Investing

George Kinder is recognized as the father of the “life planning” movement of financial advice.
Consumers often put the emphasis in the wrong areas when it comes to personal finance, Kinder said.
His “three questions” aim to uncover your goals and desires, and inspire you to take steps to achieve those dreams financially.

George Kinder
Kinder Institute

George Kinder wants everyone to be free.
At first blush, that concept of personal fulfillment or enlightenment may seem better suited to the realms of religion or spirituality than personal finance.

But Kinder, who’s recognized as the father of the “life planning” branch of financial advice, has preached the interconnection of finance and freedom for decades.
In fact, his new book — “The Three Domains of Freedom” — is a treatise on the topic.
“There are kinds of goals that are profoundly inspiring to clients,” Kinder, who founded the Kinder Institute of Life Planning in 2003 after three decades as a financial planner and tax advisor, said in an interview.
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He’s perhaps best known for his “three questions,” which aim to help people uncover the essence of their life goals.

“If you identify those and really paint the picture of what [someone’s] life would be like if they actually had that life, clients are on fire and they solve the financial problems pretty quickly and pretty easily,” Kinder said.
CNBC spoke with Kinder about life planning and why he thinks many people miss the point when it comes to managing their money. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

‘You should be focused on your dream of freedom’

Greg Iacurci: What is the basic premise of the life planning movement?
George Kinder: The basic premise is that financial planning is about delivering a client into freedom. Every person has a dream of freedom, and they ought to be living it. And that goes for people who don’t have any money, people who are in debt, as well as people who have lots of money.
The focus shifts from money — where we have a lot of anxiety and there are a lot of tasks to do — to freedom. What does it actually look like, feel like, and what are the steps to get there?

GI: What do you mean by freedom?
GK: I think each of us has our own feeling for it, and the way we get at it is through the three questions.
If people just focus on the money, they lose track of who it is they really want to be and what it is they want to do. And often they assume, “Maybe I can’t do that until retirement, or maybe I’ll never get there. So I don’t really want to face it. I’ll just try to be more efficient around [my] money.”
The premise of life planning is, no, you should be focused on your dream of freedom, and do some of these exercises to discover what it is. And then you’ll find that the money side of it goes much smoother, because it doesn’t feel like an onerous task.

‘People get lost in the daily stuff’

GI: You think people are blindly saving money or trying to amass wealth without really considering what it’s for?
GK: Everybody I’ve met does that. This is endemic across civilization. People get lost in the daily stuff of it, and they don’t have a structure. Without really having that dream of freedom, the [financial] tasks are tough to follow.
GI: The three questions help underline what is most important to people and what they want to do with their life — it gets them thinking about how they might apply their money to furthering those goals?
GK: Exactly. It puts your eyes on the prize. People don’t know what they’re aiming at, really. I think they end up aiming at things that they read in financial journals or The Wall Street Journal or personal finance blogs. They’re thinking that they’ve got to just fix their IRA and do more budgeting. They get lost in that rather than always keeping their eyes on, “OK, this has a reason, and the reason is that I want to live this kind of life, and if I do these things [then] I can get there, and get there in relatively short order.”

George Kinder
Kinder Institute

GI: But that’s not necessarily to say that the way that people are saving is wrong, right? You hear these rules of thumb, like you should be saving at least 15% of your income towards retirement. You’re just saying to question why you’re doing that?
GK: It’s not wrong. And moreover, if you read good advice columns, or if you’ve read books or you have an advisor, you’ve got a pretty good bead on how to save and how to invest and all of that. So it’s not wrong. But the focus is off, so that you’re lost.
You said, “saving 15% for retirement.” Well, why are we using the frame “retirement”? What I would argue is a much, much more potent and appropriate term for every human being is “freedom.” And freedom might happen in a year, it might happen in six years. It doesn’t necessarily have to time with what we normally think of as retirement.
GI: Basically, don’t necessarily put off your goals and ambitions until you retire.
GK: Exactly. When we look at these things, we look at, how can we make this happen very, very shortly. Usually by “very shortly” I mean sometimes it’s within a matter of months, and is almost always within a matter of three years, and is usually within a matter of about a year and a half.
It may mean that you’re not getting what it is that you want exactly, but you’re really on the road to it, and you feel a lot of freedom from it.
For instance, if your dream is to live in the country and you’re living in the city: Maybe you do a two-week vacation every once in a while off in the country [but now] maybe you’re doing four or six weeks. Maybe you’re doing more remote work. Maybe you’re already looking at where it is you want to stay, and figuring out how, in a year or two, you can spend three months there. So you’re moving actively toward the freedom as part of the program of financial planning, of your financial life.

