Our kids are grown. It’s time to cancel our Chase Disney Visa. What’s a good credit card for middle age?

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Dear Quentin,

We have a Chase Disney Visa

V credit card. The card served its purpose while our kids were young. Now that we don’t need the Disney DIS dollars, we’d like to move on to another credit card for the benefits.

Do we close this credit card? We have other credit cards (Discover and airline credit cards) and won’t need the credit. We have an offer at our current bank with zero APR and 2% to 3% cash back.

‘She’ll let him live there for free’: My sister wants to buy our impoverished brother’s house. Is that a bad idea?

Quentin Fottrell is MarketWatch’s Managing Editor-Advice Columns and The Moneyist columnist. You can follow him on Twitter @quantanamo.

Top Wall Street analysts recommend these dividend stocks for stable income

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

November has been quite volatile, with the high valuations of artificial intelligence stocks and expectations of an interest rate cut in December impacting investor sentiment. Those seeking stable income in this uncertain backdrop can consider strengthening their portfolios by adding some dividend paying stocks.

Given the vast universe of dividend stocks, selecting the attractive ones could be challenging. In this regard, recommendations of top Wall Street analysts can help in decision-making, as their selection is based on in-depth analysis and thorough research.

Here are three dividend-paying stocks, highlighted by Wall Street’s top pros, as tracked by TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

MPLX

MLPX is a master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets and offers fuel distribution services. The company announced a third-quarter distribution of $1.0765 per common unit, reflecting a 12.5% year-over-year growth. At an annualized distribution of $4.31 per unit, MPLX offers a yield of 8.03%.

In a recent research report, RBC Capital analyst Elvira Scotto reiterated a buy rating on MPLX stock and raised the price target to $60 from $58. In comparison, TipRanks’ AI Analyst has an “outperform” rating on MPLX stock with a price target of $59.

“We continue to view MPLX as one of the most compelling income plays among large-cap MLPs with an attractive current yield of ~8% and plans to grow further,” said Scotto.

The top-rated analyst expects MPLX to deliver higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) growth from 2025 to 2026 compared to the prior year, driven by the scale-up of key projects like the Secretariat processing plant, the Titan sour gas treatment expansion, and the BANGL pipeline system.

Additionally, Scotto is optimistic about MPLX delivering mid-single-digit EBITDA growth beyond 2026, driven by contributions from the Eiger pipeline and its Gulf Coast fractionation and export facilities, along with potential mergers and acquisitions. While Scotto slightly reduced her 2025 and 2026 adjusted EBITDA estimates following the Q3 results, she continues to expect MPLX to achieve its mid-single-digit annual growth target.

Meanwhile, Scotto maintained her distribution per unit estimates and expects a 12.5% rise in 2026, followed by an incremental 12.5% hike in 2027, in line with the company’s distribution growth target.

Scotto ranks No. 333 among more than 10,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. Her ratings have been profitable 64% of the time, delivering an average return of 11.4%.

ConocoPhillips

Another dividend-paying energy stock in this week’s list is ConocoPhillips (COP). Earlier this month, the oil and gas exploration and production company announced an 8% hike in its fourth-quarter dividend to $0.84 per share, payable on December 1. COP stock offers a dividend yield of 3.65%.

Following meetings with ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance, Piper Sandler analyst Ryan Todd reiterated a buy rating on COP stock with a price target of $115. TipRanks’ AI Analyst is also bullish on ConocoPhillips stock and has assigned an “outperform” rating with a price target of $96.

“In terms of resource depth and diversity, we see COP as better positioned than any company in our coverage universe,” said Todd. He highlighted that ConocoPhillips has an industry-leading 22 years of drilling inventory, along with strong growth from LNG and U.S. conventional projects over the next four years. Todd contends that the market may still be underestimating COP’s growth prospects beyond 2030, with massive growth potential across U.S. L48, Alaska, Norway, and Surmont and Montney in Canada.

Todd is also impressed with ConocoPhillips’ cost reduction efforts. He highlighted that COP has reduced adjusted operating costs by 8% or $900 million since 2024, with the 2026 outlook indicating another $400 million in cost reductions.

Also, high-quality assets and lower costs are driving peer-leading free cash flow (FCF) growth for COP through 2030, with FCF/share estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% from 2025 to 2030 at $70/bbl Brent, higher than the peer average of 8%. While investors worry that most growth comes after the contribution from the Willow project starts in 2029, Todd contends that near-term catalysts are likely underestimated. Todd estimates pre-Willow FCF/share to grow by 6% per year from 2025 to 2028, which still makes COP rank third among peers.

