Markus Andrews

The number of federal student loan borrowers with six-figure debts is on the rise.
“There are quite a number of people who owe the federal government over $2 million in federal student loans,” said Wayne Johnson, who served as the chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid from 2017 until 2019.

Damircudic | E+ | Getty Images

The number of federal student loan borrowers with six-figure debts is on the rise.
In the second quarter of 2024, 2.4 million borrowers carried a federal student loan balance between $100,000 and $200,000, up from 1.8 million people who owed that much during the same period in 2017, according to new data by the U.S. Department of Education.

Meanwhile, 1 million people had a federal student loan balance of more than $200,000, up from 600,000 individuals.
Wayne Johnson, who served as the chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid from 2017 until 2019, tells CNBC he saw some eye-popping balances during his time at the Education Department.
“There are quite a number of people who owe the federal government over $2 million in federal student loans,” Johnson said.
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In 2018, The Wall Street Journal profiled a doctor whose balance at the time topped $1 million.

The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Why more borrowers have big balances

“There are several factors that have contributed to the increase in the number of borrowers carrying six figures in student loan debt,” said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.
The biggest one, though, is the fact that higher education has become significantly more expensive over the decades, Mayotte said.
The annual sticker price for certain schools, after factoring in tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses, is now nearing $100,000. (With financial aid, families typically pay less.)

However, it’s graduate students who take on the largest federal student loan debts, experts say.
While undergraduate students face limits on how much they can borrow in federal student loans, graduate students do not. They can borrow as much as a program costs.
As a result of that government policy, schools don’t need to worry much about affordability as they set their prices, said Johnson, a Republican who is now running for Congress in Georgia.
“Almost every college looks at their graduate programs as their cash cows,” Johnson said.

Dentists with $300,000 student debt balances

Overall, more than 10% of graduate and professional students owe $100,000 or more in federal and private student loan debt, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. (For comparison, less than 1% of students borrow above that amount for bachelor’s degree programs.)
Graduates of dental programs owed an average of around $307,0000 in 2019-2020, Kantrowitz found, while veterinarians were about $170,000 in the red.

The large debts can be huge stressors on graduates.
Nearly 80% of those who owe between $130,000 and $139,000 report feeling a “high” or “very high” amount of stress from their debt, compared with around 25% among those with a balance under $10,000, according to data analyzed by Kantrowitz. He looked at the 2012 follow-up to the 2008 Baccalaureate and Beyond longitudinal study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Parents saddled with student debt

In addition to graduate students, parents can also borrow unlimited amounts in Parent Plus loans, Johnson said.
Annual Parent Plus disbursements tripled between 2000 and 2016, to more than $15 billion from about $5 billion, the Century Foundation found in a 2022 report.
“Seeking to help their children find upward mobility through higher education, low-income and low-wealth parents taking out these loans risk making themselves downwardly mobile, a consequence no family should suffer in the name of college opportunity,” the foundation wrote.

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Home insurance premiums rose 21% last year, according to data from Policygenius.
Experts say a rise in severe weather largely contributed to the increase, but it’s hard to tell how insurers are factoring climate risk into the cost of policies.
Some insurers have pulled out of certain areas completely, making state-sanctioned options a necessity.

A view of flooded streets after 24 hours of continuous heavy rain over Fort Myers, Florida, United States on June 13, 2024.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Consumers preparing to renew their homeowners insurance policy may experience some unexpected sticker shock.
Between May 2022 and May 2023, home insurance prices rose an average of 21% at renewal time, according to Policygenius.

A rise in catastrophic severe weather events contributed to this jump, experts say, and the rate of price increases is not expected to slow. As insurers face higher costs, they pass those along to consumers in the form of pricier premiums.
However, insurers don’t share data on individual homeowners’ premiums and risks, so it’s difficult to calculate just how climate risk is factored into the price of policies.

“The levels of risk and the kinds of hazards that a property can be exposed to are massively changing,” said Carlos Martín, director of the Remodeling Futures program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
“And right now there’s a lot of confusion, not just among the homeowners, but also among the insurers about how they should be pricing this actuarially,” he said.