‘We only experience freedom in the present moment’

GI: Do you think that this is something that everyone could put into practice, or do you think this is more a luxury that people with means are better suited for? Maybe they’re able to more easily achieve that freedom financially.
GK: When we frame it in terms of financial freedom, then yes, of course, the people who have more means are more capable of it.
But I grew up in a very poor part of the country. I was born in West Virginia and lived across the border in rural Ohio. I think what you realize when you grow up with people who are not well-to-do is you realize every single one of them has a dream of freedom. Every one of them wants to live a life that is extraordinary for them.

So, I would say absolutely this is available for everyone. And the primary reason is that when you arrive at the dream of freedom, if you do it well, you get extremely energized. You get vigorous around its accomplishment. So that’s why it’s not so much about money as it is about the building of passion of who it is you really want to be.
GI: How does your new book further your work on life planning?
GK: The centerpiece of the book is giving inspiration and tips on doing your own life plan, so that you’re living [it]. The second subtitle of “The Three Domains of Freedom” is “Your Life Is Yours.” That portion of the book is dedicated to inspiring the consumer to do it themselves, and if they can’t do it themselves, then to find a fiduciary who combines these things to help with it.
There are two other elements. They may seem far afield, but they’re not really.

Why are we using the frame ‘retirement’? What I would argue is a much, much more potent and appropriate term for every human being is ‘freedom.’

George Kinder
founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning

We only experience freedom in the present moment. It’s the only moment we ever experience. I dedicate a third of the book to how to get mastery of the present moment itself, and mindfulness plays a big role in that. In terms of personal finance, it helps because the more that you’re not twisted and torn in the present moment, the more that you’re not struggling or neurotic in some way, the more you’re at peace and the more accessible your decisions.
And then the final third [of the book] takes the notion of “fiduciary” and applies it. What if, in addition to being able to have financial advisors that are fiduciaries, what if every institution, every corporation, every nonprofit, every government, was a fiduciary to the truth, to democracy, to the planet, to humanity? What I’m doing is saying, let’s require them to be fiduciaries, ahead of their own self-interest. And if we did that, I think it would solve the craziness that we’re in. More

In an aerial view, customers leave a Planet Fitness gym on May 09, 2024 in Richmond, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

September started on a rough note for the U.S. stock market, with certain economic readings showing signs of weakness.
Ignoring the near-term noise, investors looking for stock picks can consider the recommendations of top Wall Street analysts. These experts conduct research and assess the ability of a company to navigate headwinds and deliver growth over the long term.

Bearing that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Planet Fitness
This week’s first pick is Planet Fitness (PLNT), a franchisor and operator of over 2,600 fitness centers. The company recently reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter and reiterated its full-year guidance. Management attributed the Q2 performance to the strength of the company’s asset-light franchise model.
Recently, Baird analyst Jonathan Komp reaffirmed a buy rating on PLNT stock with a price target of $92. The analyst assigned the stock a new “Bullish Fresh Pick” designation, as he is optimistic about the company’s initiatives under the new leadership and other growth drivers.
The analyst noted that management has made efforts to enhance return on invested capital for new units through higher pricing, reduced capital expenditure and extended remodel timelines. CEO Colleen Keating aims to further strengthen the company’s position by bolstering its leadership, improving members’ experience, and enhancing marketing efforts.     
Aside from the new leadership, Komp cited several reasons for his bullish thesis, including Planet Fitness’ solid consumer value proposition and a high-margin franchise model that is expected to be resilient in a tough macro environment.  

