My New Years Day reads:
• Financial Discipline Is an Easy Resolution to Make, but a Hard One to Keep: We all say we want to save more and spend less. The key is to think more broadly. (Wall Street Journal)
• Trump’s First Year Back, in 10 Charts: President Trump indisputably dominated 2025. Only the second president to be elected to nonconsecutive terms, the reinvigorated Mr. Trump plunged back into office with a muscularity unmatched by any other president in my lifetime. (New York Times) see also Charts of the year: Trump’s attempt to reshape world trade: The US president’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs spooked markets but the global trading system has proved to be resilient (Financial Times)
• Did “Sell America” Win After All? There’s been a “Sell America” media shtick since the first tariffs were announced. ETF Investors didn’t bite. Maybe they should have? (ETF.com)
• How Roomba invented the home robot — and lost the future: iRobot’s collapse marks the end of an era. Co-founder Colin Angle calls it a blow for robotics. (The Verge)
• ‘You Had to Be Brave’: Wall Street Remembers a Wild 2025: The stock market was rattled by AI bubble fears, trade war and actual war, only to rally back, paying off to anyone who was willing to risk buying the dips. (Bloomberg) see also In a Wild Year for Markets, Investors Who Did Nothing Did Just Fine: The year was dominated by tariffs, questions about the U.S. and artificial intelligence. (Wall Street Journal)
• The US Must Stop Underestimating Drone Warfare: The future of conflict is cheap, rapidly manufactured, and tough to defend against. (Wired)
• The Lost Art of Research as Leisure: Where have the amateur researchers gone, and how do we bring them back? (Kasurian)
• 10 scientific truths that somehow became unpopular in 2025: Scientific truths remain true regardless of belief. These 10, despite contrary claims, remain vitally important as 2025 draws to a close. (Starts With A Bang) see also The 10 Most Mind-Blowing Discoveries About the Brain in 2025: From glowing neurons to newborn memories, here are the most fascinating brain discoveries of 2025. (Scientific American)
• Inside RFK Jr.’s reshaping of public health in Trump’s first year: Interviews with almost 100 people reveal how Kennedy, as health secretary, has reshaped the vaccine and broader public health infrastructure in less than a year. (Washington Post)
• Five Things That Changed the Media in 2025: A.I., of course—but there were also other, less obvious stories and trends that are going to shape how we understand the news. (New Yorker) see also Top 25 News Photos of 2025: Powerful images from the past 12 months. (The Atlantic)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Stephanie Drescher, Apollo’s Chief Client and Product Development Officer. She oversees everything from the global wealth business to portfolio management, product development, and client marketing. She is a member of the firm’s leadership team. Since 2020, Barron’s has named her annually to its list of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance.
States where the minimum wage is going up in 2026
Source: Axios
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