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What is SIP Investment: How does it Work? #shorts #short #sip #systematicinvestmentplan #mutualfunds

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ProveX Digital Trust Exchange Launches


Prove, a digital identity services provider, has launched ProveX, a digital trust exchange that enables enterprises to instantly access verified data and credentials from partners, while preserving trust through every interaction. Built on Prove’s tokenized identity framework, ProveX enables businesses to create personalized, intelligent customer experiences.

Today, businesses are forced to repeatedly reverify customers, often multiple times within a single journey, because trust breaks between touchpoints. ProveX addresses this challenge by enabling trust to travel as customers move through channels and interactions. Once a customer’s identity is confirmed, ProveX allows enterprises to instantly access verified data and credentials from trusted partners. 

Whether retrieving payment credentials for instant checkout, accessing creditworthiness signals to power tailored offers, or pulling compliance credentials to streamline onboarding, ProveX enables companies to orchestrate trust-driven customer experiences without restarting identity at each step.

At the center of ProveX is certainty that a request originates from a real person and is tied to the correct, authorized identity. Verifiable data and credentials only have value when accessed by the individual they belong to. ProveX ensures every request is bound to an authenticated person – not a bot, imposter, or recycled identity – making consent meaningful and anchoring trust to every exchange.

This certainty is delivered through the combination of a Prove ID, a reusable tokenized identity, and a Prove Key, a cryptographic key bound to the user’s device. Together, they form a persistent identity anchor that enables enterprises to request verified data and credentials with near-perfect accuracy, without exposing sensitive information.

What were once fragmented identity workflows become known user experiences wherever Prove is deployed. Prove’s identity-gated protocol ensures that credentials move only when identity, policy, and consent align. Each request is authorized, verified, and executed as a secure, ephemeral exchange directly between enterprises and partners.

“Digital experiences have been held back by one fundamental issue: trust breaks between interactions,” said Ashley Kiolbasa, CMO of Prove. “When identity becomes continuous instead of episodic, businesses can finally move at the pace customers expect. ProveX turns verified identity into an always-on foundation for accessing trusted services, enabling experiences that are safer, smarter, and materially more streamlined.”

“Our priority as a payment solution is accelerating commerce while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance,” said Glen Sgambati, president at Wyzia. “Joining ProveX was a clear strategic move; connecting once to the Identity Graph allows us to instantly provide our verified payment services across Prove’s massive ecosystem, dramatically collapsing our time-to-revenue and elevating the trust in every transaction.”

“Nova Credit helps businesses serve consumers with greater clarity, whether they’re new to the country, new to credit, or navigating an increasingly complex financial landscape,” said Chris Hansen, GM, Nova Credit. “Our partnership with Prove allows us to extend the reach of our credit and data solutions to new customers while reducing integration friction. By offering Nova Credit’s analytics within ProveX, we can deliver insights faster while maintaining the privacy and compliance standards our clients expect.”



LLMs are not your AI strategy


If you lead a bank today, you are almost certainly hearing some version of the same message from every direction:  “We need an AI strategy.”  “Our competitors are already using LLMs.”  “We can automate entire functions with gen AI.”  Boards are asking about it. Regulators are asking about it. Vendors are promising it. And inside your own shop, ambitious […]



When $50 Costs You $500: The Coming Social Security ‘Income Cliff’


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If you’re one of the 71 million Americans receiving Social Security, you’re about to get a raise. In October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026. For the average retired worker, this translates to an extra $56 per month. On the surface, that sounds like a win. But for thousands of middle-income seniors, that modest $50-a-month…

Professional Student Loan Caps Explained for 2026


A judge in black robes listens intently to two attorneys arguing their case in a wood-paneled courtroom. This legal setting illustrates the professional sectors—specifically law, medicine, and dentistry—most impacted by the new 2026 federal student loan caps, which limit annual borrowing to $50,000 for professional degrees. Source: The College Investor
  • There will be new federal borrowing limits for professional students starting in the 2026–27 academic year.
  • Professional students will be capped at $50,000 per year and $200,000 total in federal Direct Loans.
  • The new limits may leave large funding gaps for some health science programs that aren’t designated as “professional”.

For students pursuing law, medicine, dentistry, and other professional degrees, federal student loan borrowing is about to change in ways that could reshape how those programs are financed.

Beginning July 1, 2026, professional students will no longer be able to use Grad PLUS loans, which historically allowed borrowing up to the full cost of attendance. Instead, federal borrowing for professional students will be limited to Direct Loans with firm annual and lifetime caps. The shift is now law, following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

While professional students will still have access to federal loans, the new limits introduce borrowing ceilings that many programs already exceed – sometimes by a wide margin.

New Professional Student Loan Borrowing Limits

Under the new law, professional students will face the following federal loan limits:

  • Annual cap: $50,000 per academic year
  • Lifetime cap: $200,000

These limits apply only to graduate-level borrowing and do not include any federal loans taken out during undergraduate study.

Professional programs typically include law (JD), medicine (MD, DO), dentistry (DDS, DMD), veterinary medicine, and certain health professions. These programs are treated separately from master’s and doctoral programs, which face lower borrowing limits.

