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Gold returns are up nearly 50% so far in 2025. That’s about triple the S&P 500 U.S. stock index.
Gold funds, including those backed by physical gold or holding futures contracts, are subject to a top federal tax rate higher than that on traditional assets like stocks.
Physical gold is generally treated as a collectible, with a top long-term capital gains rate of 28%. Gold futures funds generally have a top rate of 26.8%. Meanwhile, stocks are taxed at up to 20%.
“I’ve seen missteps quite a few times, especially this year with the run that gold has had,” said Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo, which was No. 69 on the CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100 ranking.

Gold traded below the $4,000-per-ounce mark again on Tuesday as the dollar remained resilient at over three-month highs, while reduced chances of another U.S. interest rate cut in December and easing U.S.-China trade tensions blunted bullion’s demand.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Gold profits are glittering in 2025 — but cashing in may trigger a bigger tax bill than you might think.
The price of gold futures hit $4,000 per ounce in October, for the first time ever. While the precious metal dropped in price on Friday as part of a broader market decline, year-to-date returns still sat at nearly 50%, with a price around $4,100.

Exchange-traded funds backed by physical gold — like SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), iShares Gold Trust (IAU), and abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF (SGOL) — are up by a similar amount.
By comparison, the S&P 500 U.S. stock index is up about 15% in 2025, as of Friday’s close.  
Heady returns in 2025 follow a year in which gold recorded its best annual performance since 2010, about 26%, according to the World Gold Council.
But investment profits from physical gold and funds that track gold are taxed differently from those of traditional assets like stocks and bonds, according to tax experts.

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The upshot is that investors — especially those in the top tax brackets — may pay a higher federal tax rate on gold profits relative to assets like stocks and bonds.

That could leave gold investors with a surprise tax bill.
“I’ve seen missteps quite a few times, especially this year with the run that gold has had,” said Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo, which was No. 69 on the CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100 list for 2025.

Not all gold ETFs are taxed the same

“Long-term” tax rates on investment profits — known as capital gains — are preferential relative to the marginal income tax rates that investors might pay on wages and other income, for example.
For example, the top federal rate on long-term capital gains, 20%, is lower than the top marginal income tax rate, 37%.
Long-term capital gains rates apply when an investor has owned an asset for more than one year.
However, physical gold and funds backed by physical gold are treated as collectibles for tax purposes — and collectibles have a top 28% rate on long-term capital gains.
“There’s no getting around that [collectibles rate] just because it’s held in an ETF wrapper,” Lucas said.
This also applies to other precious metals like silver.

Funds that hold gold futures contracts — instead of physical gold — have yet a different tax structure, with a top federal tax rate of 26.8%, said Jeffrey Levine, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner based in St. Louis.
“Just because you have a gold ETF doesn’t mean it’s going to be taxed exactly the same,” said Levine, the chief planning officer at Focus Partners Wealth.
In both cases — collectible and futures — investors in the top tax bracket would pay a higher rate on long-term profits than a traditional asset like a stock, he said.
Of course, this tax discussion only applies to gold held in a taxable brokerage account and sold for a profit. It doesn’t apply to investors who hold gold ETFs in a tax-preferred retirement account, like an IRA.

Breaking down tax on collectibles and futures

There are three long-term capital-gains rates: 0%, 15% and 20%, depending on an investor’s annual income.
Short-term capital gains, which apply to assets held for a year or less, are different. Profit on such sales is taxed at ordinary income tax rates, like those that apply to wages, for example. There are seven marginal tax rates, ranging from 10% up to 37%.
Collectibles are taxed like short-term capital gains but are capped at 28%. That means an investor in the 32%, 35% or 37% income tax brackets wouldn’t own more than 28% in long-term capital gains on collectibles profits.

I’ve seen missteps quite a few times, especially this year with the run that gold has had.

Tommy Lucas
certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo

Meanwhile, capital gains for futures contracts are assessed based on a 60/40 tax structure, said Levine. That is, 60% of their profits are taxed as long-term capital gains, and the remaining 40% as short-term capital gains.
In the case of gold futures funds, here’s how the math works for someone in the top tax bracket: 60% of 20%, which is the top long-term rate for capital gains, is 12%; and 40% of 37%, the top marginal income tax rate, is 14.8%.
Added together, that’s a top capital-gains rate of 26.8% for gold futures contracts, Levine said.
While some higher-income investors might think it’s a better idea from a tax perspective to buy gold futures funds, there are also downsides, he said.
For example, such investors would get a K-1 tax form since the funds are often structured as partnerships, Levine said. That could make it more challenging and costly to file an annual tax return, he said. More

Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The U.S. stock market continues to be volatile due to concerns about valuations of tech and artificial intelligence stocks and an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. Given this scenario, investors seeking passive income can add some dividend stocks to their portfolios.
At the same time, investors might find it challenging to pick the right stock from the vast universe of dividend-paying companies. In this regard, recommendations of top Wall Street analysts can help investors select attractive dividend stocks with strong fundamentals. These experts assign their ratings after in-depth analysis of a company’s financials and growth potential.

