Raphael Stevens

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    in Business

    Few heirs keep their parents’ wealth advisors — most wealthy benefactors don’t mind

    Only 27% of affluent investors expecting an inheritance plan to keep the wealth advisor who managed those riches, per a new survey. For those who have already received their inheritance, the percentage drops to 20%.
    Moreover, only a quarter of these benefactors want their kids or widows to keep their advisors around, according to Cerulli Associates research.
    The greatest threat to advisors isn’t self-directed investing and digital products, but failing to build strong relationships with their clients’ families, Cerulli’s John McKenna told CNBC.

    Drazen_ | E+ | Getty Images

    A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
    Over the next 25 years, more than $120 trillion in wealth will be passed down to inheritors, according to Cerulli Associates.

    Only 27% of these future beneficiaries — primarily widows and children — plan to keep their benefactor’s wealth advisor, per Cerulli’s survey of investors with at least $250,000 in financial assets. The share drops to 20% for those who have already inherited their riches, according to the report released in September.
    However, most heirs aren’t firing their benefactors’ wealth advisors in favor of self-directed investing and digital products. When asked why they chose another route, half of those surveyed said they already had their own advisor. The second-most popular reason, at 28%, was not having a relationship with their benefactors’ advisor. Only 14% said they didn’t want to work with a financial advisor at all, and 10% said the advisor didn’t meet their specific investment needs. Respondents to the survey could pick multiple reasons.
    “Keep in mind, if the parents die in their 70s or 80s, the inheritor is between 40 and 60,” said John McKenna, research analyst at Cerulli. “In most of these cases, they have matured into wealth management clients. They have relationships, and they’re just going to be adding incrementally to their existing relationships rather than starting a new one with a legacy advisor.”

    For their part, benefactors who are planning to pass their wealth down are largely ambivalent about whether their heirs use the same advisors despite saying they are largely satisfied with their service, Cerulli found. While just over a quarter of those surveyed said they wished their inheritors would keep their advisor, more than half said they were unsure or that it was up to their beneficiaries. Seven percent said they did not want their heirs to use their advisor, with the most popular reason being that the parties didn’t already have a relationship.
    The crux of the problem, according to Scott Smith, senior director of advice relationships at Cerulli, is that clients are often reluctant to discuss their estate plans with their families. Even among investors with more than $5 million in financial assets, 20% said they intended for heirs to learn about their wealth after their death. The actual number of procrastinators is likely higher, as 34% of high-net-worth heirs said they were told these details after their benefactor died.

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    “Benefactors believe that they will talk to their next generation about this stuff before they die,” said Smith. “But when we ask the next generation, these conversations didn’t happen.”
    As a result, advisors may have few opportunities to talk to their client’s children and explain what they can offer, Smith said. It’s up to the advisor to encourage clients to stop putting off uncomfortable discussions, he said.
    “Reinforce it with the primary contact that it’s important for the survivor to get involved early on so they have their feet securely on the ground and they aren’t panicking as soon as it happens,” he said. “It’s not just that we’re trying to retain the assets. We’re trying to make it easier for your survivor when you pass.” More

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    in Finance

    Alibaba says its AI spending in e-commerce is already breaking even

    In e-commerce, Alibaba is already making back what it has spent on artificial intelligence, vice president Kaifu Zhang told reporters on Thursday.
    Zhang said preliminary testing has showed consistent results from AI, including a 12% increase in returns on advertising spend.
    The Chinese tech giant has bet hard that AI will generate returns despite market concerns that companies are spending too much on the technology with little to show for it.

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has pledged to spend more than $50 billion on artificial intelligence over the next three years.
    CNBC | Evelyn Cheng

    SHANGHAI — Chinese tech giant Alibaba is already recouping its investment on artificial intelligence in the company’s e-commerce business, vice president Kaifu Zhang told reporters on Thursday.
    The Chinese tech giant has bet big that AI will generate returns despite market concerns that companies are spending too much on the technology with little to show for it. Alibaba last month announced it will increase its spending on AI and cloud infrastructure, after pledging in February it would spend 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over the next three years on the tech.

