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Thousands more Californians will lose their home insurance this year as two more insurers flee the state. Tokio Marine America Insurance Company and Trans Pacific Insurance Company filed notices to the California Department of Insurance saying they would stop offering homeowners coverage and umbrella policies. 

Accruing a seven-figure retirement pot is something most Americans never achieve. The number of savers with more than $1 million in their pots hit 422,000, according to recent analysis by 401(K) provider Fidelity. 

The 'magic number' that Americans need to retire comfortably has surged to an all-time high - while the amount they have saved is dwindling, a new report reveals. US adults believe they need $1.46 million for a comfortable retirement, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual. This is a 15 percent increase on the $1.27 million reported last year - far outpacing the rate of inflation. But as the amount Americans suspect they will need in their later years has grown, the amount they actually have saved in their nest egg has not kept up. The average American has just $88,400 in their retirement pot today, the study found, a monumental $1.37 million less than the target.

The spring real estate market is in full swing and homes are going up for sale - but they're staying there for longer in a handful of US cities. In a smattering of metro cold spots - dotted throughout Texas , Florida , Louisiana , New York and West Virginia - homes are staying on the market for an average of more than 60 days, according to new data from Realtor.com. For comparison, homes spent a median of 50 days on the market in March. 'Some of these markets are perennially slow-moving,' said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. 'They tend to be smaller markets that are not on the radar of most buyers.'

A Texan software company is alleged to have been at the center of a 'rental cartel' that enabled landlords across the US to artificially drive up prices. Software sold by RealPage is used by many of the largest property management firms in the US and suggests prices landlords should charge based on availability and demand in their area. But plaintiffs in several states have brought lawsuits against the firm, claiming landlords share private and commercially sensitive data with the platform which is then weaponized against renters to keep costs as high as possible. In some markets, the majority of property managers in an area are said to use the software for pricing guidance and instruction.

Giant asset managers are becoming the titans of Wall Street, increasing their control over the US financial system. Huge investment firms now control twice as many assets as once-dominant US banks - managing sums which rival the economies of large countries across the world, it has been reported. Assets held by Boston-based fund manager State Street in 2023 totaled $4.13 trillion, according to The Wall Street Journal. This was more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Germany, which was $4.08 trillion in 2022. Investment management company Blackstone, which is based in New York City, held $1.04 trillion in assets last year - higher than the $1.01 trillion GDP of the Netherlands in 2022.

For years they have been sold to motorists as a glimpse into the future. But is the EV revolution over before it ever really began? The headlines certainly aren't promising. Tesla shocked analysts last month when it announced sales had dropped for the first time since the height of the pandemic in 2020. So far this year Apple has also killed its decade-long project to create its own EV while Ford is slashing production of its electric pickup. Meanwhile General Motors wants to bring back its plug-in hybrid. Yet amidst all the gloomy sales reports, there is a growing army of die-hard EV enthusiasts who insist they will never return to their old gas-guzzling ways.

Many Americans are concinved that cookies are used by airlines to track internet activity. Flyers think that once an airline spots they are looking for a specific ticket they start increasing prices. But the idea that using private or 'incognito' mode while browsing the internet to buy flights will prevent airlines from gathering data and charging extra is nothing more than a myth, experts say. The misconception is that cookies are used by airlines to track the internet activity of potential buyers. Once they identify that somebody is looking for a specific ticket they can then start increasing prices. By using a private browser window, the idea is that cookies cannot be used to track the person's searches, leaving the comparison site or airline unable to determine which flight they are hoping to buy.