Investing

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on October 03, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

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Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as stocks slid on Monday, and what’s on the radar for the next session.

PepsiCo

The soda-and-snack giant reports Tuesday before the bell.
Shares are up 1.7% in three months.
Pepsi is 8.8% from the 52-week high hit in May.
It’s not a cola-to-cola comparison, but Coca-Cola is up 8% in three months. It’s 6% from the September high.

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PepsiCo shares in 2024

Boeing

The airline maker reports September orders and deliveries on Tuesday at 11 a.m., Eastern time.
Boeing is down 1% in a month, and it’s down 15.6% in three months.
The stock is 42% from the December high.

The insurance stocks

After many of these names had record runs, insurance stocks fell Monday ahead of another major hurricane approaching Florida. This time it’s a Category 5 monster called Milton.
Travelers fell 4.3% Monday. It is 7% from the high three weeks ago.
Progressive fell 3.85%. It is 5.75% from the mid-September high.
W.R. Berkley lost 3.47% Monday. It is 8% from the September high.
Hartford lost 3%. The stock is 4% from the high hit last week.
Hanover Insurance dropped 2.8% Monday. The stock is 4% from the Sept. 19 high.

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Traverlers Cos. in 2024

The bonds

Super Micro’s super jump

The stock was up nearly 16% on Monday as Super Micro Computer said sales are still going strong.
It remains 61% from the 52-week high hit back in March.
The stock closed at $47.74. The all-time high is $122.90.

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Super Micro Computer’s performance in 2024

Amazon and Apple

Both giants were hit with analyst downgrades on Monday.
Wells Fargo took down its rating on Amazon to equal weight from overweight. Jefferies dropped Apple to hold from buy.
Both stocks lost about $5 a share Monday. That’s a 3% decline for Amazon, and a 2.25% decline for Apple.
Amazon is now 10% from the July high.
Apple is 6.5% from the July high.

Nuclear

The White House’s national climate advisor Ali Zaidi said Monday that the administration is working to restart more nuclear reactors in the U.S.
He mentioned the two projects CNBC has previously reported on. One is in Michigan, and the other is in Pennsylvania. It’s unclear if more are coming soon.
Vistra dropped 5% Monday.
NextEra fell 4.25%. It is 6.75% from last week’s high.
Uranium Energy fell 3.46% Monday. It is now 20% from the Feb. 1 high.
The Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (URNM) declined about 2.4%. More

Many Americans would rather talk about who they’re voting for in the November presidential election than money, a recent survey finds.
While most people are reluctant to talk about money, the good news is that some money conversations are happening more regularly.
Here’s why experts say it can cost couples and parents who don’t discuss financial issues.

Voters cast their ballots on the second day of early voting in the 2024 presidential election at the Board of Elections Loop Super Site in Chicago, Illinois, on October 4, 2024. 
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images

There are few topics Americans would rather not talk about more than money.
They would even rather reveal who they’re voting for in the November presidential election than talk about their finances, according to new research from U.S. Bank based on a survey of 3,500 individuals.

That’s on top of separate research that found personal finances are almost as difficult to talk about as sex, a recent Wells Fargo national survey including 3,403 adults found.
Most people are reluctant to talk about money, according to Wells Fargo’s research, and revealing how much they have saved or how much they have earned are two topics they’d prefer to avoid.
Still, for most people to be willing to talk about the U.S. election over their personal finances is a “big surprise,” said Scott Ford, president of wealth management at U.S. Bank.

People are likely more hesitant to talk about money because it is wrapped up with their anxieties, worries and aspirations, said Preston Cherry, a certified financial planner, founder and president of Concurrent Financial Planning in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Moreover, while money is a “deeply personal,” everyday relationship, presidential elections are just once every four years, said Cherry, who is also a member of the CNBC FA Council.

Despite their reluctance, the research from U.S. Bank shows families are increasingly breaking the ice on financial topics, particularly with regard to conversations parents are having with their kids.
“The good news is people are talking more [about money], but it’s still at the surface,” Ford said.
U.S. Bank’s survey included 1,000 respondents from the general population, 1,000 mass affluent respondents with at least $250,000 in investable assets excluding their primary homes and retirement accounts, and 500 high-net-worth individuals with at least $1 million in assets excluding their primary homes and retirement accounts.