The analyst added that “growing cash return capacity, and range of drivers into 2025E position the stock well for a slowing growth environment.”
Komp ranks No. 266 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 56% of the time, delivering an average return of 15.1%. (See Planet Fitness Stock Charts on TipRanks) 
Ross Stores
We move to off-price retail chain Ross Stores (ROST). The retailer reported upbeat results for the second quarter, as it attracted customers with its enhanced value offerings. Ross Stores raised its full-year earnings guidance to reflect the demand for its discounted offerings and additional efficiencies.
In reaction to the strong Q2 print, TD Cowen analyst John Kernan reaffirmed a buy rating on Ross Stores stock and raised the price target to $185 from $173. The analyst expects the company’s enhanced merchandising efforts to drive upside to the guidance for the second half of the year.
Kernan highlighted that management’s initiatives to bolster Ross Stores’ value offerings and an increased mix of branded merchandise across certain categories, including ladies apparel and cosmetics, have fueled the company’s comparable sales for the past several quarters.
Kernan noted that the company’s margins and earnings are also benefiting from the merchandising efforts and cost savings across distribution, logistics and store networks. Overall, the analyst expects ROST’s operating margin to expand to more than 13% by fiscal 2028 from 11.3% in fiscal 2023. 
“We believe ROST’s valuation discount to TJX is still too wide (given similar growth and ROIC profiles), which could produce upside to ROST in the near-term,” said Kernan.   
Kernan ranks No. 795 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 54% of the time, delivering an average return of 7.8%. (See Ross Stores Technical Analysis on TipRanks)
SentinelOne
Finally, there is cybersecurity provider SentinelOne (S). The company reported market-beating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. This marked the first time that the company delivered positive net income and earnings per share on an adjusted basis. SentinelOne also raised its full-year revenue guidance, backed by robust momentum and the strength of its AI-powered Singularity Platform.
Following the results, Baird analyst Shrenik Kothari reiterated a buy rating on SentinelOne stock with a price target of $29. The analyst noted the company’s strong Q2 performance and the 32% growth in the annual recurring revenue, driven by new business and solid expansion within the existing customer base due to emerging products across cloud, data and AI. 
Kothari added that despite a challenging macro backdrop, the company upgraded its full-year outlook with expectations of improved net-new ARR in the second half of the year. The upgraded outlook reflects stronger pipeline retention and better win rates, backed by notable progress in the company’s go-to-market strategy.
Commenting on the expectations of SentinelOne benefiting from the July IT outage led by rival CrowdStrike, Kothari thinks that the management is taking a “prudent” stance. Highlighting the resilience of SentinelOne’s offerings, management noted that there has been a shift in sentiment after the outage, with growing interest in the company’s platform from some of the world’s largest organizations.    
“Overall, S is executing well on its transition to the new operating model and strong RPO [remaining performance obligation] growth (40% y/y) suggests durable demand and potential upside to the prudent outlook,” said Kothari.
Kothari ranks No. 233 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 69% of the time, delivering an average return of 22.1%. (See SentinelOne Hedge Funds Trading Activity on TipRanks) More

In Stacey D’Erasmo’s new book, “The Long Run,” she interviews artists who are late in their careers.
What interested D’Erasmo was not what got these artists going, but what kept them going over decades of life.

Carol Yepes | Moment | Getty Images

In Stacey D’Erasmo’s new book, “The Long Run,” she interviews artists who are late in their careers.
There’s dancer and performer Valda Setterfield, who performed through her 80s despite serious injuries from a car accident in her 40s. There’s writer Samuel Delany, now 82, who has published more than 40 books although he’s dyslexic.

D’Erasmo also provides anecdotes from artists of the past, including that Monet painted his impressionist water lilies the way he did because his vision was deteriorating from cataracts.

Author Stacey D’Erasmo
Photo: Sarah Shatz

What interested D’Erasmo was not what got these artists going, but what kept them going over decades of life. Romanticized ideas of the starving artist, she says, ignore the reality that art is made “by real people with real needs in real places.” Those include financial realities, which often require balancing one’s art with another job.
“What gets us started — those first few years, or perhaps those early moments of artistic ignition — is brief, fiery, and beautiful, of course,” D’Erasmo said. “It’s a story the culture loves to tell as in, say, ‘A Star is Born.'”
On the other hand, she said, “The story of duration, of a sensibility unfolding over time and the life that evolves to keep art at the center is a story that gets told less often. To me, that is such a heroic story.”
CNBC interviewed D’Erasmo, the author of five novels and two nonfiction books, by email this month. (The conversation has been edited and condensed for style and clarity.)

