Investing

An operator for Baker Hughes conducts a wireline survey on a Chesapeake Energy natural gas rig in the North Texas Barnett Shale near Burleson, Texas.
Matt Nager | Getty Images

Company: Baker Hughes (BKR)
Business: Baker Hughes is an energy technology company with a portfolio of technologies and services that span the energy and industrial value chain. The company operates in two segments: oilfield services and equipment and industrial and energy technology. The OFSE segment provides products and services for onshore and offshore oilfield operations across the lifecycle of a well, ranging from exploration, appraisal, and development, to production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning. OFSE is organized into four product lines: well construction; completions, intervention and seasurements; production solutions and subsea and surface pressure systems. The IET segment provides technology solutions and services for mechanical-drive, compression and power-generation applications across the energy industry, including oil and gas, liquefied natural gas operations, downstream refining and petrochemical markets, as well as lower carbon solutions to broader energy and industrial sectors.
Stock Market Value: $47.84 billion ($48.48 per share)

Stock chart icon

Baker Hughes shares year to date

Activist: Ananym Capital Management

Ownership: n/a
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Ananym Capital Management is a New York-based activist investment firm which launched on Sept. 3, 2024, and is run by Charlie Penner (a former partner at JANA Partners and head of shareholder activism at Engine No. 1) and Alex Silver (a former partner and investment committee member at P2 Capital Partners). Ananym looks for high quality but undervalued companies, regardless of industry. They would prefer to work amicably with their portfolio companies but are willing to resort to a proxy fight as a last resort. According to their most recent 13F filing, they manage $260 million across 10 positions.
What’s happening
On Oct. 21, Ananym Capital announced that they have taken a position in Baker Hughes and are calling on the company to spin out its oilfield services and equipment business, arguing such a step could help push up the stock price by at least 60%.
Behind the scenes
Baker Hughes is a leading provider of energy and industrial technology services. The company was formed through the 2017 merger of legacy Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas, combining best-in-class intellectual property shared by GE spinoff assets and the technical expertise from both organizations.

The company operates through two primary segments: industrial and energy technologies and oilfield services and Equipment. The IET unit (55% of projected 2025 revenue and 60% of projected 2025 EBITDA) is a long-cycle industrial and energy business focused on gas technology equipment, including turbines and compressors, and aftermarket services, including new energy applications. The OFSE unit (45%/40%) is a short-cycle oilfield equipment and production services business with an end-to-end portfolio of oilfield services and equipment for well construction and production.
Management has built up a strong track record of effective execution, and that success has been reflected in the share price, with the company delivering strong returns of 28.26%, 75.29% and 232.98% over the past 1-, 3- and 5-year periods, respectively.
Within IET, the company has taken advantage of its leading position in LNG, in which Baker now has 95% global footprint for the turbomachinery required in plant construction, a market that is expected to grow at a 10% compound annual growth rate through 2030.
Additionally, the company has a strong position in power generation, as Baker is one of few original equipment manufacturers supplying smaller-scale turbines and complete behind-the-meter power solutions. These offerings have allowed the company to play a pivotal role in helping to address rapidly growing data center demand, as its data center orders have gone from $0 to $550 million in just two quarters. As such, management is heavily investing in this opportunity — developing larger-scale power systems to support mega-data center deployments.
Furthermore, Baker’s pending acquisition of Chart Industries is expected to further strengthen IET’s position in power, LNG, and industrials. As a result, IET is approaching a 20% EBITDA margin, with further margin expansion expected as the business mix continues to shift toward aftermarket services, which generate long-term recurring revenue streams supported by contracts exceeding 10 years and margins of 35% or more.
For OFSE, management has taken steps to meaningfully improve the segment’s earnings mix and reduce its cyclical commodity exposure. This includes exiting or downsizing non-core ventures and low-margin product lines, such as its surface pressure control joint venture with Cactus; prioritizing the Middle East and international markets (now 75% of OFSE revenue), which are less correlated to commodity prices; and implementing strong pricing discipline and cost cutting measures by enforcing minimum margin thresholds on new contracts, consolidating product lines and simplifying reporting. However, despite these efforts, OFSE remains highly subject to commodity volatility, affecting both the segment’s performance and the company’s overall valuation.
Currently valued at about 9x EBITDA, Baker trades more closely with oilfield services peers (6–7x EBITDA), than its industrial and energy technology peers (16–18x), despite IET being the majority of the company’s revenue and EBITDA. An implied sum-of-the-parts multiple for Baker would put the company at approximately 13x.
It is for this reason that Ananym has launched a campaign at Baker calling for the company to either continue growing IET relative to OFSE or to pursue a sale or spin of OFSE.
Ananym believes that a potential separation could result in an about 51% immediate upside through realizing Baker’s sum of parts valuation, even when assuming $100 million dis-synergies from separation. Moreover, this upside does not reflect much of the potential long-term growth tailwinds and margin expansion expected from these ongoing operational initiatives — value drivers that shareholders should also be better positioned to realize through such a move.
Founded in September 2024, this is Ananym’s third public activist campaign. Knowing Charlie Penner and Alex Silver as we do, we would expect them to strive to work amicably with management to create value for shareholders. As such, they have already expressed full confidence in management to choose the optimal path forward, and the company’s strong operational track record fully supports that confidence.
Moreover, on Oct. 6, the company announced a review of its capital allocation, business, cost structure, and operations.
With all signs pointing towards alignment between the two parties, we do not expect that they will insist on, or even ask for, board representation or continue to engage in much more of a public campaign. Rather, we expect them to work amicably with Baker behind the scenes to unlock meaningful shareholder value. However, this cooperative approach should not be confused for weakness, as they are fiduciaries to their own investors and will do whatever is necessary to create value at their portfolio companies. Thus, should management fail to act decisively, Ananym could quickly shift to a more assertive stance.
Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist investments. More

