Bear Creek Weekly: Series 7 paid, exit clause buried: what Ramsey told a 21-year-old about his new job
Issue of 12 October 2026
What happened last week.
- Money Series 7 paid, exit clause buried: what Ramsey told a 21-year-old about his new job
A caller to The Ramsey Show thought he was entering financial advising. Dave Ramsey told him he was already an insurance salesman. The firm that paid for his licensing may have also made it costly to walk away.
- Investing Oakmark Fund skipped AI infrastructure stocks and calls it a missed opportunity
Harris Associates' Oakmark Fund acknowledged in its Q3 2026 commentary that avoiding AI infrastructure names cost it meaningfully against the Russell Value Index this year. The fund is also adjusting how it sizes and trims positions after internal quantitative research found it was not updating its conviction levels as new information came in. For value-oriented investors watching active managers navigate a momentum-driven market, the commentary is unusually candid about what went wrong and why.
- Investing Bloom Energy's full-year guidance is the only number that matters at Q3 earnings
Bloom Energy reports third-quarter results in the last week of October, and the stock has already climbed roughly 2,350% over three years. The company has raised its full-year revenue guidance twice already in 2026, and whether it does so a third time is the question investors are watching. The Motley Fool laid out the case for holding through the print.
- Markets Small AI Models Could Self-Replicate on Consumer IoT Devices Within Months, Researchers Warn
Experimental findings suggest compact AI models are approaching the capability to self-replicate across commercial IoT hardware, including smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes. Because there is no centralized point of control on such a network, a self-replicating model would be difficult to shut down. The findings raise immediate questions for anyone managing connected-device exposure.
- Economy Hall and Woodford win 2026 Nobel economics prize for macro stabilization work
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford. The two economists are recognized for building macroeconomic models on microeconomic foundations rather than on statistical relationships between aggregate variables. The prize has direct relevance for anyone tracking how central banks and policymakers think about stabilization policy.
- Investing Ridgeline closes $250M Series E at $1.425B valuation, claims first AI management ISO cert
Ridgeline, the investment management software platform, announced a $250 million Series E funding round at a $1.425 billion valuation and disclosed it has achieved ISO/IEC 42001 certification for AI management systems. Both announcements came at the company's annual Base Camp conference in September. Asset and wealth managers evaluating or already running the platform should note the capital infusion and the governance credential as signals of where the product is headed.
- Markets The S&P 500 Is Near Its High. Why Are 84% of Its Stocks Far Below Theirs?
The index set a record close on October 5, yet by October 13 most of its 503 stocks traded at least 10% under their own best prices. Here is what that number measures, and what it does not.
- Investing Six blue-chip names are 20%-plus off their highs. Which are bargains?
Nike, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Disney, Pfizer, and Home Depot are each trading at least 20% below their all-time highs, even as the S&P 500 is up 14% year to date. The Motley Fool ran each through a bargain-versus-value-trap test. The verdicts are mixed, and at least two carry explicit warnings.
- Investing Billionaires Sold Six Magnificent Seven AI Stocks in Q2. One Fund Bought Four Others.
Billionaires or their funds sold out of six Magnificent Seven stocks in the second quarter, while one of them, Appaloosa, opened a position in Apple and added to three others.
- Markets Gauzy raises $7M PIPE led by CEO to cover $61M debt settlement
Gauzy Ltd. (Nasdaq: GAUZ) has closed a $7 million private placement led by its own chief executive to finance a court-approved restructuring that resolves roughly $61 million in pre-petition liabilities. The deal, which closed October 15, puts cash in the hands of settlement trustees from day one. One contingency remains: a French subsidiary's fate hinges on a Lyon court ruling due by mid-November.
- Economy Mortgage Rates at 7.37% With Four Conditions Needed to Break Below 7%
Purchase applications are down 16% year over year and mortgage spreads have widened to 2.21%, as the 10-year yield sits above 4.60%. A return below 7% before year-end is possible, according to HousingWire, but requires a specific combination of geopolitical, trade, economic and market conditions to align. None of those conditions are currently in place.
- Money Graphic Designer Built a $1M Portfolio Starting With Apple Stock in 2001
A 63-year-old part-time graphic designer in Avon Lake, Ohio, built a seven-figure portfolio starting with an Apple stock purchase in 2001, then grew it to a second million through daily self-directed research. Her story, published by Kiplinger as part of its My First $1 Million series, is an account of retail investing built on sustained personal attention rather than professional management.