‘When you starve the artist, you starve artmaking’

Annie Nova: Why is it a heroic story when someone sticks to their art over a lifetime?
Stacey D’Erasmo: In this world, it is so hard to do that. As a writer who knows lots of other writers and artists, I’ve experienced firsthand the urgency of this question: How do we keep doing this, on all levels? Which is to say: How do I support a complex and often difficult practice that means everything to me, even though it may not immediately, or ever, produce money, glory or approval? That’s not a three-act drama, roll credits. It’s a life.
AN: The idea of the “starving artist” is a familiar trope in our culture. What does it get wrong? How does financial stability help to create art?
SD: Well, if all the artists were starving, they’d be dead, and we wouldn’t have any art! That trope romanticizes deprivation, and it’s a fantasy of art as some sort of magic that can live on nothing, but art doesn’t get made in some ethereal realm. It’s made by real people with real needs in real places.
Financial stability is a godsend to the artist, primarily because the less you have to think about money, the more you can think about what truly matters to you. In this country, though, even basic financial stability can be very hard to come by, as we know. Among other things, that is never good for the arts. When you starve the artist, you starve artmaking.

We long endlessly for more time.

Stacey D’Erasmo

AN: What do you see with people balancing a job to pay the bills with their art? Does it matter if the job is related to their art?
SD: I would say that 99% of the artists and writers I know balance a bill-paying job with their own work. Whether it’s related to one’s art or not is a matter of temperament: Some people love to do something totally unrelated, and others want to be immersed in cultural work.
The problem people constantly face is that the day job’s demands are often urgent — things need to happen today, this week, right now, before 5. That’s true whether your job is woodworking or running a gallery. Art-making has its own idiosyncratic clock. The difference between these two clocks is hard to navigate, which is why I and nearly everyone I know pines not so much for money per se as for time. We long endlessly for more time.

‘There really is no free lunch’ for artists

AN: The artists profiled in your book work in all different mediums. Do some take more money to sustain than others?
SD: Film, as we all know, just inhales money. Even the lowest-budget film costs way more than what it costs a writer to sit down at their desk and write. Visual art requires all sorts of materials. Dance requires not only costumes and lighting and so on, not to mention dancers who need to eat, but rehearsal space, and space often does not come cheap. Artists, writers and arts organizations all spend a fair amount of time seeking grants and other sources of funding just to keep the lights on. Writing is probably the cheapest medium in terms of art creation, but distributing it in the world — publishing, also requires a fair amount of money that someone has to pay. Sadly, there really is no free lunch.
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AN: How does economic inequality determine who gets to make art?
SD: That’s a book-length question, but the short answer is: A lot.
I would also say that economic inequality is most brutal not only in who gets to make art, but also in who gets to have a career and a life in art. I live in New York City, and I see acts of creation everywhere every day: a person walking down the street who has put together a fantastic look, a person making glorious graffiti, or something like ball culture, which you can now see in the glossy television show “Pose.” All of those people are making art, but the structural inequality of opportunity means that few of them would ever be able to build a life around it. We’re missing out greatly on what those people might be able to do not for a moment or a season, but for decades.

‘As the artist changes over time, so does the art’

Valda Setterfield attends the Hold My Hand Forever Exhibition By Forevermark at Highline Studios in New York City, Nov. 17, 2014.
Dustin Harris | Getty Images

AN: There are some artistic professions that come with an early retirement age. I’m thinking of dancers. How do people reinvent themselves after an early end to a career?
SD: Some dancers become choreographers. Some actors move into directing — think of someone like Ron Howard. But that makes it sound seamless or easy, and often it isn’t. Valda Setterfield, a dancer whom I profile in the book, had a horrific car accident at 40 and she thought her life on stage might be over. Her husband, choreographer David Gordon, helped her learn to move again, and she also began to do more theater and film work, which continued for the rest of her life.
Vera Wang was an aspiring Olympic figure skater, but she didn’t make the Olympic team in 1968. Then she turned to fashion. Later, she began designing costumes for Olympic-level figure skaters such as Nancy Kerrigan and Michelle Kwan. When I look at Wang’s designs, it seems to me that they have a precision and grace not unlike a figure skater’s balletic moves.
Often, people reinvent themselves by opening up a slightly different channel through which their gifts can flow