    Zhang oversees e-commerce AI applications at Alibaba. Earlier in the day, he shared how the company has rolled out a range of AI tools, from making search results more personalized to improving the accuracy of virtual clothing try-ons.
    The presentation comes a day after Alibaba began presales for Singles Day, China’s biggest shopping event of the year that’s akin to Black Friday.
    Zhang said preliminary testing has showed consistent results from AI, including a 12% increase in returns on advertising spend.
    “It’s very rare to see double-digit changes” in such tests, he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. Zhang predicted that thanks to AI integration, there would be a “very significant” positive impact on Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume during this year’s Singles Day shopping period, which centers on Nov. 11.
    Alibaba’s China e-commerce unit remains the tech giant’s largest source of revenue, with growth of 10% year-on-year in the quarter ended June 30 to the equivalent of $19.53 billion.

    Despite lackluster Chinese consumer spending in the last few years, during the Singles Day period last year, research firm Syntun estimated 20.1% year-on-year growth in sales to 1.11 trillion yuan for Alibaba’s Tmall, JD.com and PDD.
    The company on a late August earnings call cast AI and consumption as “two major historic opportunities” that require Alibaba to make investments of “historic scale.”
    “Our first priority at this point is making these investments,” CFO Toby Xu said at the time. “So for now, we may place relatively less emphasis on profit margins. But that does not mean that we don’t care about margins.” More

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    in Finance

    Fintech startup Upgrade valued at $7.3 billion in new funding round

    Upgrade, a provider of online loans and other financial services, said it raised $165 million in its first funding round since 2021.
    The startup is now valued at $7.3 billion, according to CEO Renaud Laplanche.
    Neuberger Berman led the round, with participation from LuminArx Capital Management.

    Upgrade CEO Renaud Laplanche speaks at a conference in Brooklyn, New York, in 2018.
    Alex Flynn | Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Upgrade, the online lender started by LendingClub founder Renaud Laplanche, has raised a new round of funding that values the startup at $7.3 billion.
    The company said in a press release on Thursday that it raised $165 million in a round led by Neuberger Berman, with participation from LuminArx Capital Management. Laplanche, who created Upgrade in 2016, said it’s the first time the company has raised money since 2021.

    “We’ve been cash flow positive over the past three years, so we didn’t have to do a new round,” Laplanche said in an interview.
    Upgrade got its start offering relatively small personal loans, operating in a similar market as LendingClub. The company has since expanded deeper into financial services with checking and savings accounts, a credit card, credit health monitoring and a buy now, pay later offering. In 2023, Upgrade acquired BNPL travel company Uplift for $100 million.
    Revenue has more than doubled since the company’s last fundraise, Laplanche said, and annualized revenue passed $1 billion in May.
    Laplanche, who took LendingClub public in 2014, said Upgrade is looking to IPO but wanted additional capital for its balance sheet in the meantime. He said the company is also establishing a new valuation as it begins to offer employee liquidity.
    “We were probably 12 to 18 months away from an IPO at this stage,” he said. “So we wanted to go ahead and make sure everyone could sell a little bit of stock now without having to wait for the IPO.”

    Although consumer lending is still dominated by traditional banks like JPMorgan Chase, Laplanche said the majority of Upgrade’s customers are migrating from the legacy banks to take advantage of more automated and faster services.
    “This year, we’re focusing mostly on making the customer experience make sense across multiple products and making sure that the customer who might have joined Upgrade through a BNPL product has a very seamless experience,” Laplanche said.
    The company has also been focusing on home improvement and auto financing, areas that surpassed $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, in total loan originations earlier this year.
    Competition is rising across the board.
    Chime, which offers an array of online banking services, went public in June. SoFi has been gaining popularity. And fintech companies including PayPal and Square parent Block have been adding more banking services to their portfolios.
    Within BNPL, there’s Affirm and Klarna, which held its IPO last month.
    Laplanche said Upgrade’s focus in BNPL has been in the travel industry, through relationships with airlines, cruise lines, car rental companies and hotels.
    “It’s a pretty specific industry that’s different from retail, where Klarna and Affirm are stronger,” he said.
    WATCH: Trust is the key to unlocking real-time payments More

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    Indian microfinance is in trouble

