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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted at possible interest rate cuts in the near future during a speech on Friday.
Mortgage rates closely track the 10-year Treasury yields, which are sensitive to changes in the economy, including monetary policy decisions.
If the Fed does cut interest rates in September, “there could be some clear implications for mortgage interest rates,” said Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. 

Chair of the US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following the July 29-30 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, DC on July 30, 2025.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted at possible interest rate cuts in the near future during a speech on Friday at the central bank’s annual event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 
“The shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance,” Powell said.

That may bode well for homeowners who have been hoping to refinance mortgages with high rates, experts say.
The central bank’s benchmark rate influences many borrowing costs for Americans. Mortgage rates closely track the 10-year Treasury yields, which are sensitive to changes in the economy, including monetary policy decisions.
If the Fed does cut interest rates in September, “there could be some clear implications for mortgage interest rates,” said Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. 
“That would certainly be good news,” she said. 
More from Personal Finance:What’s keeping home buyers on the sidelinesMortgage rates have made a ‘substantial improvement’Student loan forgiveness remains unavailable under this repayment plan

Lower mortgage rates often result in lower borrowing costs for home loans. For homebuyers who have struck out in the housing market due to a combination of high home prices and high interest rates, lower borrowing costs could help them secure better loan terms.
Homeowners, meanwhile, “can refinance” to benefit from lower rates, Lautz said, or “they can also make a move” by becoming home sellers.
Mortgage rates have generally declined in recent months despite some volatility. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.58% for the week ended on Thursday, Aug. 21, flat from the week prior, according to Freddie Mac.
Overall, experts say it is important for homeowners with higher-rate mortgages to start paying attention to interest rate movements, and preparing for opportunities to refinance.
“Getting the preparation done beforehand will allow you to move quickly,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.

‘You probably need to move quickly’

Before you refinance, you want to make sure mortgage rates have “dropped sufficiently” for you to see real savings, Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, recently told CNBC.
There are different rules of thumb used to determine when rates have declined enough. According to Redfin’s Zhao, homeowners should consider a refi if rates are at least 50 basis points lower than their current rate.
Rates can change fast, so it’s smart to know that target number and start preparing ahead of time, experts say.
“If you’re looking to refinance, especially in this type of interest rate climate, you need to be opportunistic, which means you probably need to move quickly,” said Gumbinger. 
Here are five key steps to take:

1. Take a look at your credit reports

First, pull your credit reports from all three bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — to understand how information on them is influencing your credit score. You can request them from the major credit bureaus for free via annualcreditreport.com.
Knowing this detail will help you get more accurate rate quotes from lenders, according to HSH. Unlike many other kinds of loans, with mortgages, lenders tend to look at scores from all three bureaus.
If you notice any errors that could be inadvertently hurting your score, the sooner you fix them, the better, experts say. Reach out to the creditor as well as the credit reporting bureau, and explain the situation, said Gumbinger.
However, it may take a bit of time to get the necessary parties involved and get the error fixed, he said. 

2. Protect your credit score

You want to protect your credit score as much as possible. Generally, the higher your credit score, the better terms and interest rates you qualify for.
If you plan to refinance in the near future, avoid doing things that could hurt your score, such as applying for new credit cards or other lines of credit, or making sudden, big purchases that you can’t pay off quickly, and avoid making late payments.

3. Estimate your level of home equity

After checking your credit history, estimate how much equity you have in your home. If you have at least 20% equity in your home, you will get better loan terms from lenders, according to Bankrate.

4. Start gathering essential documents

If you believe you’ll benefit from a refi soon, HSH recommends gathering the following documents:

Proof of homeowners insurance
Proof of income and assets
The latest copy of your existing mortgage statement
A copy of your property’s deed to show legal ownership
The latest property tax statement
The names and addresses of your employers for the past two years

You can also start putting aside funds to cover upfront costs associated with a refi, including an appraisal and credit reports. An appraisal fee can cost roughly $300 to $500, while a credit check fee is typically less than $30, according to Bankrate.

