Finance

To get a full sense of the disruptive potential of Donald Trump’s economic agenda, look beyond the limelight hogged by Elon Musk to the wider cast of characters in the president-elect’s orbit. Russ Vought, a budget director, promises to “break the bureaucracy to the presidential will”. Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, muses about cancelling America’s trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Andrew Ferguson, an antitrust official, rails against big tech firms for suppressing dissident speech. More

For investors who bought on the rumour, it is nearly time to sell on the news. They have spent months gripped by uncertainty over what America’s next president will do in office, as rumours have flown thick and fast. How high will tariffs rise, and how strongly will other countries retaliate? Will he really keep campaign-trail promises of mass deportations, sweeping deregulation or trillion-dollar tax cuts? What will it all mean for growth, inflation and asset prices? With Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, answers will at last start to arrive. More

Financial stability is top of mind for many Americans heading into 2025.
Five financial planners on CNBC’s Advisor Council discuss the financial resolutions households should target next year.

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Personal finances are top of mind for many households as they get set to ring in the new year.
About 38% of Americans ranked financial stability as their No. 1 focus area for 2025, according to a recent Allianz Life survey.

CNBC reached out to certified financial planners on its Financial Advisor Council to list their top resolutions for households as they look ahead to the coming year.
Here’s the financial advice they offered.
Kamila Elliott, Co-founder and CEO of Collective Wealth Partners

Kamila Elliott, CFP, is co-founder and CEO of Collective Wealth Partners in Atlanta.
Kamila Elliott

Create and stick to your budget! Max out on retirement contributions and create one personal financial goal such as paying off credit cards or investing an additional $100 a month in an investment account.
Barry Glassman, Founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services

Courtesy Barry Glassman

It starts and ends with knowing where the money is going. I encourage people to track their spending for a period of time, maybe going back to three months’ worth of credit card and Apple Pay payments. It’s incredible what behaviors will change once people just know the truth.
Marguerita Cheng, CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth

Courtesy Marguerita Cheng

I’m going to say estate planning. It’s important for everyone to address — even for an 18-year-old heading off to college in Fall 2025. I had my daughter complete a health care and financial power of attorney before I sent her off to college.

If people feel overwhelmed with the estate planning process, I remind people that it’s a process. Start with a financial and health care power of attorney.
You can then focus on beneficiary designations. Next, a will and trust, if the trust is appropriate for your situation. This process also helps individuals track down retirement plans from former employers. Estate planning is a wonderful opportunity to revisit life insurance as well.
More from Personal Finance:What it would cost to live like the ‘Home Alone’ family todayOnly 21% of workers contribute to a Roth 401(k)’Higher for longer’ interest rates benefit cash accounts
Lee Baker, founder, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors

Courtesy Lee Baker

1. It’s not a popular subject but take the time review all your insurance coverages: 
Auto and home in particular have jumped significantly for many people. Don’t forget about disability and life insurance. As long as you can get up and earn a living, you can replace your car or rebuild your home. What happens if you can’t generate an income?

2. Spend some time reviewing your tax strategies and retirement planning: 

Required minimum distributions: Do you ‘need’ them? Would making Qualified Charitable Distributions improve your overall picture?
Tax loss harvesting: Here’s an opportunity to improve your overall portfolio performance.
Employee benefits: Are you fully taking advantage of a health savings account (if available) and retirement plan contributions?

3. Review your cash flow:
If you spent more than you should have over the holidays, now is a good time to make a plan to get rid of that financial hangover as well as making a plan to avoid it next year. Take a look at your personal interest rate environment. We have gotten a few rate cuts from the Federal Reserve so far. There may be more but either way take stock of your situation.
Cathy Curtis, founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning

Courtesy Cathy Curtis

1. Automate savings:
One of the best features of company retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans is that the contribution amounts are automatically taken out of a person’s paycheck each month, and then the funds are automatically invested in a pre-selected selection of funds.
Since it’s important to save outside of retirement as well for other goals, setting up an automatic withdrawal from a checking account to a savings or investment account is a smart move. First step is to determine how much to save each money based on cash flow and then set up a monthly or quarterly transfer. Once it is set up, it is out of sight and out of mind and the savings will grow.

It starts and ends with knowing where the money is going … It’s incredible what behaviors will change once people just know the truth.

Barry Glassman
Founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services

2. Manage overspending:
In order to get a handle on overspending, the first step is to identify the spending weaknesses. It could be household furnishings, electronic equipment, clothing, travel, or jewelry, etc. Then, write down how much was spent in the problem category. A good way to find the numbers is to look at the year-end credit card statements. Then, write down a number that is 20-30% below the amount spent in 2024 and make that a new budget and target for 2025. Track spending each month on a spreadsheet or app to keep the spending goal top of mind.

