The poverty line in the United States has just been updated for 2025: $15,650/year for individuals and $32,150/year for a four-person household.
Looks pretty high? But the reality is:
- The median household income in the United States is $75,580, which is 2.35 times the poverty line.
- The impoverished population spends 16.7% of their income on food, while the wealthy only spend 12.4%.
- Rent for low-income families accounts for 41.2% of their income, while ordinary families account for 33.8%.
The most heart-wrenching: the poverty line standard is still based on the algorithm from 1963. Prices

# Buffett's Index Fund Strategy: How $10K Became $253K
Want to know the secret that beat 86.9% of professional fund managers? Back in 1993, Warren Buffett told regular investors a simple truth: just buy an S&P 500 index fund and hold.
If you'd dropped $10,000 into SPY or VOO on the day he published that letter (March 1994), you'd be sitting on over $253K today. That's a 25x return in roughly 30 years.
But here's the real flex—Buffett didn't recommend a one-time dump. He pushed for **consistent monthly investing**. Someone who added just $100/month to that same ETF would've stacked an extra $2

Will small-cap stocks have opportunities in 2025? These 5 stocks are worth following.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates 3 times since September, lowering the benchmark rate from 5.25%-5.50% to 4.25%-4.50%. With alleviated inflation pressures and stable economic growth, small-cap stocks are entering a golden period.
**These 5 small-cap stocks are particularly attractive**:
**CLMB (Climb Global Solutions)** — a leading IT distributor, ranked #1 by Zacks. Earnings expectations have been raised from $3.59 to $4.55 per share over the past 60 days. The stock price has risen 135% YTD, with a

The Great Brain Drain: Why Smart Money Is Ditching Coastal Cities
Here's what's wild—college grads are finally running from New York and San Francisco. Not because they got lower pay, but because even six-figure salaries can't compete with coastal inflation anymore.
The numbers tell the story. NYC one-bedroom rent? $3,738/month. Houston? $1,574. You're literally paying 2.4x more for the same apartment. Home prices are even worse—NYC averages $1,406/sqft while Houston sits at $276/sqft. That's a 5x gap.
So where's the migration heading? Austin, Phoenix, Raleigh for the bigger metros. But here's

From Ramen to Millions: The Unsexy Truth About Getting Rich
Daniel Meursing went from eating $5 instant noodles to staffing Oscar parties — but here's what nobody tells you about the journey.
Starting with just $4K in 2019, he did three things obsessively:
**1. Lived like broke:** Saved 50%+ of his loan officer salary. Dumpster-dived for furniture. Drove a rust bucket. "Glamorous? No. But it worked."
**2. Invested like it mattered:** Maxed 401(k)/IRA, studied stocks, bought rental properties with car payment savings. Lost money on bad tech startups. Learned and kept going.
**3. Side hustled wh

# Recession vs. Depression: Why One Hits Different
You've probably heard the term "recession" thrown around a lot, but do you actually know how it differs from a depression? Here's the thing: the U.S. has only experienced **one depression** in its entire history—the Great Depression (1929-1939). Since then? 14 recessions. That tells you something.
**How does the NBER officially call a recession?**
It's not just "two quarters of negative GDP growth" like the textbooks say. The National Bureau of Economic Research looks at the full picture: unemployment trends, industrial output, retail sales,

Mark Cuban said a big truth: if you still have plenty of free time, instead of being idle, you might as well learn AI.
He believes that high-paying jobs in the future will basically revolve around AI, and whether you are a high school student or a university student, entering the field early will allow you to secure your position. Specifically, these 4 directions are the most worth betting on:
**Basic Knowledge** — Don’t overestimate yourself; mastering the basic usage of tools like ChatGPT can help you outpace most competitors. Being able to teach your boss to optimize processes after joining

# Natural gas prices hit a multi-year high, these two investment perspectives are worth considering
Winter is here, and natural gas prices are soaring. The Henry Hub benchmark price recently surged to $4.94/MMBtu, the highest point since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began.
**The reason for the price increase is clear**:
- US LNG exports exceed 18 billion cubic feet per day, and demand has surged in Europe after the supply cut from Russian gas.
- The La Niña climate cycle is predicted to bring colder weather this winter, especially in the Midwest and Northeast.
- The 24-hour operation of the AI

Elon Musk's $419.9B net worth puts things in perspective: If you earn the US average salary (~$55K/year), you'd need 7.6 million years to match his wealth — that's longer than humanity has existed as bipedal creatures.
Even wilder: His fortune equals the **combined lifetime earnings of 246,471 average Americans** (who earn ~$1.7M over a lifetime).
Or think of it this way — if median household income ($80K) = 38 miles of steps, Musk's net worth = 198.8 million miles of steps. Enough to walk Earth-Mars-Earth over 400 times.
It's the kind of wealth gap that makes you rethink... everything.