The Wall Street Journal

Americans are trying out a range of pool colors and styles, sometimes incorporating features like glow-in-the-dark pebbles or firebowls that appear to float on the water’s surface. Others are intentionally paring their pools back to minimal basics. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/43JQzey

Cabbies trade stocks mid-ride and even kids are diving into Asia’s red-hot markets. The AI boom is showering riches on companies and starry-eyed investors, who see no end in sight.

President Trump has made a series of decisions that have confounded Republicans and are challenging his grip on the party.

SpaceX recently went public in the largest-ever initial public offering, and OpenAI and Anthropic are also gearing up for highly anticipated IPOs. Russ Savage is looking to seize the moment. The Rockstar Energy drink creator and real-estate investor is putting five homes he owns in Los Angeles, Aspen, Colo., and Park City, Utah, on the market for a combined total of about $297 million. He is betting that a wave of newly rich buyers will be looking for luxury homes. “We’re entering a new stratosphere of top-end wealth, where there’s no limit,” said Savage, who has been buying, renovating, and selling homes across the country for decades. “Where are they going to buy properties? They’re going to want a ski house and they’re going to want a house in the sun.” Here’s a look at the properties: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/44e0Uzs

"I was dangling 110 feet above the ground, suspended midair by the straps of a mangled paraplane from a poplar tree, its slender branches threatening to snap at any moment and send me hurtling to earth. Gasoline has to touch your skin for thirty seconds to start causing a chemical burn; a leak from my contraption’s engine had been drenching me for close to an hour. As the fuel dripped down my chest, back, hands, face and into my eyes, all I felt was burning. I wanted the pain to end. I would hang there for another seven hours. Crashing and burning are experiences that our language has turned into metaphors for suffering—and learning. Trial by fire. Lighting a fire under someone. Strangely, I’m grateful for what happened to me, and for the many lessons it taught me." 🔗 Read more from Lydia Winkler: https://on.wsj.com/4oyF0jE

Around three-quarters of Americans over 50 want to age at home, according to AARP, but many of their current homes aren’t suitable for aging. Garrett and Anna Marie Hughes, both in their early 80s, have decided to age in their large, four-bedroom house in suburban Rochester, N.Y. After looking at alternatives and weighing costs and quality of life, they came up with a renovation plan they think will allow them to live simply and safely in their home. Unexpected things can happen, but staying makes sense for them. “Nothing is 100% certain and never is,” says Garrett of their decision. “We’re comfortable with that.” Here’s how the couple plans to make it work: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4ev28eh

Founded 104 years ago by an Illinois farmer turned insurance agent, State Farm grew to the nation’s biggest home and auto insurer on the back of a sprawling sales network. Agents hung up their shingle in even the smallest of towns, becoming part of the community they sold to. Being a State Farm agent was a ticket to success for many, with the insurer offering lifelong employment and relatively good pay and benefits. The network has grown to 19,000 agents, spread across the nation. At a Las Vegas convention last month, CEO Jon Farney took to the Allegiant Stadium stage and dropped a bombshell. Farney, a 33-year State Farm veteran, told his sales force he was ripping up their existing contracts. Any agent who wants to stay past 2027 will have to sign up to a new compensation deal and sales targets. “State Farm needs to change,” he said, according to a video of the event reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. A big driver of that change: AI. Read more: 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4a6U6Hj

Asking $5.25 million, the 35-acre property has a ‘sugar shack’ for maple syrup https://on.wsj.com/4uN0YRF

Scattered records can make it harder to get a released prisoner on the straight and narrow, but there seems to be a solution.

Hundreds of soccer fans are due to arrive soon, and Courtney Raden isn’t sure where to put them: in the ice rink, as planned, or in the middle of Court A, two levels below Mozzarella Bar. It is Day 2 of 39 straight days of World Cup events at American Dream, which, at 3 million square feet, is one of the biggest malls in the world. Along with managing a free watch party for the U.S. men’s game at 9 p.m., Raden will oversee appearances by two former U.S. players, broadcast live on ESPN. Raden, the mall’s 30-year-old director of events, isn’t frazzled. This is the kind of mega multitasking challenge her career has prepared her for. “You get more done when the pressure’s on,” she says, glancing at one of the dozens of text messages that have popped up on her iPhone. About 1,500 events take place at American Dream every year, from school-group aquarium visits to the New Jersey governor’s inaugural ball and JonasCon—a one-day fanfest starring the brothers themselves. None compares with more than a month of World Cup-related events. 🔗 Read more: https://on.wsj.com/4xDRSZU