Buffett Watch

Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
Just one week after Berkshire Hathaway’s revelation last Friday that it purchased 17.8 million Class A shares of Google’s parent, Alphabet, in the third quarter (July-September), that position has increased in market value by $415 million to almost $5.35 billion.

GOOGL gained 8.4% this week while its biggest tech rivals fell significantly as Nvidia’s strong earnings failed to overcome fears of an “AI bubble.”

Arrows pointing outwards

Alphabet shares started the week with a 3.1% boost on Monday, apparently in reaction to the news of Berkshire’s purchase.
Wednesday’s release of Google’s new Gemini 3 AI model, which is receiving positive reviews, gave the stock another push higher.
(Google’s AI momentum is reportedly beginning to worry Sam Altman at OpenAI.)
While the full evaluation of the move obviously can’t be made until months or years from now, someone in Omaha is probably smiling right now.

Warren Buffett is getting the credit in a lot of headlines, as he usually does, with many publications assuming he is responsible for everything Berkshire does.
We know that’s not the case, however, since portfolio managers Ted Weschler and Todd Combs are able to act as “free agents.”
As I noted last week, Alphabet doesn’t feel like Buffett’s “kind of stock.”
CNBC.com’s Yun Li writes the investment “likely” was the work of Weschler or Coombs, noting they have been behind many of Berkshire’s “tech-leaning” investments, including its Amazon stake, now worth $2.2 billion.
(Even before that position was first disclosed in 2019, Buffett went out of his way to tell CNBC’s Becky Quick it wasn’t his decision and “no personality change has taken place.”)

Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
David A. Grogen | CNBC

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Nir Kaissar recalls Buffett’s famous refusal to invest in a business he doesn’t fully understand, which kept him out of the internet bubble in the late 1990s, calling AI “orders of magnitude more complicated than selling books or pet food online.”
He adds, “Combine opaque technology with premium valuations, and you’re sure to lose Buffett.”
Kaissar says he has the impression CEO-designate Greg Abel may have just shown us a “very different approach than Berkshire’s shareholders are used to – notably, a new willingness to pay more now for potentially higher growth down the road, a chance Buffett rarely took, if ever.”
Berkshire has not responded to my midday email asking for clarification on who decided to make the Alphabet purchase. The company almost never reveals who bought what.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription:

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE
Buffett on what ‘understanding’ a business means (2000)

Warren Buffett explains that when he says he doesn’t understand tech stocks, he means he doesn’t understand where the tech industry will be in ten years.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: In terms of these tech stocks, you say that you don’t understand them… I can’t imagine you not understanding something.
WARREN BUFFETT: Oh, we understand the product. We understand what it does for people. We just don’t know the economics of it 10 years from now.
That, I mean, you can understand all kinds — you can understand steel. You can understand home building. But if you look at a home builder and try and think where it’s going to be in five or 10 years, the economics of it, that’s another question.
I mean, it’s not a question of understanding the product they turn out or the means they use to distribute it, all of those sort of things. It’s the predictability of the economics of the situation 10 years out. And that — that’s our problem.