You can see the full breakdown of what’s considered graduate vs. professional degrees here.

The change replaces the previous system, under which professional students could borrow unlimited amounts through Grad PLUS loans as long as their school certified the cost.

Grandfathering For Current Grad PLUS Borrowers

The law includes a transition provision for current professional students.

Borrowers who have at least one Grad PLUS loan before June 30, 2026, may continue borrowing under the Grad PLUS system. That provision lasts until the borrower completes their current program or for three additional academic years, whichever comes first.

For students already enrolled in multi-year professional programs, the grandfathering clause may cover most or all remaining costs. For others, especially those early in longer programs, the three-year limit could still require adjustments before graduation.

Students who do not borrow Grad PLUS before the cutoff date will not qualify, even if they are already enrolled.

What Professional Students Need To Consider

For students planning to enroll after 2026, understanding the full cost of a professional degree will matter more than ever.

Comparing tuition, expected borrowing needs, bar or licensing outcomes, and post-graduation earnings may play a larger role in deciding where (and whether) to enroll. It’s highly likely that many professional students will need to supplement their federal borrowing with private student loans for graduate school.

For current students, confirming whether they qualify for the Grad PLUS grandfathering provision could affect borrowing options for the remainder of their program.

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Sneaking unemployment rate means the U.S. economy is inching closer to triggering Sahm Rule



While America’s labor market may not be collapsing, Moody’s Analytics has highlighted that it is inching steadily closer towards a key recession indicator, with analysts now placing the probability of an economic contraction at around 40%.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate for November edged up to 4.6%, continuing the creep higher that analysts have been nervously monitoring throughout the year. The BLS noted a meagre 64,000 roles were created last month, showing little net change from April this year.

While 4.6% is not a dire figure—around 4% is seen as a reasonable rate of unemployment in a relatively stable economy—it is markedly higher than last November, when it was 4.2%. But it’s not necessarily the rate of unemployment that is making economists nervous. Rather, it’s the broader trend of decline and what this demonstrates about the trajectory of the economy.

In its most recent podcast episode of ‘Inside Economics’, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi and , senior director of economic research Dante DeAntonio observed that America is close to triggering the Sahm Rule.

The Sahm Rule, invented by former Fed economist Claudia Sahm, is a recession signal that is activated when the three-month moving average of the national unemployment rate rises by 0.5 percentage points or more, relative to the minimum of the three-month averages from the previous 12 months. In November, it stood at 0.43.

“We didn’t quite trigger it this month but we’re sort of on the precipice,” DeAntonio said. “If it stays at 4.6% next month we’ll trigger the Sahm Rule again. It’ll be exactly at the threshold just like we were in the middle of 2024.”

While the Sahm Rule is fairly accurate, the U.S. economy did not in fact fall into recession last year—thanks in part to the Fed engineering a “soft landing” via interest rate cuts. So will the same rule apply now and into 2026?

Cris deRitis, deputy chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said he’d place a 40% likelihood on a recession occurring next year, explaining: “The trends are not our friends here.” His call is somewhat elevated from the consensus of Wall Street, which places the odds at 30 to 35%.

DeAntonio and Zandi agreed with their colleague, with the latter saying: “The thing that makes me nervous and adds to my level of angst … [is] one reason why job growth is weaker is less labor supply, because of the immigration policy. That gets you to the 50k to 75k breakeven monthly job number. That by itself, if nothing else was going on, is already pretty weak, and that goes to lack of bodies and lack of people to work.” The breakeven number is the monthly jobs growth figure needed to keep the unemployment rate steady.

Demand for workers is falling, and AI is a reason

If the unemployment level is relatively stable because of lack of supply, that means demand from employers is incredibly weak, Zandi said: “We could trace it back to the tariffs, we can trace it back to some of the other deglobalization efforts that the administration has engaged in, including immigration policy because immigrants are consumers … but the other factor is AI.”

So far the impact from AI has been only “modest” the Moody’s economist reasoned, perhaps impacting younger market entrants as opposed to the wider market. But what happens when the productivity gains from AI really become clear?

“That’s at least the betting in the stock markets, stock investors are buying AI stocks thinking that we’re going to see big adoption rates by businesses, that it’s gonna raise productivity growth, it’s gonna raise profitability … if they’re half right or even a quarter right then we’re in a world of outright job decline, all else being equal.”

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.

5 Holiday Home Staging Ideas


The holiday season is jam-packed with parties, shopping, cooking, gift-giving, and obligations. With all this going on, you might assume that the festive season is the worst time to buy or sell real estate.

However, you may be surprised to learn that the holiday season is actually great for selling your home. Potential buyers are naturally attracted and committed to the process during this time of year. In an especially tight housing market, homebuyers will often kick their home shopping into high gear and take advantage of the reduced competition among other buyers.

Once you’ve decided to sell, you may want to do some reorganizing, cleaning, and home staging to present your place in its very best light. Below are some holiday home staging tips to give your home a festive feel this holiday season.

