Investing

After years of higher yields on cash, the Federal Reserve’s shifting policy means lower future returns on savings, certificates of deposit and money market funds.
Despite falling rates, investors should still keep emergency funds “liquid,” meaning the cash can be easily tapped, financial experts say.
“You don’t want to mess with your safety net,” said certified financial planner Kathleen Kenealy, founder of Katapult Financial Planning.

Catherine Mcqueen | Moment | Getty Images

After years of higher yields on cash, the Federal Reserve’s shifting policy means lower future returns on savings, certificates of deposit and money market funds.
Despite falling rates, investors should still keep emergency funds “liquid,” meaning the cash can be easily tapped, financial experts say.

Advisors typically suggest keeping at least three to six months of cash reserves for emergencies, such as a job layoff. But that threshold could be higher, depending on your circumstances.
Keep those funds in high-yield savings or a money market fund, said certified financial planner Kathleen Kenealy, founder of Katapult Financial Planning in Woburn, Massachusetts.
“You don’t want to mess with your safety net,” she said.
More from Personal Finance:After Fed rate cut, it’s a great time to shop around for best returns on cashThe tax extension deadline is Oct. 15. What to do if you still can’t payHere’s when you can’t refinance a mortgage to capitalize on lower rates
The Fed last week slashed its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage point, which was the first rate cut since early 2020. Banks use the federal funds rate to lend to and borrow from one another. As a result, it influences consumer loans and savings rates.

While top yields have already fallen slightly, many savers are still getting relatively high rates on cash.
The top 1% average for savings was hovering near 4.75%, and the highest one-year CDs were more than 5%, as of Sept. 25, according to Deposit Accounts. Meanwhile, the biggest retail money market funds were still paying around 5%, as of Sept. 24, according to Crane Data.
If you have been earning 4% to 5% on emergency savings, you could see a “small reduction” in the short term, said Kenealy, who recommends keeping emergency funds where they are.

Don’t put your emergency fund at risk

After several months of stock market gains, it may be tempting to funnel emergency savings into higher-paying assets. The S&P 500 was up about 20% year to date and notched a 52-week high on Sept. 25.
But investing your cash reserves is a mistake, experts say. Generally, short-term savings, especially funds that could be needed within the next year, should stay out of the market.  
“You don’t want to put your emergency funds at risk,” said CFP Shehara Wooten, founder of Your Story Financial in Fairborn, Ohio. 

You don’t want to put your emergency funds at risk.

Shehara Wooten
Founder of Your Story Financial

Whether you are dealing with a job loss or major car repair, you need easily accessible cash. Otherwise, you could have to sell invested emergency funds when the stock market is down, she said. 
“Don’t make rash decisions based on what’s going on at the Federal Reserve,” Wooten said.

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Women and Wealth Events
Your Money

About 70% of the gender wage gap is due to women occupying different positions compared to men, Professor Kelly Shue said at CNBC’s Women & Wealth event Wednesday.
Although female workers typically outperform their male counterparts, men are more likely to get promoted, Shue’s research shows.

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Progress toward narrowing the gender pay gap has mostly stalled, in part due to something researchers call the “gender promotion gap.”
“Women have noticeably lower promotion rates compared to men in the same firm, in approximately the same position,” Kelly Shue, a professor of finance at Yale School of Management, said at CNBC’s Women & Wealth event Wednesday.

Women are about 13% less likely to be promoted than men, according to Shue’s research.
That imbalance is a major driver in the persistent income inequality between men and women, she said.

More from Women and Wealth:

Here’s a look at more coverage in CNBC’s Women & Wealth special report, where we explore ways women can increase income, save and make the most of opportunities.

About 70% of the gender wage gap is due to women occupying different positions compared to men, according to Shue. But even when men and women occupy the same position, women are paid less, she added.
As it stands, women earn just 84 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Women’s Law Center.

Women are ‘underrepresented from the start’

Women in corporate America have come a long way but there are still barriers at the outset, largely due to systemic bias, the annual Women in the Workplace study from Lean In and McKinsey also found.