‘Minimal’ data available from insurers

Though home insurance premiums jumped significantly in price last year, it isn’t a new phenomenon. To that point, between 2012 and 2021 the average premium rose from $1,034 to $1,411, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Some of the annual increases within that stretch of time were bigger than others, according to Kenneth Klein, a professor at California Western School of Law, adding that climate change creates the potential of economic “fat-tailed losses,” because storm damage isn’t spread evenly across all insured properties or evenly over time.
“For many insurance companies in the Gulf Coast area, if they economically survived Katrina, the next year was one of their most profitable years,” he said. “Because their premiums adjusted for Katrina, but there wasn’t a Katrina event. So that’s the challenge of insuring climate change.”
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Understanding how premiums will continue to rise in response to severe weather is hard to gauge, according to Martín.
“The data is pretty minimal,” Martín said. “Insurers don’t share how much they’re charging individual homeowners with the world, and there’s not a lot of reporting.”
Scott Shapiro, KPMG U.S. insurance sector leader, said the industry does gather this data on weather-related losses to inform policy premiums, but the detailed data isn’t publicly accessible.
“This data is crucial for rate making and filings,” Shapiro said. “A key challenge is the increasing exposure to weather-related risks and the uncertainty of whether historical losses accurately predict future losses.”

Insurers are pulling back in high-risk areas

The cost of home insurance might be rising, but for some in areas at risk of flood or fire, homeowners may have few options.
In May 2023, for example, State Farm stopped accepting new applications for California policies. Allstate announced in November 2022 that it would pause new home, condo and commercial policies in the state.
Insurance companies “are not in the business of giving you money just because you need it, and they are not in the business of doing the right thing just because it feels like the right thing,” Klein said. “They are businesses that are trying within a set of laws and regulations to make a profit.”
Fewer and pricier insurance options can prove to be a significant barrier to homeownership, experts say, as most mortgages require insurance.

Florida’s legislature created Citizens’ Property Insurance in 2002 as an option for Floridians who couldn’t find home insurance in the private market. California’s FAIR plan was established as a statute in the state’s insurance code to provide fire coverage unavailable in the traditional market, though it’s not a state or public agency. 
Though state-run programs might serve as a last resort, they don’t always provide the same quality of coverage that a private insurer might offer.
“They sometimes are not built on the same actuarial principles as private insurance company would build them,” Klein said. “And as a consequence, it’s problematic. It’s often not good coverage.”
Those feeling the pain of rising premiums the most are existing homeowners, Martín said.
“They’re feeling it, because they see what they’re paying when they first bought the house, and now they see what they’re paying,” he said. “And it’s increasing.”

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Richard Behar’s new biography, “Madoff: The Final Word,” takes readers into the fraudster’s final years in prison, and all that came before.
Madoff saw a psychologist while he was in prison, and listened to NPR in the mornings.
After running a Ponzi scheme for decades, Madoff found that new life was somewhat of a relief, Behar writes.

Richard Behar
Courtesy: Lizzie Cohen

You probably haven’t heard Bernie Madoff’s name in awhile, but that doesn’t mean the infamous fraudster’s story is over, or the pain he inflicted.
Irving Picard, an 83-old court-appointed trustee, still spends his days trying to claw back money from the those who benefitted from Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and to reduce the staggering losses of others.

More than 100 legal battles over the greatest known fraud in history still rage on.
Richard Behar, who has just published a new biography, “Madoff: The Final Word,” is also still trying to understand how Madoff’s mind worked. What allows a person to rip off Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust and went on to become a main chronicler of it? Or to sit with his wife, Ruth, in a theater and enjoy a movie while knowing that he’s erased the life savings of thousands of people all over the world?
Those questions haunted Behar — who tells CNBC he has long been fascinated by con-artists. So long after most other reporters had turned their attention elsewhere, he reached out to Madoff while the financial criminal served out his 150-year prison sentence in North Carolina.

Arrows pointing outwards

Richard Behar’s book ‘Madoff: The Final Word.’

Behar started by sending his condolences to Madoff, whose son, Mark, had just died by suicide in Dec. 2010, the second anniversary of his father’s arrest.
Shortly after, an email subject line popped up in Behar’s inbox: “Inmate: MADOFF, BERNARD L.” That message was the start to a decade-long relationship between the two men, including roughly 50 phone conversations, hundreds of emails and three in-person visits. When Madoff died in April 2021, Behar was still writing the biography. Madoff often complained to Behar that he was taking too long on the book.

“He once joked that he’d be dead when it came out, which of course turned out to be true, although I never planned it that way,” Behar said.
CNBC interviewed Behar, an award-winning journalist and contributing editor of investigations at Forbes, over email this month. (The conversation has been edited and condensed for style and clarity.)