‘Missed opportunities’ of not talking about money

For both couples and families, not having those crucial financial conversations can cost them, financial advisors say.
“When you don’t have the knowledge, or you don’t feel like you have the ability to talk to your loved ones and people around you about money, then you also can’t build wealth effectively,” said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Irvine, California-based Sun Group Wealth Partners. She is a member of the CNBC FA Council.
“Avoiding money conversations will lead to misunderstandings, financial misalignment and, overall, just missed opportunities to plan effectively for the future,” said Douglas Boneparth, president and founder of Bone Fide Wealth, a wealth management firm based in New York City. He is also a member of the CNBC FA Council.

Have talks ‘before an emergency situation arises’

On a positive note, some money conversations are happening more regularly, U.S. Bank’s research found.
Today’s parents are almost twice as likely to discuss financial concepts with their children — such as investing in stocks and bonds — than their parents did with them, according to the firm.
Still, 45% of respondents say they are unaware of their parents’ financial situation, U.S. Bank found. Many believe they will have to provide financial help to their parents or in-laws in the future, according to the research.
A lack of family financial discussions can become an issue if aging relatives have a health scare, said Ford, who recalled having to scramble to pay the property taxes for a loved one who fell ill, without even knowing where the checkbook was.
“What I tell everyone is you want to have those conversations before an emergency situation arises,” Ford said.
To start to better understand older family members’ financial situations, it may help to begin with everyday items, like the cost of prescription medications, and build from there, Ford said.
“Our advice is just to start to have the conversation, start small,” Ford said.
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If those conversations are avoided, it can prevent important estate planning, health-care decisions and intergenerational wealth transfer, according to Boneparth.
“When these things aren’t accounted for, there could be costly legal mistakes or tax inefficiencies, either presently or down the road,” Boneparth said.
Ultimately, families want to have a full emergency plan in place, complete with knowledge of bank account information, long-term health-care plans, a will and a durable power of attorney, which is a legal document that gives someone else the authority to make financial or medical decisions on someone else’s behalf.
It may take some prodding for older family members to open up about their finances, said Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and the CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta. He is also a member of the CNBC FA Council.
“It’s always best to approach parents and say, ‘Listen, we could care less how much money you have. We just want to make sure the proper things are in place to make sure that we’re not dealing with tons of legal hassles down the road,'” Jenkin said.

Couples often don’t agree on money

A lack of communication among couples can also lead to financial problems.
More than one-third of Americans don’t agree with their partners when it comes to how to best manage their money, both when planning for their current circumstances and retirement, according to U.S. Bank.
At the same time, 30% say they have lied to their partner about money, the firm found. Other research has shown that dishonesty — often referred to as financial infidelity — can be common when couples aren’t on the same page financially.
“Couples sometimes struggle,” Cherry said. “They struggle with sharing each other’s perspective without judgment in order to reach a common goal.”
To work past financial standoffs, it helps for couples to create a more welcoming environment to engage their partners in money conversations, Cherry said.

Financial advisors can often serve as mediators and objective third parties in those conversations, Ford said.
More than half — 53% — of investors surveyed who have at least $250,000 in assets said their financial advisor has helped them work through uncomfortable family money conversations, U.S. Bank found.
Many people may be hesitant to consult a financial professional if they don’t feel they have enough money or know the questions they should ask.
But taking that first step — whether it’s talking to an advisor or doing the research to educate yourself about personal finance — can help shift your mindset and reduce financial stress, according to Sun.
“Most financial advisors, especially the good, experienced ones, will give you a free first initial consultation,” Sun said. “That is super powerful, and you should take us up on it.”

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ETF Strategist

For some retirees, the deadline to take required withdrawals from retirement accounts is approaching — and those who don’t need the money have options.
Since 2023, most retirees must take required minimum distributions, or RMDs, from pretax retirement accounts at age 73.
If you have enough cash flow without RMDs, you could consider qualified charitable distributions or reinvesting the proceeds into brokerage accounts with tax-friendly assets such as exchange-traded funds.

Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images

For some retirees, the deadline to take required withdrawals from retirement accounts is approaching — and those who don’t need the money have options, experts say.
Since 2023, most retirees must take required minimum distributions, or RMDs, from pretax retirement accounts starting at age 73.

April 1 after turning 73 is the first deadline, but retirees must take RMDs by Dec. 31 in subsequent years. 
The next step “always comes down to a client’s personal goals, financial and tax plan,” said certified financial planner Judy Brown, a principal at SC&H Group, which is headquartered in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metropolitan areas. She is also a certified public accountant. 

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Here’s a look at other stories offering insight on ETFs for investors.

Before deciding what to do with an RMD, it’s important to consider your short- and long-term priorities, including legacy goals, along with the tax impact, experts say.

