Things To Do In SW Florida

By Margarette Burnette | NerdWallet

If your savings fund balance isn’t currently where you want it to be, don’t be discouraged. Having any amount saved for an emergency, no matter how small, means you’ve already taken the most important step to protecting yourself from a financial setback.

The next step is also important — maximize how much your money grows. Here’s how you can do it.

Put your funds in a high-yield account

Maximizing the interest you earn in emergency savings is crucial. These days, some of the best high-yield savings accounts have an annual percentage yield, or APY, of more than 5%. At that rate, you’d earn $5 in interest for every $100 deposited. That’s definitely having your money work for you.

A lot of people are earning far less interest on their savings. The national average savings rate is only 0.46% as of April 15, 2024, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. With that percentage, you earn less than 50 cents for every $100 in an account over the course of a year.

It is worth noting that savings rates can change at any time, so you’re not guaranteed to earn 5% forever. But you can capitalize on that high APY for as long as possible. And even when overall rates eventually dip, you’re still better off putting your money in a high-yield account. Those accounts tend to consistently offer better rates than their low-yield competition. read more

Associated Press

The man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze appeared online for the first time in three years, sending the prices of the quirky and volatile shares sharply higher Monday.

Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” posted an image Sunday on the social platform X of a man sitting forward in his chair, a meme used by gamers when things are getting serious.

He followed that tweet with a YouTube video from years before when he championed the beleaguered company GameStop saying, “That’s all for now cuz I’m out of breath. FYI here’s a quick 4min video I put together to summarize the $GME bull case.”

GameStop in 2021 was a video game retailer that was struggling to survive as consumers switched rapidly from discs to digital downloads. Big Wall Street hedge funds and major investors were betting against it, or shorting its stock, believing that its shares would continue on a drastically downward trend.

Gill and those who agreed with him changed the trajectory of a company that appeared to headed for bankruptcy by buying up thousands of GameStop shares in the face of almost any accepted metrics that told investors that the company was in serious trouble. read more

Nobody likes paying for homeowner insurance.

That’s been especially true in Florida, where over the past few years, as more frequent storms and high litigation rates have doubled the cost of insurance for just about everyone who owns a home.

It’s tempting for homeowners, particularly seniors on fixed incomes, to put off critical upgrades or reduce their insurance coverage to save money.

But doing so can leave people vulnerable, insurance experts say. With forecasters predicting an active hurricane season this year, agents urge everyone to review the conditions of their homes and the adequacy of their insurance policies.

They advise property owners to question whether their homes are strong enough to withstand hurricane-force winds, and whether their insurance policies offer enough coverage to enable them to rebuild if catastrophe strikes.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel asked insurance agents to identify common mistakes homeowners make prior to hurricane season. Correcting some will cost more money, while savings can be realized by fixing others. read more

DETROIT (AP) — Amazon’s self-driving robotaxi unit is being investigated by the U.S. government’s highway safety agency after two of its vehicles braked suddenly and were rear-ended by motorcyclists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted on its website Monday it will evaluate the automated driving system developed by Zoox.

Both crashes involved Toyota Highlander SUVs with autonomous driving technology. They happened during daytime hours, and the agency confirmed that each of the Amazon vehicles was operating in autonomous mode leading up to the crashes. In one crash a motorcyclist suffered minor injuries, and a Zoox driver reported minor injuries in the other, according to reports. Both happened last month, one in San Francisco and the other in Spring Valley, Nevada.

The agency said the probe will focus on the performance of the company’s automated driving system during the crashes, as well as how it behaves in crosswalks around pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. read more

Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle already flew to space with Blue Origin. They’re set for a return flight soon and want to corral some student journalists to cover the story.

It’s part of a contest from the Winter Park-based national nonprofit SpaceKids Global that Sharon Hagle founded in 2015. It aims to stoke interest in the space industry among elementary-school children, focusing on STEAM education, which is science, technology, engineering, art and math.

“I think this is a great opportunity for the kids to really learn,” she said. “What occupations we have here, we need up there, including space reporters.”

The National SpaceKids Press Squad Competition will award eight children ages 8 to 12 and one parent or guardian a two-day, all-expenses paid trip to the Space Coast. There they will be able to do something most professional journalists have yet to do, tour Blue Origin’s Merritt Island rocket factory, home to the New Glenn rocket Jeff Bezos has said will have its first launch attempt from Cape Canaveral later this year. read more