“They remain less likely than men to be hired into entry-level roles, which leaves them underrepresented from the start,” Lean In’s report notes.
From there, advancements are slower at the manager and director levels, the report found: Only 81 women are promoted for every 100 men.
“Because of this ‘broken rung’ in the corporate ladder, men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, making it incredibly difficult for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels,” according to Lean In’s report.

When it comes to promotions, “unconscious bias can creep in,” Shue said. When we imagine the most successful managers, they tend to have stereotypically male qualities, she said, “such as being optimistic, courageous, having an aggressive leadership style, embracing competition, etc.”
To alleviate some of that bias, “a lot of the advice has been focused on how female workers can change how they behave, and advocate for themselves and engage in some degree of self-promotion,” Shue said.
“I think that could be affective,” she added, “but I would also argue that instead of putting all of the burden on women to behave differently, and to advocate for themselves, it would be great if firms and the managers in charge of these decisions also stop rewarding… this aggressive behavior to the same extent and instead just recognize that many female workers actually have high potential.” More

Lower mortgage rates make monthly mortgage payments more affordable. In some places, cheaper than rent, per a Zillow analysis.
While housing overall continues to be expensive and unaffordable for most buyers, “this is as good as it gets,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow.
Here’s what other experts say.

Fstop123 | E+ | Getty Images

While housing affordability remains a challenge for many buyers in the U.S., conditions are somewhat improving due to lower mortgage rates.
Buyers need to earn $115,000 to afford the typical home in the U.S., according to a new report by Redfin, an online real estate brokerage firm. That’s down 1% from a year ago, and represents the first decline since 2020.

Housing payments posted the biggest decline in four years, Redfin also found. The median mortgage payment was $2,534 during the four weeks ending Sept. 15, down 2.7% from a year ago.
Both declines stem from lower mortgage rates, said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.
As of Sept. 19, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 6.09%, down from 6.20% a week prior, according to Freddie Mac data via the Fed. Rates peaked this year at 7.22% on May 2.
“The only reason mortgage payments are down is because of the rate effect,” Fairweather said.
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Challenges remain: The typical household earns 27% less than what they need to afford a home, about $84,000 a year, per Redfin data. Home prices are still high, too. The median asking price for newly listed homes for sale is $398,475, up 5.4% from a year ago, Redfin found.
While housing overall continues to be unaffordable for most buyers, “this is as good as it gets,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, as the market is generally seeing lower mortgage rates, more inventory and low buyer competition.
Here’s what buyers can expect in the coming months.

‘Mortgage rates will go by the way of the economy’

Lower home loan rates provide “a great opportunity for buyers who have been waiting,” Divounguy said.
Just because the Federal Reserve cut interest rates, it doesn’t “necessarily guarantee mortgage rates will continue to fall,” he said.
While mortgage rates are partly influenced by the Fed’s policy, they are also tied to Treasury yields and other economic data.
“Mortgage rates will go by the way of the economy,” said Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage in New York.
“If the economy shows signs of weakening … rates will come down,” Cohn said. “If we see the opposite, and that the economy is chugging along and employment gets stronger, it’s quite possible that rates will go up.”

More homes are coming on the market

On top of lower mortgage rates, a higher inventory of homes for sale makes the housing market more favorable for buyers, said Divounguy.
There were 1,350,000 homes for sale by the end of August, up 0.7% from a month prior, according to the National Association of Realtors. That inventory level was up 22.7% compared with August 2023.

Meanwhile, homebuilder confidence in the market for newly built single family homes improved in September, according to the National Association of Home Builders, or NAHB. Its survey also shows that the share of builders cutting prices in September was 32%, down one point. It’s the first decline since April, according to NAHB.
“That tells me that some builders are probably starting to see some increase in foot traffic,” said Divounguy, and that the market could get competitive again.
Price growth will depend on the level of existing home inventory, said Robert Dietz, chief economist at NAHB.
“Existing home inventory is expected to rise as the mortgage rate lock-in effect diminishes, placing some downward pressure on prices as well,” Dietz said.

