My wife and I have a $1 million mortgage and $200,000 in cash — do we reduce our repayments or invest it?

Dear Moneyist, My wife and I are in our mid 30s and have been blessed enough to be relatively debt-free and purchase our first home together. Should we use that $200,000 to recast our mortgage — reduce the outstanding sum without altering the original terms — or invest the money? Our interest rate is low at 3.5%. We were able to make a 20% down payment, but our remaining balance is still over $1 million. I decided to sell the town house I purchased years ago, and was able to come up with an additional $400,000. We decided to pay off all of our remaining debt — $25,000 for a car and $15,000 for a student loan — make some home improvements to our bathroom and install solar electricity. We also

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  How Interest Rates Affect Every Aspect of Your Personal Financial Life

  Credit.com
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  The Motley Fool: Invest or pay extra mortgage payments?

  The Seattle Times

My husband took 5 years off his age and denies he fathered a child — now I want separate bank accounts

Dear Moneyist, My husband is 16 years older than me and, two years after our marriage, I discovered that he was five years older than his official age. At the same time, we found out I was pregnant with our first child. He explained that there was some controversy about his date of birth as he was born at home in the Philippines. There was a fire and he lost his parents at a very young age. I found it hard to believe at that time, but we have a good relationship and — other than that — things were okay. Moreover, we were expecting our first child, so I let it go. I have very little financial education and have always trusted him to handle our finances while I worked hard. We have three kids together,

GOLDMAN SACHS: The government shutdown will take a toll on the US economy, but the pain won't last long

Goldman Sachs says the government shutdown will result in a 0.2% reduction in first-quarter GDP for every week it persists. Expect the government shutdown to slowly drain the US economy, says Goldman Sachs. Now that the federal government has failed to successfully negotiate a funding bill, first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) will slip by 0.2 percentage points for each week the shutdown persists, according to Goldman.

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  US government shutdown: Congress blame game begins after Senate fails to avert crisis

  The Independent
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  U.S. Government Shutdown Starts as GOP Spending Bill Hits Wall

  Bloomberg

Why retiring in America has become less attractive

Getting old in America isn’t what it used to be. In a worldwide study, the U.S. fell to No. 17 (down three spots from last year) in the Natixis Global Asset Management Global Retirement Index. The index ranks 43 mainly developed countries on their ability to offer its citizens a secure retirement. Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Sweden top the list. Why did the U.S. have such a dismal showing? The U.S. took hits in income equality, health care spending and life expectancy. While America may have the fifth-highest income per capita, we have the sixth lowest score for income equality, suggesting that retirement saving is difficult for average workers. Our life expectancy fell, yet we spend the

Venezuela's woes poised to hit U.S. oilfield service firms' earnings

Insufficient investment, payment delays to suppliers, and the sanctions imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have hammered Venezuela's oil industry and saw crude oil production fall 13 percent in 2017. On Friday, Schlumberger disclosed a $938 million write-down on its Venezuelan assets and receivables, citing political and economic woes affecting the country. Schlumberger and other suppliers accepted promissory notes or reclassified Venezuelan receivables in recent years as a way to manage debts from PDVSA [PDVSA.UL].

Video: Jim Cramer on IBM, American Express, Square, Visa and Mastercard

TheStreet's founder and Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer weighs in on Friday's trending topics including the potential government shutdown and IBM's (IBM) and American Express' (AXP) latest earnings. Cramer also comments on the stocks of Square (SQ) , Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) . Watch all of Jim Cramer's full NYSE live shows right here:

Apple didn’t say it was hiring 20,000 new workers, nor bringing back all of its overseas cash

Apple Inc. announced a series of plans Wednesday that were celebrated as promises to hire thousands of workers and bring home all of its overseas cash. Well, not necessarily. Apple AAPL, -0.45%  said in its release that the company planned to “create over 20,000 new jobs through hiring at existing campuses and opening a new one.” The key word there is “create,” which Apple really likes to use when discussing jobs: The company even has a portion of its website dedicated to “job creation” that claims it is “responsible for 2 million jobs” in the United States, most of which are jobs “attributable to the App Store ecosystem.” Apple currently employs 84,000 people in the U.S., it said Wednesday,

Ron Insana: What the U.S. dollar could suggest for the ec...

