 |
|
|
|||||
Boeing and NASA have agreed to keep astronauts off the companys next Starliner flight and instead perform a trial run with cargo to prove its safety. Mondays announcement comes eight months after the first and only Starliner crew returned to Earth aboard SpaceX after a prolonged mission. Although NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams managed to dock Starliner to the International Space Station in 2024, the capsule had so many problems that NASA ordered it to come back empty, leaving the astronauts stuck there for more than nine months. Engineers have since been poring over the thruster and other issues that plagued the Starliner capsule. Its next cargo run to the space station will occur no earlier than April, pending additional tests and certification. Boeing said in a statement that it remains committed to the Starliner program with safety the highest priority. NASA is also slashing the planned number of Starliner flights, from six to four. If the cargo mission goes well, then that will leave the remaining three Starliner flights for crew exchanges before the space station is decommissioned in 2030. NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year, NASAs commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement. NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 three years after the final space shuttle flight to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost. The Boeing contract was worth $4.2 billion and SpaceXs $2.6 billion. Elon Musks SpaceX launched its first astronaut mission for NASA in 2020. Its 12th crew liftoff for NASA was this summer. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Marcia Dunn, AP aerospace writer
Category:
E-Commerce
If youve chosen a target asset allocationthe mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio youre probably ahead of many investors. But unless youre investing in a set-and-forget investment option like a target-date fund, your portfolios asset mix will shift as the market fluctuates. In a bull market you might get more equity exposure than you planned, or the reverse if the market declines. Rebalancing involves selling assets that have appreciated the most and using the proceeds to shore up assets that have lagged. This brings your portfolios asset mix back into balance and enforces the discipline of selling high/buying low. Rebalancing doesnt necessarily improve your portfolios returns, especially if it means selling asset classes that continue to perform well. But it can be an essential way to keep your portfolios risk profile from climbing too high. Where and how to rebalance If its been a while since your last rebalance, your portfolio might be heavy on stocks and light on bonds. A portfolio that started at 60% stocks and 40% bonds 10 years ago could now hold more than 80% stocks. Another area to check is the mix of international versus U.S. stocks. International stocks have led in 2025, but that followed a long run of outperformance for U.S. stocks, so your portfolio might lack international exposure. (Keeping about a third of your equity exposure outside the U.S. is reasonable if you want to align with Morningstars global market portfolio.) Other imbalances might exist. Growth stocks have gained nearly twice as much as value stocks over the past three years. You might also be overweight in specialized assets such as gold and bitcoin thanks to their recent run-ups. After assessing your allocations, decide where to make adjustments. You dont need to rebalance every accountwhat matters is the overall portfolios asset mix, which determines your risk and return profile. Its usually most tax-efficient to adjust within a tax-deferred account such as an IRA or 401(k), where trades wont trigger realized capital gains. For example, if youre overweight on U.S. stocks and light on international stocks, you could sell U.S. stocks and buy an international-stock fund in your 401(k). If you need to make changes in a taxable account, you can attempt to offset any realized capital gains by selling holdings with unrealized losses. That might be difficult, as the strong market environment has lifted nearly every type of asset over the past 12 months. Only a few Morningstar Categories (including India equity, real estate, consumer defensive, and health care) posted losses over the trailing 12-month period ended Oct. 30, 2025. The average long-term government-bond fund lost about 8% per year for the trailing five-year period as of the same date, so those could offer opportunities for harvesting losses. Required minimum distributions can also be used in tandem with rebalancing. Account owners have flexibility in which assets to sell to meet RMDs. If you own several different traditional IRAs, you could take the full RMD amount from any of them. Selling off holdings that appreciated the most can bring the portfolios asset mix back in line with your original targets. Another option is funneling new contributions into underweight asset classes. Depending on the size of additional investments, this approach might take time, but its better than not rebalancing at all. This might also appeal if youve built up capital gains you dont want to realize. Final thoughts Rebalancing is especially important in extremely volatile times. But even in a more gradual bull market like in recent years, its important for keeping a portfolios risk level in check, especially for investors as they approach retirement and start spending their portfolios. ___ This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance Amy C. Arnott, CFA is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Trump administration left nursing off a list of “professional” degrees in a move that could directly limit how future nurses will finance their education. Removing the profession from the list will have a major impact, after the passing of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which introduced a cap on borrowing. As of July 1, 2026, students who are not enrolled in professional degree programs will be subject to a borrowing cap of $20,500 per year and a lifetime cap of $100,000. However, professional degrees offer higher loan options, with the ability to borrow $50,000 per year and a $200,000 lifetime cap. ‘A backhanded slap’ Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the United States, with about 4.5 million registered nurses. And given that most nurses (76%) rely on financial aid to pay for their education, the move has drawn immense backlash, as it’s being widely viewed as a slight against the profession. That’s especially true because nurses, who have a lengthy list of responsibilities, including providing frontline patient care, running lab work, assisting in procedures, and more, are often seen as one of the most essential pieces of the healthcare system. Bassey Etim-Edet, a high-risk labor and delivery nurse in Baltimore who was on the front lines of care during the COVID pandemic, told Fast Company that the Trump administration’s move sets the wrong precedent and that the impact can’t be overstated. “To go from ‘healthcare hero’ to not being recognized as a professional is such a backhanded slap,” Etim-Edet says,” especially at a time when legal precedent has made it clear that nurses are as responsible for provider mistakes as the providers themselves.” “We are disrespected, underpaid, and under-resourced,” she added. “Still, we serve.” Etim-Edet, who graduated with $150,000 in student loans, says her career wouldn’t have been possible without the HRSA Nurse Loan Repayment Program. “In exchange for working 23 years at a critical access hospital, the government paid back a massive percentage of my loans,” Etim-Edet explained. “At the end of my service commitment, my loan balance was down to about $60,000. I was able to buy a home, start a family, and live” because of the program. Fever pitch In response to the move, the American Nurses Association (ANA) launched a petition aimed at fighting the lower classification. It warned, “This move stems from an effort to rein in student loan debt and tuition costs as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; however, it means that postbaccalaureate nursing students would only be eligible for half the amount of federal loans as graduate medical students.” The petition continued, “We call on the Department of Education to revise the proposed definition of ‘professional degrees’ to explicitly include nursing.” Amid the backlash, the Department of Education called concerns around the move “fear-mongering” by “certain progressive voices” in a lengthy statement released on Monday, November 24. “The definition of a ‘professional degree’ is an internal definition used by the Department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, not a value judgement about the importance of programs,” the statement reads. “It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not.” It also noted that “95% of nursing students borrow below the annual loan limit and therefore are not affected by the new caps.” A spokesperson for the Department of Education referred Fast Company to the statement when reached for additional comment. Still, nurses seem to disagree. At a time when healthcare in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care,” Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, said in a statement. “In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable.” The Trump administration’s move comes as the nationwide nursing shortage is expected to continue to worsen. Etim-Edet adds that, as the system is already collapsing, younger people who greatly value work-life balance won’t want to work in a career that isn’t financially accessible or good for their emotional health.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||