Here are three dividend-paying stocks, highlighted by Wall Street’s top pros, as tracked by TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

Diamondback Energy

First on this week’s list is Diamondback Energy (FANG), an independent energy company focused on onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. The company recently reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. Diamondback returned $892 million of capital to shareholders (50% of adjusted free cash flow) via share repurchases and dividends in the third quarter. It declared a base cash dividend of $1.00 per share for the period, payable on Nov. 20. At an annualized dividend of $4 per share, FANG offers a yield of 2.8%.
In reaction to the third-quarter print, RBC Capital analyst Scott Hanold reiterated a buy rating on Diamondback stock with a price forecast of $173. Interestingly, TipRanks’ AI Analyst is also bullish on FANG stock with an “outperform” rating and a price target of $156.
Hanold continues to view Diamondback as a core long-term holding in the energy space, given that it stands out with one of the top core inventory durations in the Permian Basin and the lowest breakeven levels of $37 to $38 per barrel (WTI, unhedged, and inclusive of capitalized costs).
“FANG remains among the most resilient E&P, with leading edge operational, capital, and production performance,” said Hanold.

The 5-star analyst expects Diamondback to gain from the renewed gas-fired power prospects in the Permian Basin, supported by its strong footprint and natural gas exposure. Hanold noted that FANG is a part of the Competitive Power Ventures project, where the company has agreed to supply 50 million cubic feet per day to a 1,350-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine. He added that management is optimistic about securing more power/data center deals.
Hanold ranks No. 69 among more than 10,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 64% of the time, delivering an average return of 26.2%.

Permian Resources

Hanold is also bullish on another dividend-paying energy company, Permian Resources (PR). The independent oil and gas company delivered upbeat earnings for the third quarter, citing its dominance in the Delaware Basin. Permian declared a base dividend of 15 cents per share for the fourth quarter, payable on Dec. 31. At an annualized dividend of 60 cents per share, PR stock offers a yield of 4.5%.
Impressed by the results, Hanold reaffirmed a buy rating on Permian Resources stock with a price target of $18. TipRanks’ AI Analyst has an “outperform” rating on PR stock with a price target of $14.50.
The top-rated analyst stated that continued “proficient operational and financial performance has become a hallmark” for Permian, which he believes the company can continue in the years ahead. Hanold highlighted PR’s robust operational performance that reflected a solid growth in organic production with no increase in spending.
Hanold noted that the implied fourth-quarter oil guidance is up 2% to 3% from the prior consensus forecast. Accordingly, he now expects 188 Mb/d (oil) for the fourth quarter, which is 3% above his previous estimate. The analyst added that management seems confident about keeping capital spending steady at current levels while generating solid free cash flow, with dividend payment supported even at around $40 per barrel.
Additionally, Hanold sees the possibility of an increase in Permian’s fixed dividend in early 2026. He also expects the company to make opportunistic stock buybacks. The analyst expects Permian to use the remaining free cash flow to further bolster an already solid balance sheet (0.8x leverage ratios).

Duke Energy

Finally, let’s look at Duke Energy (DUK), an energy holding company that generates and distributes electricity and natural gas. The company recently reported better-than-anticipated adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter, citing the implementation of new rates and riders, along with increased retail sales volumes.
Last month, Duke Energy declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.065 per share, payable on Dec. 16. At an annualized dividend of $4.26 per share, DUK stock offers a yield of 3.4%.
Noting the third-quarter performance, Evercore analyst Nicholas Amicucci reaffirmed a buy rating on DUK stock with a price target of $143. In comparison, TipRanks’ AI Analyst has a “neutral” rating on Duke Energy stock with a price target of $135.
Amicucci noted Duke Energy’s strong third-quarter results and an early look into its updated capital plan expected to be announced in February 2026. Notably, the company mentioned a $95 billion to $105 billion plan for 2026 to 2030, with an equity funding target of 30% to 50%.
Furthermore, the 5-star analyst highlighted that management sees continued momentum into the next year, expecting to turn large load economic opportunities into tangible projects with signed energy service agreements. Amicucci added that Duke Energy is well-positioned to add at least 8.5 gigawatt of new dispatchable generation across its service areas, including about 1 GW of uprates and 7.5 GW of new natural gas assets.
Overall, Amicucci remains bullish on Duke’s future growth, driven by its premium service areas, solid pipeline of new projects, and the fact that about 90% of its electric capital spending qualifies for efficient-recovery mechanisms, “alleviating seemingly all regulatory lag.”
Amicucci ranks No. 693 among more than 10,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 79% of the time, delivering an average return of 48.1 %. More