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Four weeks

Arrows pointing outwards

Twelve months

Arrows pointing outwards

BRK.A stock price: $755,320.00
BRK.B stock price: $504.04
BRK.B P/E (TTM): 16.12
Berkshire market capitalization: $1,085,818,736,612
Berkshire Cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (Up 10.9% from June 30
Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $354.3 billion (Up 4.3% from June 30)
No Berkshire stock repurchases since May 2024.
(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)

BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – Nov. 21, 2025

Arrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on today’s closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2025, except for:

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at [email protected]. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch More

The Social Security Administration is scheduled to start sending statements to beneficiaries, including the dollar amounts to expect for their 2026 benefits.
The new year will bring a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment to benefits that’s expected to add about $56 per month on average to retirees benefits.
Other changes, including a new senior deduction and higher Medicare Part B premiums, may affect older Americans’ bottom line.

Ascentxmedia | E+ | Getty Images

About 75 million Americans will see a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment to their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits in 2026.
The increase is expected to add $56 per month on average to Social Security retirement benefits, according to the Social Security Administration.

But other changes — particularly a new tax deduction for seniors and rates for Medicare Part B premiums — will affect the final amount retirees see in their monthly checks starting in January.
The Social Security Administration will send beneficiaries a one-page statement starting in early December with “exact dates and dollar amounts” of new monthly benefits for 2026, as well as any deductions, according to the agency.
The cost-of-living adjustment notice was available online for beneficiaries who have a My Social Security account starting Nov. 12, with all notices scheduled to be available online by Dec. 12, according to an SSA spokesperson. Paper statements will be sent in the mail starting Dec. 1, with all beneficiaries slated to receive their statements by the end of December, the spokesperson said.
To make the most of the inflation adjustment, beneficiaries need to consider how changes may influence their 2026 monthly checks.

Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

New senior ‘bonus’ aims to curb taxes on benefits
Social Security benefits are still subject to federal taxes, depending on income.

But legislation passed in July provides a senior “bonus” of up to $6,000 for qualifying individuals aged 65 and over to help curb those taxes.
Most retirees won’t notice the change until tax filing season, because the $6,000 is provided through a deduction. Those eligible won’t necessarily see that $6,000 in their refunds.
“It won’t be a dollar-for-dollar savings like a credit would be,” said Andrew Herzog, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at The Watchman Group in Plano, Texas. “It’ll just be on a case-by-case basis, how much it’s actually going to save you.”
Notably, not everyone will be eligible for the new senior deduction. It begins to phase out for individuals with $75,000 in income and married couples with $150,000. Singles with $175,000 in income and couples with $250,000 will see no benefit from the change, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Those who benefit the most will be seniors who earn between $80,000 and $130,000, who would see an average tax cut of about $1,100, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimated.

Some beneficiaries might see less of a benefit from the change than they expect, particularly if their incomes are low enough that they are not paying much tax to begin with, according to Joseph Rosenberg, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Existing federal tax rules are still in effect for Social Security benefits. Benefits may be taxed based on beneficiaries’ combined income, or the sum of adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest income and half of annual Social Security benefits.
Up to 50% of individuals’ benefits are taxed if their combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000, and up to 85% is taxable for more than $34,000.
As much as 50% of Social Security benefits are taxable for married couples who file jointly with between $32,000 and $44,000 in combined income, and up to 85% is taxable for income above $44,000.
Beneficiaries can plan for those levies by requesting to withhold taxes from their monthly payments. They may choose withholding rates of 7%, 10%, 12% or 22%.
The new senior deduction may lower some taxpayers’ liability for 2026, which means it may make sense to reduce withholdings on benefits or other income, according to Ron Johnson, a certified financial planner and wealth planner at Baird.
“There would be some math involved to try and get it right,” Johnson said.
For example, a tax professional may use your prior tax liability and estimated tax liability for 2026 to help find the target percentage to withhold from Social Security, he said.
While the new senior deduction went into effect in 2025, it is late in the year to make adjustments now based on that change, according to Johnson.
Medicare Part B premiums to jump nearly 10%
To cover health-care services, new 2026 premiums for Medicare Part B are poised to take a bigger bite out of beneficiaries’ checks in 2026.
The standard monthly Part B premium will climb 9.7% in 2026 to $202.90, up from $185 in 2025 — the second-highest increase in the program’s history, according to Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare analyst. That rate applies to individuals whose yearly income in 2024 was $109,000 or less, and married couples who file taxes jointly with income of $218,000 or less.
Individuals and couples with modified adjusted gross incomes above those thresholds will pay higher Medicare Part B premium rates. This is due to what is called income-related monthly adjustment amounts, or IRMAA.

