ran more than 100% in a year on the back of a spending cycle that Burry believes is more fragile than the market is pricing.

What the $2.27 billion gain tells long-term investors

To be precise, the $2.27 billion increase in Gates’s reported CAT position value through June 30 is an unrealized gain, not a realized profit. The 13F filing covers what was held at quarter-end, not what has happened since. 

CAT’s subsequent pullback would have reduced that number massively. Whether the trust has trimmed, held, or added to the position since June 30 will not be known until the Q3 filing. I want to believe that at least Gates trimmed it just like he did Berkshire.

Related: Bill Gates pulls $818M from Berkshire to buy this giant

But the directional story stands regardless. Patient, concentrated ownership of a world-class industrial business through a multi-year infrastructure demand cycle generated roughly $2.27 billion in value creation in a single quarter. According to Yahoo Finance, CAT’s 5-year return of 340.25% versus the S&P 500’s 72.78% is the long-term validation of the thesis.

Gates is sitting on years of compounding gains. Burry just made money on the short-term correction. The same stock. Completely different investment philosophies. Both investors, for now, are winning on their own terms.

Related: Bill Gates makes $180 million bet on backbone of America’s economy

Elon Musk just got into another airline disagreement

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

Elon Musk rarely lets a grudge go quiet. On August 19, he posted eight words about an airline and a rival tech company. The post went viral. The Wi-Fi debate he started months ago is back.

The message was short, but it reopened a debate that touches two of the biggest names in tech and one of the largest airlines in the country. For investors watching either company, the underlying question is whether any of it actually moves the numbers that matter.

Elon Musk told Delta: Amazon’s bet will get worse

Musk posted a thread claiming Delta customers were rebooking with rival airlines specifically to access Starlink Wi-Fi. His caption ran just eight words: “I warned them. It will get much worse.” The post drew more than 50,000 likes and 4,600 reposts within a day.

The jab traces back to a decision Delta made earlier this year. In March, Delta selected Amazon’s Leo satellite network to power free in-flight Wi-Fi, according to CNBC. Musk has criticized the decision publicly ever since, calling it a costly and painful choice for the airline.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has defended the move on both price and technology grounds. Amazon Leo is expected to begin rolling out in 2028, initially across 500 aircraft, with Delta positioning the technology as a way to deliver faster, lower-latency connectivity for passengers.

More Elon Musk:

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Amazon has roughly 200 satellites in orbit as of the deal’s announcement and is racing to scale that network before Delta’s 2028 rollout, GeekWire reported. The Leo deal is not financially material to Amazon, a company that posted $200.6 billion in quarterly revenue during its most recent report. Starlink, meanwhile, has continued signing new airline partners of its own, including Southwest and Alaska Airlines, even as the Delta dispute plays out.

United’s Starlink lead widens the gap

United has 450 Starlink-equipped aircraft in service. That is nearly half its total fleet. The airline is targeting close to 1,000 planes by year-end. Fleet-wide coverage is expected by 2027, United’s Q2 report confirmed.

United CEO Scott Kirby told investors on the July earnings call that Starlink would drive meaningful market share gains for the airline. He called faster in-flight Wi-Fi a competitive advantage, not just a passenger perk. He has said the same thing on previous earnings calls this year.

Starlink’s momentum extends well beyond United. The satellite unit has become SpaceX’s most reliably profitable revenue driver. Airlines including American, Southwest and budget carrier Frontier have all signed on in recent months. TheStreet reported on American’s own Starlink deal, which covers more than 500 narrowbody jets starting in 2027, prompting enough attention from investors that Ark Invest’s founder Cathie Wood celebrated the partnership.

That expanding list gives Musk’s argument some real weight. His case, in short, is that the shift toward Starlink is already underway across the industry, and Delta could risk falling behind while it waits three more years for Amazon’s network to catch up.

United CEO Scott Kirby has been direct about what he expects the technology to deliver.Graham/Getty Images

The numbers behind Delta and United’s rivalry

Context matters. Delta serves more than 200 million customers and operates roughly 5,500 flights daily. A few hundred visible complaints on X measure social media posting behavior, not actual travel demand across a network of that size.

Financially, both airlines are performing well heading into their next earnings reports. Delta is guiding to third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.00 to $2.50 and full-year adjusted earnings per share of $6.50 to $7.50, alongside a 15% dividend increase, according to CNBC.