Close-up of sign with logo on facade of Cooper Companies in Pleasanton, California, March 26, 2018.
Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Company: Cooper Companies (COO)
Business: The Cooper Companies is a global medical device company. It operates in two business units: CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment is involved in the contact lens industry, while the CooperSurgical segment is involved in the fertility and women’s health care market through its diversified portfolio of products and services, including fertility products and services, medical devices, cryostorage (such as cord blood and cord tissue storage) and contraception. CooperVision’s products include MyDay daily disposable, MyDay daily disposable toric, MyDay Energys, MyDay multifocal, Biofinity & Biofinity XR, Biofinity Energys. CooperSurgical’s portfolio includes INSORB, Lone Star, and the Doppler Blood Flow Monitor. It also offers a suite of single-use cordless surgical retractors with an integrated multi-light-emitting diode (LED) light source and dual smoke evacuation channels, and single-use surgical suction devices with an integrated, cordless radial LED light source.
Stock Market Value: $14.41 billion ($72.49 per share)

Stock chart icon

Cooper Cos. stock year to date

Activist: Jana Partners

Ownership: n/a
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Jana is a very experienced activist investor founded in 2001 by Barry Rosenstein. They made their name taking deeply researched activist positions with well-conceived plans for long term value. Rosenstein called his activist strategy “V cubed.” The three “Vs” were: (i) Value: buying at the right price; (ii) Votes: knowing whether you have the votes before commencing a proxy fight; and (iii) Variety of ways to win: having more than one strategy to enhance value and exit an investment. Since 2008, they have gradually shifted that strategy to one which we characterize as the three “Ss”: (i) Stock price – buying at the right price; (ii) Strategic activism – sale of company or spinoff of a business; and (iii) Star advisors/nominees – aligning with top industry executives to advise them and take board seats if necessary.
What’s happening
On Oct. 20, Jana announced that they took a position in Cooper Cos. and plan to push for strategic alternatives, including a potential transaction to combine its contact lens unit with peers such as Bausch + Lomb.
Behind the scenes
Cooper Cos. is a leading global medical device company operating through two segments: CooperVision and CooperSurgical. CooperVision (66% of revenue) is focused on the sale of contact lenses. CooperVision is the global leader by contact wearers and second in terms of market share (26%), competing against Johnson and Johnson (37%), Alcon (26%), and Bausch + Lomb (10%).