3. Stay invested no matter the headline news:
If the end of 2024 is any indication, 2025 is likely to be a turbulent year in the stock market. With a new presidential administration coming in, global wars, inflation and uncertainty around the projection of interest rates, that is much to worry about. But decades of history show us that the market will go up over longer periods and the smartest move a long-term investor can make is to keep investing and stay invested. More

For decades, Art Cashin, UBS’ director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange, would write a New Year’s poem to reflect back on the year’s events. With Cashin’s passing earlier this month, his sons, Arthur and Peter, sent this homage to their father:
Some Other Cashins’ Comments:  An Homage PresentationDecember 30, 2024 

by Arthur Cashin III and Peter Cashin
In 2024,Wall Street stopped in fear.No more annual poemswithout Arthur here?
My brother and Isaid, “Let’s give this a try,”but with one precondition,there would be no AI!
Genetics or environment,we share his same vice.So, we joined our feeble minds,while marinating some ice. 
Paris hosted the Olympicsand chose to begin,by having the openingfloat down the Seine.

A container ship took outthe Francis Scott Key.The world wondered if Putindid same to Navalny.
The ruler of Syria,al-Assad is now gone,but in Ukraine and Gaza,the wars still carry on.
‘Round most of the world,incumbents lost reelection.Here in the U.S.,45’s now 47.
Wall Street continuedits historic bull run.And with the help of Wegovy,the world lost a ton.
Taylor Swift can go home.Eras came to an end.But only on the fielddid Travis’ knee bend.
Boeing’s labor strifepaused the 737.They also left two astronautsbetween here and heaven.
Some finance greats areno longer among us.We lost Jim Simons andHD’s Bernie Marcus.
We lost the deep bassHollywood counted upon.The voice of Mufasaand Vader is gone.
The choir of angelsgot a whole lot betternow that Cissy and Whitneyare singing together.
Arlo Guthrie’s old muse,she has a new haunt.Alice Brock is in heaven,at a new restaurant.
Toby Keith and Kristoffersonclimbed that heavenly stair.Now jammin’ with Buffett,must be 5 o’clock there.
Phil Donahue is up there,booking new guests.Wonder if Dr. Ruthwill be on his stage next.
A remake of “Tootsie”seems not to be far.Dabney Coleman was joinedby the great Teri Garr.
Whitey Herzog submittedhis final all-star roster.With Rose, Mays and Cepeda;not a single impostor.
Lou Carnesecca now coachesa team that’s the best,with players like Mutomboand Walton and West.
Zagallo and Beckenbauer,both Of World Cup fame,will rejoin greats like Pelefor a quick pick-up game.
Remember that sound biteyou’d hear without fail?We no longer have the voicewho said: “You’ve got mail!”
A poet laureate left us,as they eventually would.We can’t overlookthe great Charles Osgood.
And we would be remissnot to share why we’re sad.This exercise brought memoriesof our dear old dad.
To others, he was Arthur,Mr. Cashin or Chief.But he was our fatherand we share now our grief.
You knew him ashe wanted to be:Historian, philanthropist,soul of the NYSE.
If he joined you for drink,you should have been flatteredand talk markets or politics,or things that truly mattered.
From comments to speeches,writing was his art.But was he as funnyas the late Bob Newhart?
An Xavier alum,a true Jesuit scholar.Of his alma mater,there was no one prouder.Were it not for Ray Charlesor voters in Jersey,you never would have seen himon CNBC.
So as this year endsand you look to ’25,we offer two tipsto help you survive.
Cherish those still here.Remember those you miss.From the Cashins to yours,all the best is our wish.Begorrah, menorah,Lanza and Kwanzaa,May your New Year be filledwith true abbondanza!And as the ice meltedin each of our glasses,we knew if Dad read thishe’d kick both our asses. 
Rest in peace, Dad.
Art Cashin also traditionally led the annual singing of “Wait ’till the Sun Shines, Nellie” with current and former NYSE members on New Year’s Eve. On Tuesday, the sons will lead the singing at 1:45 p.m. ET and ring the bell to close out the year. More

After a blistering 150% rally in bitcoin this year, crypto investors and industry executives told CNBC they’re expecting the flagship cryptocurrency to hit new all-time highs in 2025.
Several industry watchers who spoke to CNBC forecast bitcoin will hit $200,000 in 2025.
The highest call is for bitcoin to surge to $250,000.

Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Nov. 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

After a blistering rally in bitcoin this year, crypto investors and industry executives told CNBC they’re expecting the flagship cryptocurrency to hit new all-time highs in 2025.
In December, the world’s largest cryptocurrency broke the highly-anticipated $100,000, setting a record high price above that. That came after Donald Trump — who ran on a prominently pro-crypto policy platform — secured a historic election win in November.

Trump’s imminent return to the White House has boosted sentiment surrounding crypto with many industry executives and analysts expecting him to promote a more favorable regulatory environment for digital assets.
During his election campaign, Trump vowed to replace incumbent Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who has taken aggressive legal actions against various crypto firms. Gensler agreed to step down from the SEC in 2025.

Trump has also indicated the U.S. could establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, by pooling funds obtained through seizures from criminal activity.
Also in 2024, bitcoin topped 2021’s price milestone of close to $70,000 after the SEC gave the green light to the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.
The ETF approval was widely viewed as a key moment for the cryptocurrency as it broadens its appeal to more mainstream investors.

The other key moment in 2024 was the halving, an event that takes places every four years and reduces the supply of bitcoin onto the market. This is typically very supportive for bitcoin’s price.
These developments helped move crypto past the narrative of an industry marred by scandal. That was the dominant theme of 2023 as two of crypto’s most prominent figures — FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao — both received prison sentences over criminal charges.
This year, bitcoin has more than doubled in price. The token is widely expected to see even more positive price momentum in 2025 — with several industry watchers predicting a doubling in value to $200,000.

CoinShares: $80,000-$150,000

James Butterfill, head of research for crypto-focused asset manager CoinShares, told CNBC that he sees prices of both $150,000 and $80,000 being on the cards for bitcoin in 2025.
Butterfill said in the long term it wouldn’t be “unreasonable” to expect bitcoin to become worth about 25% of gold’s market share — up from about 10% currently. That would equate to a price of $250,000.
But he doesn’t see that happening next year. “Timing of this is very difficult though and I don’t expect this to occur in 2025, but it will head in that direction,” Butterfill told CNBC via email.
He said that it is “likely” bitcoin could hit both $80,000 and $150,000 during the course of the year.  
Butterfill’s $80,000 call, if hit, would be a result of Trump’s promised pro-crypto policies not materializing.
“Disappointment surrounding Trump’s proposed crypto policies and doubts about their enactment could prompt a significant market correction,” Butterfill said.
Next year, Butterfill expects a favorable U.S. regulatory environment to be the primary driver supporting bitcoin prices.
In 2023, CoinShares forecast bitcoin at $80,000 in 2024.

Matrixport: $160,000

Matrixport, a crypto financial services firm, said bitcoin could hit $160,000 in 2025.
“This outlook is supported by sustained demand for Bitcoin ETFs, favorable macroeconomic trends, and an expanding global liquidity pool,” Markus Thielen, head of research at Matrixport told CNBC by email.
Bitcoin is known to be very volatile with the potential for corrections of between 70% and 80% from all-time highs. Thielen said the drawdowns in 2025 will be “less pronounced.”
“Bitcoin’s growing base of dip buyers and robust institutional support is expected to mitigate severe corrections,” Thielen said.
Matrixport predicted in 2023 that bitcoin would hit $125,000 in 2024.

Galaxy Digital: $185,000

Alex Thorn, head of research at crypto-focused asset manager Galaxy Digital, sees bitcoin crossing $150,000 in the first half of the year before reaching $185,000 in the fourth quarter.
“A combination of institutional, corporate, and nation state adoption will propel Bitcoin to new heights in 2025,” Thorn wrote in a research note shared with CNBC.
“Throughout its existence, Bitcoin has appreciated faster than all other asset classes, particularly the S&P 500 and gold, and that trend will continue in 2025. Bitcoin will also reach 20% of Gold’s market cap.”
Galaxy predicts U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded products will collectively cross $250 billion in assets under management in 2025.
The firm expects next year will also see five Nasdaq 100 companies and five nation states add bitcoin to their balance sheets or sovereign wealth funds.

Standard Chartered: $200,000

Geoffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered is calling for a doubling in price for bitcoin. The bank’s head of digital assets research said in a note earlier this month that he expects bitcoin to hit $200,000 by the end of 2025.
Standard Chartered expects institutional flows into bitcoin to “continue at or above the 2024 pace” next year.
Bitcoin inflows from institutions have already reached 683,000 BTC since the start of the year, the bank noted, via U.S. spot ETFs that were largely purchased by MicroStrategy, a software firm and effective bitcoin proxy.
Kendrick said bitcoin purchases by MicroStrategy should “match or exceed its 2024 purchases” next year.
Pension funds should also start including more bitcoin in their portfolio via U.S. spot ETFs next year thanks to anticipated reforms from the incoming Trump administration to rules on so-called “TradFi” (traditional finance) firms making investments in digital currencies, he added.
“Even a small allocation of the USD 40tn in US retirement funds would significantly boost BTC prices,” Kendrick noted. “We would turn even more bullish if BTC saw more rapid uptake by US retirement funds, global sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), or a potential US strategic reserve fund.”

