Markus Andrews

Employers have been pushing for more in-person time at the office.
However, employees are increasingly prioritizing work-life balance and flexibility in their careers.
Now half of workers are more interested in balance and belonging than climbing the career ladder, according to a new study by Randstad.

MoMo Productions | DigitalVision | Getty Images

At the end of last year, Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah had a clear message for workers heading into 2024: “Winning takes hard work.”
“Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from,” Shah wrote in an email to employees first obtained by Business Insider. “There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success,” Shah wrote.

The online furniture retailer, which also recently announced layoffs, has been working aggressively to return to profitability as the home market remains under pressure. In a statement, a Wayfair spokesperson responded to criticism of the CEO’s message. “In his note, Niraj was reinforcing some of the values that have contributed to Wayfair’s success, including questioning the status quo, being cost-efficient and working hard together to drive results.”
However, employees now have other priorities, new research shows, and more time at the office is not one of them.
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While 56% of workers consider themselves to be ambitious, 47% are not focused on career progression at all, according to Randstad’s latest Workmonitor, which surveyed 27,000 workers globally.   
Employees are more likely to consider work-life balance, flexible hours and mental health support as more important, the report found. 

Employees would quit rather than give up hybrid work

To that end, fewer want to spend any more time at the office than they already do.
Since the Covid pandemic, a significant number of workers have moved or made other changes to their lives based on being able to work remotely, at least some of the time.
To that point, 37% of workers now say they would consider quitting their job if their employer asked them to spend more time in the office, and 39% say that working from home is nonnegotiable, Randstad found.  
“We saw a huge acceleration of the shift to hybrid work during the pandemic and people don’t want to give this up,” said Sander van ‘t Noordende, Randstad’s CEO.

And yet, some employers continue to push return-to-office mandates.
Citing productivity among other concerns, companies such as Amazon, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Walmart recently revised their hybrid and remote work policies. A few organizations even threatened to fire workers who don’t return to the office for a certain number of days.
“There is a growing gap in understanding between employers and talent,” van ‘t Noordende said.
Also among high-paying job listings, fully remote and hybrid opportunities fell 12% and 69%, respectively, at the end of 2023, while in-person postings jumped 93%, according to a separate report from career site Ladders. 
“Companies that were previously offering hybrid roles are now increasingly posting in-office positions, especially for jobs paying over $200,000,” said John Mullinix, director of growth marketing at Ladders, in an emailed statement. 

Hybrid work is here to stay, for now

Although some companies are ramping up return-to-office plans, most hybrid work arrangements are staying — for now, according to another survey by the Conference Board. Only, 4% of U.S. CEOs said they will prioritize bringing workers back to the office full time in the year ahead.
The share of paid work-from-home days was flat in 2023, Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University, recently told CNBC. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote, “Return to the office is dead.”
With top talent still in high demand, employers have to be more flexible and amenable to workers’ wants and needs as it relates to working remotely, according to Vicki Salemi, career expert at Monster, as well as increased time off policies and shorter work weeks.
“This is excellent news for workers who need that flexibility,” she said.
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The S&P 500 index has continued to climb to new highs in recent days.
Investing in funds that track the index was a favorite strategy for Vanguard founder John Bogle.
Here’s what experts say you should think about before you invest.

People walk through the Financial District by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the last day of trading for the year on December 29, 2023 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The S&P 500 stock index climbed to a new all-time high on Monday.
A bull market — by two definitions — is here. Last year, the S&P 500 rose more than 20% from its most recent low. As of Friday, it crossed another bull market threshold when it surpassed its previous high.

For investors who want to get in on the action, the good news is that investing in a fund that tracks the S&P 500 index is an easily accessible strategy.
But experts say it also deserves a word of caution: Past performance is not indicative of future returns. And while the S&P 500 was a clear winner in 2023 — finishing the year up 26%, including dividends — it may not be the strategy that comes out ahead at the close of 2024.