United, meanwhile, raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $9.00 to $11.00, even while absorbing significant additional fuel costs. Both airlines are benefiting from pricing power, and both have cited premium cabin demand as a bigger driver than any single onboard amenity.

Stock performance reflects that broader strength. Delta shares are up roughly 16% year to date as of August 20, depending on the measurement window. United shares are up roughly 16% year to date as well. The spread between the two has been driven mostly by fuel exposure and revenue mix rather than Wi-Fi providers.

What investors should watch next

For investors, the practical takeaway is that airline switching costs run far deeper than in-flight internet. Network size, flight schedules and elite-status programs play a much bigger role in what keeps passengers loyal. Free Wi-Fi has become close to a baseline expectation across the industry rather than a true differentiator. Most major U.S. carriers offer it.

Wi-Fi functions more as a tiebreaker than a primary driver of ticket sales. It becomes a meaningful factor only when unit revenue data actually shows customers shifting carriers. Both Delta and United are yet to report that kind of measurable impact.

Both companies report earnings again in October, well before any Amazon Leo hardware appears in a Delta cabin. Investors watching this rivalry should focus less on viral social media posts and more on whether either airline’s unit revenue trends show any real movement tied to connectivity, since that is the only signal that would actually confirm Musk’s warning.

Related: Elon Musk sends blunt verdict on the future of humanity and AI

Suze Orman says the danger has shifted to the employed

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

For four decades, personal finance advice has been organized around a single villain. You lose the job, the income stops, and a savings account has to carry the household until the next paycheck arrives.

That framing made the emergency fund easy to sell. Save three months of expenses, six if you want to sleep at night, and you buy yourself time.

The advice rests on one quiet assumption: People with jobs are basically fine.

A paycheck covers rent, groceries, and the car payment, and what is left becomes the cushion. Employers built their benefits menus around the same logic.

The 401(k) handles the far future. Health insurance handles the hospital. The checking account is supposed to handle everything in between, which is where the flat tire and the dead water heater live.

That middle layer is the one now buckling, and the expert who spent 40 years preaching emergency savings says the risk has moved to a group she never expected to be warning about.

“We have danger more than we’ve had before, because it’s the workers that we know have a job, they have a paycheck coming in, and they are still not making it,” said Suze Orman, co-founder of SecureSave, according to CNBC.

Why emergency savings advice keeps missing working households

Emergency savings in this country has been frozen in place for years, and not because Americans suddenly forgot how to budget.

Sixty-three percent of adults said they could cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense using cash or its equivalent, unchanged from the previous three years and down from a high of 68% in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve.

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That figure has barely twitched through a pandemic, a hiring boom, a wage surge, and a cooling labor market. The economy kept changing. The cushion did not.

What has changed is what happens when the cushion runs out. Credit card balances rose by $21 billion in the second quarter to $1.26 trillion, closing in on the record $1.28 trillion set late last year, according to the New York Fed.

Researchers there described the pattern as a K-shaped economy, noting that many households live paycheck to paycheck and are vulnerable even if only one thing goes wrong.

Suze Orman says a $500 bill is now breaking employed households.Jordi Salas / Getty Images

What the SecureSave survey found about working households

More than half of American workers, 55%, cannot cover an unexpected $500 expense out of savings, according to SecureSave.

The number underneath that one is worse. Forty-one percent of workers said they skipped a necessary expense, such as medical care, food, or a car repair in the past six months, because they did not have the savings to cover it, SecureSave found in its June survey of 1,028 workers ages 18 to 65.

Related: Suze Orman calls out one generous move threatening retirement

I read vendor surveys with one eye on who benefits, and this one deserves the disclosure. SecureSave sells workplace emergency savings accounts, Orman co-founded it, and it operates as a subsidiary of Webster Bank, part of Webster Financial (WBS).

The findings still hold up because the independent data point in the same direction. What makes this survey useful is not the headline percentage. It is that every respondent had a job.

How retirement accounts became the new emergency fund

Here is the part that changed how I read the whole story. When working households run out of cash, they are not just reaching for a credit card anymore. They are reaching into the account meant for their 70s.

That behavior has been building for years, and TheStreet has tracked more Americans draining their 401(k)s early as the trend accelerated.

Four numbers frame the shift:

Six percent of 401(k) participants took a hardship withdrawal in 2025, up from 5% and the highest share on record. 

Workers earning under $100,000 were about 3.5 times more likely to take one than higher earners. 