Medicare Part B premiums are typically deducted directly from Social Security benefit checks, possibly reducing the cost-of-living boost beneficiaries will see in their monthly payments.
But a hold harmless provision prevents Medicare Part B premiums from wiping out beneficiaries’ COLAs entirely. Yet some beneficiaries are excluded from that protection, such as new retirees and those with higher incomes who pay more than the standard premium, according to the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group.
Beneficiaries who have seen their income decline, particularly because of a qualifying life-changing event, may notify the Social Security Administration of the change to have their Part B premium rates adjusted.
This year’s premium rates are based on modified adjusted gross income from the latest tax return, typically for the prior two tax years.
Because selling your home before retirement can kick up Medicare premiums later, it’s wise to plan for how tax income thresholds may shape your retirement spending later, Herzog said.
“It’s becoming increasingly common that now tax planning should be table stakes,” Herzog said. “For any client who has an advisor, they need to be getting into the weeds.”
Medicare open enrollment ends Dec. 7
Social Security beneficiaries may also have other premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage or private Medicare Advantage insurance deducted from their monthly checks.
Unlike Medicare Part B, there is no hold harmless provision for the Medicare Advantage and Part D deductions, according to Johnson. So those premiums may reduce Social Security benefits, she said.
Medicare beneficiaries have until Dec. 7 to shop around for coverage, which can help limit the prices they pay for care in 2026.
During this window, beneficiaries may switch from original Medicare, including Parts A and B, to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa; change Medicare Part D prescription plans; or opt for a different Medicare Advantage plan that may or may not include drug coverage.

A Medicare Advantage open enrollment period from Jan. 1 to March 31 lets beneficiaries switch Advantage plans or drop their Advantage plan for original Medicare. Special enrollment periods may also be available during the year, depending on individual personal circumstances.
But beneficiaries have the most flexibility during this annual enrollment period, according to Ryan Ramsey, associate director at the National Council on Aging. In particular, everyone can now compare their stand-alone Part D plan or Medicare Advantage drug coverage to make sure it suits their needs and costs them the least for the following year, he said.
“Anyone who has Medicare in any form or fashion should do a comparison during this time each year,” Ramsey said. “It’s always a great practice, even if you have no intention of switching plans.” More

Roth individual retirement account conversions can reduce pretax balances and begin tax-free growth.
But the trade-off is the converted balance boosts your income, which can trigger other tax consequences.
Higher earnings could cause a “tax torpedo,” or artificially higher rate, due to phaseouts, or benefit reductions, from President Donald Trump’s new tax breaks.

Kathrin Ziegler | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Roth individual retirement account conversions are a popular strategy to reduce pretax balances and kickstart tax-free growth.
But the converted balance boosts your income, which could have unexpected consequences amid new laws enacted via President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.”

For some investors, more earnings could trigger a “tax torpedo,” or an artificially higher rate, due to the phaseouts, or benefit reductions, for some of Trump’s new tax breaks, experts say.
If that happens, the “tax cost” of the Roth conversion could be higher than your marginal tax rate — the bracket that applies to your last dollar of income — according to certified financial planner Edward Jastrem, chief planning officer at Heritage Financial Services in Westwood, Massachusetts.

Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

“The unintended consequences of Roth conversions are higher now than in the past” because of Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” Jastrem said.
As year-end approaches, many investors are navigating Trump’s tax changes that apply to 2025 and will impact returns filed in 2026. Many tax strategies must be completed by Dec. 31, which leaves limited time for key 2025 moves.

Roth conversion risks for 2025

Some of Trump’s new tax breaks, like the $6,000 deduction for older Americans or bigger limit for the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, have made 2025 Roth conversions more complicated, Jastrem said.

Many new deductions have phaseouts, which reduce or eliminate the tax break entirely once income reaches a certain level. Without that deduction, you could raise your effective tax rate, or taxes paid as a percentage of total income.
You could also lose access to the 0% long-term capital gains tax rate, which allows you to sell profitable assets without paying taxes, among other issues, Jastrem said.