Todd ranks No. 716 among more than 10,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 8.4%. 

International Business Machines

Finally, we look at tech giant IBM, which returned $1.6 billion to shareholders in the third quarter via dividends. With a quarterly dividend of $1.68 per share (annualized dividend of $6.72 per share), IBM offers a yield of 2.22%.

Following a meeting with the management, Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani reiterated a buy rating on IBM stock with a price target of $315. TipRanks’ AI Analyst has an “outperform” rating on IBM stock with a price target of $349.

Among the key takeaways, Daryanani highlighted that despite the uncertainties related to tariffs, interest rates, inflation, and geopolitics, management is optimistic about the broader macro backdrop and expects tech spending to be 2 to 3 points ahead of GDP growth. Over the medium term, IBM expects to sustain mid-single digit annual growth in its top line, driven by about 10% growth in the software business, better than-market growth in Consulting, and 1% to 3% increase in the Infrastructure segment revenue.

The top-rated analyst also noted IBM’s business transformation over the past five years, including the Red Hat acquisition and divestiture of GTS and other non-core assets. This transformation has helped IBM grow consistently with solid free cash flow and expansion in pre-tax income margin.

Furthermore, Daryanani also discussed management’s optimism about enterprise AI and a massive opportunity in the quantum space. “We see multiple vectors for growth over the medium term,” concluded Daryanani.

Daryanani ranks No. 187 among more than 10,100 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 61% of the time, delivering an average return of 16.5%.

My friend cosigned a loan for a BMW, but the driver defaulted. They’re both on the hook for $5K. What happens now?

Quentin Fottrell is MarketWatch’s Managing Editor-Advice Columns and The Moneyist columnist. You can follow him on Twitter @quantanamo.

‘Untold story’ of Charlie Munger’s last years

Buffett Watch
Charlie Munger at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Los Angeles California. May 1, 2021.
Gerard Miller

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)

‘He never stopped learning’

In an “exclusive” article headlined “The Untold Story of Charlie Munger’s Final Years,” The Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman reveals the “Berkshire vice chair was making gutsy investments, forging unlikely friendships and facing new challenges to the end.”

Munger died two years ago on Nov. 28, 2023, at the age of 99, just a bit over a month shy of his 100th birthday.

The Journal writes, “Friends and family say Munger’s eventful last period offers lessons for investors—and a blueprint for how to age with grace, equanimity and purpose.”

It quotes his stepson, Hal Borthwick as saying, “To the day he died, his mind was running. He never stopped learning.”

He also never stopped looking for new investments, leafing through data on publicly traded companies in green Value Line binders.

He went against conventional wisdom in 2023 by investing in two companies involved with coal, which he believed would still be needed due to rising demand for energy, despite environmental concerns.

Borthwick tells The Journal, “He read an article that said coal was down the chute. He said, ‘Horse feathers.'”

Friends say he had paper gains of more than $50 million on coal miner Consol Energy and Alpha Metallurgical Resources, which provides coal for steel production.

(Consol completed a merger with Arch Resources early this year to form Core Natural Resources.

Coal is excavated.
Jim Urquhart | Reuters

Munger also invested in real estate with an unusual partner.

In 2005, Munger started mentoring a 17-year-old neighbor whose ADHD was contributing to his difficulties in school.

Avi Mayer, now 37, tells the WSJ“He listened to my problems and talked about life principles and personal values.”

“I watched him in action and learned from him, and he handed me books once in a while.”

Later, Munger backed a real estate company Mayer and a childhood friend established that has become one of the largest owners of low-rise “garden” apartments in California with around $3 billion in holdings.

Munger “remained involved until the end,” helping to negotiate a building purchase that closed days after he died.

 

CNBC Special Podcast: Charlie Munger – A Life of Wit and Wisdom

The Journal says that as Munger grew older, he spent more time with friends, including a regular Tuesday morning country club breakfast with business associates that could go on for hours.

He became less “cranky and acerbic,” telling the group, “At my age, you make new friends, or you don’t have any friends.”

And after many years, Munger’s family gave up on trying to keep him on a healthy diet.

The wife of his grandson reports Munger’s last food delivery was a whole Korean fired chicken, kimchi fried rice, and waffle fries.

