The Wall Street Journal

🔗: https://on.wsj.com/48GkI1o DeMond Chambliss used to run himself ragged with the small contracting business he owned in Columbus, Ohio: hanging drywall, chasing clients for payments and managing half a dozen employees. Since April, 51-year-old Chambliss has worked the night shift overseeing a team of 200 welders, plumbers and electricians at a local data-center construction site. He makes more than $100,000 a year—a significant increase from his previous pay—cruising around on a buggy under floodlights, overseeing deliveries and equipment and ensuring everything stays on schedule. An investment boom in artificial intelligence is creating a thirst for massive data centers—and a bonanza for the workers building them. It is unclear how long that boom will last, but for now, workers like Chambliss are cashing in on high demand for their services. They are enjoying the trappings including perks, bonuses and, in many cases, pay boosts.

After the death of his first wife, David Judelson married his former banker and left her millions. Was he a victim of elder abuse? Or were his children in denial that their dad had fallen in love with someone new? 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4pz8JIC

Yoyo Zheng, 19, learned about investing in a high-school finance class and was intrigued when she turned a notional $100,000 into $300,000 in a stock-simulation game. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/43XZHg0 In February, she bought stocks with her savings from working at a restaurant and an eye-care clinic. She picked AI-related companies such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices during a chip rally, and put roughly 25% of her portfolio into bitcoin as a long-term bet. A couple months later, her holdings took a hit of nearly $2,000 as President Trump’s tariff announcements rattled markets. Losses can scare off inexperienced investors, and Zheng’s father had told her, “You cannot trust the market.” But she stuck with it and felt vindicated as the market recovered. Her hope is that her investments will help her pay some of her tuition bills and build up a down payment for an apartment. Already, young people in their 20s are trying their hand at investing in large numbers, and now just behind them is a surge of teenagers who are getting familiar with markets. Greenlight, a platform that lets children invest with their parents’ permission, said the number of trades directed by minors last month was up 77% from two years earlier. Contrary to the image of reckless traders chasing meme stocks, many young Americans are responding to this year’s market volatility with the patience and steadiness of investors decades their senior.

🔗: https://on.wsj.com/43W9qDI When Carmen Thomas was growing up in Boston, her mom told her that her absent dad’s name was Joe Brown. So when she sent a saliva sample to 23andMe in her 20s and got a match with a Brown, she was excited. It turned out the man she believed to be her father had died five years earlier, but she connected with two likely half sisters. They went out for boba tea and at a sleepover at their grandmother’s, she looked through family albums and held a pillow with his photo printed on it. A year later, she was suing the Brown sisters and their mother. Thomas wanted a share of a multimillion-dollar medical-malpractice award they had won after Joe Brown died of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. After all, she was his daughter too, Thomas said in a court complaint early last year. Surprise heirs like Thomas are popping up because of DNA test kits, lawyers say, and wreaking havoc for families handling their loved ones’ estates. States are grappling with how to rewrite laws to address the issue, and lawyers are encouraging people to rethink their estate plans.

It has been a rough stretch for the makers of healthy—but fast—lunch bowls. 🥗 https://on.wsj.com/4pfoRzi After years of riding a wellness wave, they’ve suddenly found themselves squeezed between rising costs and a jittery consumer. Younger consumers are looking for places to trim. For some, that means fewer carne asada burritos and harissa bowls. Chipotle, Cava and Sweetgreen have all reported softer results in recent quarters. Their stocks show the damage: So far this year, Chipotle is down around 44%, Cava about 56% and Sweetgreen about 80%. Companies point to the same culprits: student-loan payments, higher rents and a softer job market that are pushing younger consumers back into their kitchens. And when young people stop spending, fast casual feels it first. Roughly 75% of the customers for these chains are Gen Z or millennials. Near term, expect slightly shorter lines at your local Chipotle or Cava as the worker earning $70,000—or the newly laid-off Gen Zer—decides to make lunch at home. Let’s face it, though: Longer term, America’s growing appetite for fast-casual restaurant chains isn’t going anywhere.

Jeff Siegrist bid a tearful goodbye to his VW Bug decades ago. But he never stopped loving the car. So a few years ago, he set out to track her down. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4ou7vxo

U.S. troops have become top gun traders, swapping investment tips from cockpits and the decks of aircraft carriers and making fortunes.

Why does a glass of wine make a holiday party feel more festive? It might be because our forebears used to party. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/3M719qh

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, the unwavering Democrat who has repeatedly won in Trump country, says some in his party need to talk more like “normal human beings.” 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/49Idn2q

New AI-powered tools from Google, Adobe, Apple and others can improve your group shots and fun selfies, writes Nicole Nguyen. They can also make them terrifying.