1. Start with Staging.

Your realtor should be your first stop when staging your home, especially with holiday decor involved. Removing clutter and personal effects is a start, but you also want to consider your furnishings and artwork.

Remove extra furniture to storage (don’t keep it in your garage—buyers will see it there and wonder why it’s not inside the house). And maintain clear sight lines and pathways to add an open, airy feeling to your holiday home.

2. Decorate with Restraint.

Having white lights, Christmas tree decorations, or a menorah on display is fine, but try not to let holiday home decor dominate the entire room. Small, tasteful decorations sprinkled throughout the house give the homebuyer a taste of the holiday spirit and let them envision what they could do with the space during the holiday season. 

Nowadays, many sellers are also interested in virtual showings, which means virtual staging. With that in mind, you need to think about how your holiday decor will be photographed and presented on a virtual video walk-through. What can draw attention in a positive way in person may draw attention in a negative way online, particularly when your rooms are condensed to the size of a smartphone screen.

3. Create a Cozy Environment.

Accentuating your home with subtle touches that create a holiday atmosphere works wonders. 

Add a bowl of cinnamon-scented pine cones in the center of your dining room table. Hang a wreath over the fireplace in the living room or on the front door for a sense of warmth. Christmas decorations are taken to the next level when they involve more than one sense, so bring smell into your home decor by sprinkling in fresh evergreens when possible.

4. Harmonize Your Color Palette.

Be sure your holiday decor complements your current home. Christmas decorations should make the rooms feel festive but never eccentric.

One way to complement your current home decor is to work within the existing color scheme. If your living room is painted a beautiful blue, perhaps skip the red garland and go with a more “winter wonderland” feel with silver bells and snowflakes.

If your dining room is neutral-colored, going with some cranberry garland or earth-toned trimmings will work nicely. Your Christmas decorations don’t have to be the same color as the room, but they should pair nicely with the already existing color scheme.

5. Don’t Forget the Outdoor Decor.

Keep away from large blow-up displays or lights that pulse to the beat of “Jingle Bells.” Stick with simple colored or white holiday lights and a small display on your porch. This brings the curb appeal your buyers are looking for as they browse listings and drive around looking at homes during the holidays. Plus, it’s the first thing they’ll see. 

Remember, you want to make a great first impression, whether you’re selling your home during the winter months or at any time of year.

Ready to Attract Holiday Buyers?

Selling during the holidays can be one of the smartest moves you make all year, especially with the right strategy. Programs like APM’s Seller PreLock can help your listing stand out by offering buyers something they truly value: a lower, locked-in interest rate before they even make an offer.

It’s a simple way to make your home more appealing without lowering your price. Connect with your local APM Loan Advisor to learn how the Seller PreLock program can help you sell faster and with confidence this holiday season. Find your local APM Loan Advisor today.



Alaska Airlines Adds 7 New Routes from Anchorage and Portland


Alaska Airlines Adds 7 New Routes from Anchorage and Portland

Beginning in spring next year, Alaska Airlines will fly three additional routes from Anchorage to Boise, Boston and Spokane, and four additional routes from Portland to Bellingham, Everett/Paine Field and Pasco in Washington state, and Jackson Hole in Wyoming. Tickets for the newly added routes are available for purchase now at alaskaair.com.

Flights between Anchorage and Boise, Boston and Spokane begin in mid-June for service through mid-August – just in time for summertime adventures in the Land of the Midnight Sun, when the days are long and the air is warm.

New flights begin as early as mid-March with all-new daily, year-round service between Portland and Bellingham, Washington. In mid-June, Alaska will start flying twice daily between Portland and Pasco, Washington. The flights will be offered year-round. They will resume daily, year-round flights on June 10 between Portland and Everett, Washington, home of Paine Field Airport – the Seattle region’s second airport. For a long summer stretch, Alaska will fly nonstop between Portland and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, twice a week starting June 10.

New routes from Anchorage and Portland

City Pair

Start Date

End Date

Frequency

Aircraft

Anchorage – Boise, ID

June 10, 2026

Aug. 15, 2026 

Wed/Sat

737

Anchorage – Boston, MA

June 13, 2026

Aug. 15, 2026 

Saturday

737

Anchorage – Spokane, WA

June 10, 2026

Aug. 15, 2026 

Wed/Sat

E175

Portland – Bellingham, WA

March 18, 2026

Year-round

Daily

E175

Portland – Everett, WA

June 10, 2026

Year-round

Daily

E175

Portland – Jackson Hole, WY

June 10, 2026

Sept. 30, 2026

Wed/Sat

E175

Portland – Pasco, WA

June 10, 2026

Year-round

2x Daily

E175

Thread Bank’s $30.5M funding round to support innovation, efficiency, CEO says


Thread Bank has raised $30.5 million in a funding round to support the digital bank’s growth.  “This additional funding will enable Thread to continue to scale, grow new and existing partnerships, and continue to be a leader in the embedded banking market,” Thread Chief Executive Chris Black told FinAi News. “Underpinning each of these objectives is a requirement for innovation, efficiency and transparency.”  “Thread’s usage of AI — and that of the […]