Things To Do In SW Florida

By ADRIANA MORGA, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets are volatile. Consumer confidence is at its lowest level in five years. Economists say recession risks are rising.

It all adds up to financial uncertainty for a lot of Americans. Roughly half of U.S. adults say that President Trump’s trade policies will increase prices “a lot,” according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center of Public Affairs Research. And about half of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the possibility of the U.S. economy going into a recession in the next few months.

Related Articles

Winter Park showstopper: Home has 18-car basement garage, reached by a secret elevator

The Savings Game: Reader questions about Social Security benefits

Trump budget would slash NASA funds, kill off Artemis’ SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft

NASA takes possession of Orion for Artemis II moon mission

What does it cost to own a home in 2025? read more

Q. I just turned 65, and I haven’t applied for a Social Security benefit yet. My husband applied for his benefits when he retired at age 70. If I apply for a spousal benefit, will I be entitled to 50% of his benefit?

A. Unfortunately, you will not be eligible for a spousal benefit equaling 50% of your husband’s benefit unless you wait until you reach 67, your full retirement age. If you apply for a spousal benefit now, you will get less than 50% of his benefit. You will also be filing for a benefit based on your own work record, and you will be entitled to whichever benefit is higher, the spousal benefit or the benefit based on your work record. Touch base with a Social Security representative and determine what your potential benefits (either spousal or for your own work) would be now and what they would be if you waited until age 67 to file. Once you have that information, you can make a better decision.

Q. My wife is disabled and is receiving disability income from her employer for work outside Social Security, as well as disability income from Social Security. My daughter is 17 and plans to go to college. I am approaching my full retirement age. I am concerned about the income my wife and daughter would receive if I predecease my wife. My wife is a few years younger than me. read more

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget looks to end the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Gateway space station central to NASA’s existing Artemis program — but only after a successful moon landing as the nation remains in a race with China.

A preliminary overview of the White House’s planned 2026 discretionary budget released Friday dubbed SLS and Orion as “grossly expensive and delayed,” citing that each launch SLS rocket alone costs the government $4 billion and is 140% over budget.

It’s among billions in cuts for the overall $18.8 billion proposed budget for NASA, which for the current fiscal year is nearly $25 billion. Ultimately, Congress will pass a budget and it often counters presidential proposals.

The Trump administration looks to drop funds toward Artemis’ future launches by $879 million with a goal of ending them after the Artemis III flight.

“The budget funds a program to replace SLS and Orion flights to the moon with more cost-effective commercial systems that would support more ambitious subsequent lunar missions,” the White House proposal stated. “The budget also proposes to terminate the Gateway, a small lunar space station in development with international partners, which would have been used to support future SLS and Orion missions.” read more

For the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, NASA officially has its hands on a spacecraft expected to fly humans to the moon.

Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the Orion space capsule, transferred possession of the Artemis II spacecraft Thursday to the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems team base at Kennedy Space Center.

Artemis II is slated to launch from KSC no later than April 2026, taking NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day mission around the moon — but not to the lunar surface. That launch date is one that’s been repeatedly delayed after completion of the uncrewed Artemis I mission in late 2022.

“We want to achieve a pace of one flight a year. We’re not there yet,” said Lockheed Martin’s Kirk Shireman, head of its Orion program. “We all know that the faster you fly, the faster you produce vehicles, the cheaper they are, the less cost there is to that and the more you keep the interest of the public.” read more

By Mia Taylor, Bankrate.com

Your house isn’t just one of the biggest purchases you’ll likely make. It’s an ongoing expense — or source of expenses — as well. You know about your mortgage payments, of course. But in addition to those, there are regular costs of maintenance and upkeep.

Related Articles

• 
  The Savings Game: Reader questions about Social Security benefits

• 
  Trump budget would slash NASA funds, kill off Artemis’ SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft

• 
  NASA takes possession of Orion for Artemis II moon mission

• 
  Homeownership further out of reach as rising prices, high mortgage rates widen affordability gap

• 
  Wall Street extends its gains to a 9th straight day, reclaiming losses since tariff escalation

Some of these are obvious, encountered in everyday life – housekeeping, lawn mowing, window washing. Others are financial, like property taxes, utilities bills and homeowners insurance. And then there are the wear-and-tear repairs and unexpected fixes, less obvious to the naked eye until there’s an inspection or break. The point is, all of them drive up the tab associated with homeownership. read more