* Shutdown impacts travel, fraud reporting, small business loans * AI tools like ChatGPT used by 13% of retail investors for stock picking * Arabica coffee prices doubled due to tariffs, affecting U.S. coffee costs By Lauren Young NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) – This was originally published in the On The Money newsletter, where we share U.S. personal finance tips and insights every other week. Sign up here to receive it for free. It will come as no surprise that the ripple effects of the U.S. government shutdown will be felt far and wide. Here is what the shutdown means for you. The shutdown is expected to impact domestic as well as international travel, fraud reporting to the FTC and small business loans. Experts say the shutdown will curtail the IPO market’s momentum, too. And a key worry is how the closure will shut off the flow of key economic data – including the all-important September jobs report – at a moment of uncertainty among policymakers and investors about the health of the U.S. employment market, the trajectory of inflation and the strength of consumer spending and business investment. It’s a fast-moving story. Follow Reuters for the latest updates. HAVE YOU USED AI FOR PERSONAL FINANCE ADVICE? Have you used artificial intelligence to make any money decisions, big or small? I have not, but I am intrigued. As ChatGPT nears its third birthday, at least one in 10 retail investors is using a chatbot to pick stocks, fueling growth in the robo-advisory market, reports broker eToro. About half of retail investors say they would use AI tools such as ChatGPT or Google's Gemini to pick or alter investments in their portfolio. And 13% of them already use these tools, reports eToro, which polled 11,000 retail investors across the world. Stock picking using ChatGPT requires some financial knowledge, and its adopters say there is a high risk of getting it wrong before getting it right. That said, AI is extremely helpful for creating projections. I asked Microsoft Copilot how much money I need to save for college in a 529 College Savings plan per week for a baby born today to reach a $1 million goal by the time they are 18. (College is expensive, people!) The answer: Assuming a 6% average annual return, I need to save approximately $604.63 per week. Voila! Have you used AI for financial advice? If so, how? Share your thoughts or email me via my bio. READ, WATCH, LISTEN Investors look past AI hype to opportunities from government spending How and why disruptions to the global supply chain matter Attention, workers 50 and older: Your 401(k) rules are about to change Global currency trading closing in on $10 trillion a day What it’s like to retire in America after age 75 Affluent Americans up donations by 30% during past decade, as fewer give The best ideas from longtime personal-finance reporter, Jonathan Clements US government faces brain drain as 154,000 federal workers exit This week Inside ETFs: Can you outsmart volatility with buffer funds? 42% of young adults say they couldn’t afford to keep an inherited home What to know about Trump's newest round of tariffs US auto bankruptcies show rising credit pain in low-income households The risks of defanging the Fed WHY YOUR CUP OF COFFEE COSTS SO MUCH Coffee is one of the key items keeping food prices in the U.S. persistently high. Prices for arabica coffee, the mild variety mostly used by chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, have roughly doubled on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York since the Trump administration applied a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports at the end of July, including green coffee. That stalled shipments from Brazil, a country that historically supplied a third of all coffee used in the U.S. As a result, roasted coffee prices at grocery stores in the U.S. rose 20.9% in August from a year ago, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. I am reconsidering my coffee purchases, although it is hard to resist popping into our local coffee shop. Are you altering your coffee habits, based on prices? Tell me how – or why via the email address in my bio. (By Lauren Young; Editing by Mark Porter)
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