AN: What advantages do middle and later career artists hold over younger ones?
SD: So much more comfort with the weirdness, unpredictability and challenges of the process. You’re just not as freaked out all the time. I don’t mind my own stumbling. I also don’t feel as brittle or defensive. When I was younger, for instance, I would look at all the incredible writers who had come before me, and who were around me, and feel terribly intimidated by the depth and breadth of the field.
But now, it all looks to me like this extraordinary abundance. If you’re fortunate enough to have a long run, there can be so much freedom in mid- and late career.
AN: How do you see people’s art change as they get older?
SD: Again: a book-length question, and several books have been written about it, such as Edward Said’s “Late Style.” What I noticed about the people I interviewed is that their work changed, and changed again, over time. They weren’t waxwork replicas of their younger selves.
The musician Steve Earle, for instance, who came up as a rollicking solo artist in country music in Nashville in the ’70s and ’80s, has moved increasingly toward musical theater in the latter half of his life — a collaborative, multimedia form. The renowned writer Samuel Delany has traversed myriad genres over the course of his life. Intuitively, it makes sense. As the artist changes over time, so does the art, because we make it out of ourselves.

‘Creativity isn’t a machine’

Arrows pointing outwards

AN: In the end, what were the biggest things you found that helped people sustain a creative life?
SD: As we get older, the willingness to be open, to be vulnerable, to be a beginner, to be out of one’s comfort zone can get a little stiff. You aren’t always so confident that you won’t break something, literally or figuratively. Shame lurks around. But the people who have sustained what looks to me like a truly alive creative practice are the ones who are willing to take the risk of flopping. I hope that I am able to risk embarrassment for the rest of my life.
AN: What can people do if they hit a period of disillusionment with their art or creativity?
SD: Remember that it happens to everyone — this I know for a fact. Creativity isn’t a machine, it’s an organism. Organisms get tired, bored, distracted, daunted, ornery. Stop. Take a walk — and by this I mean: Go somewhere else, do something different, maybe for an hour, maybe for a year. Or several. Keep walking. Look around. What do you see? More

A Forward Air Corportation truck.
Courtesy: Business Wire

Company: Forward Air (FWRD)

Business: Forward Air is an asset-light provider of transportation services. These transportation services include less-than-truckload (LTL), truckload and intermodal drayage services and freight brokerage and supply chain services across North America, Europe and Asia. Its segments include Expedited Freight, Intermodal and Omni Logistics.
Stock Market Value: $884.7M ($31.94 per share)

Stock chart icon

Forward Air’s performance in 2024

Activist: Ancora Advisors

Percentage Ownership: approximately 4%
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Ancora is primarily a family wealth investment advisory firm and fund manager with $9.5 billion in assets under management. The firm has an alternative asset management division that manages approximately $1.3 billion. It was founded in 2003, and it hired James Chadwick in 2014 to pursue activist efforts in niche areas like banks, thrifts and closed-end funds. Ancora’s website lists “small cap activist” as part of its products and strategies, and its tactics have evolved in recent years. From 2010 to 2020, the majority of Ancora’s activism was 13D filings on micro-cap companies, and in the past few years they have taken a greater number of sub-5% stakes in larger companies. The alternatives team has a track record of using private and when necessary, public engagement with portfolio companies to catalyze corporate governance improvements and long-term value creation.

What’s happening

On Aug. 20, Ancora sent a letter to Forward Air’s board. The firm called for the initiation of a strategic review by independent legal and financial advisors, noting that improving operations and fixing the balance sheet would be better achieved as a private company.

Behind the scenes

Forward Air is an asset-light transportation company focused on expedited less-than truckload markets; all their goods are transported by ground. The company offers an alternative time-definite delivery solution at a lower cost than traditional air freight, and it also has various other transportation services including intermodal drayage, brokerage and final mile. However, most of its profits are generated by the core Expedited LTL business (80% in 2023).