Roughly seven in 10 of those lower-income withdrawals went toward avoiding eviction or foreclosure or covering medical bills. 

The median hardship withdrawal came to $1,900.Source: Vanguard

Now put that next to the savings side of the ledger. Average balances in SecureSave’s employer-sponsored accounts grew nearly 12% year over year, rising from $829 in June 2025 to $926 in June 2026, the company said.

My analysis of those two figures side by side is the uncomfortable part. The average worker doing everything right, enrolled in a workplace savings program and contributing every paycheck, has built a fund worth roughly half the size of the emergency that eventually shows up.

That is the gap Orman is describing. Not a spending problem, and not a discipline problem. A sizing problem, where the buffer and the bill are built on different scales.

Consider what that means in practice. A worker with $926 set aside handles the $400 car battery without flinching, then meets a $1,900 transmission repair three months later and has nowhere left to go except a credit card at 22% or a hardship form.

Retirement plan design deserves some blame here, and Vanguard has said so directly. Streamlined processing and self-certification have made hardship withdrawals easier to request, and easier access produces more use.

“Leakage from retirement accounts is becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” said Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in comments to CNBC. He pointed to emergency savings tools at work as the primary fix.

What to do before the next $500 bill arrives

Orman’s long-standing target is eight months of living expenses, and for most working households reading this, that number is a destination rather than a plan.

The more useful target is the one the data actually identifies. Get past $500 first, then past $1,900, because those two thresholds are where the credit card and the 401(k) start getting raided.

Automation matters more than the amount. A separate account at a different institution, funded by direct deposit before the money ever hits checking, removes the decision from the equation entirely.

Twenty-five dollars a paycheck gets a biweekly earner past $500 inside 10 months and past $1,900 in about three years, and the point is less the timeline than the fact that the money never becomes optional.

Then ask your human resources department one question, which is whether the company offers an emergency savings account with a match. Sixty-seven percent of workers said a $200 annual employer contribution would reduce their financial stress and improve their performance, and 59% said it would make them likelier to stay, SecureSave found.

That last number is the lever. Employers respond to retention math far faster than they respond to hardship stories, and right now, the retention math is on your side.

The old advice told you to save for the day the paycheck stops. The new warning is that the paycheck no longer settles the question.

Related: Suze Orman’s retirement investing warning quietly returns

Jim Cramer resets major rule for retirement investors

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

Retirement investors haven’t had a lot of reasons to complain about stocks in 2026.

Through August 21, according to Yahoo Finance, the S&P 500 was up 12.1% year-to-date and 10.7% over six months, compared with the Nasdaq Composite, which had gained 12.6% and 14.1%, respectively. Moreover, the Dow was up 10.8% this year and 6.5% over six months. That said, veteran investor Jim Cramer just flipped the script on one of retirement investing’s oldest assumptions.

It comes at a point when, despite the market jitters, staying in stocks has paid off. However, the market’s choppiness and elevated bond yields continue to raise questions about how long the rally could last. 

At the same time, as I covered previously, Cramer is worried about a flood of IPOs that could impact returns and trigger market gyrations.

For retirees, the calculation is different. Protecting savings matters as much as growing them; that’s why generations of investors continue to lean on portfolios that gradually lower stock exposure as retirement approaches.

Cramer now argues that balance might be too conservative, explicitly saying on the August 21 episode of Mad Money that he has become more aggressive in his views.

Jim Cramer now favors heavier stock exposure for investors nearing retirement ageBrad Barket/Getty Images

Cramer breaks from traditional retirement playbook

Cramer didn’t hold back when a caller quizzed him on whether the traditional 60/40 retirement framework still made sense.

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“I’m blowing out all that,” he said. “We want to bet with ourselves.” 

His reasoning was that people are living a lot longer, meaning retirement portfolios might need to keep growing for much longer than investors previously assumed.

Consequently, Cramer got a lot more aggressive with allocation that older investors might have expected. 

“When you’re 60-70, I still think that’s young, and I think you should have 70% stock,” Cramer said. He acknowledged the shift, adding, “I know that’s higher than what I’ve usually said.”

Essentially, Cramer is saying that the longevity risk could be as dangerous as market risk. A retiree who becomes conservative too early will reduce short-term volatility but also forgo decades of potential compounding.

He also questioned whether bonds could do enough heavy lifting.