That’s why investors should run tax projections before adding more earnings via Roth conversions, experts say.
Of course, Roth conversions that eliminate a deduction could still make sense, depending on your long-term goals, Jastrem said. In some cases, the tax savings from years of compound Roth account growth could exceed a single-year deduction, he said. 

Phaseout issues for ‘all income ranges’

While Trump’s tax law changes added more complexity, other income phaseouts for tax breaks were already sprinkled throughout the tax code.
For example, there are income limits for the child tax credit, the student loan interest deduction, education tax breaks, among others.
“All income ranges really face these phaseouts of credits and deductions,” said Bruce Brumberg, editor-in-chief and co-founder of myStockOptions.com.
Without proper income planning, these tax breaks can “easily disappear,” which can cause the torpedo effect, Brumberg said. More

Data suggest companies are cutting entry-level jobs and replacing them with artificial intelligence, especially in some white-collar industries.
Experts say this upends the traditional career ladder, whereby young workers learn on-the-job skills, get promoted and climb through the ranks.
Companies may find they have a limited talent pool from which to fill managerial roles in a few years.

Companies are replacing entry-level jobs with artificial intelligence — and, in the process, are upending the traditional route to career advancement for many young, white-collar workers, according to labor and AI experts.
Typically, new entrants to the job market do grunt work with relatively low stakes — think research or data entry jobs, for example. They acquire skills over years while working alongside more seasoned colleagues, ultimately becoming experts themselves and climbing into managerial roles.

This “expert-novice” approach to skill-building has existed for 160,000 years, said Matt Beane, author of “The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines” and an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

But the economy isn’t investing in the expert-novice relationship to the same degree anymore, as companies whittle down their entry-level ranks in favor of AI to boost efficiency, cut costs and pad their bottom line, Beane said.
A one-week report that would have once required five people might now take one hour with AI, a value proposition companies and their customers love, he said.
“What that practically means, though, is that that junior analyst, junior banker, junior educator doesn’t get a shot at participating in the work anymore because they are optional,” Beane said.
That, in turn, makes it harder to get promoted — a dynamic that could pose problems for companies and the broader economy a few years from now, experts said.

‘Training wheels for a career’

Companies are hiring for this type job most.
@alliecandice | Twenty20

Postings for entry-level jobs in the U.S. plunged 35% from January 2023 to June 2025, according to a recent analysis by labor research firm Revelio Labs.
AI doesn’t explain the whole decline but was a key contributor, especially for entry-level jobs that are “highly AI-exposed,” wrote Lisa Simon, Revelio chief economist.
They include entry-level jobs like data engineers, software developers, customer service and compliance roles, financial advisors and risk analysts, according to the report.
“Early-career jobs are the training wheels for a career,” said Alison Lands, vice president of employer mobilization at Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit.
“Data suggests that AI is disrupting the traditional career ladder as we know it,” Lands said.

Klarna, Duolingo and Salesforce are among the companies that have announced headcount reductions this year, at least partly because of AI.
When AI can perform most tasks for a specific job, the share of people in that role within a company falls by about 14%, according to a 2025 study co-authored by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University and Yale University.
“The way you make a senior employee is not through school,” Beane said. “It’s by doing the job alongside someone who knows more, and you learn by doing. And that’s where the bulk of our skill comes from.”

What that practically means, though, is that that junior analyst, junior banker, junior educator doesn’t get a shot at participating in the work anymore because they are optional.

Matt Beane
associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara

In the U.S., employers expect generative AI to disrupt 35% of workers’ core skills by 2030, a “significant” share, according to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report, published in January.
While most employers said they plan to prioritize raising their workforce’s skill levels, 40% of employers globally said they’d cut staff as their skills become less relevant, the report found.
“How in the world are young people going to get trained up to come in at a ‘Level Three’ if they haven’t done Level One and Level Two?” said Molly Kinder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution whose research specializes in the impact of generative AI on work and workers.
The talent pipeline could ‘collapse’

Cecilie_arcurs | E+ | Getty Images

Companies stand to lose, too.
They might save money today by using AI, but find themselves in trouble later if there’s a dearth of people to hire into managerial roles, experts said.
What happens in a few years, for example, if a company doesn’t have any seasoned coders? Kinder asked. If a law firm doesn’t have lawyers who know how to argue in court and make legal judgments? If a consulting firm doesn’t have consultants who are ready to talk to clients?
“In three to five years, whatever firms, organizations, occupations were counting on that [career] ladder continuing to work are going to face a new nasty set of problems,” said Beane, the UC Santa Barbara professor. “Cleanup is always harder than prevention.”