Reinvest for ‘future tax savings’

If you’re eyeing long-term growth, you can reinvest after-tax RMD proceeds in a brokerage account and continue your current investing strategy, said Houston-based CFP Abrin Berkemeyer. 
Upon the sale of those assets, you’ll get long-term capital gains rates of 0%, 15% or 20% after holding the assets for more than one year. The rate depends on taxable income.

The strategy “could lead to future tax savings” if you use the money for a large expense later, such as health care, said Berkemeyer, who is a senior financial advisor with Goodman Financial. Brokerage assets could be subject to capital gains taxes, whereas pretax retirement funds incur regular income taxes.

ETFs are ‘incredibly tax efficient’

Some advisors use “in-kind transfers,” which move assets directly from your pretax retirement account to a brokerage, to stay invested in the same assets. You’ll still owe taxes on the distribution, but you maintain your original holdings. 
However, there are “good reasons” not to keep identical assets in a brokerage account, which incurs yearly taxes on earnings, said CFP Karen Van Voorhis, director of financial planning at Daniel J. Galli & Associates in Norwell, Massachusetts.
For example, you may want to shift holdings to exchange-traded funds because they are “incredibly tax efficient,” she said.
Unlike mutual funds, most ETFs don’t distribute capital gains payouts, which can save brokerage account investors on annual taxes.

Secure a ‘guaranteed tax deduction’

If you’re philanthropic, another option could be a so-called qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, which is a direct transfer from an individual retirement account to an eligible nonprofit organization.
For 2024, retirees age 70½ or older can donate up to $105,000, which satisfies yearly RMD requirements for those age 73 and above.
There’s no charitable deduction, but QCDs don’t count toward adjusted gross income, meaning retirees don’t need to itemize tax breaks to claim it.

It’s effectively a guaranteed tax deduction.

Karen Van Voorhis
Director of financial planning at Daniel J. Galli & Associates

“It’s effectively a guaranteed tax deduction,” Van Voorhis said.
More adjusted gross income can trigger other tax issues, such as higher income-related monthly adjustment amounts, or IRMAA, for Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. More

CNBC spoke with Josh Brown in early October about his new book, “You Weren’t Supposed To See That: Secrets Every Investor Should Know.”
He discusses what he thinks about the American Dream, the “biggest lie on Wall Street,” what opened his eyes about financial planners and more.

Josh Brown
Photo: Duncan Hill

Josh Brown once had this idea that in order to be a financial advisor, you needed to be buttoned up and fit a particular mold.
Brown, a CNBC contributor who often takes a casual and accessible tack with investors for his commentary, has since learned that there’s more than meets the eye to a lot of things in the world of money.

Throughout his new book, “You Weren’t Supposed To See That: Secrets Every Investor Should Know,” Brown encourages investors to look beyond the surface level of financial advice you see in traditional and social media. Take the American Dream, for example:

Arrows pointing outwards

Courtesy: Josh Brown

“We all grow up being taught about the American Dream and why it can work for everyone,” said Brown, who is the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, a New York City-based investment advisory firm. “I still believe that’s true, but what we learned in the pandemic is it can’t work for everyone all at once. That’s the thing that you weren’t supposed to see.
“The hidden truth about American-style capitalism is that if everybody is good all at once, the whole thing breaks down. We need people to be successful, but we also need people who are still striving to get there, who are willing to take jobs and do things that others won’t do.”

What we learned in the pandemic is it can’t work for everyone all at once.

Joshua Brown
CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, a New York City-based advisory firm

CNBC spoke with Brown in early October about his experience in the field as a financial advisor and some of his top takeaways for investors across generations.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

‘One of the biggest lies on Wall Street’

Ana Teresa Solá: What led you to write this book? 
Joshua Brown: I had been writing a blog [The Reformed Broker] for about 15 years, and I was writing seven days a week at one point. Then the momentum started to slow down as my career took over. 
At the end of last year, I decided to put an end to it and just say, “This is as far as I could take this.” But I didn’t want to not give it the proper send off, because it was a huge part of my life.
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When you put your heart and soul into that much writing over that length of time, you kind of want to say, “All right … these are the most important insights, and these are the things that I think were important at the time. And let me do something that recognizes that.” 
I wanted to collect all those insights in a book, revisit some of the greatest hits, and then bring them up to the present so that there is a value to the reader today. 
ATS: You echo this idea throughout the book, that you can’t reap the rewards of the stock market without some impact.
JB: One of the biggest lies on Wall Street is that investors can avoid risk and still have the upside of whatever asset class, the markets, etc. It will always be the biggest lie because it’s the easiest thing on earth to sell.
Everybody wants it, and even very intellectually secure people who understand logic will still fall for that. 
When you’re a salesperson, one of the things you learn is to figure out who you’re talking to and what their buttons are, and then you push those buttons. 

