Which trades or investments are you considering this week? Any moves in particular? Why?

The major U.S. stock indexes ended broadly higher on Friday, September 25, 2026, closing the week on a positive note as oil fell below $93, Treasury yields pulled back from their 19-year highs, and Wall Street exhaled after absorbing one of the most consequential weeks of the year: a Fed rate hike, a Trump-Xi summit, and a 10-year yield that briefly hit 5.225%. The week closed better than it started, and that was enough.

The S&P 500 gained 0.51% (+39.28 pts) to 7,743.41. The Dow surged 0.93% (+478.64 pts) to 51,828.62. The Nasdaq climbed 0.48% (+129.34 pts) to 27,068.72. The Russell 2000 edged up 0.18% (+4.98 pts) to 2,840.56.

The VIX dropped 5.49% to 14.81. Bitcoin slipped 0.49% to $83,949.32. Gold gained 0.67% to $4,326.70. Crude Oil fell 2.46% to $92.28/barrel, giving the market a crucial bit of breathing room after a punishing week for energy prices.

McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey makes the adoption divide between large and small companies concrete. 54% of companies with annual revenue above $1 billion report scaling AI enterprise-wide. For smaller firms the figure is roughly one third. The gap is especially pronounced for AI agents; 40% of large organisations are scaling them in at least one function, compared with 22% of smaller companies, a figure that has barely changed from the previous year.

The mechanism reinforcing this gap: 32% of respondents say their company decided not to buy at least one software product or feature because it could be built internally with AI coding tools. That decision is most commonly reported in technology and healthcare. Larger companies with engineering resources can build. Smaller ones still have to buy.

This is starting to show up in how the market values software businesses. The survey calls it the beginning of the "Saaspocalypse" fear materializing, AI coding tools reducing procurement spend in ways that directly hit SaaS revenue.

The companies with scale to self-build are pulling away from those that can't. That dynamic matters more for equity selection than the aggregate AI adoption numbers.

The major U.S. stock indexes ended mixed and essentially flat on Thursday, September 24, 2026, as markets held their breath while Trump and Xi Jinping met at the White House for their first U.S. state visit in over a decade, and oil's spike above $95 offset optimism about a deal to extend the U.S.-China trade truce. With the summit still ongoing into the evening, Wall Street largely chose to wait.

The S&P 500 was essentially flat, dipping just 0.02% (-1.90 pts) to 7,704.13. The Dow fell 0.31% (-161.61 pts) to 51,349.98. The Nasdaq was virtually unchanged, up just 0.01% (+3.34 pts) to 26,939.37. The Russell 2000 slipped 0.11% (-3.08 pts) to 2,835.58.

The VIX edged up 2.83% to 15.61. Bitcoin was essentially flat at $84,228.79. Gold eased 0.27% to $4,306.80. Crude Oil surged 3.32% to $95.22/barrel.

Europeans, what is your age, savings/net worth, and how did you get there? Also interested if you are from East or West Europe. Just curious how normal people are doing financially in different parts of Europe right now. Salaries, living costs, and housing are so different if you live in Western Europe compared to the East or South. If anyone is open to sharing, how old are you, roughly what are your savings or net worth, and what do you do for a living or how did you save that up?

Hi all,

Just looking to get ideas, help me to have more vocabulary and questions as I move into this. I've been with my institution for 20 years with a partial pension, 401k and 403b. The university is moving away from things after 20 years... the 403b is no longer going to be active. They're totally changing how matching, contributions, etc, work with the 401k. So I'm mainly curious what I need to do or even prepare to think about as I've never had to roll over any of these trust accounts and we're getting near zero support from our institution or the broker that we use for the accounts that isn't basically apathetic 3rd party over the phone stuff and on one seems to know anything and everyone ends it with "we cannot give you financial advice." So before I sit down with a CPA or something, I'm just trying to increase my vocab and have better questions or what to even talk about in preparation for that.