‘He never asked me one personal question’

Annie Nova: You write that you’re an investigative reporter with “a special fondness for scammers.” Why do you think that is?
Richard Behar: I’ve always been mesmerized by how the brains of scammers work. I’m especially intrigued, maybe obsessed, with scammers who steal from people who are very close to them — like Madoff did.
A scamster who I visited in prison in the 1990s did something similar. Until Bernie’s arrest, this guy ran the lengthiest known Ponzi scheme ever, for 11 years. He was orphaned and raised by an aunt and uncle, and yet financially devoured them, as well as his cousins, his wife’s parents, his best friend — even a nun who he charmed with his alleged faith in god. I wasn’t raised by my biological parents either, and spent my childhood in foster homes. I couldn’t pretend to imagine doing that to people who stepped up to care for me, but it’s endlessly fascinating to me. Maybe that’s where that fondness for scammers is rooted.

Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan Federal court on March 12, 2009 in New York City.
Stephen Chernin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

AN: Did Madoff take any interest in your life?
RB: Through a nearly decade-long relationship, he never asked me one personal question. That was mind-boggling. I’d sometimes give him openings, like telling him I grew up in a town not far from his hometown — with a similar but poorer Jewish subculture — but he said nothing. He couldn’t care less. I asked a psychologist about this, and she theorized that Bernie was such a malignant narcissist that he couldn’t “hold my reality, he could only hold his own.” I couldn’t be a three-dimensional human being to him, because if he can imagine that, he’d have to imagine the school teacher who has lost a pension.
AN: What was the most remorse you saw him show over what he’d done?
RB: I once asked if he could ever forgive himself for the Ponzi itself, and he said “No, never.” He insisted he felt great remorse for those who he stole from. But I never totally felt it. Never a tear. I asked why he didn’t cry at his sentencing, and he snapped: “Of course I didn’t cry; I was cried out.”

‘Prison was a great relief for him’

AN: How did Madoff say life in prison changed him?
RB: He never talked about it. He once described himself as feeling numb. I said, “I can’t imagine what it would be like.” He replied, “You don’t want to know, you don’t want to know.”
In some ways, I think being in prison was a great relief for him. Running a half-century Ponzi has got to be exhausting. In prison, he’d typically wake up in his cell at around 4 a.m., make coffee in bed with an instant hot water machine, then read, or listen to NPR until breakfast. He worked in the kitchen, then the laundry room and then oversaw the inmates’ computer room.
That last job cracked me up because he told me he could barely turn a computer on in his office, which should have been a red flag to everyone at the company that he wasn’t actually trading stocks.
AN: You write that he was seeing a therapist in prison. Do we know often this was, or for how long it lasted? Did it seem to be helping him?
RB: He ended one phone chat abruptly because he had to get to one of his weekly appointments with his psychologist. When he called me afterwards, I asked how it went. He laughed and said it was helpful, that she was a “terrific lady” and that he thinks he should have done therapy years before. But even if the sessions were helpful, he said he never found the answers he sought about why he did the fraud and why he hurt so many people.

NEW YORK – MARCH 12: Financier Bernard Madoff passes the gathered press as he arrives at Manhattan Federal court on March 12, 2009 in New York City. Madoff was expected to plead guilty to all 11 felony charges brought by prosecutors on financial misdoings, and could end up with a sentence of 150 years in prison. 
Chris Hondros | Getty Images

He was disturbed by press reports that called him a sociopath. He said he asked his therapist, “Am I a sociopath? A lot of clients were friends and family — how could I do this?” Bernie claims that she told him that people have the ability to compartmentalize, like mobsters that kill and then go home and hold their kids.
You just put it out of your mind. I asked if she came up with a diagnosis. He said, no, just a compartmentalizer. Maybe she told him that to make him feel better since he wasn’t ever getting out.
AN: For so many years, it sounded like Madoff was just waiting to be caught. Is that right? Did he always know he wouldn’t be able to get away with this? What was living in that suspended state like for him?
RB: Bernie said he was under constant stress over the Ponzi, and would talk out loud to himself sometimes in the office, because of the pressure. One of his biggest outlets for relieving the stress was sitting in dark theaters with his wife Ruth, he said, watching movies twice a week. He also said he deluded himself into thinking some “miracle” would come along to bail him out of the Ponzi, but that he knew for at least the last decade before his arrest that he’d never get out from under it.

The only time he truly relaxed, he said, was on weekends when he was out on his yacht. I interviewed a former FBI behavioral analysis expert who suggested Bernie felt safe on the boat because he could see 360 degrees around him, all the way to the horizon, so he’d have a lot of forewarning that a threat was coming.

‘Not a single investor’ had complained to the SEC

AN: You paint a really interesting portrait of the figure of Irving Picard, an 83-year-old court-appointed trustee, who has spent years trying to get money back for Madoff’s investors. Has this been Picard’s only job over the years? Why has he made this his life mission?
RB: Picard rarely talks with the press. I was just chatting with John Moscow, a former chief white-collar crimes prosecutor for the Manhattan DA’s office who worked on some Madoff cases for the trustee. He said: “Irving is a very faithful public servant.” He’s laser focused on his task. John’s words were: “He’s not manic about it, but he’s very close.”