Carol Alexander: $200,000

Carol Alexander, professor of finance at the University of Sussex, sees $200,000 bitcoin as a possibility next year.
“I’m more bullish than ever for 2025,” Alexander told CNBC, adding bitcoin’s price “could easily reach $200,000 but there are no signs of volatility reducing.”
“By the summer I expect that it will be trading around $150,000 plus or minus $50,000.” Alexander clarified she doesn’t actually own any bitcoin herself.
Explaining her rationale, Alexander said that supportive U.S. regulation will boost bitcoin, however, a lack of regulation on crypto exchanges will continue to drive volatility due to highly-leveraged trades shooting prices up and down.
Alexander has a history of correctly calling bitcoin’s price. Last year, she told CNBC that bitcoin would hit $100,000 in 2024, which it did.

Bit Mining: $180,000 – $190,000

Youwei Yang, chief economist at Bit Mining, is predicting bitcoin will hit a price of between $180,000 to $190,000 in 2025 — but he’s also cautious of potential pullbacks in price.
“Bitcoin’s price in 2025 is likely to see both significant upward momentum and occasional sharp corrections,” Yang told CNBC. “In moments of market shocks, such as a major stock market downturn, bitcoin could temporarily drop to around $80,000. However, the overall trend is expected to remain bullish.”
Factors underlying an anticipated bitcoin rally in 2025 include lower interest rates, support from Trump, and increased institutional adoption.
“Based on these dynamics, I predict Bitcoin could peak at $180,000 to $190,000 in 2025, aligning with historical cycle patterns and the growing mainstream adoption of crypto,” Yang said.
Nevertheless, Yang also expects next year to bring a number of “corrections” for bitcoins price, too.
Risks to the downside include U.S.-China tensions, global capital market disruptions, potential unexpected restrictive measures, and possible delays to the Fed rate-cutting cycle.
Last year, Yang forecast bitcoin would hit $75,000 in 2024.

Maple Finance: $180,000 – $200,000

Sid Powell, CEO and co-founder of centralized finance platform Maple Finance, is targeting a price of between $180,000 and $200,000 for bitcoin by the end of 2025.
“If you look historically when we saw gold ETFs come in, the inflows in the first year increased dramatically in subsequent years — and I think we can expect to see that with the bitcoin ETFs,” Powell told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“I think we will see higher inflows in subsequent years as bitcoin and indeed crypto becomes a core asset allocation for institutional asset managers,” Powell added.
Another factor Powell sees boosting bitcoin’s price is the anticipation of a bitcoin strategic reserve in the U.S.
Still, Maple Finance’s boss is mindful about market pullbacks. “I think you’ll of course see corrections — crypto remains a cyclical industry,” Powell told CNBC.

In previous market cycles, bitcoin has risen wildly over the course of a few months before plummeting sharply in value.
Take the previous cycle, for example: in 2021, bitcoin rallied to nearly $70,000 as more and more investors piled in but the subsequent year, the token plunged to less than $17,000 on the back of a series of major crypto company bankruptcies.
However, Powell stressed that the 70% to 80% drawdowns bitcoin has seen in cycles past are unlikely in 2025 “because there is more of a buffer from those institutional inflows into the sector.”

Nexo: $250,000

Elitsa Taskova, chief product officer of crypto lending platform Nexo, is more bullish on bitcoin’s 2025 prospects than the general consensus.
“We see bitcoin more than doubling to $250,000 within a year,” Taskova told CNBC, adding that in the longer term — as in, over the next decade — she sees the entire crypto market capitalization surpassing that of gold.
“These projections align with ongoing trends and social markers: increasing recognition of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, more Bitcoin and crypto-related exchange-traded products (ETPs), and stronger adoption,” Nexo’s product chief said.
Supportive macroeconomic conditions, such as easing of monetary policy from the world’s major central banks, is likely to boost bitcoin, she added.
“The Federal Reserve’s balancing act – managing interest rates and inflation while avoiding stagnation – will be pivotal,” she said, cautioning that on the flipside, persistent inflation could also prompt a hawkish pivot.
“As the U.S. leads in crypto-related capital deployment, rate decisions and inflation dynamics will likely remain key influences on bitcoin’s price in 2025.” More

ETF Strategist

ETF Street
ETF Strategist

Fund managers can generate capital gains taxes for shareholders when they buy and sell securities.
However, fewer exchange-traded fund investors get such an annual tax bill relative to those holding mutual funds.
ETFs have these tax benefits due to “in-kind” transactions, experts said.

