Armando Mercado Realtor

Armando Mercado Realtor Managing new clients such as industrial real estate tenants in the South Florida market.

06/12/2026

A UC San Diego report found that the number of incoming freshmen with below-high-school-level math skills rose nearly 30-fold in five years, from 30 students in 2020 to 900 in 2025. Of those, 70% could not perform middle school level math, meaning roughly 1 in 12 of the entire incoming class. 

More than 600 University of California faculty members are now calling for the reinstatement of SAT and ACT math requirements for STEM applicants, warning that six years of test-free admissions has left professors re-teaching middle school mathematics to college students.  The problem is not limited to California. Harvard added remedial algebra support to its entry-level calculus courses after identifying similar foundational gaps among its own incoming class.

Source: UC San Diego Senate Administration Workgroup on Admissions

06/12/2026

The Magnificent 7 stocks make up over 30% of the entire S&P 500. Seven companies. 500 slots.

This post is exaggerating but not by as much as you'd think.

Apple. Microsoft. Nvidia. Amazon. Alphabet. Meta. Tesla.

Combined market cap of roughly $17 trillion. The entire US GDP is $29 trillion. Seven companies are worth more than half of everything the American economy produces in an entire year.

And if you own a basic S&P 500 index fund, which most Americans with a 401k do, you're more exposed to those seven companies than you probably realize.

Every dollar you put into VOO or SPY allocates roughly 30 cents to just those seven stocks automatically. The other 493 companies split the remaining 70 cents.

That's not fake dollars. That's real concentration in real retirement accounts held by real people who think they're diversified because they own "the whole market."

Here's where it gets interesting from a financial planning standpoint.

When the Magnificent 7 goes up, your index fund looks great. When Nvidia drops 15% in a week or Meta has a rough earnings quarter the entire index feels it in ways that a truly diversified portfolio wouldn't.

Three of the last four years of S&P 500 gains have been driven primarily by these seven names. Remove them and the other 493 companies delivered pretty average returns.

This isn't an argument to sell your index funds. Time in the market still beats timing the market over long periods.

It's just worth knowing what you actually own when you think you own everything.

06/08/2026

Some of the top CEOs in the United States are all issuing the same dire warning about consumers.

06/08/2026

On Monday, a federal judge said Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee was unconstitutional.

(Credit: Getty Images)

06/08/2026

More than a third of these newly-minted millionaires live in the United States. 💰

06/08/2026

A six-figure salary used to signal financial comfort. Today, it barely keeps up. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation data, $100,000 today carries roughly the same purchasing power as about $50,000 did in 2000, a reality that has left millions of Americans earning more than ever on paper while feeling poorer in practice. 

The numbers explain a growing frustration felt across the country. Housing costs have more than doubled in many markets. Groceries, childcare, healthcare, and car insurance have all surged well above general inflation rates. Workers who have received raises over the past two decades have largely watched those gains erased by rising prices, leaving them with the same lifestyle their parents had on half the nominal salary. Earning six figures no longer means what it used to.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

06/08/2026

The mystery owner of the Regent’s Park mansion is nearing a deal in one of London's most expensive house purchases in history https://ft.trib.al/XsLtm8F

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