In my book, I quote a former federal prosecutor saying that you can probe this case for 50 years and still not get to all the truths, but Picard isn’t interested in that. It’s been his only bankruptcy case since four days after Bernie’s arrest in 2008. He is ferocious towards net winners who won’t return funds, but he can be a soft teddy bear with those who don’t have the money for him to claw back. He may let them pay it over time, or he’ll take someone’s house but leave them a life interest in it.
AN: What do you think people get most wrong about Madoff?
RB: A lot of people who lost money get it wrong by blaming him entirely, rather than looking in the mirror and asking themselves how they could have put themselves in such danger. Madoff’s consistent and high returns were simply not possible. Even so, many net losers think the government owes them because the SEC didn’t capture Bernie. But that agency’s mandate has never been to protect people from stupid investment decisions.

Financier Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan Federal court on March 12, 2009 in New York City. Madoff is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on 11 felony counts which under federal law can result in a sentence of about 150 years. (Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)
Stephen Chernin | Getty Images

I mentioned to you that I went to a prison back in the ’90s to visit the guy who had the longest-running Ponzi prior to Madoff’s arrest. Just like Bernie, that swindler could not have done it without a big bank’s complicity. In that case — an 11-year-long Ponzi — an investor reached out to the SEC to complain that he’d lost money even though he’d been guaranteed a preposterous 20-25% return. The scamster was arrested the following day.
In Bernie’s case, not a single investor over the half-century of his fraud contacted the SEC. They were too busy splashing around in the gravy. More

Coca-Cola beverages are shown on April 30, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. 
Scott Olson | Getty Images

The U.S. stock market has been volatile as of late, as traders grapple with earnings season and the upcoming elections, but dividend-paying stocks may help investors smooth out the ride in their portfolios.
Investors seeking solid dividend payers can rely on top-ranked Wall Street analysts, who make recommendations after thoroughly analyzing a company’s ability to generate solid financials and deliver strong returns.

Here are three attractive dividend stocks, according to Wall Street’s top pros on TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Western Midstream Partners
This week, we will first look at a limited partnership, Western Midstream Partners (WES). The company owns and operates midstream assets in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
It is worth noting that for Q1 2024, WES increased its base distribution by 52% compared to the prior quarter to $0.8750 per unit. WES offers a high dividend yield of 8.8%.
Recently, Mizuho analyst Gabriel Moreen increased his price target for WES to $45 from $39 and reaffirmed a buy rating, saying that the stock is the second-best performing name in his coverage on the basis of the year-to-date rally: Shares are up 36% in 2024.
Moreen thinks that there is scope for further moderate distribution hikes by WES over his forecast period, which represents a catalyst for investors keen on this high-yield stock. “Yield is even more of a differentiator given WES’ MLP structure that optimizes the tax benefits of a higher yield,” the analyst said.

Moreen also highlighted the company’s solid Q1 results and revised outlook. He highlighted the company’s ability to support its higher distributions, thanks to an investment-grade balance sheet, modest capital expenditure requirements and constructive contracts that offer significant visibility into continued cash payout.
Moreen ranks No. 90 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 81% of the time, delivering an average return of 12.8%. (See Western Midstream Financials on TipRanks)  
Diamondback Energy
We move to another energy player, Diamondback Energy (FANG). The company is focused on the acquisition, development and exploration of onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. FANG has been in the news for its proposed acquisition of Endeavor Energy, which is expected to strengthen its position in the Permian Basin.  
For the first quarter, the company paid a base cash dividend of 90 cents per share and a variable cash dividend of $1.07 per share to its shareholders. Moreover, it repurchased 279,266 shares for $42 million.
Ahead of the company’s second-quarter results, RBC Capital analyst Scott Hanold reiterated a buy rating on FANG stock with a price target of $220.
The analyst thinks that FANG’s Q2 production gained from faster cycle times and expects 90 well completions, an improvement from his prior forecast of 80 wells. However, the analyst lowered his Q2 2024 EPS and cash flow per share estimates to reflect final commodity price realizations and other adjustments.
Hanold expects Q2 2024 shareholder returns to comprise a fixed dividend of 90 cents a share and a variable dividend of $1.25 per share, with no stock buybacks. He added, “We believe FANG shares should outperform its peer group over the next 12 months.”
Hanold ranks No. 11 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 70% of the time, delivering an average return of 27.6%. (See Diamondback Energy Options Activity on TipRanks)  
Coca-Cola
This week’s third pick is beverage giant Coca-Cola (KO), which recently announced better-than-anticipated second-quarter results, reflecting strong demand for its products. The company also increased its full-year organic revenue growth and comparable earnings outlook.
Earlier this year, KO hiked its quarterly dividend by about 5.4% to 48.5 cents per share, marking the 62nd year of consecutive dividend hikes. KO offers a dividend yield of about 2.9%.
In reaction to the upbeat Q2 results, RBC Capital analyst Nik Modi reaffirmed a buy rating on Coca-Cola stock and raised the price target to $68 from $65.
Modi noted the company’s better-than-projected global case volumes, including double-digit growth in markets like the Philippines and India. He also highlighted the improvement in KO’s gross margin and earnings strength.
Despite pressures in the low-income consumer group in the developed markets and a slowdown in the away-from-home channel, the analyst remains bullish on the company’s prospects. “We still believe KO’s fundamentals are strong and the company has the momentum and flexibility to deliver against its targets for the year,” said Modi. 
Modi ranks No. 858 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 57% of the time, delivering an average return of 6.1%. (See Coca-Cola Insider Trading on TipRanks)  More