The global soft contact lens market is estimated to be worth about $11 billion and is growing at 4% to 6% annually. The segment has numerous tailwinds including a steady shift into silicone hydrogel 1-day lenses (about 40% of consumers are still using non-daily lenses), global growth in contact users, and high barriers to entry for competitors. As such, this is a great business that generates EBITDA margins in the mid-30s.
CooperSurgical (33% of revenue) is focused on women’s health services, with 60% of its fiscal year 2024 revenue derived from office and surgical (Paragard IUDs, stem cell cryostorage, medical devices) and 40% from fertility (IVF consumables, equipment, genomic and donor services). Fertility treatment is a $2 billion global market, also expected to grow at a 4% to 6% pace annually.
For most of its history, Cooper was a pureplay vision business, until they added CooperSurgical in the 90s. Initially, this was a small – arguably tax-motivated – add-on. However, the company began heavily investing in this segment in 2017 – spending over $3 billion on the segment since.
The problem with this shift is pretty clear – Cooper is effectively siphoning off cash from a really good contact lens business and then reinvesting it in what most people would judge to be a less attractive business. This is evident in the company’s declining returns on capital, with CooperSurgical now operating at lower margins than they did in 2017 despite these massive investments.
A key factor behind this operational shift may be management changes. The company’s CEO Albert White, who previously led CooperSurgical, assumed leadership shortly after this expansion began. This raises a larger question about the company’s strategic focus, leading many to question why the leader of this company would not have expertise in its core business.
These strategic missteps have been further compounded by near-term headwinds across both segments, some self-inflicted. For CooperVision, the company mismanaged market expectations for the rollout of its new daily lens product, MyDay Energys, which is now behind schedule.
For CooperSurgical, its highest quality business, IVF, has slowed meaningfully, likely attributable to comments from President Donald Trump suggesting potential reimbursements for IVF costs, causing patients to delay treatment in anticipation of this potential coverage. As a result, top-line organic growth fell meaningfully below expectations to 2%, down from 7% the prior quarter, forcing Cooper to significantly lower its full-year guidance at its third-quarter earnings call, sending the company’s share price down 12.85% the following day. Now, Cooper is trading at a 12-month forward P/E of 16.4x — a steep discount to its 10-year average of 23.1x.
All of this has prompted Jana Partners to announce a top portfolio position in Cooper and plans to push for strategic alternatives, including a potential transaction to combine its contact lens unit with peers such as Bausch + Lomb. While a transaction of this nature would typically raise some antitrust concerns, this may actually be the opposite case here.
First, a merger would not result in a market leader, as the combined market share of 36% would be just below market leader J&J’s share of 37% and not too far ahead of Alcon’s 26% share.
Secondly, these businesses are highly complementary with minimal geographical and product overlap, suggesting a reduction in the likelihood of regulatory hurdles. Notably, Bausch + Lomb has not been shy about their potential interest and also sees no regulatory issues, as CEO Brent Saunders has publicly stated that a potential combination with Cooper would “strengthen competition and create a more scaled company in the contact lens segment.”
But Bausch + Lomb is not the only potential acquirer. Companies like European eyewear manufacturer EssilorLuxottica could also have interest and with even less regulatory uncertainty.
As for CooperSurgical, there would certainly be private equity interest, as evidenced by Blackstone and TPG nearing a deal to acquire peer Hologic. However, Cooper shareholders may realize more value from the company cleaning up this portfolio internally – focusing more on the higher-multiple IVF business, shedding certain non-core assets, and potentially putting in new operators to execute a strong turnaround.
Overall, with short-term headwinds likely to ease, Cooper has multiple avenues to recover its discount and open itself up for a potential rerating. Jana’s thesis is straightforward: these two businesses make no sense under the same roof and a strategic combination for the vision business could yield $300 million to 500 million synergies, which is a lot for a business with $850 million in EBITDA. But step one in their plan is convincing management that separating the two businesses is the right strategic move; and despite growing public attention, there is no guarantee that management, especially with this type of operating history, will agree.
Should management resist, this campaign changes dramatically from a strategic thesis to a leadership/governance thesis, likely centered on appointing a new CEO with a deep background in the contact lens industry to refocus the company on its core, while still positioning it for a separation down the line.
Jana is not outwardly calling for a management change and White may even be the best person to lead a standalone CooperSurgical business. But activism is about the power of the argument and Jana seems to make a persuasive one here. Let’s hope for all involved that management sees it that way.
Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist investments. More

As the artificial intelligence boom quickly reshapes the workforce, there are fewer entry-level positions for grads just entering the labor market.
For colleges and universities, this brings added attention to return-on-investment scrutiny.

A college degree is often considered the ticket to a well-paying career, and more than three million new graduates enter the workforce every year banking on that promise.
However, this year, those armed with a newly minted diploma have faced one of the toughest job markets in a decade. And next year could be as bad or worse.

As the artificial intelligence boom reshapes the workforce at an unprecedented pace, some large employers have said they’re replacing workers with AI in order to streamline operations and cut costs. Concerns about the economy, persistent inflation and a slowdown in consumer spending are also likely contributors to a reduced hiring outlook, other research shows.
Employers are even less optimistic about the overall job market for upcoming graduates than they were in the last several years, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. About half, or 51%, of employers rated the job market for this year’s college seniors as poor or fair, the highest share since 2020-21.
The integration of AI has “rendered moot certain types of skills that were once good currency in the labor market, and a number of entry-level jobs are going to continue to be, at the very least, crimped,” said Joseph Fuller, a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School.

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That puts direct pressure on colleges and their career services departments, he said. “The pathways to get into certain careers are going to be narrower and the burden of credentials will be steeper.”
Already, postings for entry-level jobs in the U.S. sank 35% since January 2023, according to labor research firm Revelio Labs, with AI playing a big role.

As a result, there are suddenly fewer white-collar positions for bachelor’s degree holders just starting out.