Companies may be reluctant to hire and train their workers out of fear that competitors will poach them later, since competitors themselves may have a scarcity of early-career talent to promote, Kinder said. That fear might drive companies to lean on AI even more, instead of putting resources toward training, she said.
“If everyone does that, the entire pipeline of talent starts to collapse and, in a few years, employers in lots of sectors are going to find themselves in trouble,” Kinder said.
About 42% of global employers expect talent availability to decline between 2025 and 2030, according to the World Economic Forum.
‘Not all doomsday’

Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Of course, there are still job opportunities and career growth available to young people, Kinder said.
“It’s not all doomsday,” she said.
Globally, trends in AI and information processing technologies are expected to create 11 million jobs and displace 9 million others — for a net gain of roughly 2 million, according to the World Economic Forum. The report doesn’t specify the relative seniority of the jobs gained or lost.
College students and early-career workers can make themselves more marketable to prospective employers and hiring managers by learning AI, even if they don’t work in tech, experts said.
In 2024, the majority of job postings, 51%, that asked for AI skills were outside the tech sector, according to a Lightcast report.

If everyone does that, the entire pipeline of talent starts to collapse and, in a few years, employers in lots of sectors are going to find themselves in trouble.

Molly Kinder
senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

Among the important steps for young workers is learning “practical AI fluency,” said Beane.
Employers “desperately need” workers who can show high agency and skill with AI, he said.
Overall, job postings that require generative AI skills in non-tech roles increased ninefold from 2022 to 2024, to more than 29,000, according to Lightcast.
“Get your hands dirty with AI on real problems, trying to deal with stuff that you would never have even dreamed you could do before,” Beane said. “You’ll waste a ton of time. You’ll struggle. You’ll fail. You’ll produce things you didn’t think you possibly could. That gives you the ability to critique the tech from within and understand how and where it’s relevant from your point of view and your life.”

Learning how to use specific AI platforms — ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, for example — will make young workers more “bankable,” said Lands of Jobs for the Future.
This will help workers pair the human skills that AI lacks — like strategic thinking and interpersonal interaction — with ones in which AI excels, like data processing, she said. The combination can yield a powerful result, she said.
“It’s really incumbent on you to start educating yourself,” she said. “It will help you leapfrog that broken rung on the career ladder. More

Assets in HSAs totaled $147 billion across about 39 million accounts at the end of 2024 , according to research from Devenir.
As a group, people ages 60 to 64 own the most HSA assets, with $19.4 billion across 3.1 million accounts.
Here are some key things to know about HSA rules for people getting close to age 65.

Tim Robberts | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Anyone who owns a health savings account is probably familiar with its generous tax advantages. If you’re nearing age 65, though, it’s worth making sure you’re aware of some key rules.
HSAs come with a triple tax benefit: Your contributions are made pre-tax, any growth is untaxed and withdrawals are tax-free as long as they are used for qualifying medical expenses. And while these accounts are more prevalent among younger generations, a growing number of people are reaching retirement with one in tow. 

“More retirees are sitting on meaningful HSA balances without a clear plan for how to use them most effectively,” said certified financial planner Tom Geoghegan, founder of Beacon Hill Private Wealth in Summit, New Jersey.

Assets are highest in the 60-to-64 age group

Since HSAs were authorized in 2003 congressional legislation, their use has steadily climbed over the years, according to research from Devenir, an HSA provider. By the end of 2024, assets were $147 billion across about 39 million accounts — a year-over-year increase of 19% for assets and 5% for the number of accounts.
HSA assets are highest among people ages 60 to 64, with $19.4 billion across 3.1 million accounts, according to Devenir. That’s followed by the 55-to-59 age range, with $17 billion in about 3.5 million accounts.

More from CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100:

Here’s a look at more coverage of CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100 list of top financial advisory firms for 2025:

At the same time, however, the number of HSAs is highest among younger age groups, with about 5.8 million among those ages 30 to 34 and about 5.3 million in the 35-to-39 age group. Assets in those accounts stand at $10.2 billion and $12.6 billion, respectively.
The use of HSAs is expected to keep increasing. The “big beautiful bill” that was enacted in July included provisions to expand access to HSAs, including by making more Affordable Care Act marketplace health plans HSA-eligible. 