The White House is seen in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2024. 
Samuel Corum | AFP | Getty Images

Given the enormity of the political upheaval we’ve seen recently, traders would be right to wonder how the markets and economy will perform in 2025 as a new administration takes over next January.
If only there were a handbook available to offer guidance in such an uncertain future. Given the polarity of the parties’ platforms, there are stark differences that are seemingly set in stone.

Such a book might be titled, “What to Expect When You’re Electing,” a primer for next year’s economy that is brimming with possibilities.
The book would compare the policy platforms and outline the consequent economic prospects for each. It would also cover the market’s likely behavior in the first year of a new presidential cycle, as well as the framework for tax and regulatory policies. This guide would depict the risk/reward potential for the macro economy and individual sectors.
Of course, things do not always turn out as planned.
Certainly, there are outside forces at play as well, from the composition of the new Congress to unanticipated events well outside the control of America’s domestic leadership.

A handbook for the election and the economy

If such a guide were available, here’s how it might look.

The GOP, under presidential candidate Donald Trump, could seek to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. They could also push to further reduce corporate taxes to 15% from the current 21%, while imposing tariffs on imports.
In addition, a second Trump administration could roll back a wide variety of Biden-era regulations, including clean energy incentives.
In the abstract, one can argue that tax cuts and deregulation are good for business. They would be a positive development for Wall Street and, by extension, for financial markets.
However, further unfunded tax cuts would add to the nation’s deficits and debt. The United States’ debt to gross domestic product ratio stood at 123% as of the 2023 fiscal year.
Across-the-board tariffs are inherently inflationary, economists argue. What’s more, they could lead to a tit-for-tat global trade war and consequent recession.
Former President Donald Trump is also promising the largest mass deportation of immigrants since the Eisenhower administration at a time when there are more open jobs in the U.S. than there are available workers, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A massive reduction in the available labor force is both inflationary and recessionary. It is a recipe for stagflation.
Observers are awaiting tax policy details from Vice President Kamala Harris, who President Joe Biden endorsed as his choice to run in his place when he exited the campaign. However, the White House has called for rolling back the Trump tax cuts so that the highest marginal rate for income taxes reverts to 39.6%, where it was prior to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He has also pushed for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%.
Wall Street would not fall in love with that delivery.
An extension of a stricter regulatory regime could also be expected, something corporate America has been chafing over throughout the Biden years.
Further, Biden had proposed raising the top marginal rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends to 44.6%. Currently, that rate is at 20%, plus a 3.8% net investment income tax for high earners. He has also called on billionaires to pay at least 25% of their income in taxes.
One could argue that such a set of tax hikes, just as the economy is softening, could lead to a recession — even if the Federal Reserve were to be further along in easing interest rate policy.

Preparing for tumult

Given that the first year of a presidential cycle is, historically, the most difficult one for the stock market, our guide might suggest locking in profits sooner rather than later. This would be the case regardless of who occupies the White House next, and it can be a hedge against unexpected events, including large shifts in policy.
The last two years have been quite profitable for stock market investors, even though they had no idea what to expect as we emerged from pandemic-related confinement.
However, it is time to plan for the immediate future. This is a good time to put away some rainy-day funds just in case the cost of any new administration is higher than you might have expected.
Indeed, 2025 might be known as “the year of living anxiously.” That is a new reality that could be addressed in the sequel to our guide, “What to Expect in the First Year.”
— CNBC contributor Ron Insana is CEO of iFi.AI, an artificial intelligence fintech firm.

