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Federal student loan borrowers still have the option, for now, of not making payments on their debt if they remain enrolled in the Biden-era SAVE plan.
However, the Trump administration has resumed charging these borrowers interest on their loans.
As a result, staying put in the forbearance can lead your balance to grow.
Borrowers who stay in SAVE are also stalled in their progress to loan forgiveness.

Mementojpeg | Moment | Getty Images

Some student loan borrowers are not currently required to make student loan payments. But not doing so can have expensive consequences, experts say.
On Aug. 1, the Trump administration resumed charging loan interest to borrowers who remain in the so-called SAVE forbearance. The Biden administration had offered the payment pause to those enrolled in its Saving on a Valuable Education plan, after that program became mired in legal challenges.

The SAVE plan is now essentially defunct, and the Department of Education has recommended borrowers switch into another plan.
Borrowers can remain in the forbearance for now, and hold off on making payments — but they will see their debt grow, among other consequences.
Here are three things to expect if you stay in the SAVE payment pause, and what to do instead.

1. Growing student debt balance

2. Stalled loan forgiveness progress

Borrowers who stay enrolled in the SAVE forbearance won’t make any progress toward student loan forgiveness. That includes those pursuing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
It’s another reason to switch plans: Each monthly payment you make under a currently available income-driven repayment plan will likely bring you closer to debt cancellation. IDR plans cap borrowers’ monthly bills at a share of their discretionary income, with the aim of making payments affordable, and lead to debt erasure after a certain period — typically 20 years or 25 years.
“Hanging out in that [SAVE forbearance] status means losing time towards that goal,” said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.

3. A new repayment plan, eventually

The Department of Education will probably automatically move borrowers who don’t leave the SAVE forbearance into a new repayment plan by July 1, 2028, experts say. That new repayment plan was created under President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” and it’s called RAP, or the Repayment Assistance Plan.
However, “the Trump administration could require SAVE borrowers to switch repayment plans sooner,” Kantrowitz said. “And [it] is likely to do so.”

What SAVE borrowers can do now

The best move for SAVE borrowers is to switch into a repayment plan that is available, experts say. Most agree that the best IDR option at the moment is the Income-Based Repayment plan.
IBR may be one of a dwindling number of manageable repayment options left to borrowers, after recent court actions and the passage of Trump’s tax and spending bill. That legislation phases out other income-driven repayment plans.
There are tools available online to help you determine how much your monthly bill would be under different repayment plans.
Still, “not every borrower should be switching” out of SAVE, said Mayotte.
For example, some borrowers may use the payment reprieve to pay down other debt with a higher interest rate, she said. The average interest rate on credit cards is currently just more than 20%, according to Bankrate.

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Executives and officers at United Airlines, Charles Schwab, NXP Semiconductors and Celsius Holdings were among company insiders who filed some notable stock sales with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
Moves by execs may be followed by investors who are trying to gain insight on the companies.

Walter “Walt” Bettinger, president and CEO of Charles Schwab, speaks during the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2015.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Company insiders at United Airlines, NXP Semiconductors and Charles Schwab made some notable stock sales last week.
Investors may follow moves by company executives and officers to gauge what may be happening within the businesses. However, the motivations behind executive stock sales can vary.

The data comes from VerityData and is confirmed against the original U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These are focused on discretionary activity and exclude those in which the filing explicitly says the sale was conducted pursuant to preplanned transactions under Rule 10b5-1.
Here are some of the biggest sales from the last week:
Celsius Holdings
Investor Dean DeSantis, a 10% owner of Celsius, sold 200,000 shares at an average price of $47.50 for a total of $9.5 million.
Shares of Celsius are up more than 71% this year and have rallied about 31% over the past three months. Its rally this year comes after the stock’s disappointing performance in 2024, when it lost more than 50%.

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Celsius Holdings performance over the past year.

Charles Schwab
Walter Bettinger, the former CEO and current co-chairman at Charles Schwab since 2022, sold 173,900 shares at an average price of $98.84 apiece. That makes for a total of $17.19 million.

Shares of the financial services company have rallied more than 16% over the past three months. The stock is up about 31% this year.

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Charles Schwab performance over the past year.