Josh Brown on the CNBC set at the New York Stock Exchange.
Photo: James Moock

The thing that we have done very well in our content as a firm, is we have pointed out the ways in which people are convinced to do one thing or the other, and how much human nature plays into that and why it’s really important to fight those instincts, whether it’s fear or greed, as the markets are unfolding.
You really don’t want to veer too far into one of those buckets. You want to be right down the middle. Take enough risk that you can make money, but not take so much risk that you’re about to get the knockout punch. 

Financial advice industry ‘has come a long way’

ATS: In the book, there’s a story about how you walked into this financial advisor’s office and her technique was not what you expected.
JB: That’s about more than 10 years ago, and it was a really eye-opening moment for me. Prior to that, I was very intimidated to make the transition from being a retail stockbroker to an investment advisor. 
I had this idea in my head that all the people who were serving as investment advisors were like these serious, buttoned up professionals who knew exactly what to do — and it really turned out not to be that. It turned out to be a lot of people pretending.
The industry has come a long way since then. The average advisor is significantly better equipped to deal with clients and more professionalized than what I had seen in that era.
That’s kind of a relic of another time that no longer exists. I don’t think that you can fake it to the degree that you used to be able to. [Many advisors are] operating on a fiduciary standard, I don’t think you could fool people anymore.

Gen Z doesn’t need financial planning advice. They need asset allocation advice.

Joshua Brown
CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, a New York City-based advisory firm

ATS: You say young advisors are equipped with the expertise, but they lack something prior generations of advisors have. What is it?
JB: You have this new generation of incredibly qualified financial planning talent. They’re coming out of college knowing more at 23 than many advisors at 43 have ever learned about the planning process. 
This is my opinion — I’m sure people [will] get mad when they hear this — but what they’re missing is the ability to convert an audience of prospective clients into real relationships.
They don’t yet have the life experience. Generationally, they’ve been able to get away with doing a lot less face-to-face. They haven’t dealt with as much rejection as Gen X, certainly the boomers.

Let’s put them in some rooms with important meetings going on. Let’s give them opportunities to have these face-to-face interactions, because they really know what they’re doing. 
Where they’re lacking is what my generation and older has — which is the ability to sell, to persuade, to make people feel comfortable and the ability to deal with awkward social circumstances.

‘Gen Z doesn’t need financial planning advice’

ATS: What are you observing with Gen Z and how they’re seeking financial advice? 
JB:  Gen Z, they don’t need financial planning advice. They need asset allocation advice. They don’t have the assets accumulated. There are no estate issues. There aren’t really tax things worth discussing. 
Whatever they’re encountering on TikTok is whatever the algorithm is serving them, and the algorithm is going to serve them the most outrageous content, it’s going to serve them shortcuts, facts, tricks, stories about people making wild, Bonanza size trades. 
It’s not advice … Most of it is being delivered by completely unqualified people who are not registered, who are not beholden to any sort of standard, and could just say whatever they want.
But I think what ends up happening with that generation, just like every generation prior, is things in their life become more complex. The level of responsibility goes up, the amount of money that they’re dealing with goes up, and they will, in turn, start looking for help. 
And they’ll start their search online.  More

A smartphone displaying Facebook with the Meta icon visible in the background.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The U.S. stock market witnessed a solid September, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s much-awaited interest rate cut. However, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could weigh on investor sentiment this month.
Nonetheless, investors could benefit by ignoring short-term noise and tracking the recommendations of top Wall Street analysts to pick stocks with attractive long-term growth potential.

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.
CyberArk Software
This week’s first pick is CyberArk Software (CYBR), a cybersecurity company that is mainly focused on identity security. The company delivered better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its full-year guidance, indicating solid demand for its products.
Recently, RBC Capital analyst Matthew Hedberg initiated coverage of CYBR stock with a buy rating and a price target of $328, calling it a top mid-cap cybersecurity idea. The analyst thinks that the company is in a “good position to consolidate identity spending and maintain durable and increasingly profitable growth.”
Hedberg expects CyberArk to sustain strong growth, driven by the demand for identity security and substantial room to grow within its core Privileged Access Management (PAM) market. Additionally, the analyst thinks that the company can grow beyond the PAM market by pursuing cross-sell opportunities in the Access, Secrets, Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) and machine identities markets.
Hedberg also expects the company to benefit from its acquisition of Venafi, a machine identity specialist. He anticipates that Venafi’s growth will rebound to more than 20% and be accretive to CyberArk’s growth and margins over time.