5. Start contacting mortgage lenders

There’s an advantage to beginning to research different lenders and what they offer before you actually want to refinance because interest rates move pretty quickly, said Gumbinger.
Rather than starting from scratch when you’re ready to refi, gathering contact information and learning about different loans, rates and terms ahead of time can be helpful, experts say.
“You don’t have to actually contact the lenders, but you can do some advance research to speed things along,” said Gumbinger.
Once you know you’re “actually ready to pull the trigger,” then you can seriously shop around, said Cohn.

Start with your existing lender, as they have a record history with you and may be able to offer a streamlined process, Gumbinger said. Once you shop around, you’ll want to pick the lender that offers you the best terms, such as the lowest interest rate, experts say. 
You could even start getting on their contact lists and ask them to reach out to you once it’s good for you to refinance, said Zhao. 
If you do refinance and interest rates happen to decline further, you can always repeat the process.
Just make sure “there’s a big enough gap to make it worthwhile,” Gumbinger said. More

ETF Strategist

ETF Street
ETF Strategist

Wealthy investors avoid capital gains taxes by using a 351 conversion to transfer profitable assets to an exchange-traded fund.
The strategy seeds ETFs before launch, and the original investor defers capital gains until selling their shares.
The volume of 351 exchanges for ETFs has increased in recent years, but there are still limited options, experts say.

PM Images | Getty Images

After years of stock market growth, many investors are sitting on large profits in taxable accounts, which could trigger hefty capital gains when sold.  
That bill can be significant for wealthy Americans, with a 20% top capital gains rate, plus 3.8% net investment income tax, depending on earnings.  

One solution, known as a 351 conversion or exchange, allows higher earners to transform appreciated assets into shares of new exchange-traded funds. The strategy seeds ETFs before launch, and the original investor defers capital gains until selling their shares.
For some investors, the strategy is “like magic,” said certified financial planner David Haas, president of Cereus Financial Advisors in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.  

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One of the benefits of the ETF wrapper is that fund managers can accept assets before launch, and later rebalance without incurring gains.
While the volume of 351 exchanges for ETFs has increased in recent years, there are still relatively few public options, experts say.
Haas has used 351 conversions for certain clients. But there are some downsides to consider, he said. Here are the key things to know. 

How 351 conversions for ETFs work

Many higher earners keep some investments in separately managed accounts, or SMAs, which are taxable, customized portfolios with an active manager.
One benefit of SMAs is tax-loss harvesting, which uses losses to offset portfolio gains. But those opportunities “dwindle over time” as assets grow, said Daniel Sotiroff, a senior analyst for Morningstar Research Services.
Eventually, “there are fewer losses to harvest” and you can’t change investments without incurring capital gains, he said.

For some, 351 conversions to ETFs could solve the problem, he said.
Large financial planning firms that manage clients’ SMAs can create a private ETF via 351 conversions. More recently, smaller firms or SMAs can participate in publicly seeded ETFs. 
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more,” Sotiroff said.
However, minimum investments are still high. For example, Alpha Architect recommends a “minimum portfolio” of $1 million. Cambria Funds’ first 351 ETF conversion launch in December 2024 also had a $1 million minimum for individuals.

Your 351 conversion must be ‘diversified’

While deferring capital gains taxes on embedded profits may be attractive, 351 conversions to ETFs have specific rules, experts say.
“You can’t just put one stock into a 351 exchange and get tax-deferred treatment,” Ben Henry-Moreland, a CFP with advisor platform Kitces.com, told CNBC.
There are strict diversification requirements to qualify for deferred capital gains. Your transferred assets are only “diversified” if:

A single stock or company isn’t more than 25% of the contributed assets
The five largest assets aren’t more than 50% of the contributed assets

Plus, certain assets, such as mutual funds or alternative assets such as private equity or cryptocurrency, may not be permitted for the transfer, Henry-Moreland wrote of 351 exchanges in March.