CNBC Contributor Ron Insana discusses whether a weak U.S. dollar could slow the market rally down.

Delaware sues opioid manufacturers, distributors over epidemic

The lawsuit, filed by Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn in a state court, targeted drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP and Endo International Plc along with several wholesale drug distributors and the retailers CVS Health Corp and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc . The lawsuit accused Purdue and Endo of engaging in a massive marketing campaign aimed at concealing the risks of using opioids to treat chronic pain in order to overcome a medical consensus that using the drugs for that purpose was unsafe.

Gilead Collaborates with Pfizer for Yescarta Combo Study

Gilead Sciences’ GILD subsidiary Kite announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. PFE to evaluate a combination of its newly approved CAR-T therapy Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and Pfizer's utomilumab, a 4-1BB agonist, for

Here’s a way to get a pension-like benefit in retirement

Not only do defined-benefit plans still exist, they are just the ticket for investors in particular situations. I’m referring, of course, to the kind of retirement plan that used to be the most common way in which corporations funded their employees’ retirement. These plans, also known as pensions, guaranteed a certain level of payment during retirement. Corporate defined-benefit plans fell out of favor a couple of decades ago, however, and few investors are even aware that they still exist. But they very much do, though now it’s up to us to set them up. And there can be huge tax advantages for doing so. A personal defined-benefit plan provides a guaranteed payout in your retirement years, just

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  If You're Retired, Consider Buying These 2 Stocks

  Motley Fool
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  How Some Investors Miss Out on $1,336 of Free Money in Their 401(k)s

  Motley Fool

Cramer's game plan: Watch individual stocks amid the earn...

Jim Cramer advised investors on stocks to watch as earnings season begins in earnest and companies guide toward tax reform benefits.

• Attractive Individual Stocks Face Off Against Extended Indices

  TheStreet.com
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  Earnings Season Guessing Games: Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap

  The Street

Top Analyst Reports for UnitedHealth, Amgen & United Technologies

Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Amgen (AMGN) and United Technologies (UTX). Buy-rated UnitedHealth’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Medical Insurance industry in the last year (up +53.2% vs. +52.9%). The company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat expectations and grew year over year, led by higher revenues in both its segments and membership growth.

• UBS Group (UBS) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research

  The Cerbat Gem
• Meta Financial Group (CASH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research

  The Cerbat Gem

Gold up, dollar shaken by U.S. government shutdown fears

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices rose slightly on Friday as the U.S. dollar hovered near a three-year low on heightened fears of a U.S. government shutdown, but the precious metal was still on track for its first weekly drop in six weeks. The U.S. dollar fell versus a basket of currencies as the U.S. Senate raced to avert a government shutdown on Friday ahead of a midnight deadline with no agreement on funding in sight. Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $1,334.58 per ounce at 2:06 p.m. EST (1906 GMT), on track for a weekly drop of 0.3 percent, after falling from Monday's four-month highs.

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  US stocks close higher as market sets latest record high

  Associated Press
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  Wall Street ends higher despite government shutdown threat

  Reuters

Delta Air to tighten rules for onboard service animals

Delta Air Lines is tightening the requirements for passengers traveling with onboard service and emotional support animals, the carrier said on Friday, following a sharp uptick in pet-related safety issues in recent years. Effective March 1, Delta, the second largest U.S. airline by passenger traffic, said it will require passengers seeking to fly with pets to present additional documents outlining the passenger's need for the animal and proof of its training and vaccinations, 48 hours prior to the flight. This comes in response to what the carrier said was a 150 percent increase in service and support animals - pets, often dogs, that accompany people with disabilities - carried onboard since 2015.