Ancora has a nearly four-year history at Forward Air, initially filing a 13D on Dec. 28, 2020, and ultimately settling for two board seats on March 15, 2021. This campaign was concentrated on capital allocation, cost cutting, margin improvements and shedding non-core or underperforming assets. By late 2021, the stock began performing better after the company cleaned up the business, bringing the price to over $120 per share. Ancora exited in February 2022 and made a 58.63% return on its investment versus 5.13% for the Russell 2000 over the same period.
However, by late 2023, the company’s stock price began to languish. In October 2023, Ancora announced that it had again become a top shareholder when the stock was trading in the low-$70s. This came following the company’s announcement in August 2023, that it would acquire one of its top five customers, Omni Logistics, at 18-times trailing earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, well above the multiple at which the company was trading. Forward Air’s stock tumbled following the announcement. Ancora vehemently opposed the deal, stating that it viewed the transaction as an entrenchment of management and the board to ensure excessive levels of compensation, and the firm argued that the deal was structured to avoid a shareholder vote. Ultimately, despite Ancora’s objections, the Omni deal closed on Jan. 25, 2024, and Ancora sold down its position in the first quarter of 2024. Since that time, the stock sank as low as $11.21 in May and is now trading in the low $30’s.
When an investor publicly agitates for a sale of the company with no detailed analysis on alternative paths to value creation, we often view such campaigns negatively as short-term opportunistic engagements, which do not showcase shareholder activism in a good light. But, in this case, Ancora ran two prior campaigns, the first of which was long-term oriented, highly successful and based upon thoughtful analysis for business improvement and collaboration. The second was launched after Ancora’s two directors resigned from the board. Ancora is now back at Forward Air once more – now as a top 10 shareholder with a position of approximately 4% – and after the company has drastically changed due to the Omni Logistics acquisition. This time the activist’s message is simple: Hire advisors and sell the company. Ancora acknowledges the path to value creation as a public company. However, the firm notes that if the company remains public, it will need to flawlessly execute to achieve deal-related synergies, cut excess costs, fix its highly levered balance sheet and grow in a profitable manner. Ancora sees this as a Herculean feat, especially for this management team and board, many of whom oversaw questionable decisions like the debt-funded acquisition of Omni.
Simply put, Forward Air is a great company that did a bad deal. It now has an over-levered balance sheet and bloated selling, general and administrative expenses. What needs to be done here – sell off non-core assets and restructure operations – is best done in private. Moreover, these are also the things that private equity funds excel at. It just so happens that private equity firm, Clearlake Capital, made the rare move of filing a 13D with language suggesting their desire to engage with the board about strategic alternatives. While this does not necessarily mean that Clearlake is the clear potential acquirer, the firm could certainly put the company in play with an offer. Clearlake owns a 13.8% stake, and Ancora owns about 4%. Irenic Capital built a nearly 5% stake earlier this year and called for a strategic review, including weighing a possible sale of the Forward Air. The key investor to watch here is major stockholder Ridgemont Equity. Ancora has two ways to force a sale of the company – through persuasion or through a proxy fight, and either way is likely going to require the support of Ridgemont, which also has two board seats at Forward Air. However, Ridgemont acquired its stake as a large shareholder of Omni Logistics and retained its ownership in the surviving company. So, there is no reason to believe the firm would not roll over its equity again in a private equity takeout. The one potential roadblock to a private equity acquisition is the company’s large debt load of approximately $1.6 billion with interest payments already suffocating the cash flow private equity investors love so much.
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 13D investments. More

Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for a higher capital gains tax rate, and financial advisors have tips for top earners who could be affected.
The presidential candidate proposed a 28% tax on long-term capital gains, or assets owned for more than one year, for households making more than $1 million annually.
The plan is lower than the 39.6% rate proposed by President Joe Biden for the same group in his fiscal year 2025 budget.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Sept. 4, 2024.
Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images

‘We don’t make any changes until the law has passed’

Currently, investors pay 0%, 15% or 20% for long-term capital gains, plus an extra 3.8% net investment income tax, or NIIT, once modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI, exceeds $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married couples filing together. Harris’ plan would also increase the NIIT to 5%, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Profitable assets owned for one year or less are subject to regular income tax rates, which will increase after 2025 without action from Congress.

Both Biden’s and Harris’ tax proposals would require congressional approval. But with future control of the Senate and the House uncertain, many financial advisors are monitoring plans before taking action.
“We don’t make any changes until the law has passed,” said certified financial planner and enrolled agent Louis Barajas, who is CEO of International Private Wealth Advisors in Irvine, California.
“I think there are sometimes knee-jerk reactions to some of these proposals,” added Barajas, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Although former President Donald Trump has voiced broad support for tax cuts, he has not outlined a capital gains tax proposal.
The topic was addressed in Project 2025, a “vision for a conservative administration” created by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation with more than 100 other right-leaning organizations.
Project 2025 called for capital gains and qualified dividends to be levied at 15% for higher earners. The plan would also abolish the NIIT.
Several former Trump officials have been directly affiliated with Project 2025, but Trump has distanced himself from the plan.

