Philip's $45,000 household income in Los Angeles is an earnings problem. California's cost of living runs 11% above the national baseline, and average consumer expenditures hit $78,535 in 2024.
At a record 21% APR, carrying medical copays on credit cards makes debt repayment nearly impossible at Philip's current income level.
Ramsey argues Philip moving to full-time work at the national median wage of $1,251 per week would roughly double his household income.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.
On July 23, a caller named Philip told Dave Ramsey he could not stop taking on new debt. He is 49, works part-time as a grocery store courtesy clerk in Southern California, and shares a household income of roughly $40,000 to $45,000 with his wife. The debt was credit cards and routine medical bills, copays, doctor visits, dental care. When asked why he was not working full-time, Philip said, "A lot of emotional stuff, a lot of baggage, a lot of... yeah, I have a long history."

#income #time

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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management lost more than a third of its workforce in just over a year, and nearly a quarter of workers say they remain in jobs they don't want for health insurance.
Here's a closer look at those numbers and some of the others making headlines in the HR world.
By the numbers
24%

#office #story

This may come as a surprise, but one of the world's biggest winners of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution isn't actually a technology firm — it's Walmart (WMT), the big-box discount retailer.
Thanks to its early and aggressive bets on AI beginning in the late 2010s, Walmart has transformed its operations, optimized its supply chain, and cut delivery times to as little as 30 minutes while boosting employee productivity.
AI has also helped fuel double-digit share price gains, pushing Walmart's valuation above $1 trillion — the first retailer ever to reach that milestone. In fact, on January 9, 2026, Walmart joined the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index as a reflection of its digital transformation, triggering an estimated $19 billion in passive capital inflows and sending shares to new highs.
But these advancements are coming at a human cost. In May 2026, Walmart announced that, as part of a plan to streamline its global operations, it would lay off or relocate about 1,000 corporate workers.
While a company spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that these changes were "related to organizational structure and alignment, not handing over more tasks to artificial intelligence," Walmart's employees say that the company's AI-fueled initiatives have resulted in a race to meet "impossible deadlines," raising concerns over workplace safety and product quality.

#artificial #wall

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.
Declining money market yields make sitting in cash increasingly costly.
Treasuries offer attractive real yields and lower volatility than equities.
Strong equity gains create an opportunity to rebalance into bonds.
Now that the book has been closed on the first half of 2026 - a period propelled by the AI-driven technology trade - investors are searching for what to do next. For those investors that have ridden the stock market up to near all-time highs, they may be thinking about reducing their equity exposure and adding fixed income to their portfolio. Others that have sat paralyzed on the sidelines, looking for the right time to enter the market, may simply want their money to work for them. We will walk through how both types of investors should view bonds moving forward.

#market #Equity #bonds

Khing Oei, a former Goldman Sachs credit investor, says the market has Strategy's STRC preferred stock priced wrong. His math says it is worth about $96. It trades near $85.
Oei spent 25 years valuing risky debt at Goldman Sachs and hedge funds. He shared his STRC model in a recent lengthy discussion.
STRC pays a 12% dividend. Divide that by today's discounted price and you get a yield above 14%. That number is everywhere. Oei says it is wrong.
Here is the problem. That math ****** umes STRC pays out forever, no matter what. STRC promises no such thing. It never matures and never has to repay its $100 face value, known as par. It pays only while MicroStrategy can afford it.
The shares crashed 25% below par during June's Bitcoin selloff. That is what made the yield look so juicy.

Treasuries largely held gains Wednesday after a soft inflation report that derailed bets on an imminent Federal Reserve interest-rate increase.Darren Shames, Global Head of Rates Sales in the Americas at Nomura, discusses market positioning and the Fed following Tuesday's CPI decline.

Trilogy Metals Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) is one of the 7 Best Silver Mining Penny Stocks to Buy.
On June 9, 2026, Trilogy Metals Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) announced that field crews successfully mobilized to the site and seasonal field operations are underway for the 2026 summer exploration program at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in northwestern Alaska's Ambler Mining District.
The program is fully funded and centered on advancing the high-grade Arctic Copper-Zinc-Lead-Gold-Silver Project toward a construction decision. Trilogy also highlighted target ******* sments for drilling along a 100-kilometer VMS belt to support district-wide exploration planning for 2027, Bornite camp upgrades to set the stage for accelerated exploration and development in 2027, and the appointment of Ron Rimelman as President of Ambler Metals.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Earlier in June, Trilogy Metals provided an update on the previously announced proposed strategic equity investment of US$35.6 million by the U.S. Department of War. Trilogy and the DOW agreed to extend the targeted closing date for the investment from May 31, 2026, to July 31, 2026, to allow time to finalize definitive documentation. The company expects to close the transaction on or before July 31, 2026.

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Polymarket prices Stripe at 7% odds for a 2026 IPO, as a $159 billion February tender offer eliminated any urgency to list.
Discord's IPO odds sit near 44% but have dropped 19 percentage points in one month as traders steadily abandon the bullish side.
Anduril attracts the highest trading liquidity of the three but commands just 9.5% yes odds, exposing a stark gap between hype and conviction.
Don't wait: the ***** yst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just revealed his top 10 AI stocks. See the full list FREE now.
Prediction markets have quietly become one of the sharpest real-time gauges of IPO probability, and right now they are sending three very different signals about three of the most anticipated private tech names on the planet. Stripe, Discord, and Anduril each carry billion-dollar hype and constant listing chatter, but the crowd on Polymarket is pricing them nowhere near evenly. Here is what the money is actually saying as of July 8, 2026.

Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) is one of the 10 Stocks Investors Are Running Away From.
Rocket Lab extended losses for a second day on Tuesday, shedding 10.40 percent to end at $83.41 apiece, as investors mirrored its chief executive's disposition of a significant stake in the company.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, the ****** e player said that its CEO Peter Beck has sold 5 million shares in the company on the same day, as part of his selling plan dated March 27, 2026.
Photo from Rocket Lab
The sale also followed the stock's clawback to the $100 level following recent news that it is expanding into satellite communications for $8 billion with the acquisition of Iridium Communications Inc.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. The company has a market cap of $30.1 billion and offers condiments, sauces, dressings, and spreads, as well as cheese, frozen potato products, and other products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, and Velveeta brands.
The company is expected to release its Q2 2026 earnings soon. Ahead of the event, ***** ysts expect the company's EPS to be $0.53 on a diluted basis, down 23.2% from $0.69 in the year-ago quarter. The company has exceeded Wall Street's EPS estimates in each of its last four quarters.
Broadcom's Largest AI Customer Is Fleeing to MediaTek. AVGO Stock Is Still a Buy.
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