Sean Anthony Eddy | E+ | Getty Images

Your money could be ‘stuck’ 

Before completing a 351 conversion, you should weigh the pros and cons and how it fits into your bigger financial plan. You’re swapping assets in exchange for the ETF shares, which may be different from your target allocation.
CFP Charles Sachs, chief investment officer of Imperio Wealth Advisors in Coral Gables, Florida, doesn’t use the strategy because he said it could leave clients with fewer options.
“You can do it, but you’re stuck in there,” Sachs said.
While it’s possible to transfer the funds via another 351 conversion, “there aren’t many companies doing this,” said Haas, of Cereus Financial Advisors. And if you sell, you could see capital gains.
“That’s super important to think about,” he said. “You have to be happy with the ETF.”   More

Mortgage rates have declined in recent months, and with the potential for a Federal Reserve rate cut this fall, it’s smart for homeowners with high interest rates to start preparing for the opportunity to refinance, experts say.
“Getting the preparation done beforehand will allow you to move quickly,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images

Mortgage rates have declined in recent months, and with the potential for a Federal Reserve rate cut this fall, it’s smart for homeowners with high interest rates to start preparing for the opportunity to refinance, experts say.
Last week, mortgage rates slightly edged higher. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $806,500 or less, increased to 6.68% from 6.67% for the week ending Aug. 15.

But generally, rates have been edging down, reaching a 10-month low earlier in August.
Lower mortgage rates often result in lower borrowing costs for home loans. Many homeowners have already jumped on the opportunity in recent weeks.
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The refinance share of mortgage activity last week decreased to 46.1% of total applications from 46.5% the week prior, according to MBA data.
Whether the Fed cuts rates in September, it remains unclear how mortgage rates will react, according to Chen Zhao, head of economics research at Redfin. While the federal funds rate influences borrowing costs for Americans, mortgage rates closely track the 10-year Treasury yields, which are sensitive to changes in the economy.

Overall, experts say it is important for homeowners with higher-rate mortgages to start paying attention to interest rate movements, and preparing for opportunities to refinance.
“Getting the preparation done beforehand will allow you to move quickly,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.

‘You probably need to move quickly’

Before you refinance, you want to make sure mortgage rates have “dropped sufficiently” for you to see real savings, Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, recently told CNBC.
There are different rules of thumb used to determine when rates have declined enough. According to Redfin’s Zhao, homeowners should consider a refi if rates are at least 50 basis points lower than their current rate.
Rates can change fast, so it’s smart to know that target number and start preparing ahead of time, experts say.
“If you’re looking to refinance, especially in this type of interest rate climate, you need to be opportunistic, which means you probably need to move quickly,” said Gumbinger. 
Here are five key steps to take:

1. Take a look at your credit reports

First, pull your credit reports from all three bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — to understand how information on them is influencing your credit score. You can request them from the major credit bureaus for free via annualcreditreport.com.
Knowing this detail will help you get more accurate rate quotes from lenders, according to HSH. Unlike many other kinds of loans, with mortgages, lenders tend to look at scores from all three bureaus.
If you notice any errors that could be inadvertently hurting your score, the sooner you fix them, the better, experts say. Reach out to the creditor as well as the credit reporting bureau, and explain the situation, said Gumbinger.
However, it may take a bit of time to get the necessary parties involved and get the error fixed, he said. 

2. Protect your credit score

You want to protect your credit score as much as possible. Generally, the higher your credit score, the better terms and interest rates you qualify for.
If you plan to refinance in the near future, avoid doing things that could hurt your score, such as applying for new credit cards or other lines of credit, or making sudden, big purchases that you can’t pay off quickly, and avoid making late payments.

3. Estimate your level of home equity

After checking your credit history, estimate how much equity you have in your home. If you have at least 20% equity in your home, you will get better loan terms from lenders, according to Bankrate.

