Sep. 20—When Mildred Page Jones started Jones Sheet Metal and Roofing Company in Mankato in 1942, it was rare for women to own and operate businesses.

The business was started to serve sheet metal parts to Jones' husband's company, Kato Engineering, which was going gangbusters supplying the military during World War II. During the early 1950s, the roofing company was dropped due to increasing demand of sheet metal from a third Jones company called Katolight.

Today, the business remains in the family, with three descendants of Jones running the show. Jones Sheet Metal evolved to Jones Metal Products and is now known as Jones Metal Inc., 80 years after opening. Three of Jones' grandchildren are at the helm; Jessica Richards-Palmquist, Sarah Richards and David Richards now own the company.

The third generation purchased the company in 2011 from Jones' daughter Marcia and are committed to their colleagues first and second to their customers, said Sarah Richards, Jones Metal president and CEO.

"Today companies are bought and sold frequently or grow into giants, often forgetting their history," Richards said. "But it is so important to the Mankato area to remember and honor the stories. Even though we have changed significantly, people connect and take pride in our history. It is an impressive legacy that we plan to expand on."

The company's official 80th anniversary was in June. Richards said some of the products her team makes today are recognizable instantly around Mankato.

Those include the river sculpture behind the performing arts building, the music bench in an alley, the plates for the Art Walk sculptures, decorative panels on the Shared Spaces building, and the red waves and large fountain at Minnesota State University.

"We enjoy bringing other creators' ideas to life," Richards said.

On the industrial side, people will recognize the green transformer boxes in neighborhoods and the sheet metal surrounding generators and road graders.

"Much of what we do, however, is not seen once it is assembled into our customers' products like fuel tanks, hydraulic tanks, fan covers or heat exchangers," Richards said. "We also continue to make several parts for customers who serve the military. There aren't very many naval submarines that don't have some Jones Metal on board."

The company's name is far-reaching, with it having been featured in a Washington Post article recently. Jones Metal is scrambling to hire enough welders to build battery boxes and generators, according to the article. It pays a starting wage of $23.50 an hour, while also trying to automate more jobs to keep the plant running.

Though they are automating, the company's automation innovations are assisting people with their operations rather than doing it for them.

"We don't want to replace people," Richards said. "We believe in treating our employees like family and, in a family-owned business, you can do that. We have competitive pay and good benefits.

"We believe employees should be able to support their families in exchange for a good day's work. That was our grandparents' philosophy way back when, and it's the same today. We treat each other with kindness and respect, and we have a lot of long-term employees."

It isn't uncommon for an employee to have worked for Jones Metal for as long as 44 years. This is changing, however, as younger employees are far more likely to change not just jobs but careers, Richards said.

"We have seen the effects of that," she said. "The younger generation is far more likely to say 'instead of welding, now I'd like to be a nurse.' So it's more challenging that way. We're starting to see the effects of that."

The company has 90 employees and operates from a 120,000-square-foot building on Third Avenue. Jones Metal counts Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies as customers.

One barista said complicated orders bring her to "a screeching halt."

The community and country are coming together to show their support for a man whose family says was fired from a local Wendy’s restaurant.

The "ultra-fuel-efficient" jet is equipped with Pratt & Whitney's "groundbreaking" GTF engines that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16%.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has agreed to publicly release dozens of private Medicare Advantage health plan audits to settle a 2019 lawsuit filed by Kaiser Health News (KHN). KHN in September 2019 filed a lawsuit asking that CMS provide 90 government audits, including documents from the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.…

(Reuters) -Some of oilfield service firm Schlumberger's more than 9,000 Russian employees have begun receiving military draft notices through work, and the company is not authorizing remote employment to escape mobilization, according to people familiar with the matter and internal documents. Schlumberger's cooperation with authorities by delivering the military call-ups and its refusal to allow Russian staff to work outside the country has caused a backlash, according to the sources. Russian law requires companies to assist with delivering a summons to employees and to conduct a military registration if at least one of its employees is liable for service, according to advocacy group Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, which tracks corporate performance on human rights issues.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on Sunday said plans to cap the price of Russian gas exports would cause supplies to be halted, echoing a similar threat from President Vladimir Putin. The conflict in Ukraine has prompted European Union customers to reduce their purchases of Russian energy while the G7 and the EU are trying to impose a price cap on Russian oil and gas. "Such a one-sided decision is of course a violation of existing contracts, which would lead to a termination of supplies," Miller said in comments broadcast on state television.

