September 11th, 2026 | Data Center Insurance, AI Targets Seniors, Housing Rate Problem, Apple Under Ternus, Fed Rate Hike, Military Tax Exemption & More

Another big cost for data centers: insurance!You always hear about the obvious expenses involved in building data centers: incredibly expensive chips, massive energy requirements, cooling systems, and the cost of constructing the facility itself. But there’s another major expense that doesn’t get nearly as much attention: insurance.Once completed, a large data center can be worth anywhere from $20 billion to $50 billion or more. Meta’s data center project in Northeast Louisiana, for example, is expected to cost more than $50 billion and will house thousands of servers along with extremely valuable power and cooling…AI has taken scamming seniors to a whole new levelThe Federal Trade Commission estimates that roughly $196 billion was lost to fraud, with nearly half of that or about $82 billion coming from people over the age of 60. It’s now estimated that roughly 37% of fraud involves artificial intelligence.The cases are frightening because scammers can now use AI to identify targets, make their pitches more convincing, execute scams faster, and target thousands of people at a scale we’ve never seen before.With AI, scammers can create what appears to be legitimate proof of identity, including realistic passports, driver’s licenses, websites, and other documents. Gone…The Housing Market Has a Rate ProblemExisting-home sales fell 2% in August to an annualized pace of 3.98 million homes, the lowest level since June 2025. Sales are now down 1.2% from a year ago and have remained stuck around the 4 million annualized level for much of the past few years. Historically, a more normal housing market has been closer to 5.2 million existing home sales annually.At the same time, we are finally seeing more inventory. There were 1.62 million existing homes for sale in August, up 5.9% from a year ago and the highest level since 2019. That represents about 4.9 months of supply, which is the highest level in over a decade. This gives buyers more choices and more negotiating power than they've… How will Apple stock do under new CEO John Ternus?Apple has turned a new page in its history books with Tim Cook stepping down after 15 years at the helm. Cook did a tremendous job managing the business and growing the stock mainly by improving the supply chain to overseeing the launch of products like the Apple Watch and AirPods. During his 15-year tenure, Apple stock increased roughly 2,680%, which is a phenomenal return for investors.This reminds me of another major business story that was incredibly successful: General Electric under the leadership of Jack Welch. Welch ran GE for 20 years, from 1981 to 2001. During his tenure, GE stock increased roughly 4,000%. Yes, that was over five more years than Cook's…A Fed Rate Hike Now Looks InevitableWe received two important inflation reports this past week, and my takeaway is pretty straightforward: inflation itself still doesn't look overly problematic, but there are some areas that have me concerned.The Producer Price Index showed wholesale prices increased 0.4% in August. Producer prices are now up 5.4% from a year ago, which was slightly above expectations. Then on Friday, we got the Consumer Price Index, which showed consumer prices increased 0.4% in August and are up 3.4% over the last year.Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3% for the month and 2.4% over…Financial Planning: Tax Exemption for Retired MilitaryCalifornia military retirees may now be eligible for a valuable new state tax break. Through tax year 2029, California allows qualified taxpayers to exclude up to $20,000 of military retirement pay from California for taxable income. The provision applies to retirement pay received from the federal government for service in the uniformed services, as well as qualifying annuity…Company Discussed: Lululemon athletica inc. (Ticker: LULU)