What the Fed's rate cut means for your money

By Lauren Young

NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - This was originally published in the On The Money newsletter, where we share U.S. personal finance tips and insights every other week. Sign up here to receive it for free.

FED AHEAD

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday. And while that’s not earth-shattering, it does signal a path to lower interest rates for the rest of the year, which is good for borrowers but not so groovy for savers.

For anyone watching the real-estate market, mortgage rates may not tumble overnight, so buyers could remain on the sidelines. However, homebuilders and smaller companies are extremely rate-sensitive, which means their stocks might get an extra boost from lower rates.

Here are the sectors for investors to watch amid rate cuts. Overall, though, there are lots of caveats to an extended bull run.

If you’re a Fed-watcher (or just Fed-curious), don’t miss our Fed Monitor, which tracks every twist and turn from the central bank.

SHOULD I GET A NEW IPHONE?

Confession time: I do not treat my smartphones well. I have left iPhones in taxis, restaurants, nail and hair salons, friends’ homes, the office and even on airplanes – domestic and international. The list goes on and on.

I also drop my phone on hard surfaces. A lot.

And while I diligently use a screen protector and case, the video camera on my current iPhone 14 Pro no longer stays in focus when I zoom in or zoom out. It’s time for an upgrade.

I’ve been holding out for Apple’s latest models, which was a bit of a gamble due to the unknown impact of tariffs.

So I was pleased to hear that the company, which unveiled its next product lineup this month, will offer a 256-gigabyte version of the iPhone 17 base model with a starting price of $799. That is the same price as the previous iPhone 16 model with half the storage space. The iPhone 17 will feature a brighter, more scratch-resistant screen. It will also have a better front-facing camera with a differently shaped sensor to make horizontal selfies look better. And it’s a good upgrade option.

Funny enough, I am much kinder to my AirPods and somehow have managed to keep them for several years, even though I also drop them all the time.

That said, the new AirPods Pro 3 features live translation for face-to-face conversations in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, with more languages coming soon. Okay, that is extremely cool!

What are your thoughts on the new Apple products? Write to me via the email address in my byline.

Be sure to also follow our latest technology coverage here.

READ, WATCH, LISTEN

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