NXP Semiconductors
William Betz, chief financial officer of NXP Semiconductors, generated $1.54 million after selling 6,800 shares for an average price of $227.34 per share. The sale reduced Betz’s holdings by 82%.
The semiconductor company’s shares have gained about 12.7% over the past three months. Still, the stock is down more than 9.5% year to date.
SkyWest
Robert J. Simmons, chief financial officer of airline company SkyWest, sold 17,200 shares at an average price of $117.46 per share, for a total of $2.02 million.
The sale reduced Simmons’ holdings by 13%. According to Verity, Simmons is one of several SkyWest executives who have sold $6 million in shares over the past 30 days.
Shares of SkyWest are up about 16.5% over the past three months and more than 9% this year.
United Airlines
United Airlines’ chief financial officer Michael D. Leskinen unloaded 23,000 shares at an average price of $91.43 per share. The sale totaled to $2.1 million, and reduced Leskinen’s holdings by 55%.
Leskinen is one of several United Airlines insiders selling $6.2 million in shares over the past 30 days, according to Verity. Shares of the airline operator have gained more than 16% over the past three months. The stock has had a lackluster year, however, losing more than 11% year to date.

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United Airlines stock performance over the past year.

Wingstop
Michael Skipworth, chief executive officer of Wingstop, sold 4,500 shares at an average price of $370.34 each, for a total of $1.67 million. The sale reduced Skipworth’s holdings by 10%.
Shares of the fast-food chain have jumped about 31% over the past three months, bringing its year-to-date gains to nearly 25%. More

ETF Strategist

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ETF Strategist

Exchange-traded funds have attracted new investors because of lower associated costs and tax advantages, financial advisors say.
The baskets of securities can also be bought and sold during the day.
Despite that flexibility, it’s important to have a strategy in place for when you invest.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 23, 2025.

‘The best thing about the ETF’

Similar to mutual funds, an exchange-traded fund is a basket of securities that closely track a broad index. Part of ETFs’ attraction for new investors is lower associated costs and tax advantages, said Gloria Garcia Cisneros, a certified financial planner at LourdMurray, an investment and wealth management firm.
“The best thing about the ETF is that it’s not like old school mutual funds,” said Garcia Cisneros.
They also offer more flexibility. For instance, ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the day and during extended hours. Mutual funds can only be traded once a day after the market closes.
“ETFs have made it a lot easier,” Garcia Cisneros said.

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Despite that flexibility, it’s important to approach ETF investing with a strategy, or a plan that guides your investments, said Lee Baker, a certified financial planner as well as the founder, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors in Atlanta.

Having a plan gives you something to stick to when “things inevitably get a little crazy,” said Baker, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council. 
Here are two things to consider when you’re coming up with a plan.

1. Trading in the middle of the day is ‘less frothy’

Everyday investors may want to avoid buying close to the U.S. stock market opening and closing hours, or 9:30 a.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET, said Baker. Prices are typically the most volatile during those points of the day.
The hours in the middle of day, or between 10 a.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET, are “less frothy,” he said. 
However, Garcia Cisneros said that you also want to avoid “timing the market,” or making trades based on predictions about price movements.
Not only is it difficult to do, but there isn’t much of a payoff.
In a new study by Charles Schwab that compared the performance of five hypothetical long-term investors with different strategies, the “perfect market timer” had just slightly better results than someone who simply invested their cash at the start of every year.
“Because timing the market perfectly is nearly impossible, the best strategy for most of us is to not try to market-time at all,” the report noted.
Instead, investors can try “dollar-cost averaging,” a strategy that requires investing a certain amount of cash over regular intervals.

2. Limit orders are like ‘waiting for a bag to go on sale’

One way to buy ETFs is by placing “limit orders,” which give you more control in your investment, experts say.
A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security at a specific price or better, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor.gov. A buy limit order can only be executed at the price you set or lower, and vice versa with a sell limit order. 
It allows you to say, “I only want to buy this ETF if it drops to $50,” and not the current trading price, Garcia Cisneros said. 

For example, if you want to buy multiple shares of a particular ETF, a limit order can help protect your exposure in case there’s a lot of volatility happening with that fund, Baker said.
However, you’re practically relying on a prediction on what the market will do, which can be difficult, said Garcia Cisneros.
“It’s like if you’re waiting for a bag to go on sale to buy it, you might be waiting forever,” she said. “I would hate to see if they wait forever and don’t actually put any money to work.” More

ETF Strategist

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ETF Strategist

President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” added a temporary $40,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT.
But the phaseout, or income-based benefit reduction, creates what some experts are calling a “SALT torpedo,” when income falls between $500,000 and $600,000.
There could be a tax penalty for earnings between those thresholds, but there are strategies to avoid it, experts say.