What is the S&P 500 index?

The S&P 500 includes around 500 large cap equity stocks. The index is a market cap-weighted index, which means each company’s weighting is based on its market capitalization, or the total value of all outstanding shares.
The top companies by weight include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Alphabet (with two share classes), Meta, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase.
Information technology represents the largest sector, with 28.9% of the index. A recent rally of big tech names has helped push the index to its recent highs.

How can you invest in the S&P 500?

Today, investors may choose from mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that track the index. Among the biggest ETFs are: SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
Vanguard in 1975 created the first index mutual fund that tracked the S&P 500. Vanguard founder John Bogle was famously a proponent of investing in a broad index fund.
“Simply buy a Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fund or a total stock market index fund,” Bogle wrote in his book, “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.”
“Then, once you have bought your stocks, get out of the casino — and stay out,” he wrote. “Just hold the market portfolio forever.”
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For stock investors who want to keep their strategies simple, experts say the approach can work.
“Among the better decisions people can make is starting with an index-based fund tracking the S&P 500 because it works,” Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, recently told CNBC.com.
Over time, passive strategies have shown better returns than actively managed funds. Moreover, the cost of those funds is much lower compared to active strategies. Together, that combination is hard to beat.
“I don’t think individual investors or money managers can generally outperform the S&P 500,” said 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 the CNBC FA Council.

When does it pay to diversify?

The greater a portfolio’s exposure to the S&P 500 index, the more the ups and downs of that index will affect its balance.
That is why experts generally recommend a 60/40 split between stocks and bonds. That may be extended to 70/30 or even 80/20 if an investor’s time horizon allows for more risk.

Moreover, exclusively investing in the S&P 500 on the stock side of a portfolio may be limiting if other areas of the market prove more successful in 2024.
In 2023, the S&P 500 was up around 26% for the year, besting other strategies like a U.S. small cap index fund or an international stock index fund, noted Brian Spinelli, a certified financial planner and co-chief investment officer at Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors in Long Beach, California, which was No. 8 on CNBC’s FA 100 list in 2023.
It may be tempting to throw out those other strategies and just go with the one that did really well last year, Spinelli noted.
“But I wouldn’t go overboard,” Spinelli said. “You shouldn’t be 100% U.S. large cap and let it sit there and expect the same level of returns we’ve seen over the last five years.” More

In the last three years, the population of the super wealthy has skyrocketed in this country and around the world.
If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, according to a recent Oxfam report on global inequality.
Shortly after Oxfam’s report was released, some of the world’s wealthiest people called for higher taxes on the very richest in society.

In just three years, the world has witnessed a “supercharged surge in extreme wealth,” new data shows.  
In the U.S. alone, billionaires are 46% richer than they were in 2020, while the three wealthiest men — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison — have increased their net worth by 84%, a recent Oxfam report on global inequality found.

Yet, despite the fact that America ranks first as the richest nation in the world in terms of gross domestic product, 37.9 million Americans live in poverty, accounting for 11.5% of the total population, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau. 
“We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom,” said Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar.
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Oxfam also found that the five richest men globally have more than doubled their vast wealth since 2020. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years. 
“We expect to see continued concentration of extreme wealth at the very top,” added Rebecca Riddell, policy lead economic and racial justice at Oxfam.

There are, however, signs of progress, noted Steven Hamilton, assistant professor of economics at George Washington University.

As the labor market tightened over the same period, more workers have full-time jobs, Hamilton said, and “that has led to rapidly rising nominal wages among low-income people.”
Further, the rash of strikes in 2023 resulted in a string of labor deals where union workers including autoworkers, UPS drivers, airline pilots, and television and film writers pushed for and won higher pay. 
“There are cracks being made that can achieve a more equal world,” Riddell said.