A friend relates that even as Munger joked that he longed to be “86 again,” he remained optimistic about Berkshire’s future.

“Once it’s built, you don’t need to be Warren and Charlie. What we have is a framework for looking at investments.”

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Munger: ‘A life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn’ (2017)

Charlie Munger explains why making mistakes is vital to success.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: With all due respect, Mr. Buffett, this question is for Mr. Munger. (Laughter)

In your career of thousands of negotiations and business dealings, could you describe for the crowd which one sticks out in your mind as your favorite or is otherwise noteworthy?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I don’t think I’ve got a favorite. But the one that probably did us the most good as a learning experience was See’s Candy.

It’s just the power of the brand, the unending flow of ever-increasing money with no work. (Laughter)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Sounds nice. (Laughter)

CHARLIE MUNGER: It was. And I’m not sure we would have bought the Coca-Cola if we hadn’t bought the See’s.

I think that a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time. And I think Berkshire’s gained enormously from these investment decisions by learning through a long, long period.

Every time you appoint a new person that’s never had big capital allocation experience, it’s like rolling the dice. And I think we’re way better off having done it so long. And —

But the decisions blend, and the one feature that comes through is the continuous learning. If we had not kept learning, you wouldn’t even be here.

You’d be alive probably, but not here. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: There’s nothing like the pain of being in a lousy business — (laughs) — to make you appreciate a good one.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, there’s nothing like getting into a really good one. That’s a very pleasant experience and it’s a learning experience.

I have a friend who says, “The first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. And the second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule.” (Laughter)

And we’ve gotten good at fishing where the fish are.

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Four weeks:

12 months:

BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – Nov. 28, 2025

Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2025, except for:

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.

Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.

— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch

Bitcoin has moved back above $90,000. Why this strategist says a return to $100,000 is not far away

Barbara Kollmeyer is based in Madrid, where she leads MarketWatch’s pre-markets coverage of financial markets and writes the Need to Know column. She has worked in London and Los Angeles for MarketWatch previously. Follow her on Twitter @bkollmeyer.

‘Today’ host Dylan Dreyer sells New York apartment for $1.8 million following split-up with Brian Fichera

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“Today” host Dylan Dreyer and her estranged husband, Brian Fichera, have officially offloaded their longtime marital home in New York City, almost one year to the day after they listed it for $2.5 million.

Eight months after putting the property on the market, Dreyer, 44, and Fichera, 38, announced that they had separated—with the “Today” star sharing the news on her Instagram account, where she insisted that they remain “the closest of friends.”

Stocks stage powerful comeback ahead of Thanksgiving. It wasn’t enough to erase November’s losses.

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U.S. stocks rallied for a fourth straight day on Wednesday, having clawed back all of last week’s losses ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Gains made by Alphabet Inc.

GOOG GOOGL and Broadcom Inc. AVGO since last Friday have helped breathe new life into the AI trade, while growing expectations for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts bolstered rate-sensitive small caps and other corners of the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX each finished up by almost 0.7% on Wednesday, bringing their week-to-date advances to 2.6% and 3.2%, respectively. With an abbreviated trading session still ahead for Friday, both indexes were on track for their strongest Thanksgiving-week performances since 2012, based on preliminary data from Dow Jones Market Data. The Nasdaq Composite COMP ended 0.8% higher on Wednesday, bringing its week-to-date gain to 4.2%. That leaves the index on track for its best Thanksgiving-week performance since 2008, when it rose 10.9%.

The market’s latest gains came after the S&P 500 finished above its 50-day moving average on Tuesday and Wednesday in an encouraging sign that the near-term trend is likely to be higher. However, this week’s powerful comeback was not enough to offset overall losses so far for the month of November. The S&P 500 was still off 0.4% for the month as of Wednesday’s close, while the Nasdaq Composite was off by almost 2.2%.

Read: November’s stock-market pullback could be a speed bump. Or possibly a hint of something worse to come.

This Thanksgiving, worry more about AI taking your job — and less about throwing money away on Black Friday

Brett Arends is an award-winning financial writer with many years experience writing about markets, economics and personal finance. He has received an individual award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his financial writing, and was part of the Boston Herald team that won two others. He has worked as an analyst at McKinsey Co., and is a Chartered Financial Consultant. His latest book, “Storm Proof Your Money”, was published by John Wiley Co.

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