“I just think that you’re not going to get the return from bonds that people want”.

His claims are backed by the data, with bonds barely moving the needle in 2026. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index was up just 0.1% through August 13, trailing the S&P 500’s double-digit gains.

His broader comments during the show reinforced his long-term slant.

Another caller during the show told Cramer that his retirement money with a 20- to 30-year horizon was sitting in a money-market account earning 5%.

Cramer recommended gradually moving the funds into stocks rather than investing everything at once. In doing so, he says it would be best to put one-twelfth to work each month and invest much more during a particularly bad month.

Why 60% stocks and 40% bonds? 

The 60/40 portfolio became popular as it looks to balance growth with protection.

Stocks act as accelerators, while bonds are like brakes. With 60% of a portfolio in stocks, investors are still meaningfully part of stock markets when they rise. The remaining 40% in bonds will cushion the damage when stocks tank.

If stocks tank 25%, an investor all-in on stocks takes the full hit. A retiree holding a substantial bond allocation might see a smaller decline, assuming bonds remain relatively stable.

So the 60/40 allocation isn’t designed to produce the highest possible returns.

It’s designed to generate enough growth without turning every stock market crash into a retirement crisis.

That said, no investor invested this balance. 

Arguably, Harry Markowitz offered much of the intellectual foundation. His Modern Portfolio Theory, introduced in 1952, formalized the idea of combining assets with different risk-return profiles to improve the risk-return balance.

Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett’s mentor, pushed investors toward balancing stocks and bonds. Graham suggested keeping 25% and 75% in stocks, with roughly 50/50 serving as a neutral starting point.

However, that traditional model has a weakness. 

Bonds don’t always protect investors when stocks fall. For instance, in 2022, both asset classes dropped sharply, showing that the portfolio’s apparent shock absorber could sometimes drop just when retirees need it most.

Retirement investors have more than one playbook

The 60/40 portfolio is just one of the strategies retirees use to try to balance growth and safety.

The more aggressive investors might use a 70/30 or even 80/20 mix, keeping much more money in stocks and less in bonds. That strategy can yield remarkably stronger long-term returns, but it also involves taking big hits when markets fall. 

Another simpler result is to subtract your age from 100 to estimate how much should be in stocks. 

Under this framework, a 70-year-old would need to hold just 30% in stocks. Newer versions make use of 110 or 120 minus age because people are living longer, but Cramer’s 70% stock call for people in their 60s and 70s looks a lot more aggressive by comparison.

Target-date funds also follow a similar idea, where investors start with lots of stocks when they’re young, but then gradually shift to bonds as retirement gets closer. 

At the same time, the bucket strategy takes a different approach.

Retirees might keep a few years of spending money in cash, another portion in bonds, and the rest in stocks. The goal is to avoid selling off stocks in a crash just to cover everyday expenses.

Then there’s a 4% rule, which focuses on how much investors can safely withdraw each year.

Other approaches involve simple three-fund portfolios built from U.S. stocks, international stocks, and bonds, or “floor-and-upside” strategies that first aim to protect essential expenses before investing the remaining money much more aggressively.

Related: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire makes backdoor SpaceX play 

Dog food recalled after illnesses linked to salmonella

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

A dog food company is recalling hundreds of bags of frozen raw chicken food after federal testing detected salmonella, and three dogs became ill.

Oma’s Pride of Avon, Connecticut, is voluntarily recalling one lot of its Woof Complete Canine Chicken Recipe in six-pound bags after the Food and Drug Administration tested the product and found salmonella. Oma’s Pride made clear in a statement that it had no evidence of adults or children falling ill.

The recall began after the FDA received a consumer complaint and collected a sample of the product that subsequently tested positive for salmonella. 

Oma’s Pride said it is investigating the cause of the contamination.

Recalled dog food shipped across 11 states

The recall covers 639 bags of Woof Complete Canine Chicken Recipe with lot number BB012729.

The frozen raw dog food was sold in six-pound stand-up pouches containing 12 individually wrapped eight-ounce portions. 

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The affected bags are all labeled thus:

UPC 8 7938400145 9

Manufactured January 27, 2026

Best-by date of January 27, 2029

The recalled product was distributed between February 12 and May 15 to retail and wholesale accounts in Arizona, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

It was also shipped frozen directly to customers through online orders.

The FDA did not identify the individual retailers that received the affected lot. 

No other Oma’s Pride products, sizes, or lots are included in the recall.