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People walk past the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in New York.
Peter Morgan | AP

Company: Solventum (SOLV)

Business: Solventum, formerly known as 3M Health Care, is a global health-care company that was spun out from 3M on April 1. It has four main segments. First, there is Medical Surgical, a provider of solutions including advanced wound care, sterilization assurance, temperature management, surgical supplies, stethoscopes and medical electrodes. There is the Dental Solutions segment, which provides dental and orthodontic products and bonding agents that span the life of the tooth. The Health Information Systems segment provides health-care systems with software solutions, including computer-assisted physician documentation, direct-to-bill and coding automation, speech recognition and data visualization platforms. Finally, the Purification and Filtration segment offers filters, purifiers, cartridges and membranes.
Stock Market Value: $9.95B ($57.63 per share)

Stock chart icon

SOLV’s performance in 2024

Activist: Trian Fund Management

Percentage Ownership:  n/a
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Trian runs a concentrated portfolio of eight to 10 mid- to mega-cap, publicly traded companies where it actively engages with company management with the goal of enhancing long-term shareholder value. Trian, managed by Nelson Peltz, takes very few positions, but is very active in its positions. Peltz calls his formula “operational activism.” He defines it as working with the management of high-potential but underachieving companies to raise earnings by paring overhead, shedding ancillary businesses and burnishing famous brands.
What’s Happening
Bloomberg News reported on July 22 that Trian has taken a position in Solventum.

Behind the Scenes
Solventum is a global health-care company that was spun out from 3M on April 1, with 80.1% of shares distributed to 3M shareholders and the remaining 19.9% retained by 3M to be monetized within five years following the transaction. Solventum has a leading market position in numerous categories, strong performance-driven products and high brand loyalty. The company operates across four segments which accounted for $8.2 billion of revenue in 2023: Medical Surgical (56.5%), Dental Solutions (16.2%), Health Information Systems (15.7%), and Purification & Filtration (11.6%). The health-care business was consistently one of the strongest segments of 3M when it was part of the conglomerate structure, boasting the highest growth rate of any division and margins that exceeded the company average. For more than two decades, the business grew organically every year. Adding to that, the company has had 25%+ adjusted operating income margins and over $1.4 billion of free cash flow generation for each of the past three years. Despite this, the stock has not performed well since the spinoff, tumbling over 20% since the close of its first day of trading until news of Trian’s position.
As a standalone company, Solventum has been under-covered and misunderstood by the market. Despite being a spinoff from a conglomerate, Solventum itself is a mini conglomerate with four different businesses. While all of them are medical adjacent, none really share the same technology, customers, supply or distribution chain. Accordingly, it is a difficult company for investors and the sell side to analyze, and it has not seen a lot of traction in the investment community. But, as a newly independent company, there are potential tailwinds inherent in most spinoffs such as better management focus and agility and the ability to better align management compensation with the value of the business.
There are also numerous levers for value creation at Solventum, specifically re-accelerating organic growth, restoring margins while investing to drive growth, and simplifying the company’s portfolio of businesses. Beginning with organic growth, Solventum had proved an ability to grow in the low-to-mid single digits within 3M for years while being constrained by the conglomerate structure. As a pure play, it should be more agile in implementing growth initiatives and just getting growth back to 4% would create value against a backdrop of a sell side consensus of no growth. On margins, the company has a 25% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin, which is a strong profit margin but could be better. That margin includes 800 basis points of corporate costs allocated to these businesses as part of 3M. As a standalone entity, it will need to remake some of these functions, but can also shed a lot of the heavy costs through management discipline. Lastly is simplification of the portfolio. Again, as a mini conglomerate, Solventum has a core business and three non-core and non-synergistic businesses with different products, sales forces, customers, manufacturing and distribution. Its segments likely have the scale to be standalone companies and trade at higher pure-play valuation multiples or could be sold to a private equity firm or a strategic acquirer. A sale of any of these businesses will allow the company to de-lever its balance sheet, currently trading at 4-times net leverage, and initiate a dividend. There is no reason why this company should trade at a price-earnings ratio that’s less than its peers. Certainly, it should not trade cheaper than 3M, as it previously was one of 3Ms best businesses.
Trian is known for being a skilled income statement activist and has helped many companies improve margins and growth. Look no further than the coffee cups in the firm’s office, which read “Sales Up, Expenses Down.” There is also no shortage of examples of Trian being a valuable corporate governance-oriented investor and creating tremendous shareholder value from the board level. But what some may not realize, is that the firm also has extensive experience with spinoffs, such as: (i) Pentair, which spun off nVent Electric plc in 2018; (ii) Kraft Foods’ move to split into two companies in 2012 and rename itself Mondelez; (iii) Dupont’s spinoff of Dow in 2019; (iv) Cadbury’s spinoff of Dr. Pepper; and (v) Ingersoll Rand’s spinoff of Allegion in 2013, to name a few. However, the most relevant spinoff is GE’s health-care division. Trian has been an active shareholder at General Electric since 2015 and called for both operational and strategic improvements. On Jan. 4, 2023, GE spun off its GE HealthCare division, as part of its plan to break into three separate companies. Since then, GE HealthCare Technologies has returned 34.45% versus a return of 26.92% for the Russell 2000 over the same period.
While Trian has a history of being an active shareholder, the firm has also created tremendous shareholder value as an engaged director. We think in this situation, the latter is appropriate. There is no activist with more experience than Trian in operational engagement in a newly spun-off company and addressing the issues and opportunities inherent in spinoffs. Moreover, if there is an opportunity to divest one or more businesses, shareholders would have comfort with a financially astute shareholder representative on the board to evaluate competing offers to assure the maximization of shareholder value. The board consists of 12 members with four directors in each class and will begin the process of phasing out the staggered board in 2025, to be fully de-staggered by 2028. Given the obvious fit, we would be surprised if this does not settle amicably with a Trian representative on the Board, but the director nomination window opens on Dec. 2, and Trian has never been one to shy away from a proxy fight if the firm feels it is necessary. It should be noted that 3M retained 19.9% of Solventum’s common stock, but has agreed to mirror voting, which will compel it to vote these shares in proportion to the votes cast by the company’s other shareholders.
Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments. More

