"Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary thinks critics attacking data centers over water use are aiming at the wrong target. Speaking on the "Money Rehab" podcast in July, O'Leary questioned the claims outright. "So, where did this claim come from that data centers use up so much water that it's like the entire water table of a state is going to go down 10 feet? All these ridiculous claims," he said. Then he brought golf into it. "Do you know what uses more water than many data centers? A golf course. Why aren't we shutting all the golf courses down?" His argument is that older comparisons no longer hold. "The modern-day data center today does not use water like the ones from 20 years ago," he said. Older facilities relied more heavily on evaporative cooling, while newer systems use closed loops. "Like your car radiator. You use the same water to cool the chips. So you're not using more water than that." He also noted that turbines once dependent on water can now be air-cooled, with batteries, solar and wind in the power mix. O'Leary framed the business itself as property. "Data center development is actually real estate. That's what it is," he said, comparing it to the climate-controlled storage facilities he once built and leased for pharmaceutical companies. His broader position was blunt. "We need more power. Period. The end."

A Gen Xer born in 1976 asked Reddit whether people are better off than their parents were at the same age, and wondered whether Gen X might be the last generation that can broadly say yes. One answer captured the contradiction in a few lines. "I have more money than they did," the person wrote. "But they had lives. Friends. Kids. I don't have any of those things. They lived better. I exist." Others described the same disconnect between income and lifestyle. "Nope, earn more but certainly can't afford the lifestyle they had at an equivalent age," one wrote, describing parents with no mortgage who could afford vacations, restaurants, theater, a caravan and a boat. "I make as much or more, but it doesn't go nearly as far," another added. Housing came up constantly. One Gen Xer said their parents bought a house for around $80,000 and paid it off by their current age. That house is now worth roughly $600,000, while local homes generally start around $500,000. Retirement was the other dividing line. Commenters described parents with pensions and paid-off homes, including a father who retired from a blue-collar job at 55 with $500,000 invested. One person has a mortgage running until age 70. Plenty answered yes. Some grew up poor and went on to buy homes and build careers. Others measured progress in therapy, stable homes and better relationships with their children.

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki warned retirement account holders that a collapse on the scale of 1929 could be coming, and more than a year later it has not arrived. "DO YOU have a 401(k) or IRA filled with stocks?" Kiyosaki wrote on X in July 2025. He pointed to Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett and Quantum Fund co-founder Jim Rogers, claiming they had sold most or all of their stocks and bonds and were holding cash or silver. "If you do not know why Buffet and Rogers have sold their stocks and bonds you may want to find out." He described his own positioning differently. "I sit tight with gold, silver, & Bitcoin," he wrote, before adding, "We may be on the brink of another 1929 crash and another Great Depression." He also warned that America's debt was out of control and the country could only keep printing money "for so long." The prediction has not played out. The S&P 500 has continued climbing, reaching record highs during 2026 rather than collapsing. Kiyosaki has kept sounding the alarm on stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, 401(k)s and IRAs while promoting gold, silver and Bitcoin. His underlying argument stays consistent, that investors should not assume traditional assets are safe simply because they are familiar. The distinction that matters is between preparing for a downturn and trying to time exactly when one arrives.

A woman whose father-in-law bought her and her husband a house says the gift came with a condition she was not willing to accept. Writing on Reddit, she explained that her father-in-law purchased the neighboring property after it went on the market at a bargain price and consulted his financial planner. Both he and her husband would be on the title, the couple would cover taxes and utilities, and her husband would inherit the house when he died. The house needed a lot of work. She took the lead on renovations because her family had renovated several older homes, and began meeting contractors and getting estimates while her husband played messenger. Then came what she called the final straw. Her father-in-law wanted to approve any permanent change costing more than $5,000, even work the couple was paying for. That included "tile colors, light fixtures, etc." She forwarded her contractor communications to him and handed over the project. "If he wants to make the decisions, then he can make ALL the decisions," she wrote. She told him he could own the house outright and that she and her husband would sign a rental lease once the work was finished, leaving him responsible for inspections and rental law compliance. He called her "ungrateful, selfish and controlling." Her conclusion was firm. "We are not putting a single cent into a home unless we BOTH have a legal stake in it."