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures before boarding Air Force One as he returns to Washington, D.C., in Lossiemouth, Scotland, Britain, July 29, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

President Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ added a temporary $40,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT.
But the phaseout, or income-based benefit reduction, creates what some experts are calling a “SALT torpedo,” or artificially high tax rate, when modified adjusted gross income falls between $500,000 and $600,000.

“Anyone reporting income in that range” should talk with their tax and investment advisors, said certified financial planner Jim Guarino, managing director at Baker Newman Noyes in Woburn, Massachusetts. He is also a certified public accountant.

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Trump’s legislation boosts the SALT deduction cap to $40,000 starting in 2025. That limit increases yearly by 1% through 2029 and reverts to $10,000 in 2030.
The $40,000 limit decreases once MAGI exceeds $500,000, and phases out completely to $10,000 when income reaches $600,000. But the “SALT torpedo” creates a 45.5% federal tax rate on earnings between those thresholds.
That 45.5% rate could impact higher earners for 2025, but you can still reduce MAGI to avoid the tax penalty before year-end, experts say.
Here are some strategies to consider. 

Limit the ‘sneaky year-end tax hit’ 

If you’re approaching the thresholds, you should manage any unexpected income, experts say.One solution could be opting for exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, versus mutual funds in your taxable brokerage accounts.”This could help limit the sneaky year-end tax hit,” said CFP William Shafransky, a senior wealth advisor with Moneco Advisors in New York. 
While some mutual funds distribute year-end capital gains to shareholders, ETFs typically don’t have a yearly payout.
However, you would need to check the possible capital gain — and other tax consequences — from trading profitable mutual funds for ETFs in a brokerage account, Shafransky said.

Tax breaks become ‘a lot more valuable’

With a tax penalty between $500,000 and $600,000, you could use tax breaks to keep earnings below those thresholds, experts say. 
For example, you could switch from Roth to pretax 401(k) contributions to help bring earnings below $500,000, said Andy Whitehair, a CPA and a director with Baker Tilly’s Washington tax council practice.
The tax break “becomes a lot more valuable in that phaseout range,” he said.
Pretax 401(k) contributions lower your adjusted gross income, but you have to pay taxes when you withdraw the funds in retirement.

Avoid extra earnings

If you’re approaching the $500,000 level for 2025, you may avoid activities like selling investments or a home with large profits, depending on your goals, experts say. 
“You wouldn’t want to take a big gain that’s going to push you into this threshold,” said Whitehair.

You wouldn’t want to take a big gain that’s going to push you into this threshold.

Andy Whitehair
Director with Baker Tilly’s Washington tax council practice

The same guidance may apply to Roth individual retirement account conversions, experts say. Roth conversions transfer pretax IRA funds to a Roth IRA, which starts future tax-free growth. The strategy typically incurs upfront income.
However, “you never want to do anything in a silo,” and tax moves should always happen in tandem with your financial plan, Guarino said. 
Trump’s legislation includes several key changes, which may require multiyear tax projections to gauge the full impact, he said. More

When the Biden administration rolled out SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education, plan, it said borrowers would soon benefit from the lowest monthly bills ever.
But the millions of borrowers who enrolled in SAVE never got those promised lower payments.
Just as many of the program’s benefits were going into effect, Republican-led legal challenges blocked the program.
How has the end of SAVE impacted you? CNBC wants to hear from you.

Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images

When the Biden administration rolled out SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, in 2023, it said borrowers would soon benefit from the lowest monthly bills ever.
Nearly 7.7 million people enrolled in SAVE, the U.S. Department of Education recently said.

But borrowers never got those promised lower payments. Just as many of the SAVE plan’s benefits were going into effect, Republican-led legal challenges blocked the program.
Unlike the Biden administration, President Donald Trump’s officials have not fought in the courts to preserve SAVE, and recently, Congress repealed the plan altogether.
Now, millions of student loan borrowers are bracing for bigger payments.
How has the end of the SAVE plan impacted you and your household finances?
We want to hear from you.
If you’re willing to share your experience for an upcoming story on this topic, please write to me at [email protected]. More

Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images

This earnings season, a number of companies are demonstrating their resilience by delivering solid performance despite macro challenges and tariff uncertainties.
With their in-depth analysis, top Wall Street analysts can help investors pick stocks that can navigate short-term pressures with solid execution and focus on delivering attractive returns.  