‘Tax our extreme wealth’

But there is also more that could be done, Hamilton added.
“If we wanted less inequality, we could have it,” he said, citing policies such as progressive taxation, higher tax rates on corporate income, dividend and capital gains income, estate taxation, and increasing the earned income tax credit — “there are a lot of measures we could take to pretty radically reduce income inequality in the U.S.”
Shortly after Oxfam’s report was released, some of the world’s wealthiest people called on elected representatives of the world’s leading economies to introduce higher taxes on the very richest in society.
In an open letter to political leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, more than 250 billionaires and millionaires said that they wished to deliver a clear message, “Tax our extreme wealth.”
The signatories of the letter, entitled “Proud To Pay More,” span 17 countries and include Disney heir Abigail Disney, screenwriter Simon Pegg and Valerie Rockefeller, an heir to the famed U.S. family.
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About 70% of Iowa voters were over the age of 50, an unprecedented turnout, according to AARP.
Yet, topics important to those voters, such as Social Security, the cost of prescription drugs and inflation, were not emphasized on the campaign trail.
Retirement experts say they want to see better conversations on Social Security, given a looming deadline the program’s funds face.

A caucus worker checks in voters at a caucus site at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, on Jan. 15, 2024.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus by a landslide, due in part to strong turnout by older voters.
“While the turnout overall was low, 70% of caucusgoers who turned out were over the age of 50, which is unprecedented,” said Brad Anderson, Iowa state director at the AARP.

Historically, the turnout at Iowa caucuses tends to hover around 60% and traditionally skews older, he said.
“Given the weather, I think people are genuinely surprised at how robust the older caucusgoer turnout was,” Anderson said.
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An Iowa poll from the summer showed Trump up substantially, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley tied. The final result showed support for the candidates “never shifted,” Anderson noted.
“The candidates would have been better served by focusing much more heavily on pocketbook issues that are important to older Iowans like Social Security, the cost of prescription drugs and inflation,” Anderson said. Instead, their advertising in the state largely focused on the economy and immigration.

New Hampshire voters are set to decide the state’s primary this week. However, the candidates have dropped to two after DeSantis suspended his campaign over the weekend and endorsed Trump.

To the candidates’ credit, they did not dodge the issue of Social Security when asked, Anderson said.
“They did talk about the issue, they did take it head on when asked in forums and they did agree to talk to us on the record on that issue,” Anderson said.
Trump, who has not debated fellow candidates, discussed Social Security in a December town hall.
“You don’t have to touch Social Security,” Trump said. “We have money laying in the ground far greater than anything we can do by hurting senior citizens with their Social Security.”
On the campaign trail, DeSantis has also said he would not “mess with” Social Security, most recently calling the benefits that are earned by paying payroll taxes “a promise” that “needs to be fulfilled,” in a January debate on CNN.
Haley, however, suggested raising the retirement age for younger individuals in their 20s, an idea DeSantis rejected.
“Social Security is going to go bankrupt in 10 years,” Haley said. “We have to keep our promises to seniors, but we also can’t put our head in the sand.”

The funds on which the Social Security Administration relies on to pay benefits have a projected depletion date of 2034. If nothing is done by that time, benefit cuts are certain.
Social Security’s actuaries anticipate just 80% of overall benefits may be payable at that time.
The shortfall for retirees may be more than 20%, based on the status of the fund dedicated to those benefits.
The “no changes needed” approach has frustrated retirement experts including Nevin Adams, a retiree who formerly served as chief content officer at the American Retirement Association.
“Something will have to give,” Adams said, such as changing how much taxes are withheld from workers’ paychecks or raising the retirement age.
“There’s not enough money, the system is not generating enough to keep that promise going,” Adams said.
While politicians may vow to protect current beneficiaries from seeing cuts, now is the time to have a conversation about the program for the sake of future generations, he said.
“It’s an acknowledgment that there is an issue here that really does need to be addressed,” Adams said.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

The restart of student loan payments could impact your credit, experts say.
As a result, borrowers should monitor their reports and make sure any new information is accurate.