Wait and ‘you’re trading one difficulty for another’

The housing market is not going to get generally worse over the next 12 months, said Fairweather. If house hunters are discouraged because they haven’t found a home, they might have a better chance next year when there are more listings, Fairweather said.
But they risk higher competition, she warned.
“You’re trading one difficulty for another difficulty,” Fairweather said.
If mortgage rates further decline next year, the number of homes for sale might grow. Most homeowners are sitting on loans with record-low mortgage rates, creating a so-called “lock-in effect,” or “golden handcuff” effect, where they don’t want to sell and finance a new home at a higher rate.
“We’ll probably see more people who are buying, or selling to buy again,” said Fairweather, because high borrowing costs held them back. More

More than one-third of workers believe they will need more than $1 million to retire comfortably, according to a recent Bankrate report.
And yet, 4 in 10 workers are behind on retirement planning and savings, largely due to debt, insufficient income or getting a late start, according to a separate CNBC survey.
The good news is that workers can still catch up, says Bankrate’s senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick.

By some measures, retirement savers, overall, are doing well.
As of the second quarter of 2024, 401(k) and individual retirement account balances notched the third-highest averages on record, helped by better savings behaviors and positive market conditions, according to the latest data from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) savings plans.

The number of 401(k) millionaires also hit a new all-time high.
The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, now stands at 14.2%, just below Fidelity’s suggested savings rate of 15%.

Yet there is still a gap between what savers are putting away and what they think they should have once they stop working.
Overall, 35% of Americans believe they will need more than $1 million to retire and live comfortably, according to a new report by Bankrate.com. Another 10% think they need $750,001 to $1 million.
Although most workers have a specific retirement goal in mind, only 49% believe it is likely they will be able to meet their target and 48% say it is unlikely they will save the amount they need, the report also found. Bankrate polled 2,445 adults in mid-August. 

40% of workers are behind on retirement planning

In fact, 40% say they are behind on retirement planning and savings, largely due to debt, insufficient income or getting a late start, according to a recent CNBC survey, which polled more than 6,600 U.S. adults in early August.
Older generations closer to retirement age are more likely to regret not saving for retirement early enough, the CNBC survey found. More than a third (37%) of baby boomers between ages 60 and 78 said they felt behind, compared with 26% of Gen Xers, 13% of millennials, and only 5% of Gen Zers over the age of 18.
“There are so many individuals, young, mid-career and deep into their career, that are not saving enough for a healthy and secure retirement,” Jacqueline Reeves, the director of retirement plan services at Bryn Mawr Capital Management, recently told CNBC.
More than any other money misstep, not saving for retirement early enough is the biggest financial regret for 22% of Americans, according to another recent report by Bankrate. 
“If you do less at 30, you’ll still have more at 60 than if you did more at 50,” Reeves said.

The retirement savings gap

Other reports show that a retirement savings shortfall is weighing heavily on Americans, especially as they approach retirement age.
An August LiveCareer survey found that 82% of workers have considered delaying their retirement due to financial reasons, while 92% fear they may need to work longer than originally planned. 
Roughly half of Americans worry that they’ll run out of money when they’re no longer earning a paycheck — and 70% of retirees wish they had started saving earlier, according to another study by Pew Charitable Trusts from January.
Among middle-class households, only 1 in 5 are very confident they will be able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, according to a recent Retirement Outlook of the American Middle Class report by Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, which broadly defined the middle class as those with an annual household income between $50,000 and $199,999.
“America’s middle class is navigating the turbulent post-pandemic economy and high rates of inflation,” said Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Institute. “They are focused on their health and financial well-being, but many are at risk of not achieving a financially secure retirement.”