    Shobha Devi runs a tailor’s shop in the narrow lanes of Vapi, an industrial town in Gujarat. A former teacher, she now earns more from pins and petticoats. “I am proud that I am standing on my own feet,” she says. “That’s by God’s grace.” Some credit also goes to microfinance lenders. One, IIFL Samasta, lent her 65,000 rupees ($732) to expand her business. Part of that funds her daughter’s education and she repays 1,470 rupees every fortnight. She belongs to a group of women with joint responsibility for each other’s loans. More

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    The new economics of babymaking

    A few miles south of Salt Lake City, deep in Utah County, the town of Payson is on parade. Toddlers run between trucks that tug floats carrying cheerleaders and footballers. Seven beauty queens wave from a giant watermelon; the next float bears 36 bagpipers. Every performer in this annual celebration is a child. All told, it takes them two hours to pour onto the streets. More

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    Top Walmart exec says American manufacturing comeback is real and good for business

    Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said the company is increasing its investments in U.S.-made products and suppliers as a strategic priority. 
    Many businesses like Walmart are focused on keeping prices as low as possible for customers with rollbacks amid economic uncertainty.
    Furner spoke at CNBC’s inaugural Invest in America Forum.

    John Furner, Walmart U.S. CEO, speaks to CNBC’s Sara Eisen during the Invest in America Forum on Oct. 15, 2025.
    Aaron Clamage | CNBC

    Manufacturing is seeing renewed attention from corporate America, with Walmart among the major companies publicly reaffirming its commitment to domestic production. 
    At CNBC’s inaugural Invest in America Forum, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said the company is increasing its investments in U.S.-made products and suppliers, describing it as part of a long-standing, strategic priority. 

    “Investing in U.S. manufacturing and U.S. operations, sure, it’s great for business, but it’s also great for employment. It’s great for jobs. It’s great for the country, and it helps us with our supply chain being flexible and dynamic,” Furner said. 
    Nearly two-thirds of the products Walmart sells are made, grown or assembled in the United States, according to Furner. Walmart is expanding on that front, including a new beef processing facility in Olathe, Kansas, which he said is expected to create over 600 jobs. 
    “It’s a big investment, and having quality products that are sourced in a more sustainable way that can deliver to customers is really important,” Furner said. 
    Furner also pointed to specific categories where domestic production is being revived, citing a recent partnership with USAntibiotics aimed at “bringing back products like amoxicillin so that they’re made here in the United States.”
    Still, global sourcing remains essential for Walmart’s operations. 

    “We source from all around the world,” Furner said. “There are things that are grown around the world that tend to do better in other climates, you know, coffee might be an example … I think there are a lot of possibilities.”
    The heightened public focus on U.S. manufacturing comes amid trade policy uncertainty, with tariffs and interest rates remaining central to retailers’ equation of how much inventory to stock and what to set prices at. For his part, Furner was uncertain about the future for the levies. 
    “As policies change, they’ll change. Environments will change. That happens. Commodities change,” he said. “We’ve landed in a place where we have more rollbacks going into the fall than we had at the beginning of the year, and that’s something we’re proud of.”
    Despite uncertain economic headwinds, Furner said Walmart is pushing to lower prices for consumers. 
    “We want to try to keep prices as low as we can, as long as we can,” he said. “We see a resilient customer that makes really smart choices for what’s right for them and their families at the time of shopping.” More

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    America’s bankers are riding high. Why are they so worried?

    It might seem like a wonderful time to be an American investment bank. Over the past year, the country’s lenders have handed shareholders gains of 27%, far outstripping the 10% for other stocks outside the technology sector. They have ridden a wave of strong interest income, heavy trading and a surge in dealmaking. Soon they will face less red tape, too. Viewed in this light, conditions could hardly be better. More

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    Donald Trump and Xi Jinping: both weaker than they think

    Making a lithium-ion battery, of the sort that can power an electric vehicle, is a bit like baking a cake. The ion-rich powder is first mixed into a lump-free batter, then spread evenly on foil. The solvents must be dried in an oven, just as baking removes water, then the results must be carefully stacked. The underlying chemistry is fairly well understood. But the best battery-makers, like the best bakers, improve their craft over years in the kitchen. More