D3sign | Moment | Getty Images

On-ramp period should protect your credit

Generally, failing to make timely payments on debts, including your student loans, can damage your credit. Payment history accounts for 35% of your score, according to FICO.
Typically, “missing just one payment can cause your credit score to drop by 50 to 100 points, or more,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
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But before federal student loan bills resumed in October, the Biden administration announced that it would implement a 12-month “on-ramp” to repayment, during which borrowers would be shielded from most of the consequences of late or missed payments.
As a result, throughout this relief period, set to expire Sept. 30, 2024, borrowers who aren’t making payments shouldn’t see negative marks related to their student loans on their credit reports, Kantrowitz said.

The Education Department recently sent a letter to credit reporting and credit scoring companies reminding them that borrowers’ current activity is not necessarily indicative of an inability or unwillingness to make payments.
Nonpayment will likely be reported to the credit reporting agencies as “an authorized forbearance,” Kantrowitz said: “It doesn’t hurt the borrower’s credit, but it doesn’t help, either.”

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make payments if you can afford to, said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.
“Negative information shouldn’t be reported during the 12-month on-ramp period, but positive information should be included,” Rossman said.
Kantrowitz agreed.
“If a borrower is trying to improve their credit, they should make all of their required payments on time, by the due date,” he said. “Doing this every month consistently eventually leads to a better credit score.”

Still, check for errors on your credit report

Student loan borrowers should regularly check their credit reports to make sure the information is accurate, Kantrowitz said. You can get a free weekly copy of your credit report from each of the three major bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — at Annualcreditreport.com.
If your loan servicer makes an error, such as reporting your loan as delinquent during the on-ramp period, you’ll want to bring it to their attention quickly, he said.
Creditors typically have 30 days to investigate your complaint, he said. In this case the creditor would be your student loan servicer, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.

Rossman also recommends filing a complaint with each credit bureau that is showing the wrong information.
“The easiest way to file disputes is on the credit bureaus’ websites,” he said. More

An Amazon worker walks past his Amazon Prime delivery truck in Washington, DC, on February 19, 2022.
Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images

Worries over the prospect of elevated interest rates for a longer time horizon linger on investors’ minds, even as stocks reach fresh highs.
Nonetheless, analysts remain focused on the bigger picture and are bullish on stocks that offer attractive long-term growth prospects. Investors can weigh the recommendations of Wall Street’s top analysts as they pick out the best names to add to their portfolios.

With that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Amazon
First up is e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN). Despite a challenging macro backdrop, the company delivered solid improvement in its earnings for the first nine months of 2023, supported by its cost-control measures.
Recently, RBC Capital analyst Brad Erickson called Amazon one of his favorite ideas in the internet space in 2024. The analyst reaffirmed a buy rating on AMZN stock with a price target of $180.
Erickson expects the growth in the company’s Amazon Web Services business to witness notable re-acceleration in 2024, following optimization in spending by clients last year. Additionally, he expects the company’s 2024 earnings before interest and taxes to outperform, driven by a stronger performance by the retail business rather than the cloud unit.
The analyst is also upbeat about AMZN’s advertising business and anticipates that it will generate robust growth, driven by several partnerships and Prime video ads.       