How to overcome a savings shortfall

Many of the workers who feel behind on their savings are still years, if not decades, away from retirement, explained Bankrate’s senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick.
“Those who strive to prioritize retirement savings, as they should, have reason to believe they can achieve their goal,” Hamrick said. “It takes information, focus and hard work, but the good news is that it can be done.”
In addition to making automatic contributions into a retirement savings plan, experts often recommend opting in to an auto-escalation feature, if your company offers it, which will automatically boost your savings rate by 1% or 2% each year up to a set cap.
Savers closer to retirement can even turbocharge their nest egg.
Currently, “catch-up contributions” allow savers 50 and older to funnel an extra $7,500 into 401(k) plans and other retirement plans for 2024, beyond this year’s $23,000 employee deferral limit. The catch-up contributions for IRAs is an additional $1,000 on top of the $7,000 limit for 2024.
Most experts also recommend meeting with a financial advisor to shore up a long-term plan. There’s also free help available through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  
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A trader works on the trading floor at The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) following the Federal Reserve rate announcement, in New York City, U.S., September 18, 2024. 
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox.
Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the Dow and S&P 500 posted fresh records Tuesday, and what’s on the radar for the next session.

The staples

CNBC TV’s Dominic Chu reports on consumer staples in Wednesday’s edition of “Sectornomics.”
Consumer staples are right in the middle, ranked in sixth place among the 11 S&P sectors. In 2024, it’s up about 16%.
Walmart is the top performing stock in the sector, up 53% this year.
Kellanova ranks second, up 44% in 2024.
Costco is third, up 36.6% year to date.
At the bottom: Walgreens, Dollar Tree and Lamb Weston. Each of those names have been hit pretty hard this year. Lamb Weston is down 40% in 2024, while Dollar Tree is off about 50%. Walgreens is down 67% year to date.

Stock chart icon

Lamb Weston’s performance in 2024

China

Copper

It is up 12.5% in the last six weeks.
Copper’s movements sometimes follow China as that country is generally seen as a big buyer of the commodity.
Newmont is now at a 27-month high after jumping 2.5% Tuesday. It is up 31% in three months.

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Newmont shares performance over the past three months

Micron earnings are due after the bell

CNBC TV’s Seema Mody is covering the company Wednesday.
Micron Technology is down 32% in the past three months.
The stock is 40% from the June 18 high.
However, shares are up 36.5% in the last year. More

MercadoLibre, the Argentinian e-commerce and payments company, is up 34% for the year, compared to a roughly 27% rise for Amazon.
It was founded in 1999 by its current CEO Marcos Galperin and dominates online sales in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and other Latin American countries.
“When you look at the penetration of e-commerce in Latin America, it’s still quite low compared to the U.S., Europe or Asia,” says Galperin. “It’s an enormous opportunity.”

One of the world’s largest e-commerce companies is emerging as a top pick on Wall Street as investors look for tech opportunities beyond the Magnificent Seven.
MercadoLibre, an Argentinian e-commerce and payments platform that’s incorporated in Delaware and actively traded on Nasdaq, is up 34% in 2024, compared to a roughly 27% rise for Amazon, and 20% for the S&P 500. The company was founded 25 years ago by CEO Marcos Gaplerin at the height of the dot com boom. It now dominates online sales in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and makes up roughly half of online sales in South America, according to eMarketer. It also operates a digital payments platform called Mercado Pago.

Roughly 90% of Wall Street analysts who cover the stock rate it a “buy,” with an average price target of $2,268 — about 8% upside from where it was trading this week, according to FactSet. There are no sell ratings.
Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital is one such bull. He highlighted expanding profit margins and MercadoLibre’s AI potential as reasons he’s “excited” by the stock.
“You look at companies like MercadoLibre … a lot of companies that people have kind of forgotten about as [investors] moved in to the Magnificent Seven — I think there are going to be a lot of internet companies that are benefited by AI,” Gerstner told CNBC’s Scott Wapner at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference this month. “It’s not only margin expansion, but reacceleration at the top, where they can acquire customers, improve products in a way that make it easier for customers to buy, and take friction out of the system.”
Silicon Valley to Buenos Aires
Galperin came up for the idea of MercadoLibre while he was a student at Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California. He started to look for seed funding at a time when few investors were committing capital outside California.
“There was no venture capital for Latin America. Actually, there was little venture capital for anything outside of Silicon Valley. Even if you were an entrepreneur based in New York, the investors were all on Sand Hill Road,” Galperin told CNBC, referring to the Wall Street of the West Coast. “I don’t think they really cared about exploring other parts of the world.”

