Things To Do In SW Florida

By James Royal, Ph.D., Bankrate.com

Nearly one-third of American adults (30%) who looked for financial advice in 2023 turned to social media, according to Bankrate’s Financial Security Survey. Younger Americans are even more likely than the average to seek out financial advice from social media, potentially setting them off in the wrong direction during their crucial early saving years, when they could get a jump-start on building wealth.

While social media may be a popular way to access low-cost financial advice, it’s a terrible resource for a number of reasons — here’s why.

1. Financial advice often comes from non-experts

Anyone — literally anyone — can claim to be a financial expert on social media and offer advice as they try to attract an audience. Having a presence on social media and declaring yourself a financial expert doesn’t make it so, however.

“Social media is flooded with misinformation,” says Jeff Busch, financial adviser at Elysium Financial in South Jordan, Utah. “So-called experts typically lack education and credentials to give such advice.” read more

An Orange County planning board on Thursday narrowly endorsed a proposed East Orlando shelter that would deliver much-needed beds for the homeless, but the property owner’s history is raising questions about the project.

The proposal passed the Planning and Zoning Commission by a margin of 5 to 3, GrowthSpotter reported. The vote sets up a showdown before the Board of County Commissioners.

Kaleo Ministries used to operate a makeshift facility on 6.2 acres at 1717 Harrell Rd., called Hope City Refuge, that once sheltered as many as 120 people at a time in bunkhouses and repurposed storage containers. The county fire marshal shut down the facility last March with a court filing that stated conditions at Hope City Refuge posed “severe life safety issues.” The county alleged that facilities lacked proper fire detection, prevention, and suppression devices and that the ministry had long resisted fixing the problem.

Now Kaleo wants to build 120 emergency housing units, 120 transitional housing units, a 9,000-square-foot drug treatment center, and a 9,000-square-foot educational and administrative building on the site. The facility would temporarily house young adults who have aged out of the foster care system and other people experiencing homelessness. Residents could live at the facility for up to two years before transitioning into permanent or alternative housing. read more

By Xavier Sabastian, Way.com

High tariffs — they affect not only governments and corporations but also consumers right where it hurts — their wallets. Because high tariffs raise the cost of motor parts, maintenance, and even insurance claims, the auto industry is particularly affected. High tariffs have the potential to cause everyday spending to soar, regardless of whether you own a car, have insurance, or occasionally rent one.

However, what are the precise effects of these increased tariffs? More significantly, how can you protect your money from needless spending? Way.com examines how the automotive business is affected by high tariffs in various ways and what you can do to avoid higher costs.

Car Repairs: The First to Feel the Heat

A car is a necessity rather than a luxury for many individuals. Repair costs, however, start to rise as tariffs raise the price of imported parts.

Why Is the Cost of Repairs Increasing?

A lot of auto parts are produced abroad.

The cost of these components increases when import duties rise. As a result, auto repair firms charge their clients more. read more

Every few years, IRA expert Ed Slott and his staff revisit locations around the U.S. presenting two-day seminars covering the most important changes that have been made regarding IRAs , 401(k)s and other popular retirement plans.

These seminars are very popular and they are essential to certified financial planners who provide advice to their clients. The seminars are also very valuable to members of the press who attend these seminars, because of the complexity of these regulations, and because of the major changes that have been made since 2020.

I always attend these seminars, and so do the most competent certified financial planners who want to make sure they provide accurate advice to their clients. The attendees of these seminars are provided with a document of over 400 pages of important information.

Unfortunately, when a retirement plan owner or beneficiary makes an error regarding naming beneficiaries, or managing his account assets, the result can be a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars that don’t go to the beneficiary of their choice. read more

NASA websites have dropped references to landing the first woman on the moon as part of the goals for its Artemis program.

Updated pages as of Friday for the program no longer feature the statement: “NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.”

The change comes as the Trump administration has used executive orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion pages from all federal websites.

The announcement NASA would send the first woman to the moon came under Trump’s first presidency.

“In keeping with the President’s Executive Order, we’re updating our language regarding plans to send crew to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign,” reads a NASA statement emailed to the Sentinel. “We look forward to learning more from about the Trump Administration’s plans for our agency and expanding exploration at the moon and Mars for the benefit of all.” read more