4. Start gathering essential documents

If you believe you’ll benefit from a refi soon, HSH recommends gathering the following documents:

Proof of homeowners insurance
Proof of income and assets
The latest copy of your existing mortgage statement
A copy of your property’s deed to show legal ownership
The latest property tax statement
The names and addresses of your employers for the past two years

You can also start putting aside funds to cover upfront costs associated with a refi, including an appraisal and credit reports. An appraisal fee can cost roughly $300 to $500, while a credit check fee is typically less than $30, according to Bankrate.

5. Start contacting mortgage lenders

There’s an advantage to beginning to research different lenders and what they offer before you actually want to refinance because interest rates move pretty quickly, said Gumbinger.
Rather than starting from scratch when you’re ready to refi, gathering contact information and learning about different loans, rates and terms ahead of time can be helpful, experts say.
“You don’t have to actually contact the lenders, but you can do some advance research to speed things along,” said Gumbinger.
Once you know you’re “actually ready to pull the trigger,” then you can seriously shop around, said Cohn.

Start with your existing lender, as they have a record history with you and may be able to offer a streamlined process, Gumbinger said. Once you shop around, you’ll want to pick the lender that offers you the best terms, such as the lowest interest rate, experts say. 
You could even start getting on their contact lists and ask them to reach out to you once it’s good for you to refinance, said Zhao. 
If you do refinance and interest rates happen to decline further, you can always repeat the process.
Just make sure “there’s a big enough gap to make it worthwhile,” Gumbinger said. More

Between the runup in home prices and high mortgage rates, housing affordability has taken a major hit in the last few years. 
Even with rates drifting lower, many would-be homebuyers are unsure about their next move.

Lorene Cowan, 44, thought she would own a home by now. However, in New York City, where Cowan lives and works, home prices have soared beyond reach.
“I would love to buy a home. That’s the next step,” said Cowan, a business and life coach. But “in New York, the entry in became so much more difficult,” she said.

In fact, New York notched the highest annual rise in home prices of all the metropolises in the latest Case-Shiller 20-city composite, up 7.4% in May compared with the prior year. The median listing price of a home in New York City is now more than $829,000, up 3.8% year over year, according to Realtor.com.
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In recent years, rising prices across the country have made it harder for first-time homebuyers to enter the market, causing many millennials such as Cowan to delay that traditional milestone.
Even a recent drop in mortgage rates has done little to change that affordability equation. Undersupply is contributing to high prices, “holding back first-time home buyers from entering the market,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, said in a recent statement.

The housing affordability problem

In the U.S., the median age of first-time homeowners is 38 years old, an all-time high, according to a 2024 report by the National Association of Realtors. In the 1980s, the typical first-time buyer was in their late 20s. And first-time buyers currently make up just 24% of the market, the lowest share on record, according to NAR. 

Millennials and Gen Z still believe in the dream of homeownership as a wealth-building opportunity and an achievement, said Matt Vernon, head of consumer lending at Bank of America. “It’s just taking longer for them,” he said.

Higher mortgage rates have also helped keep first-time homebuyers on the sidelines. 
Although mortgage rates fell recently to their lowest level since October, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is still just above 6.5%, according to Freddie Mac — a big leap from the under 3% levels near the start of the pandemic.

“The American consumer has gotten very used to the low-rate environment that has spanned over a decade,” said Vernon.
According to Bank of America’s latest homebuyer insights study, 60% of current homeowners and prospective buyers — a three-year high — said they’re unsure whether now is the right time to buy.
“Not knowing if rates are going to come down or go up is adding to the uncertainty in the marketplace,” Vernon said.

The housing lock-in effect 

Where rates could be headed is key.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference in July that the Fed hadn’t yet determined whether it would cut its benchmark interest rate at its September meeting.
However, even if the central bank does cut rates, “it’s not a guarantee that mortgage rates are going to fall and make housing more affordable,” said Ashley Weeks, a wealth strategist at TD Wealth.
“Mortgage rates are more directly tied to the 10-year Treasury, so it’s entirely possible mortgage rates remain flat or even increase regardless of where the Fed moves in September,” Weeks said.