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is a believer in passive investment strategies, based on her latest financial disclosure.
Financial experts say that means she’s not gaming the system through stock ownership.
Here’s what else we can learn from her portfolio.

US Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Grand Boulé event at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 24, 2024. 
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

Financial experts describe Vice President Kamala Harris’ investment style in one word: Boring.
For a woman seeking the highest office in the U.S., it also means she is relatively free of financial conflicts.

In her role as vice president, Harris filed a public financial disclosure report for 2023, which was signed in May. It reveals she favors passively managed index funds in her investment portfolio.
“For me, it was quite refreshing that it appears to be very passive,” said Dustin Thackeray, a chartered financial analyst and chief investment officer at Crewe Advisors in Salt Lake City, who reviewed Harris’ disclosure.
“She’s definitely not attempting to trade on any inside type of information,” Thackeray said.
Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida, who also reviewed Harris’ financial disclosure, said it makes her “heart sing” to see Harris investing in low-cost passive investment strategies.
“To me, she has the cleanest portfolio you’ll see in a politician,” said McClanahan, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

“She owns a bunch of index funds; there’s no way she that she can game the system,” McClanahan said.
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Harris’ disclosure comes as members of Congress are debating whether elected leadership should be restricted on the kinds of investments they can own.
A group of senators is pushing for a bill that would prohibit members of Congress — as well as their spouses and dependents — from buying certain investments like individual stocks, as opposed to diversified investment funds or Treasury securities. While a Senate panel voted this week to approve the bill, it’s unclear whether it will eventually become law.
In addition to Harris’ favoring of passive investments, the disclosure also reveals more about her financial circumstances that may hold lessons for other investors, according to experts who reviewed the document.

Too many funds

Harris lists eight different funds she’s invested in as part of two separate 457(b) deferred compensation plans from her time working in California, in addition to participation in certain defined benefit pension plans.
At the same time, her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, lists more than 30 fund investments that are mostly passively managed.
Notably, the disclosure only lists certain asset ranges for each fund, rather than specific amounts invested.
Experts who reviewed Harris’ document said the couple could cut down on the number of funds they own, and therefore reduce any overlapping exposure.
“She’s very well diversified, maybe even more than necessary, owning many funds with similar holdings, just in different weightings,” said Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner and founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services.
Glassman is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

McClanahan also said the couple could reduce the number of funds they own.
“They could consolidate, keep it simpler,” she said.
The portfolio includes allocations to foreign equities and fixed income funds, said Thackeray, who has been encouraging his own clients to consider more foreign investment exposure. There may be less expensive opportunities outside the U.S., he said, where investments have become more expensive in recent years.
While Harris’ disclosure lists a lot of buy and sell transactions over the year, mostly for lower dollar ranges, that may just be the result of quarterly rebalancing activity, Thackeray said.
How much impact those transactions have on the couple’s tax bill depends on whether those trades are happening inside or outside of their retirement accounts.
It’s unclear whether Harris and Emhoff work with a financial advisor. Harris’ office declined to comment.

