There are ETFs that track lawmakers' stock purchases

Many politicians join private equity firms after leaving Washington

Both Democrats and Republicans have a history of leaving politics to work in private equity, raising concerns about the government's protection of private equity firms.

There are more than 300 different thematic ETFs

Exchange-traded funds seem to offer something for everyone. As tracked by ETF.com, there are 338 thematic ETFs, offering exposure to “baskets” of stocks covering global infrastructure, genomics, cannabis, and more.

Which Senate seats are up for election, and how they are leaning

There are 14 Democratic and 21 Republican Senate seats up for grabs. See the Cook Political Report's continuously updated estimates on how they're leaning.

Cathie Wood is one of the most famous modern figures in ETF investing

Cathie Wood is the fund manager and stock picker behind Ark Invest and its flagship Ark Innovation ETF. Her strategy centers around disruptive technology, and she’s made bold bets on cryptocurrency and companies like Tesla, Robinhood, and Nvidia. Wood has a loyal following of retail investors who watch her daily trades religiously.

Congress plays baseball together in a bipartisan charity game dating back to 1909

First organized in 1909 by Rep. John Tener, a former pro baseball player, the Congressional Baseball Game pits Democrats against Republicans to raise money for charity—and offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at lawmakers mixing rivalry with camaraderie.

Stock indexes track markets through groupings of companies

A stock index measures the performance of selected companies, offering a snapshot of market trends. Examples include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite.

Research shows that termed-out lawmakers become less active

A University of Chicago and Stanford study found that state legislators barred from reelection sponsor fewer bills, serve on fewer committees, and skip more votes. The research suggests lawmakers are more productive when future elections remain possible.

Members of the United States Congress earn $174,000 annually

Members of the United States Congress have received the same pay since 2009. Leadership roles are more lucrative, and lawmakers become eligible for a federal pension after five years, with benefits tied to the length of service and salary.

See a real-time list of the most shorted stocks in the US

Every two weeks, the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange release the stocks with the most short positions. Some of the companies with the highest short positions as of early 2026 were Hims & Hers and Groupon.

Retail investing by the numbers

When average Americans began pouring into the stock market, Wall Street wasn’t sure if its new guests were there to stay. But at the end of 2023, Public confidently declared that retail investors “weren’t going anywhere” after 30 million new individuals began buying and selling stock. Download the report to learn more here.

Real estate investment trusts help give portfolios more exposure to real estate

Also known as a REIT, a real estate investment trust is a type of company that invests in a portfolio of real estate, such as apartment buildings or malls. Investors can buy shares of the REIT to participate in its portfolio’s gains and losses.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Inside a congressional office, the scheduler is more powerful than you think

A former congressional scheduler explains that a member's time is the scarcest resource in any Hill office, and controlling the calendar means understanding every competing claim on it, from the legislative team to the member's family. The interview demystifies how a typical House office actually functions, from staff hierarchies to outside resources like the Congressional Research Service.

Congressional funding for asteroid detection has long seen bipartisan support

Although asteroid detection is mandated by law, the NEO Surveyor telescope, which is specifically designed to detect asteroids, received more than twice the funding requested by NASA in 2023.

An expense ratio represents the cost to own an ETF over the course of the year

For instance, an expense ratio of 0.5% would add a cost of $50 on an investment of $10K. And while expense ratios have on average decreased in recent years, a particularly hefty fee can still eat into total profits.

Watch a breakdown of tax breaks most Americans don't know about

Programs like healthcare savings accounts or flexible spending accounts are tax-free accounts that are designed to help lower healthcare costs. However, many Americans don't use them and don't understand how they work.

Listen to Keith Gill's testimony from the GameStop hearing

"I am not a cat, I am not an institutional investor, nor am I a hedge fund." That's how Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, kicked off his testimony before Congress on the wild trading action in GameStop stock. Lawmakers took notice of the meme stock craze, and the collapse of hedge fund Melvin Capital, opening up an investigation into what exactly moved so much money.

How to put on a hedge

These days, hedging your portfolio isn’t just for hedge fund managers. An explainer from Robinhood delves into what a hedged position actually is, why traders put on hedges, and how you, too, can work to guard your holdings against a market downturn. The idea is to derive gains from your portfolio when markets are trending up, down, or sideways.

Election 101 podcast

What’s actually at stake when someone casts their vote in a US election? CNN’s “Election 101” podcast series provides ten episodes summarizing some of the basics of democratic elections. The ins and outs of voting are highlighted in 15-minute episodes on voter registration and voting by mail. Additional segments highlight how the electoral system works, how ballots are counted, the Electoral College, why it takes so long to get election results, and more.

How the stock market performed under every US president

It's worth noting that the stock market as we know it today didn't exist under the leadership of earlier presidents, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Donald Trump's Truth Social social media platform is launching a prediction market

Named "Truth Predict," the cryptocurrency-based prediction market will allow users of the Truth Social social media platform to place crypto bets on the outcome of certain events (think: sports games, the economy, and political races). Truth Social is primarily owned by President Donald Trump and his family.

Treasury bonds, notes, and bills are critical vehicles for the federal government to raise money for public expenses and manage the national debt

For investors, they're all usually considered low-risk options since they’re backed by the federal government.

The congressman who spied for Russia

Sam Dickstein remains the only known member to have served in Congress while actively being on the payroll of a foreign adversary. The revelation came in 1999 upon the release of thousands of KGB documents.

Reinvested dividends are not a way to dodge paying capital gains taxes

When an investor holds stock in a company that pays a dividend—a portion of its profits directly returned to shareholders as monthly or quarterly payments—they can choose to hold that dividend in cash, spend it, or reinvest it into more shares of that company’s stock.

How universities manage their endowments

The CNBC video report explores how elite universities like Harvard handle their massive endowments, the ethical debates around their investments, and the tension between growing wealth and rising college costs. If you’re curious about where billions of dollars in higher education go, why tuition remains high despite huge endowments, or how student activism is pushing for ethical investing, this video offers a revealing, accessible look at the financial engines behind America’s top colleges.

If the estate tax is repealed, more expensive alternatives might come in its place

The federal estate tax has been up for political debate for decades. Many want to get rid of it altogether. If repealed other tax options, like capital gains taxes, could have people paying more in taxes than before.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.