Still, many prospective homebuyers believe lower rates will come and that will help ease the housing affordability problem.
Roughly 75% of prospective homebuyers expect home prices and interest rates to fall and are waiting until then to buy a new home, Bank of America also found in its survey of 2,000 adults in March and April.
About one-third, or 32%, of Americans said they would need mortgage rates to fall below 6% to feel comfortable buying this year, according to another recent report by Bankrate.
However, more than half — 51% — of those polled said they wouldn’t buy this year at any mortgage rate, a whopping 13 percentage point jump from Bankrate’s 2024 survey.
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Student loan borrowers enrolled in the Income Based Repayment, or IBR, plan remain blocked from debt forgiveness after the Trump administration instituted a pause on the relief.
Here’s what to know about the delays in debt cancellation, and what you can do about it.

Students study in the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas at Austin on February 22, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images

The Trump administration paused student loan forgiveness on a popular plan earlier this summer. It has not yet resumed the debt cancellation, and this week, lawmakers urged it to do so.
The U.S. Department of Education said earlier this summer that it was pausing the loan discharge component on the Income Based Repayment, or IBR, plan. That freeze remains in place.

It’s a setback to families who have been expecting — and are legally entitled to — the aid, lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday.
“At a time when Americans across the country are struggling to meet the costs of health care, food, housing, child care and other basic needs, it is unacceptable for the Trump administration to take any action that delays or denies legally mandated debt relief,” the lawmakers wrote.
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There are currently 1.97 million federal student loan borrowers enrolled in IBR, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
Here’s what borrowers should know about the plan’s paused loan cancellation.

How IBR forgiveness usually works

IBR is one of the Education Department’s income-driven repayment plans, also called IDRs.
Congress created the first IDR plans in the 1990s with the goal of making student loan borrowers’ bills more affordable. Historically, the plans cap people’s monthly payments at a share of their discretionary income and cancel any remaining debt after a certain period, typically 20 years or 25 years.
IBR will be one of only a few manageable repayment options left to millions of borrowers, after recent court actions and the passage by Congress of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.” That legislation phases out several income-driven repayment plans.

Under the terms of IBR, borrowers pay 10% of their discretionary income each month — and that share rises to 15% for certain borrowers with older loans.
Debt forgiveness is supposed to come after 20 years or 25 years, depending on when you took out your loans. (Older loans are subject to the longer timeline.)

Why IBR loan forgiveness is paused

The U.S. Department of Education told CNBC it paused loan forgiveness under IBR while it responds to recent court actions involving the Biden administration-era SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education, plan.
The department said that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in February, which blocked the SAVE plan, had other impacts on student loan repayment. For example, under the rule involving SAVE, certain periods during which borrowers postponed their payments would count toward their forgiveness timeline. With SAVE blocked, borrowers no longer get credit during those forbearances.
Ellen Keast, deputy press secretary at the Education Department, said in a late July statement that IBR discharges would resume “as soon as the Department is able to establish the correct payment count.”
The department did not immediately respond to questions about why the pause continues.
“The federal government does not move very quickly, but I would have expected some progress by now,” said Kantrowitz.

What borrowers can do in the meantime

The hold on IBR discharges shouldn’t impact student loan borrowers who are still years away from debt forgiveness, experts said. 
In fact, since IBR became available only in 2009, the soonest many borrowers could qualify for forgiveness would be 2034, Kantrowitz said. The current delay in debt erasure would most likely impact borrowers who’d previously been enrolled in another IDR plan — Income-Contingent Repayment, or ICR — and later switched to IBR.

I would have expected some progress by now.

Mark Kantrowitz
higher education expert

If you’re pursuing debt forgiveness under IBR, your payments made under the plan (or another income-driven repayment plan) will still be bringing you closer to debt cancellation, as long as you are enrolled in IBR when you become entitled to that relief.
If you expected your debt to be forgiven shortly, you should continue making payments, Kantrowitz said. You don’t want to be flagged as late, and any overpayments should be refunded to you, he added.