Value investing is a time-honored strategy, and many of the most successful investors ever -- from Warren Buffett to Seth Klarman -- have employed the approach. Despite this fact, there seems to be a perception among some investors that value investing is "boring," and with growth stocks outperforming value for much of the past decade, it is perhaps understandable that some investors have adopted this viewpoint. Sure, there are plenty of stodgy companies that are beloved by value investors, but there are plenty of exciting companies that make for great value investing opportunities as well.

STORY: U.S. grocery giant Kroger, owner of Ralphs and Fred Meyer, said on Friday it will buy smaller rival Albertsons in a $24.6 billion deal.The mega-merger would create a supermarket behemoth with enough heft to take on industry titan Walmart.The merger between the No. 1 and 2 standalone grocers in the United States will bring together over 2,200 Albertsons locations and more than 2,700 Kroger stores.But the deal stands to draw plenty of government scrutiny: some analysts warn the merger could crimp competition, and mean even higher prices for American shoppers.Aiming to ease those worries, the companies said they will likely shed some stores, and Albertsons said it's ready to spin off a standalone unit before it closes the Kroger deal. Market leader Walmart has been doubling down on its own grocery business and has traditionally used its scale to demand the lowest possible prices from food and beverage suppliers.The marriage between Kroger and Albersons could give the new company Walmart-size command over its negotiations with suppliers. That sort of clout may be vital at a time when prices of groceries and essentials are soaring in the country.

A recent study from the career experts Zety says that 40% of respondents fear retirement more than death. And almost nine in 10 responded that their biggest retirement fear is not having enough income. For married couples, planning retirement for two people can … Continue reading → The post Average Retirement Savings for Married Couples By Age appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

Although it is unfortunate that you do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, you’re far from alone. You mention having individual retirement accounts, but you could look into opening a Roth IRA, which is funded with after-tax dollars. “I would start there,” said Chris Hardy, a certified financial planner at Paramount Investment Advisors.

If you think the side hustle was born to serve the millennial generation, that might be true. Everywhere you turn these days, it seems like millennials -- ages 23 to 38 -- have at least one...

When it comes to retirement planning, fortune favors the prepared. However, according to GOBankingRates' recent survey, few Americans feel prepared. According to our survey, 66% of Americans fear that...

"This isn't some fun new social trend," Canopy CEO Davis Bell wrote in a viral Linkedin post about the incidents.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently 6 million Americans who are unemployed. Though that's still less than pandemic levels, it's not exactly...

A smart investment strategy is to buy and hold stocks of growing companies that have a good chance of beating the market over the long term. The two I have in mind are visual-based social media company Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), and e-commerce retailer Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY). The rumor that Alphabet could be interested in purchasing Pinterest has again sparked interest in the company and while investors will have to wait to see whether there is any truth to it, I believe Pinterest can thrive on its own in the long run.

India has allowed export-oriented units and the firms set up in Special Economic Zones to export flour made from imported wheat, a government order said on Friday, conceding to the demands of food processors to allow shipments of value-added products. India will allow food processors to import duty-free wheat against a commitment to export flour, the order said. After a sudden rise in temperatures in mid-March shrivelled the wheat crop, India, the world's second-biggest producer of the grain, banned overseas sales of the staple to secure supplies for its 1.4 billion people.

Setting aside money regularly is one of the surest ways to save for retirement–especially when you take advantage of tax savings over time. Though some retirement accounts are tax-deferred, one popular option that isn't tax-deferred is a Roth IRA. However, … Continue reading → The post How Much to Put in a Roth IRA per Month appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

STORY: "Today's movement, we're seeing the typical action from a bear market," Schein said, adding, "recessions, or bear markets, are a gift to younger investors." Schein said that markets in retreat were a time to rebalance portfolios."Admittedly, if you've had your asset allocation overweight in growth, you might want to think about re-allocating to dividend growth, or companies that actually pay a dividend to get you through the next six-to-twelve months."Schein said bear markets are good ways for well-run companies to gain market share over their overvalued and less-prepared rivals.

City comment: Jeremy Hunt now has the chance to re-examine the disastrous mini-Budget. He should think twice before scrapping the banker bonus cap.

Racial slurs, “slave chants” and threats of being hanged were just a few examples of racial hazing cited in the lawsuit filed by a former Middle Tennessee State University student against a fraternity. Per WKRN News 2, the plaintiff said he and the only other Black pledge were subjected to these cruel and unusual practices by members of Kappa Sigma.