Here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

MongoDB

Database management software company MongoDB (MDB) is this week’s first pick. In June, the company delivered solid results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
Recently, BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman initiated coverage of MongoDB stock with a buy rating and a price target of $280. Meanwhile, TipRanks’ AI analyst has an “outperform” rating on MDB stock with a price forecast of $263.
Bachman said that, according to Gartner, the database market is among the largest software markets at over $100 billion in annual spend, and MongoDB is a leader in the non-relational database segment. Notably, this segment accounts for about 25% of the overall market and is growing by about 20% year over year.
The 5-star analyst noted that feedback from Value Added Resellers (VARs) and users indicates that developers have a very positive view of MongoDB, a platform that is well-suited for customers with multi-cloud deployments. Bachman believes that MongoDB can be one of the generative artificial intelligence (AI) database winners.

“We think MDB is currently focused on improving its vector search capabilities to help win new workloads, including through M&A,” noted the analyst. Also, Bachman expects MongoDB’s cloud-based database offering, Atlas, to sustain low- to mid-20% growth through fiscal 2027. He expects MongoDB to deliver mid- to high-teens growth in fiscal 2027, while gradually enhancing profitability.
Bachman ranks No. 531 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 10.3%. See MongoDB Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks.

ServiceNow

We move to ServiceNow (NOW), an AI-powered platform for business transformation. The company posted better-than-anticipated second-quarter results and lifted its full-year outlook, backed by increasing AI adoption.
Reacting to the Q2 print, TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood reaffirmed a buy rating on ServiceNow stock and raised the price forecast to $1,200 from $1,150. Meanwhile, TipRanks’ AI analyst has an “outperform” rating on NOW stock with a price target of $1,129.
Wood noted the impressive 21.5% growth (at constant currency) in ServiceNow’s current remaining performing obligations, delivering a 200 basis-point beat. The top-rated analyst explained that this strong growth was driven by early renewals and AI strength in the enterprise business, which offset tougher federal spending conditions.
The analyst also highlighted that the company’s generative AI suite, NOW Assist, delivered better-than-expected net new annual contract value, driven by higher deal volumes and increased deal sizes.
“We continue to view NOW as the best positioned SaaS [software as a service] vendor to monetize GenAI, and we expect momentum to keep building in 2H,” said Wood. Overall, the analyst is very encouraged by the robust key performance indicators, with ServiceNow’s new AI and data products and strength in the enterprise business offsetting headwinds resulting from tightening federal spending.
Wood ranks No. 352 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 59% of the time, delivering an average return of 13.3%. See ServiceNow Ownership Structure on TipRanks.

Varonis Systems

Finally, let’s look at cloud-native and AI-powered data security company Varonis Systems (VRNS). On July 29, the company reported solid results for the second quarter of 2025, driven by continued momentum in its business.
Impressed by the performance, Baird analyst Shrenik Kothari raised his price target for VRNS stock to $63 from $58 and reaffirmed a buy rating. In comparison, TipRanks’ AI analyst has a “neutral” rating on VRNS stock with a price target of $54.
Kothari highlighted that Varonis delivered a “clean beat/raise” across key metrics like annual recurring revenue (ARR), subscription revenue and free cash flow. The 5-star analyst added that Q2 conversion ARR was better-than-expected and aligned with strong checks and his preview.
Additionally, the analyst noted that the company again raised its full-year ARR guidance, which reflects improving upsell and net-new business opportunities. “GenAI, Copilot integrations, and MDDR [Managed Data Detection and Response] tailwinds are driving growing customer appetite for the full platform,” said Kothari.
The analyst pointed out that SaaS ARR represented about 69% of overall Q2 ARR, up from 61% in the first quarter, with the company on track to complete its SaaS transition by the end of 2025. He added that Varonis now expects to exit 2025 with an 82% SaaS ARR mix compared to its previous estimate of 80%, backed by solid, broad-based demand from both new and existing customers.
Kothari ranks No. 85 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 73% of the time, delivering an average return of 26.7%. See Varonis Systems Statistics on TipRanks. More

Inside one of Equinix’s internal operations at Equinix Data Center in Ashburn, Virginia, on May 9, 2024.
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Company: Equinix Inc (EQIX)
Business: Equinix is a real estate investment trust and operator of 270 data centers in 75 metro areas around the globe, providing carrier-neutral collocation and interconnection services to networks, cloud providers, enterprises and hyperscalers. The company’s platform combines a global footprint of International Business Exchange (IBX) and xScale data centers that support a customer’s need to implement, operate and maintain its collocated deployments. Equinix’s data centers are primarily located in key end-user markets in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.
Stock Market Value: $75.53B ($771.75 per share)