Consumers should stop feeding the affected product to pets and dispose of it safely. The company is offering refunds.

Oma’s Pride advises consumers to wash and sanitize pet food bowls, cups, and storage containers, and to wash their hands after handling the recalled product or surfaces that may have come into contact with it.

Oma’s Pride recalls pet food over salmonella risk.Eleganza / Getty Images

Salmonella can affect pets and owners

Salmonella poses a risk not only to animals eating contaminated food but also to people who handle it.

Dogs infected with Salmonella can experience lethargy, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, vomiting, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain. 

Some infected animals may show no symptoms but can still carry the bacteria and potentially spread the disease to people or other animals.

People can be exposed by handling contaminated pet food or touching surfaces it has contacted.

Symptoms in humans can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and fever.

Pet owners whose pets ate the recalled food and developed symptoms should contact a veterinarian.

Recall follows recent Pedigree dog food action

The Oma’s Pride recall comes weeks after Mars Petcare recalled two lots of Pedigree High Protein Chopped Chicken & Duck Flavor wet dog food.

The affected Pedigree cans were intended for destruction but entered the marketplace and may contain sharp metal and plastic pieces, posing choking, laceration, or gastrointestinal blockage risks for dogs.

No illnesses or injuries were reported in connection with that recall.

Another raw dog food recall earlier this year also involved salmonella. 

In May, Albright’s Raw Pet Food recalled a lot of its Frozen Chicken Recipe for Dogs after FDA sampling detected the bacteria, highlighting the specific handling risks associated with raw pet food products.

Related: Walmart, Harris Teeter recall fruit bars over glass risk

Tesla just set a date for its riskiest launch yet

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

The riskiest moment for any new technology is not the prototype. It is the morning somebody takes away the backup.

For roughly 60 years, the American car has been engineered around a single assumption, that a person can always take over.

Federal safety rules are built on it. Airbags assume a driver. Mirrors assume a driver. The brake pedal assumes a driver.

Automakers have layered software on top of that assumption for a decade now, and even the most aggressive driver-assistance systems keep a steering wheel within arm’s reach. That wheel is the apology engineered into the product, the quiet admission that the software might be wrong and a human will need to fix it.

Tesla (TSLA) has spent the better part of a decade arguing that the apology is unnecessary, that cameras and neural networks will eventually be good enough that the wheel becomes dead weight. Investors have priced that argument in. Regulators have mostly stepped aside for it.

This week, the company finally picked the date it stops arguing and starts proving.

Tesla began sending out invitations to a Cybercab launch event in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 3, according to Teslarati. Attendees are being asked to come “experience the future of full autonomy,” and each guest can bring one person, though not a content creator.

Tesla’s pedal-free robotaxi debuts September 3, testing Musk’s autonomy promises against TSLA’s valuation.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Why the Cybercab is different from every Tesla robotaxi so far

Tesla has been running a driverless ride-hailing service in Austin since June 2025, and it has expanded that service to Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Every one of those rides has happened in a Model Y.

That matters more than it sounds. A Model Y running Full Self-Driving still has a steering wheel, pedals and mirrors. If the software gets confused, the hardware for a human rescue is physically present in the car.

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The Cybercab has none of it. Two seats, a screen, no wheel, no pedals. Tesla has been producing them at Gigafactory Texas since February and confirmed continuous production on its first-quarter call, reported Electrek.

The company has been building a car for six months that it has not been able to put a public passenger in. Sept. 3 is the day that changes.

The regulatory gap Tesla is launching into

Here is the part that got my attention when I mapped Tesla’s launch sequence against its competitors.

Texas lets autonomous vehicles operating at SAE Level 4 or higher skip the steering wheel and pedals under a self-certification model. That is why Austin works. But Tesla has not secured the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Part 555 exemption that would let it charge passengers commercially at scale or expand freely beyond Texas, reported Automotive World.

Amazon’s Zoox took the other road. It applied for and received a federal exemption covering up to 5,000 steering-wheel-free vehicles over two years, clearing it to convert a demo fleet into a paid commercial service, according to Axios.

Related: Tesla Robotaxi takes a big step toward Elon Musk’s ultimate vision

Tesla’s position is that it does not need the exemption, because it designed the Cybercab to self-certify against every existing federal standard. That theory has never been tested by an incident.