A worsening job market for new grads

In total, employers announced 1.1 million cuts so far this year, a 65% jump from a year ago and the highest level since the Covid pandemic year of 2020, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The highest level of layoffs came from the technology sector amid a time of restructuring due to AI integration, the report said. 
Some industries are more prone to disruptions than others. Jobs in technology and finance, for example, are at greater risk largely due to generative artificial intelligence, which can supplant a human’s analytical skills, according to a separate report by Indeed. Alternatively, nursing and blue-collar jobs in manufacturing or construction are more insulated, the report found. They simply can’t be done by AI — at least not yet.
Recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia also shows that higher-paying jobs that require a bachelor’s degree are more likely to be affected by AI.

Although the Class of 2025 submitted more job applications than their 2024 counterparts, they received fewer job offers, on average, than the previous class, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found.
Just 30% of 2025 college graduates secured a full-time job in their fields. That is down from 41% who secured full-time work in the Class of 2024, according to a separate graduate employability report by Cengage Group, an education technology company.

College career offices under pressure

At Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, some employers who had typically attended the job and internship expo in the past did not participate this year — though they didn’t specify why, according to James Duffy, Gettysburg’s assistant vice president for co-curricular education.
But as companies restructure due to AI, many are cutting back on entry-level jobs that accounted for a significant share of employment opportunities for new grads, Duffy said.
“If we look at the jobs that AI has absorbed … there are a number of jobs that students used to move right into. Some of those jobs are no longer available,” he said.
The proliferation of new technology puts immense pressure on colleges to recalibrate at a time when higher education, as a whole, is already facing a crisis of confidence.
Amid rising college costs and ballooning student loan balances, more students are questioning the return on investment. 
Among those with student loan debt, 77% call it a “huge burden,” and 63% say the education they received hasn’t been worth the impact student loan debt has had on their overall well-being, according to a newly released study from EdAssist by Bright Horizons.

The worst-case scenario is taking on debt and graduating without a job, colleges say.  
Duffy, who oversees Gettysburg’s center for career engagement, said families of both current and prospective students are more concerned about potential job prospects after graduating than before. “Parents want to know more data and details about where students are going,” he said. “Parents want to know, ‘If I’m going to spend this money, where are they headed after four years?’ We know that is top of mind.”
To that end, Duffy said giving students as much career-readiness experience as possible is increasingly important, primarily through internships, externships and hands-on work: “It makes them more marketable, which gives them the agency of choice.”
Indeed, said Harvard’s Fuller, “more schools will need to develop coop-type opportunities.”
However, in time, such smaller private colleges like Gettysburg may be at a disadvantage compared to urban institutions that are more closely tied to big employers, Fuller added: “It’s going to be helpful to be in a school with a fair amount of employment opportunities locally.”

‘It’s not enough for students to graduate with a degree’

In July, the City University of New York kicked off a sweeping effort to improve career outcomes for its 180,000 undergraduates by integrating career-connected advising, paid internships, apprenticeships and collaborations with industry specialists across every academic concentration.
“Success depends on our ability to change and adapt,” said CUNY’s chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez in a statement about the announcement. “It’s not enough for students to graduate with a degree … they must leave with direction, preparation, experience and connections.”

Graduates of Baruch College participate in a commencement ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, June 5, 2017.
Bebeto Matthews | AP

CUNY’s goal is that all future graduates would either be enrolled in a post-graduate program or “have a job offer in hand in the field that they study,” Matos Rodríguez told CNBC. “If we develop a reputation for being a place where students have opportunities, that goes a long, long way to address some of the concerns about ROI.”
Still, the challenge remains how to measure post-graduation career success in such a quickly changing labor market, he said.
At the same time, colleges and universities are notoriously slow to adapt, according to Fuller. “Higher ed is singularly ill-equipped to deal with rapid change,” he said.
Despite those hurdles, colleges need to “create structures that allow us to pivot,” said CUNY’s Matos Rodríguez.
That means directing students toward in-demand career paths, particularly as AI creates opportunities in one industry or another, he said: “It shouldn’t be like higher ed failed because they weren’t able to read that crystal ball.” 
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Buffett Watch

Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker

As Warren Buffett gets closer to stepping down as CEO at the end of next month, he told shareholders he will be “going quiet,” but only “sort of.”
More on his Thanksgiving letter, which looks like it could become a substantial annual tradition, below.