That investor mindset has changed. Last year, venture-backed companies in Latin America raised $3.3 billion across nearly 1,000 deals, according to PitchBook. At the peak in 2021, the region brought in $16.3 billion.

But back in the late 1990s, Galperin pitched a private equity investor who happened to be lecturing at Stanford, and framed the lack of infrastructure and competition in Latin America as an opportunity.
“In Latin America, there was no existing infrastructure. You couldn’t do online payments. There was no efficient logistics for peer-to-peer commerce, we had to build that all ourselves,” Galperin said. “That made it harder at the beginning — but for us today, it’s great.”
While MercaroLibre is sometimes referred to as the “Amazon of South America,” Galperin built the company at a time when eBay dominated online commerce. Amazon, at the time, was still more of an online book store. In fact, MercadoLibre partnered with eBay, which bought 20% of the company in 2001, and sold the stake in 2016.
“We learned a lot from that relationship, and then eventually we started pivoting away from auctions,” Galperin said. “Today, I think we are much closer to what Amazon is.”
Amazon is starting to see opportunity in South America, too. The dominant North American e-commerce platform has expanded into Mexico. “We’ve been competing since we started — it’s something that will continue for many years,” Galperin said.
Competitive tailwinds
He pointed to tailwinds that may help MercadoLibre withstand competition. E-commerce and online payments are steadily growing, and Latin America has a young, mobile-savvy population of more than 600 million people. MercadoLibre grew revenue 42% in the second quarter, and 112% on a currency-neutral basis. Its operating profit margin expanded to 14.3%.
“When you look at the penetration of e-commerce in Latin America, it’s still quite low compared to the U.S., Europe or Asia,” Galperin told CNBC. “Roughly half of the population is unbanked or underbanked. It’s an enormous opportunity for us to distribute financial products to all these people that historically have been excluded.” More

The tax extension deadline is Oct. 15, but you have options if you still can’t pay your balance, experts say.
You can apply for an IRS payment plan, or “installment agreement,” to pay your taxes owed over time.
You will still incur interest and late-payment penalties, but an installment agreement could reduce the failure-to-pay penalty.

Woman at home looking at the bills and taxes. 
Hirurg | E+ | Getty Images

The tax extension deadline is Oct. 15, but you have options if you still can’t pay your balance, experts say.
This year, the federal tax deadline was April 15. Those struggling to meet that due date could submit Form 4868 for a six-month extension to file.

But while the tax extension provided more time to file, 2023 taxes were due April 15. In the meantime, unpaid taxes continue to accrue IRS penalties and interest.     
“That’s a surprise to a lot of people,” said Josh Youngblood, an enrolled agent and owner of The Youngblood Group, a Dallas-based tax firm. 
More from Personal Finance:Take a look inside a $1.1 million ‘zero emissions’ homeHere’s when you can’t refinance a mortgage to capitalize on lower ratesAfter Fed rate cut, it’s a great time to shop around for best returns on cash
If you missed the tax deadline, the late payment penalty is 0.5% of your unpaid balance per month or partial month, capped at 25%. You will also incur interest on unpaid taxes.
By comparison, the failure-to-file penalty is 5% of unpaid taxes per month or partial month, up to 25%.

However, some taxpayers in disaster areas receive both an automatic extension to file and more time to pay.

File your return even if you can’t pay

The IRS has options if you can’t pay your taxes, “but you have to be current on your filing requirement,” said Tom O’Saben, an enrolled agent and director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals.
After filing, there are “various payment options” online, and many filers will receive an immediate acceptance or rejection of payment plan requests without calling, according to the IRS.
“If you owe less than $50,000, establishing a payment plan with the IRS is almost going to be automatic,” O’Saben said.

IRS online payment plans, or “installment agreements,” include:

Short-term payment plan: This may be an option if you owe less than $100,000, including tax, penalties and interest. You have up to 180 days to pay in full.

Long-term payment plan: This may be available if your balance is less than $50,000, including tax, penalties and interest. You must pay monthly, and you have up to 72 months to pay off the balance.