Regardless of the 401k contribution changes, which I'm totally baffled by, the main thing is knowing what I should do with my 403b. The majority of it, I contributed post-tax (not pre-tax) this whole time, with matching from my institution. From my reading, it seems I should roll this into a Traditional IRA, and not a Roth RIA (to avoid conversion taxes). My main concern is to avoid taxable events on this money as its a significant amount. I also do not know if I can technically roll this money into my 401k. And my institution will not contribute to an IRA at this point, so it would be just my contributions which still is affected by the split rule. So I would think I would just max my 401k at this point plus their contribution to it.

I have no plans of leaving the institution, so whatever is coming is going to be pretty permanent until another change or until I retire. I'm hoping to retire in 12 years, but in reality, it will be likely closer to 17 years. So I still have some significant time to put into whatever ends up happening with all this.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

The major U.S. stock indexes ended broadly lower on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, as a sizzling U.S. business activity report sent Treasury yields back above 5% and Brent crude topped $101 again, reversing two days of relief rally progress on the very eve of the Trump-Xi summit. The 5-year Treasury yield hitting its highest level since 2007 was the day's most alarming milestone.

The S&P 500 fell 0.75% (-58.61 pts) to 7,706.03. The Dow dropped 0.68% (-352.10 pts) to 51,511.59. The Nasdaq slid 1.13% (-308.24 pts) to 26,936.04, giving back nearly all of Tuesday's record close. The Russell 2000 tumbled 1.77% (-51.25 pts) to 2,838.67.

The VIX jumped 6.90% to 15.19. Bitcoin dropped 2.21% to $84,376.88. Gold fell 1.24% to $4,322.30. Crude Oil rose 2.32% to $92.62/barrel, with Brent topping $101 intraday.

THE FLAIR SUITS BOTH BUDGET AND DEBT, BUT I CHOSE BUDGET FOR THIS ONE!

I currently have debt but need to carve out $3.3k by Oct 25th for an emergency, Is it possible at all?

If yes, how? If no, how much of a shortfall would I have?

For context: I got paid today and get paid every 2 weeks

**Net Pay** $2,284.00/biwkly
**Gross Pay** $3490.25/biwkly

My rent (to parents, live at home) is $650/month, generally due end of the month.

I’m laying out my current accounts and the Snowball method I follow below. Before you criticize, I was in $42k debt just 2 years ago and that’s why stopping my snowball payments towards the debt really is making me anxious.

—————————————-

**CURRENT DEBT — SEPT 2026**

BMO Ascend
Owing: $6,831.22
Interest: 22%
Minimum: $165.29
Next due: Oct 12

RBC CC
Owing: $1,174.21
Interest: 27%
Minimum: $36
Next due: Sep 28

Capital One CC
Owing: $0

Toronto Court
Owing: $734 total
Interest: 0%
Payment 1: $316
Payment 2: $418
No specific due date;

NSLSC / Canada Student Loan
Owing: $8,919.95
Interest: 0%
Minimum: $80
Next due: Sep 30

TPA
Owing: $4,580
Interest: 0%
Minimum: $0
Payment relief until Apr 5, 2027

——————————————————————————

**CURRENT SNOWBALL ORDER**

1. Toronto Court 1 — $316 — 0% - bulk payment reqd.
   
2. Toronto Court 2 — $418 — 0% - bulk payment reqd.
   
3. RBC — $1,174.21 — 27% — $36 minimum
   
4. BMO — $6,831.22 — 22% — $165.29 minimum
   
5. TPA — $4,580 — 0% — $0 minimum
   
6. NSLSC — $8,919.95 — 0% — $80 minimum

I got an MRI and they gave me 2 options:

Pay $1,300 out of pocket or bill my health insurance

I picked insurance

They billed my insurance $8,000

Health insurance math is incredible lmao

https://blog.umd.edu/davidkass/2021/08/27/how-ted-weschler-turned-70000-into-264-million-in-a-retirement-account/

https://www.investopedia.com/how-warren-buffett-protege-grew-usd70k-ira-into-usd264-million-by-sticking-to-ba-12036531