Finally, regarding generative artificial intelligence opportunities and AMZN’s Bedrock platform for building AI applications, Erickson said, “We expect AMZN to gain ‘share’ in the GenAI narrative battle between itself, GOOGL & MSFT as Bedrock builds partnerships and gains more traction.”
Erickson ranks No. 175 among more than 8,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 55% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 19.6%. (See Amazon Hedge Funds Trading Activity on TipRanks)  
DoorDash
Delivery platform DoorDash (DASH) is the next pick this week. The company’s strong execution, expense discipline and growth investments helped it deliver impressive results last year.
On Jan. 9, BMO Capital analyst Brian Pitz initiated coverage of DASH with a buy rating and a price target of $120, calling the company a “beneficiary of categorical and consumer secular tailwinds.”
The analyst thinks that DoorDash is a category leader with a huge and expanding market opportunity across the globe. In particular, the analyst estimates the total addressable market for the company to be $2.2 trillion in the U.S. and $2.5 trillion in Europe. This marks a considerable increase from the overall TAM of $600 billion at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2020.
Pitz noted that the year-over-year growth in DoorDash’s U.S. marketplace orders accelerated in the third quarter of 2023 across restaurant and non-restaurant categories. He highlighted that new vertical growth also accelerated in the third quarter. Further, the analyst specified that the company is already delivering positive adjusted EBITDA and is on track to generate GAAP profitability.
Pitz holds the 117th rank among more than 8,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 77% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 20.1%. (See DoorDash Technical Analysis on TipRanks)  
Nvidia  
We finally move to semiconductor giant Nvidia (NVDA). The stock generated stellar returns last year due to the robust demand for the company’s graphics processing units in generative AI.
JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur reaffirmed a buy rating on NVDA stock following a presentation by Nvidia’s vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell, at the JPMorgan 42nd annual health-care conference. Sur has a price target of $650.
The analyst highlighted that the health-care vertical has already generated more than $1 billion in revenue in FY24, two to three years ahead of the targeted time period. This growth was fueled by the rising computational demand for AI in drug discovery, genomics, patient diagnostics and robotics. He thinks that the health-care business features among the top three verticals of the company’s data center segment.
“NVIDIA’s ability to drive accelerated computational solutions through its HPC [high performance computing] and AI/DL [deep learning] platforms continue to drive significant revenue opportunity for the firm,” said Sur.         
The analyst noted the company’s optimism about the emerging massive opportunity in computer-aided drug discovery and the demand for BioNeMo, Nvidia’s generative AI platform for drug discovery, which is now advancing into the beta phase. He expects the competitive positioning of Nvidia’s health-care vertical to be strengthened by its recent partnerships with Amgen (AMGN) and clinical-stage techbio company Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX).        
Sur ranks No. 75 among more than 8,600 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 67% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 19.9%. (See Nvidia Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks)   More

While rent payments do not traditionally affect your credit, so-called rent-reporting services are changing that.
This week, real estate site Zillow Group launched its new rent payment reporting feature.
To reap the full benefit, make sure the service reports your payment to all three major credit bureaus.

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images

While rent payments do not traditionally affect your credit, a growing number of so-called rent-reporting services are trying to change that.
These services track users’ rent-paying habits and report them to one or more of the big credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — with the aim of helping renters build credit and potentially boost their credit score.

But these services don’t all operate the same way, and some may have less value for renters. There’s one major detail you should consider before signing up, said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree: Is your payment record going to all three bureaus?
“It’s important for people to understand that you don’t just have one credit score,” he said. “You just don’t know which bureau your lender is going to use to get your information.”
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How rent-reporting programs work

This week, real estate site Zillow Group launched a new rent payment reporting feature. Renters who pay through the site can now opt in to have their on-time rent payments reported to Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, at no charge to the renter or landlord.
In order for a renter to use the Zillow feature, their landlord must be a user of Zillow Rental Manager and have agreed to receive payments through the firm.

“It aligns with our goal of providing accessibility to building credit in the rental space. It’s a really positive step in that direction,” said Michael Sherman, the vice president of rentals at Zillow Group.

While Zillow is the first real estate marketplace to report rental payment data to a credit bureau, it joins a host of different rent-reporting services already available for consumers.
There are many services renters can look into, including some that are free, such as Piñata, and others that come with service or processing transaction fees, such as Rental Kharma, which charges $8.95 a month after an initial set-up fee of $75.
There are also services geared to landlords that offer rent reporting for tenants, including ClearNow, Esusu and PayYourRent. Landlords usually shoulder the cost of these programs, but there may be processing fees depending on how you make your rent payments.