Cash on the sidelines

Harris and Emhoff also reveal cash holdings that may add up to around $850,000 or more, depending on the exact balances based on the ranges given.
Having such a large cash pool as a safety net is common among his clients today, Thackeray said.
“The good thing about cash balances today is that they are actually making an investment return, where they hadn’t for many, many years prior to higher rates,” Thackeray said.

Yet because it is up to investors to shop around for the best rates, it’s not a guarantee that Harris and Emhoff are earning the best returns possible.
“I hope all that cash in the bank is earning attractive interest,” Glassman said.

Adjustable-rate mortgage

Harris lists a 2020 mortgage at a 2.625% rate for a personal residence ranging between more than $1 million to $5 million.
But the catch is it is a 7-year adjustable-rate mortgage, which means that low rate won’t last. Adjustable-rate mortgages typically offer an initial fixed interest rate that expires after a certain period of time, and then changes annually.
Since 2020, mortgage rates have increased substantially, which means the couple missed their chance to lock in a low rate for a longer term.
McClanahan said she urged everyone to lock in the record low mortgage rates that were available back then.
“Personally, I would have locked in a longer-term mortgage at that time,” Thackeray said.
While the couple may be in for a shock in 2027, they can always refinance or pay off the mortgage, McClanahan said.
It is possible mortgage rates may be lower in 2027 than where they are today, Thackeray said.

Extra ‘side gig’ income

Harris also lists more than $8,000 in royalty income from the 2019 children’s picture book she authored, “Superheroes are Everywhere,” as well as a smaller sum from her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold.”
While the income is not a lot of money, it is a good example of the way a side hustle can help contribute to a household’s bottom line, according to Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and the CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta. Jenkin is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Beyoncé tickets

Harris is using Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as her campaign song.
Yet Harris was a Beyoncé fan well before the recent pick of that song, her latest financial disclosure reveals. In 2023, Harris was gifted tickets valued at more than $1,600 to a Beyoncé concert. The source listed for that gift: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. More

The U.S. Department of Education is placing federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE, into an administrative forbearance.
Eligible borrowers in that repayment plan will not have to make any payments on their debt while the break lasts, and interest will not accrue on their loans in the meantime.

We Are | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Who doesn’t have to make payments?

The U.S. Department of Education is placing federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE, into an administrative forbearance. They will remain in forbearance while the legal battle involving SAVE plays out.
What that means: Eligible borrowers in that repayment plan will not have to make any payments on their debt while the break lasts, and interest will not accrue on their loans in the meantime.
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The White House says roughly eight million people are enrolled in SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan.
Borrowers eligible for the relief should receive notification from their servicer, according to the Education Department.

Why is the SAVE plan under fire?

The SAVE Plan has been a magnet for controversy ever since the Biden administration rolled out the program in the summer of 2023, describing it as “the most affordable student loan plan ever.”
Indeed, the terms of the new income-driven repayment plan are the most generous to date.
SAVE comes with two key provisions that legal challenges have targeted: It has lower monthly payments than any other federal student loan repayment plan, and it leads to quicker debt erasure for those with small balances.

Republican-led states that have sued the Education Department over SAVE argue that the agency overstepped its authority and essentially is trying to find a roundabout way to forgive student debt after the Supreme Court blocked its sweeping plan in June 2023.
Before the legal challenges, the Education Department had already forgiven $5.5 billion in student debt for 414,000 borrowers through the SAVE Plan. Those who have already received the relief should be in the clear, experts say.

What is the current status of SAVE?

A federal appeals court in Missouri issued a ruling on July 18 blocking the entire plan. Education Department officials have vowed to fight to protect the plan, but its future is uncertain.

How does the forbearance work?

Unlike during other payment pauses on student loans, months during this forbearance will not count toward borrowers’ progress toward loan forgiveness.
That means those enrolled in SAVE who are hoping to eventually get their debt cleared under either the income-driven repayment plan’s terms or Public Service Loan Forgiveness are not getting credit on their timeline to loan cancellation. The PSLF program allows certain non-for-profit and government employees to get their debt cleared after 10 years of payments.
“Borrowers cannot opt out of this forbearance because the SAVE repayment plan is temporarily blocked,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. Borrowers can explore their other repayment plan options, “but that would lead to a higher monthly loan payment,” Kantrowitz said.
“By staying in the SAVE plan, the borrower doesn’t lose anything other than time,” he added.

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