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BMW's Imminent 2026 Price Increases Won't Affect Every Model

BMW's Imminent 2026 Price Increases Won't Affect Every Model

Miami Herald5 days ago

If you want a 2026 BMW, the time to buy one is now. On July 1, 2025, the German automaker will be increasing prices of its 2026 models, according to Cars Direct. Depending on the model, you could be paying up to $2,500 more from July, with an increase of up to 3% on selected models. Although it's easy to assume these price hikes are a result of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, the report suggests this isn't the case. Instead, BMW suggests this is a more usual increase that takes inflation into account. So, which models are impacted by the July price increase?
BMW's X5 M and X6 M Competitions will be $2,500 more expensive from July, which represents the biggest increase in dollars - but not necessarily the biggest increase percentage-wise. While the MSRP for the hottest X5 is $127,200 now, it will rise to $129,700. The X6 M is currently listed for $132,100, so will go for $134,600 once the increase takes effect.
Fortunately, more modest increases await BMWs at the more affordable end of the scale. The cheapest BMW 4 Series will be $1,100 pricier; it currently starts at $51,500. The same $1,100 increase will apply to the base BMW Z4. The six-cylinder Z4 M40i, which will remain in production for longer than expected, may receive a slightly higher price bump.
A few days ago, the pricing of the 2026 BMW M3 was leaked, and it's going to be $2,380 more expensive than before, now reaching $78,400. This price excludes the destination charge. The quickest M3 Competition with xDrive all-wheel drive will cost $87,700 before destination charges.
Despite this increase, the base M3 is still a lot cheaper than the 2025 Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance, which starts at $86,050.
Not every 2026 BMW will see a price hike in July. All EVs are excluded, along with the M2 and any 2025 models. Furthermore, the cheapest new BMW currently costs $39,600, and that's for the 228 Gran Coupe. Even a relatively small increase would mean that there are no more new BMWs for below $40k. However, the 2026 Gran Coupe will also be excluded from the price jump.
On the whole, it appears BMW has done a decent job of mitigating the effects of tariffs. We know that BMW, along with fellow German automakers Volkswagen and Mercedes, are in talks with Washington to reach a potential tariff deal. If successful, the deal could lower or offset tariffs for models imported into the United States.
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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An Aggressive Social Security Garnishment Is Underway for Over 1,000,000 Beneficiaries -- Here's How You Can Legally Avoid It
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Yahoo

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  • Yahoo

An Aggressive Social Security Garnishment Is Underway for Over 1,000,000 Beneficiaries -- Here's How You Can Legally Avoid It

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Without fail, 80% to 90% of retirees have consistently responded that their monthly check was a necessity, in some capacity, to make ends meet. For beneficiaries, nothing is more important than knowing how much they're going to receive each month and having their payout keep pace with the inflationary pressures they're contending with on a year-to-year basis. But based on a new policy recently implemented under President Donald Trump, more than 1 million beneficiaries can expect their Social Security checks to shrink by up to 50%. With so many beneficiaries reliant on Social Security income to cover their expenses, this is income some can't afford to lose. Since Trump took office for his nonconsecutive second term, he's overseen a number of critical changes to America's leading retirement program. 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I tried 2 ways of investing in bitcoin. One thrived and one failed miserably, teaching me a valuable lesson.
I tried 2 ways of investing in bitcoin. One thrived and one failed miserably, teaching me a valuable lesson.

Business Insider

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I tried 2 ways of investing in bitcoin. One thrived and one failed miserably, teaching me a valuable lesson.

Back in December of 2024, I decided to hop aboard the bitcoin train and add some crypto exposure to my portfolio. Markets were flush off of the recent Trump victory, there were whispers of a national bitcoin reserve, and bitcoin had recently broken the $100,000 threshold for the first time. The cryptocurrency had gone mainstream enough for late adopters like myself to deem it investable. For my first foray into bitcoin, I purchased a share of Blackrock 's iShares Bitcoin Trust Trust (IBIT). I later added a share of Semler Scientific (SMLR), a healthcare technology company that holds bitcoin on its balance sheet. I wanted to try multiple methods of investing in bitcoin. In hindsight, I realize I committed the classic retail investor impulse: buying in because of FOMO. Sure, positive investor sentiment led to gains in bitcoin, as well as the ETF I bought that was designed to track the crypto. But my stock purchase proved ill-timed. Almost six months later, bitcoin has crossed new all-time-highs, and I have mixed feelings on my investment. Bitcoin ETFs are a beginner-friendly way to get exposure I opted to buy IBIT instead of actual spot bitcoin because it was a more accessible way to get exposure. I didn't want the hassle of setting up a Coinbase account. Plus, buying a single share in an ETF was more psychologically appealing than buying a tiny fraction of a bitcoin (I did not have a spare $100,000 or the risk tolerance to buy an entire bitcoin). The performance has been encouraging. Year-to-date, IBIT is up about 14%, outpacing a 12% gain for bitcoin itself. It's done its job of tracking the crypto, and even added a little extra. And it's far outperformed the S&P 500, which is up just 2% in 2025. ETFs can experience slight tracking differences due to management fees, operational costs, and the timing of inflows and outflows. But if you want a rough proxy of bitcoin performance without actually owning the underlying asset, IBIT gets the job done. A year and a half over its launch, IBIT has gained incredible popularity, growing to over $70 billion in assets under management. Robert Cannon, a financial advisor at Experity Wealth with a specialization in alternative assets, recommends his bitcoin-curious clients to start with the ETF. "It's the easiest, cleanest representation of bitcoin, compared to some of the other strategies that are a bit esoteric," Cannon told me. The ETF wrapper has really helped bitcoin adoption take off in the last year, Rahul Sen Sharma, president and co-CEO at the custom index provider Indxx, told me. Sharma's seeing a surge in interest for bitcoin and digital asset ETFs, and he believes Trump's continued support for crypto will pave the way for more mainstream adoption. Be careful with bitcoin treasury companies Getting bitcoin exposure through other methods was indeed more esoteric — and much less profitable. I added Semler Scientific to my portfolio on January 8, 2025, and it's down more than 40% since then. There's a growing trend among companies to add bitcoin to their balance sheets, with Strategy, Tesla, and GameStop being one of the most prominent examples. The president's own Trump Media and Technology Group has recently raised $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin. Semler Scientific started adding bitcoin to its balance sheet in May of last year and now holds over 4,000 bitcoins. It sounds like a good idea in theory: holding bitcoin as a reserve asset could be a hedge against inflation and dollar weakness, and could also lead to capital appreciation as bitcoin takes off. Some companies like Strategy have had tremendous success. The firm has accumulated over half a million bitcoins, and the stock has outperformed the underlying crypto year-to-date. However, it's hard to replicate the scale and expertise of Strategy. While many of Cannon's clients often inquire about bitcoin treasury companies like Strategy, he usually recommends they stick to the basics with an ETF. There were also company-specific headwinds for Semler Scientific. The company had been under investigation from the Department of Justice for allegedly misleading claims about one of its medical devices. My takeaway from the experience is that buying a single stocks as a bitcoin proxy is probably not a good idea. When you buy into a bitcoin treasury company, you're also inheriting all of its company-specific risks. That includes everything from management decisions and financial health to legal exposure, product performance, and market sentiment around the core business. As a result, the benefits of diversification with bitcoin are watered down. If you're looking for bitcoin exposure, either buying the real thing or a spot ETF is your best bet. Maybe the strategy from here on out is to close out of my position in SMLR and do some tax-loss harvesting this year.

First direct flight from US to Greenland since 2008 lands on Trump's birthday

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