Rent reporting can help the ‘credit invisibles’

Nearly 50 million Americans have no usable credit scores, according to a 2022 fact sheet from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Project REACh, or Roundtable for Economic Access and Change.
Being “credit invisible” can affect your ability to qualify for loans and affect the interest rates and terms you are given when you apply for credit.
When rent payments are included in credit reports, consumers see an average increase of nearly 60 points to their credit score, according to a 2021 TransUnion report.
Other payment reporting programs such as Experian Boost, StellarFi and UltraFICO have aims similar to those of rent-reporting services, but with different kinds of payments. They allow users to build credit based on alternative metrics such as banking activity and payments for streaming services, electric bills and mobile phone plans. 

Talk to your landlord before you sign up for a rent-reporting service on your own. They may be open to signing up as a benefit to their tenants.
While “people are creatures of habit and don’t always embrace change,” a credit building feature can help a landlord stand out in a competitive rental market, said Schulz.
“It would be significant added value; building credit is a big deal and if you are somebody who can help people build credit, you may be a little more interesting to them,” he added.

‘Three credit reports are different reports’

Before you sign up to a rent-reporting service, it’s important to understand which bureau or bureaus the company sends reports to. It may not be worth using a service that sends rent payment reports only to a single bureau.
“If a rent-reporting service only gives your information to one of [the three big bureaus], and the lender that you are getting your auto loan from uses a different credit bureau, the benefits that could and should come with that tool may not end up panning out,” said Schulz.
The ideal is that the rent-reporting company gives the data to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
“People hear about three credit bureaus, but they don’t understand that your three credit reports are different reports, and different companies report to different bureaus,” said Schulz. More

House Republicans have reintroduced legislation to permanently repeal the federal estate tax.
For 2024, the federal estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per individual or $27.22 million for spouses.
However, without bipartisan support for the policy, it’s unlikely to pass through the current split Congress.

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee impeachment inquiry hearing into U.S. President Joe Biden on Sept. 28, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

House Republicans this week reintroduced legislation to permanently repeal what they’re calling the “death tax” — or federal estate tax, which is levied on inherited property above a certain value.
Introduced by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, with support from 162 lawmakers, the Death Tax Repeal Act follows past Republican proposals to abolish estate taxes, including a Senate bill from early 2023. 

“Families who spend a generation building up a successful farm, ranch or small business should be rewarded — not punished — by our tax code,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said in a statement Thursday, applauding the bill.
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However, there hasn’t been bipartisan support for repealing the estate tax, and it’s unlikely to be enacted via the current split Congress, experts say.
“It seems like it’s largely a messaging play here where they’re trying to keep these ideas in the forefront,” said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation. “It’s a reminder especially as we approach the 2025 discussion.”
The federal estate tax exemption adjusted for inflation by rising to $13.61 million per individual or $27.22 million for spouses in 2024. Estates can owe up to 40% levies on anything above that.

But those limits will drop by roughly one-half after 2025 when provisions sunset from former president Donald Trump’s 2017 signature tax overhaul.
“Because the revenue effects are relatively small, they may have more leeway to eliminate [the estate tax] altogether if they had full control,” Watson said.

Who pays the federal estate tax

“In a sense, [the federal estate tax] has already been repealed,” said Robert McClelland, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, noting that most Americans aren’t affected by the levy.
In 2019, roughly 2,100 tax returns — representing 0.08% of adult U.S. deaths — were subject to federal estate taxes, according to the latest IRS data.
“It’s not something that should worry the average American” or even the average wealthy American, McClelland said.

While some Republicans say the federal estate tax puts a burden on family farms and small businesses, most aren’t affected, he said.
For 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimated that 0.22% of 39,534 farms with principal operator deaths would owe estate taxes. Of course, the need for estate tax returns largely depends on the farm size, USDA noted.

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