‘No statute of limitations’ to repay yourself

You can only contribute to an HSA if you have a qualifying high-deductible health insurance plan. This year, the contribution limit is $4,300 for individuals and $8,550 for family coverage. In 2026, those limits will increase to $4,400 and $8,750, respectively. If you’re age 55 or older and not enrolled in Medicare, you’re allowed to contribute an additional $1,000 yearly.
While most HSA owners tend to spend the money in their account as they incur medical expenses, the share who invest their funds has continued to rise, according to Devenir. At the end of 2024, about 3.5 million HSAs — or about 9% of all open accounts — had invested a portion of their HSA money.
If you can use non-HSA money to cover immediate health care needs, you can leave the money in the HSA as long as you want to. 

“There’s no statute of limitations on reimbursements for your medical expenses,” said Ntina Skoteiniadis, a wealth manager with Sheets Smith Wealth Management in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The firm is ranked No. 35 on CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100 list this year.
And as long as you hold on to receipts from your medical expenses, you can reimburse yourself in future years.
“You can [withdraw] the money tax-free and penalty-free, even if the expenses were from a long time ago,” Skoteiniadis said.
In retirement, that can be especially useful when it comes to tax planning, Geoghegan said. 
“This gives retirees more control over their taxable income in high-income years or when coordinating with Roth conversions,” he said.

Throwing Medicare into the mix

One of the most important aspects to know about HSAs as you approach age 65 involves Medicare.
That’s the age when you become eligible for coverage. However, you cannot contribute to an HSA when you’re on Medicare, even if only Part A (hospital coverage). And, because your Medicare coverage may be retroactive by six months depending on when in particular you enroll — even if you delay enrolling because you have qualifying health insurance elsewhere — it’s important to make sure you don’t contribute during that stretch.
“Stop contributing to your HSA account six months before your Medicare start date,” Skoteiniadis said.
While you can’t make HSA contributions while on Medicare, you are permitted to use those funds to cover your premiums for Medicare Part B (outpatient care), Part D (prescription drug coverage) as well as Advantage Plan premiums. However, you cannot use it for Medigap premiums, Skoteiniadis said.
And, of course, those HSA funds can continue being withdrawn, tax free, as long as they’re used to cover qualifying medical expenses, whether current or in the past.

Say goodbye to the 20% tax penalty

At age 65, you’re allowed to use the HSA money for non-medical expenses — but those withdrawals would lose their tax-free treatment.
“You can use it for other retirement costs, but you have to pay taxes on the withdrawal if it’s not for health care expenses,” said CFP Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.
The difference is that you won’t be charged a 20% tax penalty, which applies to withdrawals before age 65 that go toward expenses that are not health-care-related.
If you do spend the money for expenses outside of health care, it will be taxed at ordinary income tax rates.

Estate planning considerations

If the beneficiary of your HSA is your spouse, the account gets passed on at your death and is not a taxable event.
However, that’s the not the case if you leave the account to a non-spouse.
“When your spouse is your beneficiary, the HSA simply becomes theirs and they can continue using it for qualified medical expenses,” Skoteiniadis said. “But if someone else inherits it, it stops being an HSA and it’s just taxable income.”
In that case, the beneficiary must withdraw all money in the HSA in the year of your death, and it will be subject to income tax, she said. The exception to this is if you use any of the money to pay for medical expenses of the deceased within one year, that amount will not be taxed. More

Retirement account balances hit fresh highs in the third quarter of 2025 amid an upswing in the stock market, according to a new report by Fidelity.
Even heading into a period of increased economic uncertainty, savers maintained their contribution rate, Fidelity also found.

Insta_photos | Istock | Getty Images

Retirement account balances, which sank at the start of 2025 amid wild market swings, hit record highs in the third quarter, according to the latest data from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) savings plans.
The average 401(k) balance jumped 9% from a year ago to $144,400, an all-time high, Fidelity found.

The average individual retirement account balance also rose 7% year over year to $137,902.