Who could be hit with higher capital gains taxes

Biden’s proposed higher capital gains taxes would apply to taxable income of more than $1 million per year, or $500,000 for married couples filing separately, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Those amounts would be indexed for inflation. 
However, the proposed higher capital gains tax could also affect lower earners with a one-time sale of a business or commercial property, experts say. 
“There will be more tax planning, especially for people who are maybe in their 60s and 70s, who have rental properties and want to sell them,” Barajas said. But timing a sale, depending on other income, could affect the bottom line.  
Biden’s higher capital gains rate would apply only to capital earnings above the $1 million threshold. For example, if someone has $1.1 million of taxable income and $200,000 of that is capital gains, they would owe the higher rate on $100,000, according to the Treasury.

“If somebody is over the $1 million, it could easily be from a number of different sources,” such as stock sales and required minimum distributions, said CFP John Chichester Jr., founder and CEO of Chichester Financial Group in Phoenix. He is also a certified public accountant.
But there are several ways to reduce your yearly income and avoid the higher tax rate, such as using capital losses carried over from previous years, he said. As of Sept. 5, the S&P 500 was up more than 16% year to date, but some individual assets could provide tax-loss harvesting opportunities. More

More than any other day, online shopping discounts reach their peak on Fridays, a recent report found.
Here’s how to make the most of the deals while avoiding the pitfalls of “spaving.”

Coupons have come a long way from Sunday circulars. And for consumers stretching to make ends meet, they are as indispensable as ever.
Now, with online codes, browser extensions and money-saving apps, there are more ways to find significant discounts at any time — but how good the deals are still depends on the day.

Overall, Friday is the best day for consumers to save money while shopping online, according to a recent study by SimplyCodes. The site assessed coupon release patterns in marketing emails from 30,000 merchants between March and July.
As payday approaches, there is a notable uptick in coupon activity, especially for women’s clothing, skin care and alcohol, SimplyCodes found.
Roughly 52% of coupon codes are released between Wednesday and Friday, before the weekend lull, when fewer new coupons are sent out. On Friday alone, the number of coupons released jumps 19%.

Beware of ‘spaving’

Whether it’s a “limited-time deal” or “buy one, get one free” or simply free shipping, the couponing opportunities are almost overwhelming.
But the lure of a good deal can also lead to excessive buying habits and high-interest credit card debt if you aren’t careful, said consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch.

In fact, so-called “spaving,” or spending more to save more, is an all-too-common pitfall.

In that case, before you buy, consider whether a deal is really worth it, said Julie Ramhold, a consumer analyst at DealNews.com.
For example, “If you’re ordering a few items that are already on sale and you’re far from reaching a free shipping threshold, it might be worth using a coupon code to drop the shipping cost to something like $1.99 rather than filling your cart with more items to get ‘free’ shipping — this way you’re still spending less overall,” Ramhold said.
“At the same time, if you’re stocking up and have a coupon for 25% off your total purchase, it’s probably not worth becoming preoccupied with getting free shipping if the overall savings on your items make the shipping costs negligible,” she added.

How to make the most of a deal, without spaving

If you are planning a big purchase — or any purchase at all — sign up for a store e-newsletter and mobile alerts, or follow brands and stores on social media to get a coupon for in-store or online savings, Woroch advised.
A price-tracking browser extension such as CamelCamelCamel or Keepa can also help you keep an eye on price changes and alert you when a price drops.
Then, save even more by applying a coupon on top of an already discounted item. “Some stores even let you use more than one coupon on the same order. This could be a coupon for money off, free shipping or a free gift with purchase,” Woroch said.
You can search for coupons by store name to find deals quickly using a deal aggregator like CouponCabin.com or RetailMeNot.
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However, it is also important to avoid the temptation to overspend, Woroch cautioned.
If store emails and texts prompt you to shop when you otherwise would not, it may be best to quiet the noise altogether. “Delete shopping apps on your phone that alert you to the latest sale and unsubscribe from store newsletters,” she said.
“Instead, look for coupons only when you need them” with a browser plug-in such as SideKick, which scans for applicable codes, Woroch advised.
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on September 05, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

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Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the S&P 500 posted its third straight losing day and what’s on the radar for the next session.