First:

A surprising stake

There was a notable surprise in Berkshire Hathaway’s end-of-Q3 equity portfolio snapshot, released after Friday’s closing bell.
Someone in Omaha purchased more than 17.8 million Class A shares of Google’s parent, Alphabet.
They are currently valued at $4.9 billion, making them the biggest Q3 addition in dollar terms.
The news sent the stock 3.5% higher in after-hours trading.

Arrows pointing outwards

At this point, we don’t know who made the call.
Buffett has typically made purchases of this size, but it doesn’t feel like his kind of stock.
It is up 51.3% year-to-date, including a 37% climb in the third quarter.

Arrows pointing outwards

Also, he has traditionally shied away from tech stocks. (He considers Apple a consumer products company.)
At the 2019 Berkshire meeting, Buffett and Charlie Munger lamented that they had “screwed up” by not buying Alphabet earlier because they “could see in our own operations how well that Google advertising was working. And we just sat there sucking our thumbs.”
On that day, the shares were going for around $59, and they gave no indication there were prepared to rectify their error.
Incoming CEO Greg Abel isn’t encumbered by that history, and Buffett has been handing over many of his duties to him.
Or it could be one or both of the portfolio managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs.
Stay tuned.

Not so surprising selling

Alphabet was by far the biggest Q3 addition at $4.3 billion, based on the September 30 price, well ahead of a $1.2 billion increase for Chubb.
The biggest decreases, Apple and Bank of America, had been foreshadowed by hints in Berkshire’s 10-Q almost two weeks ago.
(The Verisign reduction was disclosed in early August.)

Arrows pointing outwards

Berkshire’s Apple position was cut by almost 15%, or $10.6 billion, to around 238 million shares.
It’s down 74% since Berkshire began selling two years ago.
But Apple remains Berkshire’s largest equity position at $64.9 billion, which is 21% of the portfolio’s current value.

Arrows pointing outwards

The Bank of America reduction was smaller, just 6.1%, or around $1.9 billion.
The remaining 238 million shares are currently valued at $29.9 billion, Berkshire’s third largest position, making up almost 10% of the portfolio’s current value.
It’s been cut by 43% since early last year.

Arrows pointing outwards

A complete listing of Berkshire’s Q3 13F appears below. 

‘Sort of’

Many of the headlines on news stories about Warren Buffett’s Thanksgiving letter on Monday included this quotation: “I’m ‘going quiet.'”
But there was another phrase that followed that line near the top of the letter, getting its own paragraph: “Sort of.”

Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

Starting next year, Greg Abel, “a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator,” will be writing the annual meeting to shareholders and answering questions at the annual meeting. Buffett plans to sit on the arena floor with the other directors.
But he wrote, “I will continue talking to you and my children about Berkshire via my annual Thanksgiving message.”
This year’s letter ran a bit more than seven pages, compared to around three pages last year, and sounded a lot like the annual letters he’s been writing for decades, with sections on the importance of luck, getting old, his admiration for Berkshire shareholders, the many friends he has made over the years in Omaha, and his complete confidence in Abel’s ability to run the company.
He also revealed that while hospitalized as a child, he received a fingerprint kit and proceeded to take prints from the nuns caring for him, because “someday a nun would go bad, and the FBI would find that they had neglected to fingerprint nuns.”
(CNBC.com has this summary)
The newsiest bit was his plan to “step up the pace of lifetime gifts” to the three foundations run by his children, who, like Buffett, are getting older. (They are 72,70, and 67.)
He wants to “improve the probability that they will dispose of what will essentially be my entire estate before alternate trustees replace them.”
But he also “wants to keep a significant amount of ‘A’ shares until Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie and I long enjoyed.”
The result, at least for this year, is an increase in the Class B shares (converted from Class A) going to each foundation to 400,000 shares from 300,000 shares last year.

Arrows pointing outwards

Including a fourth unchanged donation to a foundation named after his late wife, the total as of the date of the gifts increased 17% to $1.3 billion.
Playing a more minor role: Class B shares are up 4% since last year’s gifts.

The entire U.S portfolio as of September 30

Arrows pointing outwards

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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

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BERKSHIRE’S TOP U.S. HOLDINGS – Nov. 14, 2025

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

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

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Just 40% of young baby boomers have enough money to maintain their standard of living in retirement, according to a recent Vanguard study.
There are some options to close the retirement savings gap, experts said.
Working longer and tapping home equity are two examples, they said. But the strategies aren’t accessible to everyone.