Fidelity’s report showed increased interest in Roth 401(k)s and IRAs, particularly among younger savers.
Like a traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k)s let you contribute up to $24,500, which is the new, higher limit for 2026. But a key difference is that contributions to a Roth 401(k) are taxed upfront so withdrawals in retirement are tax-free.
Roth 401(k) plans are similar to better-known Roth IRAs although the contribution limits vary. With a Roth IRA, savers under the age of 50 can make after-tax contributions up to $7,500 a year, as of 2026, and then take tax-free withdrawals in retirement.
“Retirement is about taking a long-term view, and the growing interest in Roth products shows that investors recognize their potential for tax advantages and long-term growth,” Robert Mascialino, president of wealth at Fidelity Investments, said in a statement.

While other research points to retirement saving shortfalls across generations, Fidelity’s “numbers tell a different story,” said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity’s vice president of thought leadership. “We’re seeing a lot of positive behaviors among younger workers, especially Gen Z.”

Number of 401(k), IRA millionaires hit all-time highs

The gains in account balances also helped boost the number of 401(k) millionaires to a fresh high. 
The number of 401(k) accounts with a balance of $1 million or more jumped to 654,000 as of Sept. 30, up 10% from the second quarter, according to Fidelity.
The number of IRA-created millionaires also increased by 11.5% from the previous quarter to a record 559,181.

More from Fixed Income Strategies:

Stories for investors who are retired or are approaching retirement, and are interested in creating and managing a steady stream of income:

Positive savings behaviors were key to better outcomes, Shamrell said.
The majority of retirement savers continued to make contributions, even during periods of market turbulence. Although there have been concerns about the economy, “the good news is, as of now, it has not turned into any sort of pullback on their retirement savings efforts,” Shamrell said.
The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, held steady at 14.2%, Fidelity found, just shy of their suggested savings rate of 15%.

A great stretch for the major indexes also helped.
U.S. markets came under pressure after the White House first announced country-specific tariffs on April 2, causing some of the worst trading days for the S&P 500 since the early days of the Covid pandemic.
However, markets rebounded in the second and third quarter. Through Sept. 30, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 9% for the year, the S&P 500 was higher by 14% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 17%.  More

The new restructuring at the Education Department doesn’t involve the federal student loan portfolio, for now. But the instability at the agency could still harm borrowers, experts said.
At the same time, Trump officials are exploring options to sell some of its education debt to the private market.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon attends the International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 1, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images

When the U.S. Department of Education announced this week that it would transfer much of its programs to other agencies, it didn’t appear that the country’s federal student loan portfolio would be impacted.
However, financial aid experts and consumer advocates are still worried for borrowers.

More than 40 million Americans hold student loans, and the outstanding debt exceeds $1.6 trillion. 
“What is concerning is the destabilization of the Department of Education and Federal Student Aid at the very moment when consistent, technically skilled oversight is most needed,” said Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program in New York.
The major overhaul of the agency is occurring at an especially challenging time for the federal student loan system. More than 5 million people are in default on their education debt, and President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates several long-standing affordable repayment plans and relief options.
“Student loan eligibility and repayment involve multiple systems working together, and institutions need that process to be seamless, current and accurate,” said Melanie Storey, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “As the delivery of other programs moves to other agencies, these dependencies must be carefully considered.”
On Tuesday, Trump administration officials said they had signed agreements with four federal agencies, including the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, to start managing programs currently under the Education Department.

Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

The move is part of Trump’s directive to dismantle the agency, experts said. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has argued that the recent government shutdown proved that the department is not needed.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration laid off nearly half of the Education Department’s staffers.
“They are attempting to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education, leaving behind a shell of the original organization,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

Privatization concerns

The Trump administration’s goal of hobbling the Education Department will be difficult while the agency still oversees the massive federal student loan portfolio, experts say. But it may be trying to offload the debt.
The new restructuring at the Education Department doesn’t involve the loans, but Trump officials are exploring options to sell some of the debt to the private market, Politico reported in October.

Student loan borrowers have faced even more problems in the private market than with the government, consumer advocates said. When private companies played a bigger role in federal student lending in the past under the Federal Family Education Loan, of FFEL, program, Rodriguez said, “borrowers saw their debt balloon with no end in sight due to loan mismanagement.”
Any major loan transfer “will also result in errors that could harm borrowers and push relief further out of reach,” said Aissa Canchola Banez, the policy director at Protect Borrowers.
Currently, private lenders account for 8% of all student loans but are the subject of more than 40% of student debt complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, lawmakers recently wrote in a letter to Trump officials. More