The jobs report

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The U.S. 10-year yield in 2024

The airlines

It was a big day for some of the airlines. We’ll be watching to see if optimism from JetBlue will carry through.
JetBlue was up 7% Thursday as it hiked revenue expectations.
After hours, the stock picked up another 1% as the company’s third largest shareholder, Vladimir Galkin bought more shares.
JetBlue is 29% from the 52-week high hit back in in April. Shares remain under $6 apiece.
United Airlines picked up 2% on Thursday. The stock is 20% from the May high.
American Airlines was up 1.6%. It is 33% from the March high.
Delta Air Lines closed 0.5% lower Thursday. The stock is 22% from the May high.

The truckers and transports

CNBC TV’s Frank Holland, anchor of “Worldwide Exchange” and our transports beat reporter, noted there were big losses across the board Thursday due to recent negative trends in the industry.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services fell 2% Thursday. It is 23% from the February high.
Knight-Swift Transportation tumbled 3.3% Thursday. It is down 17% from the February high.
Werner Enterprises dropped 2.4%. The stock is 16% from the December high.
Landstar lost about 2%. The stock is 10% from the December high.
Saia slid 4.5% Thursday. The stock is down 36% from the March high.
Schneider National lost nearly 2%. The stock is 8% from the September 2023 high.
XPO fell 9.6% Thursday. The stock is 21% from the April high.
Old Dominion closed lower by roughly 5%. Shares are 18% below the April high.

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XPO’s YTD performance

Berkshire Hathaway and the 9-day win streak

Berkshire’s winning run came to an end on Thursday.
From Aug. 21’s close — the day before Berkshire’s win streak began — through Sept. 5, the company’s B-shares gained 4.1%. That includes Thursday’s decline. 
One A-share will cost you $696,160. The B-shares are valued at $464.92 apiece.

Roblox

Roblox CEO David Baszucki will be on “Closing Bell: Overtime” at 4 p.m. Friday.
The stock behind this popular gaming company was at $134 a share in the winter of 2021.
Roblox shares ended Thursday’s trading at $43.71. The stock is 7.4% from the December high. More

Payscale’s recent college salary report found that petroleum engineering is currently the highest-paying major overall.
In general, STEM majors — science, technology, engineering and math — consistently rank the highest among the most financially rewarding college degrees. 

College still pays off, but the return on investment largely depends on your choice of major.
College graduates earn 37% more than those with only a high school diploma, according to a new report by Payscale. But as the cost of a degree rises, it is increasingly important to consider both your area of concentration and future earnings potential before taking out student loans to pay for college, most experts say.

Often, a good rule of thumb is not to borrow more than you expect to earn as a starting salary.
More from Personal Finance:Nearly half of student loan borrowers expect debt forgivenessThe sticker price at some colleges is now nearly $100,000 a yearMore of the nation’s top colleges roll out no-loan policies
“The fact remains that a college degree significantly impacts earning power,” said Amy Stewart, Payscale’s principal of research and insights.
“Choosing a school or major with strong income potential could cut your student loan repayment time in half, so it’s crucial to consider all your options — particularly for those who are on the fence about the value of a formal education.”
To that end, Payscale ranked which majors are the most financially rewarding, after accounting for salaries at the entry level and median income years down the road.

Highest-earning bachelor’s degrees

Students who pursue a major specifically in science, technology, engineering or math — collectively known as STEM disciplines — are projected to earn the most overall, Payscale’s college salary report found.

Arrows pointing outwards

For the second year in a row, petroleum engineering holds the top spot for highest-paying bachelor’s degrees in 2024. Graduates in the field earn just shy of figures starting out and more than $200,000 with 10 or more years of experience.
After petroleum engineering, operations research and industrial engineering followed by electrical engineering and computer science are the next highest-paying majors, overall, both with higher starting salaries — over $100,000 — but lower mid-career pay.
Payscale’s college salary report is based on alumni salary data from 3.1 million respondents nationwide.  
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