Many baby boomers aren’t on track to retire with enough money. They have some options to adjust their trajectory, researchers said, but these come with trade-offs.
Just 40% of workers who are age 61 to 65 — the youngest members of the boomer cohort — are financially on track for retirement, according to recent research from Vanguard, an asset manager and retirement plan administrator. That group will have enough income to fund their current lifestyle into retirement, researchers estimate.

The rest are expected to fall short. The typical — or, median — 61- to 65-year-old will have a $9,000 annual deficit in retirement, representing a 24% shortfall in their funding needs, Vanguard estimates.
Its analysis assumes people retire and claim Social Security at age 65.

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The findings come as a historic demographic shift, known as “peak 65,” is underway in the U.S. A record number of people — more than 4 million a year, or about 11,000 a day — are expected to turn 65 annually from 2024 to 2027.
Of course, knowing the “right” amount of money needed to retire is an impossibility. No one knows how long they will live or how much money they might need for future retirement expenses, such as health care or long-term care.
Yet boomers who suspect they won’t be able to sustain their current standard of living are in a tough spot compared to younger generations.

Gen Z and millennials, for example, have decades to change course, perhaps by saving more for retirement and earning compound interest on those balances. Not so for near-retirees.
Compared to younger investors, boomers also generally hold fewer stocks — the typical growth engine of a retirement portfolio — to insulate their savings from market risk as they prepare to begin retirement withdrawals.
There may be negative implications for the U.S. economy if many boomers are ill-prepared for retirement and are forced to cut spending to make their nest eggs last.
“Some economists sound alarm bells: ‘We have this [retirement] crisis, it’s doom and gloom,'” said David Blanchett, a certified financial planner and head of retirement research at Prudential. “It’s not nearly as bad as it seems.”
Boomers do have a few options to help close any retirement-readiness gap. However, the options may not be accessible or palatable to all households, he said.
Here are three of them.

1. Working longer is a ‘silver bullet’

Nastasic | E+ | Getty Images

Delaying retirement is a “silver bullet” when it comes to eliminating or shrinking a retirement funding gap, Blanchett said.
“Even pushing back retirement back a few years can do wonders for retirement outcomes,” he said.
That’s because working longer would yield more career-funded savings, higher Social Security income for life due to delayed claiming, and fewer years of retirement to fund, according to Vanguard’s report.
For example, working two years longer — e.g., retiring and claiming Social Security benefits at age 67 — would increase the share of 61- to 65-year-olds who are prepared for retirement to 47% from 40%, Vanguard found.

However, not everyone will be able to work longer, even if this is something they plan to do.
“It’s not an option that’s available for all,” said Kelly Hahn, head of retirement research in Vanguard’s Investment Strategy Group.
In 2025, 40% of retirees said they left the workforce earlier than planned, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey. That share has been roughly similar for the past two decades, hovering around 40% to 50%.
Some of the reasons for an unexpectedly early exit include health problems and layoffs.

2. Address the ‘tricky topic’ of home equity

A “For Sale” sign in front of a home in Crockett, California, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Among the reasons for boomers’ somewhat precarious financial position relative to younger generations: The workplace retirement system shifted from a pension-heavy system to a 401(k)-type system, right as young boomers were in their peak earning years, Hahn said.
“They didn’t really benefit fully from the pensions their parents or grandparents may have had,” or from the newer 401(k)-type system of savings, she said.
However, the bulk are sitting on a large non-liquid asset, Hahn said: their homes.
The vast majority — 86% — of baby boomers own homes, a much larger share than younger generations, according to Vanguard calculations based on the Federal Reserve’s most recent Survey of Consumer Finances.
The average boomer has $113,000 of home equity, according to Vanguard’s report.
Tapping into that equity would increase the share of young boomers financially prepared for retirement to 60%, up from the baseline 40%, researchers estimated.

There are many ways to access those funds, experts said.
“The one that will give you the biggest bang for your buck from a quantitative standpoint” is selling one’s home outright and becoming a renter instead of a homeowner, Hahn said.
Homeowners might also consider selling their current home and downsizing, moving to a lower-cost area, or borrowing against their home equity via a reverse mortgage or a home equity line of credit.
However, tapping home equity is often a “tricky topic,” Hahn said.
Most people are reluctant to turn to their home as a piggy bank, viewing it instead as an asset of last resort, Blanchett said.
“The home is the largest tangible asset for most Americans,” he said. “It’s a viable option in theory, but in the past it’s been relatively unpopular.”

Even pushing back retirement back a few years can do wonders for retirement outcomes.