Israel Sebastian | Moment | Getty Images

Investors who hold exchange-traded funds can often escape a tax bill incurred by those with mutual funds, which are generally less tax efficient, according to investment experts.
ETFs and mutual funds are baskets of stocks, bonds and other financial assets overseen by professional money managers. But they have a different legal structure that bestows ETFs with a “tax magic that’s unrivaled by mutual funds,” Bryan Armour, the director of passive strategies research for North America and editor of the ETFInvestor newsletter at Morningstar, wrote this year.

That tax savings relates to annual capital gains distributions within the funds.
Capital gains taxes are owed on investment profits.
Fund managers can generate such taxes within a fund when they buy and sell securities. The taxes then get passed along to all the fund shareholders, who owe a tax bill even if they reinvest those distributions.
The ETF tax advantage is by virtue of “in-kind creations and redemptions,” which essentially provides for tax-free trades for many ETFs, experts explain. (The ETF’s in-kind transaction mechanism is somewhat complex. At a high level, it involves large institutional investors called “authorized participants,” which create or redeem ETF shares directly with the ETF provider.)
The tax advantage is generally most apparent for stock funds, they said.

For example, more than 60% of stock mutual funds distributed capital gains in 2023, according to Morningstar. That was true for just 4% of ETFs.
Less than 4% of ETFs are expected to distribute capital gains in 2024, Morningstar estimates. Such data isn’t yet available for mutual funds.

More from ETF Strategist:

Here’s a look at other stories offering insight on ETFs for investors.

Importantly, this tax advantage is only relevant for investors holding funds in taxable accounts, experts said.
It’s a moot point for retirement account investors like those with a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account, which already come with tax benefits, experts said.
The tax advantage “really helps the non-IRA account more than anything,” said Charlie Fitzgerald III, a certified financial planner based in Orlando, Florida, and a founding member of Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo.
“You’ll have tax efficiency that a standard mutual fund is not going to be able to achieve, hands down,” he said.

However, ETFs don’t always have a tax advantage, experts said.
For example, certain ETF holdings may not be able to benefit from in-kind transactions, Armour said.
Examples include physical commodities, as well as derivatives like swaps, futures contracts, currency forwards and certain options contracts, he said.
Additionally, certain nations like Brazil, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan may treat in-kind redemptions of securities domiciled in those countries as taxable events, he said. More

Small businesses had been required to report “beneficial ownership information” to the Treasury Department by Jan. 13, 2025, or risk financial penalties.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order late on Dec. 26 that halted enforcement. It comes just days after a previous delay, from Jan. 1.
Businesses aren’t required to file a BOI report and won’t face liability while that order is in effect.
It will likely be in force until at least March, one legal expert said.

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary, on a tour of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in Vienna, Virginia, on Jan. 8, 2024.
Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images

An upcoming Treasury Department deadline for millions of small businesses to fulfill a new reporting requirement on “beneficial ownership information” was delayed again, following a court order that suspended enforcement.
The regulation, which would require small businesses to disclose the identity of people who directly or indirectly own a control a company, is designed to prevent criminals from hiding illicit activity conducted through shell companies or opaque ownership structures, the Treasury said.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order late on Dec. 26 that halted enforcement while the court “considers the parties’ weighty substantive arguments” on the constitutionality of the Corporate Transparency Act, which created the BOI reporting requirement, the order said.
The new deadline, which had been Jan. 13, is now unclear.
“While it is not known how long the injunction will remain in effect, the case is calendared for oral argument en banc on March 25, 2025, so we expect that the injunction will be effective at least through March,” Daniel Stipano, a partner at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, wrote in an email.
In the interim, businesses aren’t required to file BOI reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, which is part of the Treasury.

Businesses don’t face liability for the time being

Whiplash for small businesses

The delay represents a bit of legal whiplash for small business owners.
On Dec. 3, a federal court in Texas temporarily blocked the Treasury from enforcing BOI reporting rules, which at that time were set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Then, on Dec. 23, a motions panel of 5th Circuit lifted that enforcement injunction after an appeal from the federal government. On Dec. 26, a different panel of that same appeals court – the merits panel – put the injunction back into place.
“The bottom line is that no one needs to file a BOI Report – unless and until the injunction is lifted,” Stipano explained in an email.

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