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Equinix shares in 2025

Activist: Elliott Investment Management

Ownership: n/a
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Elliott is a very successful and astute activist investor. The firm’s team includes analysts from leading tech private equity firms, engineers and operating partners – former technology CEOs and COOs. When evaluating an investment, the firm also hires specialty and general management consultants, expert cost analysts and industry specialists. Elliott often watches companies for many years before investing and have an extensive stable of impressive board candidates. Elliott has historically focused on strategic activism in the technology sector and has been very successful with that strategy. However, over the past several years its activism group has grown. The firm has been doing a lot more governance-oriented activism and creating value from a board level at a much larger breadth of companies.
What’s happening
Elliott has taken a position in Equinix.
Behind the scenes
Equinix is a REIT and operator of 270 data centers in 75 metro areas around the globe, providing carrier-neutral collocation and interconnection services to networks, cloud providers, enterprises and hyperscalers. Companies are increasingly relying on data, and the most efficient solution has been utilizing cloud services such as Equinix. The high costs associated with building and maintaining in-house data centers combined with fluctuating data needs allows colocation companies like Equinix to thrive. Colocation data centers allow users to rent out space for their hardware, rather than using their own space for this purpose. Within that market, Equinix has differentiated through their globally interconnected data centers located near top end-user markets, making its offerings sticky for data providers. Despite this, between June 24 and June 26, Equinix’s share price fell 17.75%. This drop was in response to the company’s Analyst Day, where Equinix revealed higher-than-expected capital expenditures of $3.3 billion for 2025 and $4 billion to $5 billion annual from 2026 to 2029 as well as a downgraded forecast for adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) to 5% to 9%. Previously, it was a range of 7% to 10%.

This increase in capex and drop in AFFO spooked inexperienced and short-term investors, but this was an opportunity for experienced long-term investors like Elliott Investment Management, which announced that it has increased its position in Equinix since it originally disclosed a 0.15% position in the company in the firm’s last 13F. It is important to note that Elliott has tremendous experience with data centers. Everyone knows Elliott as one of the most prolific activist investors today, but what sets the firm apart here is its experience as an investor, director and owner/operator of data center businesses. Elliott ran an activist campaign at data center operator Switch in 2021, where the investor settled for a board seat for Elliott senior portfolio manager Jason Genrich. The firm ultimately exited Switch via a sale with a 48.33% return versus -14.97% from the Russell 2000 over the same period. But more important is Elliott’s experience and perspective as an owner and operator of UK-based Ark Data Centers since 2012. This not only gives the firm unique experience but more of a shared perspective with management that could be welcoming of more of an amicable relationship here.
So, when the market saw the capex as a drain on cash flow that will not pay off for two to three years while the data centers are being built and leased, investors like Elliott saw it as a response to increased demand. Equinix has had record bookings from the tailwinds of artificial intelligence and hyperscaler growth over the past few quarters. With a 5% cost of capital, capex that will yield a 20% to 30% return is great for the long-term prospects of the company. Accordingly, AFFO is expected to drop as low as 5% next year, which scares short-term and less-knowledgeable investors. But as the capex is deployed, it will rise to 8% for the next three years and eventually go back up to 9%. That will happen without any help from Elliott. But there are ways that Elliott can use its knowledge of the industry and experience as an activist and operator to expedite and amplify those returns. First, Equinix could better communicate its plans to the market. Given the reaction to the company’s Analyst Day, Equinix could clearly benefit from improved market communications around its capex plan, AI strategy and long-term growth forecasts. Specifically, while Equinix doesn’t host AI model training, it has a unique opportunity to play a central role in AI inferencing – or deploying AI models to end users. As AI matures, the demand for inferencing will increase, and Equinix is well positioned to benefit as the largest third-party data center provider in the world with deeply interconnected datacenters in key end-user markets. There are also opportunities for the company to optimize its cost structure and lower interest expenses. Management has already taken certain steps in this direction and are targeting margin growth of 300 basis points from 49% to 52% by 2029 – the highest target ever set by the company. However, this is still an arguably conservative estimate, as many peers, including its closest peer, Digital Reality Trust (DRL), have higher margins than that. Additionally, a little financial engineering could decrease the company’s interest rate paid and improve on the margin Equinix’s AFFO per-share growth.
Historically, Equinix has commanded a premium multiple, and its share performance has moved almost in line with DRL. However, since its Analyst Day, Equinix’s returns have underperformed DRL by approximately 11 percentage points, and the company now trades at a slightly discounted 24-times enterprise value/EBITDA compared to 29-times for DRL. The company is on the right path but could use a little help from an experienced investor like Elliott in executing its plan and communicating it to the market. Elliott could do this as an active shareholder or with a board seat. Because of the firm’s industry experience and similar perspective to management, we would not be surprised to see it invited on to the board before the next annual meeting in May 2026.
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