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Idrees Abbas | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Crypto stocks suffered Tuesday as investors fled tech stocks and riskier corners of the market.
Among crypto exchanges, Coinbase and eToro fell more than 5% and 6%, respectively, while Robinhood and Bullish both dropped more than 6%. Crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital tumbled 10%. In the burgeoning sector of crypto treasury firms, Strategy lost 7%, SharpLink Gaming slid 8%, Bitmine Immersion slumped 9% and DeFi Development tumbled 13%. Stablecoin issuer Circle lost 4.5%.

Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin pulled back nearly 3% to just over $113,000. Ether was down more than 5% to the $4,100 level, according to Coin Metrics.

Stock chart icon

Bitcoin over the past day

Investors appeared to rotate out of tech names Tuesday. The sector had seen a boost last week as traders weighed the prospect of more interest rate cuts. Also, bitcoin touched an intraday all-time high near $125,000 last week.
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite was down more than 1%, weighed down by declines in Nvidia and other tech heavyweights.
The crypto market tends to be vulnerable to moves in tech stocks due to their growth-oriented investor base, narrative-driven price action, speculative nature and tendency to thrive in low interest rate environments.
This week, investors are watching the Federal Reserve’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for clues around what could happen at the central bank’s remaining policy meetings this year. If Fed Chair Jerome Powell signals more dovish policy could be ahead, crypto may bounce.

“With Powell speaking at Jackson Hole, we typically see profit-taking ahead of his remarks,” said Satraj Bambra, CEO of hybrid exchange Rails. “Any time there’s communication uncertainty from the Fed, you can generally expect some profit-taking as traders de-risk their positions.”
Crypto stocks have had a solid run in recent months — thanks to the addition of Coinbase in the benchmark S&P 500 index, the successful IPO of Circle and the GENIUS Act stablecoin framework becoming law. However, investors expect a pullback in August and through the September Fed meeting, where they hope to see central bank policymakers implement rate cuts.

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ETF Strategist

ETF Street
ETF Strategist

This year’s wild market fluctuations haven’t done much to dim investor confidence, a new report by Fidelity found.
However, it’s a great time to reassess risk, according to certified financial planner Tim Maurer.
Exchange-traded funds, in particular, are a great tool for diversification with lower fees relative to mutual funds, Maurer said.

Recent bouts of market volatility haven’t done much to dim investor confidence, according to a new report.
After a year of wild market swings followed by the S&P 500 hitting fresh highs last week, nearly two-thirds of investors expect their portfolios to perform the same or better in the coming months, according to Fidelity Investments’ “State of the American Investor” study.

However, while newer investors are increasingly bullish, seasoned investors have a more pessimistic outlook and lower risk tolerance, likely from experiencing other periods of extreme market fluctuations, the report found.
Fidelity analyzed sentiment and behaviors of more than 2,000 adult “DIY investors,” or those who manage their own portfolios. The investors had at least $25,000 in investable assets outside of retirement and real estate.
New and more experienced investors should be asking themselves, “How much risk do I need to take? Your willingness to take risks is always going to be changing,” said Tim Maurer, a certified financial planner and the chief advisory officer at SignatureFD, based in Atlanta.
“We should always be calibrating,” he said.

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“Navigating shifting market conditions can be daunting,” said Josh Krugman, a senior vice president of brokerage at Fidelity Investments.

Although newer investors felt better about investing in nontraditional assets, such as crypto, investors with over a decade of experience are adopting a cautious approach for the year ahead while seeking out stable investments to accomplish their more conservative goals, Fidelity’s report also found. 
Focusing on the long term and adhering to a consistent investment strategy, along with a mix of investments, can help investors achieve better results over time, Krugman said. “That tends to help them get through the ups and downs of the market.”
Maintaining a well-diversified portfolio — including a mix of stocks and high-quality bonds, which have historically performed well during downturns — is key, other experts also say.
Exchange-traded funds or mutual funds, which are baskets of securities like stocks and bonds, “are easy vehicles to get a broad diversity of exposure to various asset classes,” Krugman said.