The regulator has been moving in Tesla’s direction, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been streamlining exemptions and drafting the first federal performance standards for automated vehicles. But drafting is not finished, and a rule that does not exist yet cannot protect anybody.

Musk understands the exposure better than his critics assume. “If we injure even one person, it’ll be worldwide headline news, and regulators will immediately clamp down on our activities,” he said on the second-quarter earnings call, according to Yahoo Finance.

Where the driverless race actually stands right now:

Waymo delivers roughly 500,000 paid robotaxi rides a week across 10 U.S. cities, according to TechCrunch.

Tesla runs about 50 robotaxis in Austin, a city of more than 1 million people, based on TheStreet’s reporting on Austin wait times.

Clark County, Nevada, cleared Tesla to operate up to 5,000 driverless vehicles in its first year there, reported The Motley Fool.

Zoox holds federal clearance to charge passengers commercially, which Tesla does not, according to Axios.

What a launch this size means for your portfolio

Tesla is one of the 10 largest companies in the S&P 500. If you own a target-date fund, an S&P 500 index fund or most any large-cap blend product in your 401(k), you own Tesla whether you chose it or not.

That is why my analysis keeps coming back to the multiple rather than the vehicle. Tesla trades near 292 times earnings, and Wall Street holds a consensus Hold rating with an average price target around $385, according to TipRanks. Shares closed Friday at $362.86 after jumping 5.1% on the Nevada approval.

A 292 multiple is not a price. It is a promise.

Tesla’s second-quarter operating income came in at $398 million, which is not a number that supports a $1.2 trillion company on its own. The gap between those two figures is autonomy, and it is being carried entirely by expectation.

That works right up until it doesn’t. Musk already told investors robotaxi “likely will not see material revenue until at least 2027.” So the near-term case for the stock is not cash. It is the absence of a disaster.

The asymmetry here is worth sitting with. A flawless Sept. 3 event probably moves Tesla shares a few percent, because a successful launch is roughly what the current multiple already assumes. A single serious injury involving a car with no steering wheel moves them a great deal more, in the other direction, and it does so on a timeline set by regulators rather than by Tesla.

Shares are already down about 25% this year and sit well below the $498.83 record close set in December, so the market is not exactly pricing in perfection. It is pricing in something closer to eventual inevitability.

What to actually watch on Sept. 3

Ignore the reveal. The Cybercab has been photographed, spec-sheeted and driven on a closed lot at Warner Bros. Studios back in October 2024. Nothing about the car itself will be news.

Watch three things instead. Whether the Cybercabs carry non-employee passengers on public Austin streets rather than a controlled loop. Whether Tesla names a service area and a fleet size. And whether anyone from Tesla addresses the federal exemption question directly.

A launch event that shows a car is a demo. A launch event that puts strangers in a vehicle with no steering wheel, on public roads, under a legal theory Tesla wrote itself, is something else.

The company has spent six months building inventory for this moment. Austin finds out on Sept. 3 whether the software was ever the point, or whether the real bet was that nothing goes wrong before the rules catch up.

Related: Tesla, Toyota expose surprising auto industry truth

There is now one more cool new airplane hotel

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

To the world’s aviation geeks, there is no need for plunge pools or sheets with a thread count in the thousands — the true dream is being able to sleep in a plane even when not going anywhere.

Some of the world’s best-known aviation-themed hotels include the TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK, which was constructed on the site of the former Trans World Airlines terminal and now gives guests both runway views and a vibe of early Jet Age era glamour, and the Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park.

In the latter’s case, the fuselage of a decommissioned Boeing 727 plane from 1965 is both the centerpiece and most luxurious suite of a resort otherwise built in a jungle oasis overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The small list of hotels in which guests can literally sleep in an old plane just got bigger with the addition of the 1975 Avenue & Hotel in Johor Bahru, the third-largest city in Malaysia just outside the border with Singapore.

1975 Avenue & Hotel is the world’s latest aviation hotel

Located approximately 20 minutes away from the city’s Senai International AIirport (JHB), two retired Boeing 747 planes once used by Pan Am and Japan Airlines in the 1970s and 1980s have been sitting on an empty lot for many years as part of a display.

A local Malaysian logistics and warehousing group undertook an ambitious project to turn them into the wing of a new 38-room hotel and, this month, the 1975 Avenue & Hotel started welcoming guests as part of a soft opening.