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  Delta's New Emotional Support Animal Policy Will Make It Harder to Travel With Your Pet

  Fortune
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  Delta: Support and service animals are wreaking havoc in the sky

  Yahoo Finance Video

Comcast (CMCSA) Offers Wireless Internet Backup for SMBs

Comcast Corp. CMCSA plans to strengthen the services it offers to small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) leveraging on its wireless network. The largest cable MSO (multi service operator) is rolling out a new product -- Connection Pro -- which will enable SMBs to keep their businesses running in case of a power failure or loss of web connectivity. Connection Pro will enable Comcast’s business customers to automatically receive a 4G LTE cellular connection if there's a network or Internet disruption.

How to generate the income you need in retirement

You’ve spent your whole life saving for retirement . Now you’re finished working, and it’s time to start spending what you’ve saved. For many investors, the transition can be confusing or even traumatic. How will you tap your portfolio? As investors approach this transition from saving to spending they should take three steps: start with a retirement income plan, keep their portfolio invested and diversified, and then rebalance their portfolio periodically to generate the cash they require. Here we’ll discuss the last step — creating your paycheck when rebalancing. Why is this important? If you’re an investor, you’ve almost certainly heard of having an appropriate asset allocation to stocks and

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  January Industrial Dividend Stocks To Look Out For

  Simply Wall St.
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  Methven And Other Top Industrial Dividend Stocks

  Simply Wall St.

Twitter's Noto Is Said to Be Among Finalists as SoFi CEO

Anthony Noto, Twitter Inc.’s chief operating officer, is in talks with Social Finance Inc. to become the online lending company’s new chief executive officer.  San Francisco-based SoFi has been searching for a leader since September, when co-founder and CEO Mike Cagney departed amid turmoil at the firm. Noto has yet to accept an offer, and talks could still fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. He is one of fewer than a handful of finalists for the role, with as many as two women and two men in the running, said the people, who asked not to be identified since the matter is private. SoFi declined to comment. Twitter spokeswoman Kristin Binns said, “As a policy, we don’t comment

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  SoFi in talks with top Twitter exec about CEO position: WSJ

  Reuters
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  Sources: Twitter COO Anthony Noto, who has led Twitter's push into live video, is in talks to become SoFi's new CEO, following Mike Cagney's departure

  Techmeme

IBM disappoints, Square gets some love, Overstock may have a suitor

Let’s check out the Yahoo Finance charts of the day: IBM (IBM): Shares are dropping in midday trading, by about 4%. IBM did report an earnings beat and its first revenue jump in 23 quarters, but it’s full-year profit guidance missed the mark. Square (

Upcoming Consumer Earnings Reports to Watch: JNJ, F, SBUX

Fourth-quarter earnings season is finally underway, and investors are already getting excited about the upcoming reports from market-moving tech companies like Netflix NFLX. In the coming weeks, we will see reports from the world’s biggest and most relevant companies, meaning that investors need to be prepared for the ensuing movement that is likely to occur throughout the market. According to the latest report from Sheraz Mian, the head of the Zacks Equity Research department and an acknowledged earnings expert, earnings growth is expected to be positive for 13 of the 16 Zacks sectors—and growth rates are projected to hit the double digits for our Energy, Technology, Construction, Industrial Products, Basic Materials, and Automotive groups.

• Weaker dollar adds to optimism over U.S. earnings

  Reuters
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  Netflix, Ford and More Big Earnings to Watch For This Week

  247wallst.com

Amazon's Cashier-Less Store Finally Opens Monday

If Amazon's (AMZN) futuristic new convenience store is a success, the job profession known as cashier may be extinct within 20 years. Amazon Go, a cashier-free convenience store concept, will finally swing open its doors to the public on Monday in Seattle. The store has been in test form by Amazon employees since 2016. John Q public will be able to shop for groceries at the 1,800 square foot store, and once they are finished, walk out without checking out. The company will use technology that automatically detects when products are taken from, or returned, to shelves and track those items in a virtual shopping cart. Amazon will then charge the Amazon accounts of shoppers shortly after and send

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  Inside Amazon's surveillance-powered no-checkout convenience store

  TechCrunch
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  Amazon Go: see inside Amazon's new store without a checkout line

  USA Today