ETFs notch record growth

Exchange-traded funds, in particular, have gained popularity among investors, with ETF assets crossing the $10 trillion mark last year — a trend experts say is largely due to advantages like lower tax bills and fees relative to mutual funds.
“ETFs are one of the best ways for investors to get exposure to various swaths of the market at the lowest cost possible,” said Maurer, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.
Exchange-traded funds are generally known for passive strategies, but there has also been a surge in actively managed ETFs, with the goal of beating the performance of broader markets.
“Active and indexed ETFs are particularly popular because they price intraday,” Krugman said.
Unlike mutual funds, which can only be traded once a day after the market closes, ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the day and during extended hours.

‘You still need to look under the cover’

“ETFs are a fantastic innovation,” Maurer said.
“My caution is that just because something is an ETF, doesn’t mean it’s a great investment,” he added. “It’s the wrapper around the investment, rather than an investment itself — you still need to look under the cover.”

With potential economic headwinds in the back half of the year, there could be more volatility in store for markets, many experts say.
That makes this “a great time for investors to be reassessing risk,” Maurer said, depending on their individual goals, life changes and time horizon, including keeping a certain amount of cash “especially if that market volatility is causing you to lose sleep.” 

The benefits of buffer ETFs

So-called buffer exchange-traded funds could also provide some downside protection.
Buffer ETFs, also known as defined-outcome ETFs, use options contracts to offer investors a predefined range of outcomes over a set period. The funds are tied to an underlying index, such as the S&P 500.
But these ETFs also come with higher fees than traditional ETFs and typically need to be held for a year to get the full benefit.
“It can be a helpful tool for those who would like extra layers of protection. But there’s always going to be a cost that comes with whatever protections you are going to get, and that’s often going to be limited upside,” Maurer said.
Despite the trade-off, buffer ETFs could be a good option as you reassess your risk tolerance, he said. 
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The Trump administration has proposed changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that it said “may delay or prevent forgiveness for a subset of borrowers.”
The U.S. Department of Education said the plan would halt the loan relief for employees “of organizations that are undermining national security and American values through illegal means, and therefore not providing a public service.”

Nathan Howard | Reuters

The Trump administration is moving to “prevent benefits” for some student loan borrowers under the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, according to an announcement on Monday.
The U.S. Department of Education said it issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on its regulations to halt loan forgiveness under PSLF for employees “of organizations that are undermining national security and American values through illegal means.”

PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows many not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years of payments.
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For now, the language used by the Trump administration on how it will determine an organization is ineligible is vague, which advocates say could help it nix any nonprofit it doesn’t approve of. Organizations that provide support to undocumented immigrants or transgender people, for example, could be at risk, they say.
“Public Service Loan Forgiveness was enacted in a bipartisan way to help incentivize hardworking people to go into public service,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. “The Trump administration is trying, through executive authority, to limit who can access this benefit based on a litmus test of who they like and who they don’t like.”
People can comment on the proposed rules at Regulations.gov. on or before Sept. 17, the Education Department said.

In its proposed rule, the department says the changes “may delay or prevent forgiveness for a subset of borrowers.”

What it means for student loan borrowers

Experts say borrowers’ best option right now is to stay the course, assuming their current employer has previously been considered qualifying.
That’s because it remains unclear exactly which organizations will no longer be considered a qualifying employer for PSLF under the Trump’s administration’s regulations. And some experts say the changes to eligibility could be challenged in court.

Whatever the outcome, the overhaul of the PSLF program can’t be retroactive, said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.
That means that if you are currently working for or previously worked for an organization that the Trump administration later excludes from the program, you’ll still get credit for that time — at least up until the rule changes go into effect.
“If an organization is deemed illegal, the borrower can switch jobs to another that isn’t considered illegal,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
The proposed narrowing of PSLF comes at the same time that more than 72,000 borrowers are stuck in a backlog of applications waiting for relief under the program. More