Related: Which island in The Bahamas is the best

The two planes contain 18 suites with themes designed around countries including Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, China and England among others; the rest of the property is a wing featuring regular hotel-style rooms and amenities that include a rooftop swimming pool, sunken jacuzzi, man-made beach pool and kids’ water park over which the two Boeings loom.

The new resort also includes a children’s water park built around the two Boeing 747s.1975 Avenue & Hotel

A little history of the planes that are now luxury hotel suites

The suites can already be booked at a price starting at 1,706 Malaysian Ringgit ($362 USD) per night and are designed to lean into the architecture of the planes; a cockpit lounge area with the original flight instruments recreated and two floors on which one can find a king’s size bed, a bathroom and separate area with a kitchen.

“Inspired by the original structure of the aircraft, each suite reflects the spirit of a destination: from elegant European flair to the warmth of Southeast Asia,” the property writes in describing the suites inside the former aircraft.

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The planes, meanwhile, are nicknamed Bove and Bey. Bove is a 747SR-146B built for Japan Airlines by 1980 and after aging out of service stored at JHB Airport until 2019. Bey, meanwhile, is a 747-121 that was built in 1970 for Pan Am and flew briefly for American Airlines before being converted into a freighter operated for Tower Air and Logistic Air in 1992.

While avgeeks will be the ones to specifically seek out the property, 1975 Avenue & Hotel is also strategically positioned for those transiting through Johor Bahru overnight as well as those coming in to Johor Premium Outlets or Legoland Malaysia.

Related: Why luxury hotels are betting big on Scotland travel

Walmart’s top-rated mini dresser is just $26 during a Flash deal

August 23, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Uncategorized

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Now that a new season will be here before you know it, you’re probably already thinking about cleaning your home and revamping your wardrobe. What better way to bridge the gap than by getting your home as neat and organized as possible? One of the best ways to start the process is by making the most of dresser drawers throughout the house. Thanks to Walmart, you can add more drawers to the mix with one of its most affordable mini dressers, which is available for an even better price than usual.

The Concetta 2-Drawer Mini Dresser is on sale for just $26 during a Flash deal. You don’t have to spend like royalty to have an organized home, and this dresser is the perfect example of that rule.

Concetta 2-Drawer Mini Dresser, $26 (was $38) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

This little dresser is so convenient, in part, because it has so many potential uses. While it’s perfect for standard clothing storage in your bedroom closet or corner, it’s able to do so much more. The small size and neutral design of this piece lend it to use almost anywhere in the home. It can be an entryway table, a living room end table next to the sofa, or even as a bedside nightstand. With that in mind, this versatile little piece of furniture can be purchased in a two-pack as well because it works so wonderfully as part of a set.

The frame is made from lightweight and durable powder-coated stainless steel. That construction means that the dresser’s skeleton is rustproof and corrosion-resistant. Longevity is key when it comes to everyday-use furniture like this, so the steel frame design is a big plus. What’s more, the fabric-sided drawers are also relatively lightweight, making the entire unit easy to move around as needed. The drawers have a triple-layer design with an MDF panel in the center, giving them a soft feel on the outside but a rigid structure. This also makes them easy to open and close.

The dresser also has an attractive and sturdy manufactured wood tabletop. It’s waterproof and easy to clean with any solvent-based cleaner. Each of the four legs has an adjustable foot, making it easy to keep an even keel, even on an imperfect flooring surface. The overall dimensions of the dresser are 18 inches long by 11.8 inches wide by 20 inches high, which is why it’s perfectly portable and pleasantly practical. It’s also available in seven beautiful color variants.

Related: Amazon is selling a $28 mini-dresser for home organization

Details to know

Dimensions: 18 inches long by 11.8 inches wide by 20 inches high.

Materials: Powder-coated stainless steel, MDF, fabric, and engineered wood.

Color variants: Seven colors.

Countertop: Woodgrain engineered wood.

Walmart shoppers were very pleased with this diminutive piece. One claimed, “It’s perfect,” before adding, “It’s big enough to hold lots of socks and small items. It looks like wood, it’s cute, and super easy to put together…These are great for small spaces.”

Shop more deals 

Accver Lightweight 9-Drawer Dresser, $39 at Walmart

Costway 3-Drawer Mini Dresser, $110 (was $353) at Target

If you’re ready to pump up your home organization, then the Concetta 2-Drawer Mini Dresser is exactly what you need. The fact that you can currently get it for just $26 is your sign that today is the day to add one to your home.

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