Your assigned boarding group will generally depend on your cabin class, your loyalty status with the airline and if you hold one of their co-branded travel credit cards.
If you’re hoping for overhead bin space, you may want to consider paying for priority or early boarding, said one expert. 

A record number of passengers flew in 2024.
Izusek | E+ | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines, once known for its first-come, first-served approach to boarding and seating, on Tuesday began selling its first tickets with assigned seats. That change — and with it, new boarding groups — goes into effect for flights in late January.
The move brings Southwest more in line with other major carriers, where travelers need to weigh the value of paying for an early-boarding upgrade.

“The number one reason to buy the early boarding upgrade is if you have a carry-on for the overhead bin,” said Sara Wilcox, an advisor at Fora Travel, a travel agency in New York City. 
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Priority boarding is “basically the race to get our carry-on suitcases in the overhead bins,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry market research and advisory firm.

Understanding the boarding process

By law, individuals with disabilities who require special assistance must have the opportunity to board a flight first. Depending on an airline’s policy, other groups like active military members and families with young children may also be offered early boarding.
Beyond that, while the boarding process varies by airline, your spot among boarding groups will generally depend on your status with the airline and the kind of airfare you booked, experts say.

Individuals with elite airline status are typically among the first boarding groups, Harteveldt said. If you don’t have status and you bought a discounted or restricted coach fare, expect to be among the last to board. 
If you fit an airline’s early boarding criteria, you might not need to pay for the perk.

Look for early-boarding add-on options

Travelers can sometimes buy early boarding as an add-on, either when you buy the flight or as your travel date approaches. Sometimes it’s bundled with other extras, too.
The cost of the add-on depends on the airline, and in some cases, how long the flight is, according to Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet.
For instance, the priority boarding add-on through United Airlines costs a flat rate of $24 per person.
“If overhead space is important to you, you do need to pay for priority boarding,” said French.

How co-branded travel credit cards can help

There are different ways to move up the boarding group ladder. Applying for and using an airline’s travel credit card can help you move closer to elite status, Harteveldt said. 
Such cards typically include other perks like free or heavily discounted checked baggage fees. Before you apply, make sure to read and understand the card’s terms and conditions, as some charge high annual fees.
Remember that simply having the card is generally not enough to get the early-boarding benefits. You get the perk when you use the card to book that ticket.

‘You’re also bumped up’ through a premium airfare

Another way to board earlier is by booking a premium economy or main economy airfare, said French. 
Doing so typically allows you to book a specific seat, and “you’re also bumped up in an early boarding position,” she said.
Premium economy “is a step up from economy,” but is not as costly as first or business class, according to Skyscanner, a travel site. In addition to more legroom, wider seats and more recline, these seats offer priority services for check-in and boarding.
But this is an expensive way to get on the plane sooner. Price-wise, a premium economy fare will likely be over 50% less expensive than a business class fare, but is at least 30% more expensive than standard economy, per Skyscanner.
If you have enough points or miles with an airline, you might be able to upgrade from economy to premium economy, per Skyscanner.
While “its not the worst use ever,” remember that you might not get more than one cent per mile, said Stella Shon, a senior features editor at UpgradedPoints, a travel site.
“Cash upgrades are where you get the most value,” she said. If not, assess where your points and miles will be the most valuable to you.

While paying to pick a seat can help you get a better boarding group, especially if you’re willing to pay for an extra legroom seat, you can forgo it. NerdWallet’s French said that passengers should not feel obligated to pay the added cost for early boarding.
If you simply paid for a flight — with or without seat reservations — the airline will assign a seat for you.
You’re just more likely to be placed in a middle seat towards the back of the plane, as well as being among the last passengers to board, she said. 
“Just hope by the time you board there’s space in the overhead bin,” said Harteveldt. More