Although the late-payment penalty and interest will continue to accrue, an IRS payment plan could cut your late-payment fee in half while the agreement is in effect, according to the IRS.
One downside of IRS payment plans is future tax refunds could be used to offset your unpaid balance, O’Saben said.

‘Don’t ignore it’

If you have unpaid taxes, you can expect notices from the IRS, and communication with the agency is key, experts say.
“Don’t ignore it because it won’t go away,” Youngblood said. “I’ve had clients come in, and they have a whole pile of unopened IRS letters.” 
“The IRS is not as bad as they think,” he added. “They actually want to work with people.”

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Nearly a quarter of millennials and Gen Zers without children do not plan to become parents, according to a recent report.
Being a SINK (single income, no kids), DINK (dual income, no kids) or DINKY (dual income, no kids yet) also comes with certain financial considerations that differ from the standard financial plan.

In this photo illustration a man looks at the post by Taylor Swift endorsing Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the online social media and social networking site Instagram displayed on a smart phone on September 12, 2024 in Bath, England. 
Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The stigma of the “childless cat lady” persists, but these days, more young adults are embracing that label and opting out of parenthood — and benefitting, at least monetarily.
Nearly a quarter, or 23%, of millennials and Generation Zers without children do not plan on having children, primarily due to financial reasons, according to a recent consumer spending and saving index by MassMutual.

A preference for financial freedom and the inability to afford children are equally cited by 43% of younger generations, MassMutual found. The survey polled 1,000 adults in July.
More from Personal Finance:’Vibecession’ is ending as economy nails a soft landingMore Americans are struggling even as inflation coolsEven high earners consider themselves ‘not rich yet’ 
To be sure, money is a major reason some young adults are choosing not to have kids.
But also, over decades, attitudes about marriage and parenthood have changed.
Since the 1970s, the overall share of married adults has declined and fewer couples are having children, according to a 2023 report from Pew Research Center. Last year, the U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low.

Now, adults without children, both married and unmarried, are better off than than their peers with kids, in terms of median wealth and retirement savings, a separate Pew Research Center study found in May.
The majority of adults without children said not having kids has made it easier for them to afford the things they want and be successful in their job or career, Pew also found.
Although there is a financial benefit, “it’s not like you are child-free and checks fall out of the sky,” said Jay Zigmont, author of “The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.”

Financial considerations for SINKs and DINKs

In many cases, being a SINK (single income, no kids), DINK (dual income, no kids) or DINKY (dual income, no kids yet) does come with certain financial planning considerations that differ from the standard strategy.
“Nearly all financial planning assumes you do or will have kids,” said Zigmont, who is a certified financial planner and founder of planning firm Childfree Wealth. But child-free couples often have different goals when it comes to building up a cash cushion, estate planning and long-term care.
For example, “most child-free folks don’t make passing money down to the next generation a priority,” said Zigmont, who plans to leave his own nephews only a modest inheritance — “if they get $1 million, I’ve made a mistake.”

Often Zigmont advises clients to spend down their savings, rather than build it up, which could open the door to pursuing a passion project or continuing education later in life.
And while technically not part of the “sandwich generation,” child-free adults may also bear the brunt of caregiving responsibilities for aging parents or relatives, making it even more important to take into account long-term care for their parents and themselves, “which is stupidly expensive,” Zigmont said. “That’s half a million dollars you need a plan for.”
Then, consider “how much money do I have to spend to bring down my net worth,” he said. “It’s backwards from the way we are trained.”

Parenthood is now an election issue

Decisions around parenthood are not just about personal finance, said Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School.
Since having, or not having, children also impacts employment, wages and wealth, it is “really an economic growth and productivity issue as well,” House said — and that affects all Americans, making it “one of the most important issues for policy makers and for businesses,” House said.
Heading into a U.S. presidential election, parenthood has already become a point of contention on the campaign trail after Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the running mate of former President Donald Trump, accused key Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris — of being miserable “childless cat ladies.”
In July, Vance said on The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM that his remarks were “not about criticizing people who for various reasons don’t have kids,” but rather “criticizing the Democratic party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.”
When Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Harris in an Instagram post that featured a photo of herself with a cat, she signed the post with her full name and “Childless Cat Lady.”
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