David Blanchett
certified financial planner and head of retirement research at Prudential

A home generally comes with a strong emotional attachment to one’s identity, potentially making it difficult to sell, Hahn said.
Homeowners with a mortgage who secured their loan when rates were low may also feel locked in, given higher interest rates now, she said.
Additionally, accessing home equity via a reverse mortgage or HELOC can also be costly and time-consuming, Blanchett said. Homeowners need to get approved for the loan, which often comes with implicit or explicit costs, he said.
Social connectivity is also a “very important aspect of a happy retirement,” Blanchett said. Retirees would have to weigh the loss of their community and social network against the financial necessity of relocating, he said.

3. Spend less

Of course, people might also consider spending less both before and during retirement, Blanchett said.
Saving more money toward the tail end of one’s working years can help accomplish that goal by forcing households to live on reduced cash flow, he said.
The typical retiree experiences a 20% decline in their consumption when they enter retirement, perhaps because a lack of savings causes a reduction in their spending, according to Blanchett’s research.
However, data suggests about 90% are moderately or very satisfied with their retirement, he said.
“These responses strongly suggest that despite perceptions of a retirement crisis, retirees are relatively content,” he wrote.
Correction: David Blanchett is head of retirement research at Prudential. An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the company. More

The IRS has announced the 401(k) catch-up contribution limits for 2026. 
The 401(k) catch-up contribution limit will rise to $8,000, up from $7,500 in 2025.
Investors age 60 to 63 can save $11,250 for catch-up contributions, based on changes enacted via Secure 2.0.

Peter Cade | Getty Images

The IRS has announced new 401(k) catch-up contribution limits for 2026.
In its release on Thursday, the agency increased the 401(k) contribution limit to $24,500 for 2026, from $23,500 this year. Catch-up contributions for savers age 50 and older will also increase, to $8,000, up from $7,500 in 2025.

The limits apply to 401(k)s, 403(b)s and most 457 plans, along with the federal Thrift Savings Plan. 
The 401(k) catch-up contributions are even higher for savers age 60 to 63, thanks to a change enacted via the Secure 2.0 retirement law. The catch-up contribution for these investors will remain at $11,250 in 2026, allowing them to contribute up to $34,750 in total.
The IRS also released new individual retirement account limits for 2026, among other updates.

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However, most employees aren’t maxing out their 401(k) or regular catch-up contributions, according to Vanguard’s 2025 How America Saves report, which is based on more than 1,400 plans and nearly 5 million participants.
In 2024, nearly all Vanguard plans offered catch-up contributions, but only 16% of eligible workers made these deferrals, the report found.
The IRS announcement comes hours after President Donald Trump signed into law a funding bill to end the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. It also comes roughly a month after the agency released dozens of inflation adjustments for 2026, including federal income tax brackets, higher capital gains brackets and provisions affecting families, among others. More

The IRS announced Roth individual retirement account contribution and income limits for 2026.
For 2026, investors can save a maximum of $7,500 in Roth IRAs, up from $7,000 in 2025. 
The IRS also boosted IRA catch-up contributions for investors age 50 and older to $1,100, up from $1,000 in 2025.  

Kseniya Ovchinnikova | Moment | Getty Images

The IRS has unveiled the Roth individual retirement account contribution and income limits for 2026.
In its release on Thursday, the agency increased the 2026 IRA contribution limit to $7,500, up from $7,000 in 2025. The IRS also boosted the IRA catch-up contributions for investors age 50 and older to $1,100, up from $1,000 in 2025.  

Those annual limits apply to contributions to traditional and Roth IRAs.
Income thresholds for taxpayers making Roth contributions also increased.

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Roth IRA income phaseouts for 2026

To contribute up to the limit in a Roth IRA, your modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI, must be below a certain threshold, which changed for 2026:
The income phaseout range for taxpayers making contributions to a Roth IRA increased to between $153,000 and $168,000 for single or head of household filing status. That’s up from between $150,000 and $165,000 in 2025. Those taxpayers can make partial Roth contributions.
Taxpayers using either of those filing statuses can make a full Roth contribution if their MAGI is under $153,000. They cannot contribute to a Roth at all if their MAGI is above $168,000.

For married couples filing jointly, the income phase-out range increased to between $242,000 and $252,000, up from between $236,000 and $246,000 for 2025. Those taxpayers can make partial Roth contributions.
Married couples filing jointly can make a full Roth contribution if their MAGI is under $242,000. They cannot contribute to a Roth at all if their MAGI is above $252,000.
The phaseout range for married filing separately is not subject to an annual cost-of-living adjustment, according to the IRS, and remains between $0 and $10,000. More