Overall, Hedberg is optimistic about a further rise in CyberArk’s profitability and expects the company’s organic growth to be above 20% for several years, backed by an estimated total addressable market (TAM) of $60 billion.
Hedberg ranks No. 164 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 62% of the time, delivering an average return of 14.7%. (See CYBR Hedge Fund Activity on TipRanks) 
Uber Technologies
We move to the ride-sharing and food delivery platform Uber Technologies (UBER). After hosting meetings with the company’s management, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth reaffirmed a buy rating on UBER stock with a price target of $95.
Highlighting the key takeaways from the meetings, Anmuth said that management is confident about achieving a three-year compound annual growth rate of mid- to high-teens for gross bookings, backed by a stable macro and demand backdrop since the second-quarter earnings. In particular, management stated that demand continues to be healthy in both the Mobility and Delivery businesses.
Anmuth also noted the company’s optimism about expanding its advertising business across Uber Eats and grocery. Notably, the ad business is on a run-rate of $1 billion (as of the second quarter) or about 1% of delivery gross bookings. In fact, delivery profits have improved over the recent quarters due to the high-margin ad business. Uber expects its grocery ad business to account for 5% of gross bookings over time.
The analyst also pointed out the company’s growing interest in autonomous vehicles (AV). “Uber can add value to AV tech providers by driving higher demand/utilization and building out the AV ecosystem through fleet operations,” Anmuth said, based on discussions with management.
Anmuth ranks No. 93 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 62% of the time, delivering an average return of 18.4%. (See UBER Stock Buybacks on TipRanks) 
Meta Platforms
This week’s third stock pick is social media company Meta Platforms (META). At the recently held Meta Connect event, the company highlighted Quest 3S, its latest virtual reality headset, as well as other innovations, including its latest prototype of augmented-reality (AR) smart glasses (Orion) and the new features of its Meta AI chatbot.
Following the announcements at the event, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian reaffirmed a buy rating on Meta stock and boosted the price target to $605 from $530.
The analyst attributed the higher price target to a number of factors, including significant opportunities to expand core monetization with artificial intelligence (AI)/generative AI features and the ongoing momentum in Messaging. His improved outlook also reflects “generally positive social media ad checks,” with September looking better than the trends noted in August.
The analyst raised his 2025 revenue and 2024 and 2025 earnings per share estimates to reflect stable macro trends, higher contributions from Messaging and enhancements related to devices and AI-driven platform. However, he slightly lowered his 2025 operating margin estimate to reflect increased networking and depreciation expenses.
Commenting on Meta Connect, Sebastian said he thinks that this year’s event reflects the significant progress the company has made with its Reality Labs division and AI/generative AI. Specifically, the analyst thinks that the Llama update provides a further edge to Meta’s LLMs (large language models) over close rivals like Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini. He is also optimistic about the innovations related to Meta AI assistant and expects it to be the most popular AI assistant by the end of 2024.
Sebastian ranks No. 277 among more than 9,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 57% of the time, delivering an average return of 13.6%. (See META Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks)  More

Riverview High School in Riverview, Florida, opened a construction academy to help put students on a path to well-paying jobs after graduation.
Increasingly, high schoolers are looking for career-connected options available at a lower cost than a four-year college.
A shortage of skilled tradespeople, largely due to experienced workers aging out of the field, is also boosting the number of job opportunities and pay.

Angela Ramirez-Riojas, 18, is enrolled in Riverview High School’s construction academy.
Courtesy: Riverview High School

For Angela Ramirez-Riojas, 18, going to college was always plan B.
Her grandfather works in construction, and that motivated Ramirez-Riojas to follow in his footsteps.

“I’ve gone with him to work,” she said. “He frames houses and I really enjoyed being there with him because I look up to him. He’s very smart and knows a lot about working with his hands.”
Ramirez-Riojas, who is a senior at Riverview High School in Riverview, Florida, enrolled in her school’s recently opened vocational program in construction. The job training was particularly appealing, she said.
“I want something quick to help me move along,” she said.
Still, higher education isn’t completely off the table, she said. “College is a second option for me.”

Interest in the skilled trades is rising among teens

Three years ago, Riverview High School opened its construction academy to help put students like Ramirez-Riojas on a path to well-paying jobs after graduation, often in lieu of a four-year degree.

This program “is not a ‘Last Chance U,'” said Erin Haughey, Riverview’s principal. “If we have students who are highly motivated, they want to learn the skill, they want to be in the trade, then they get to stay in our community and they get to do a job they love.”
With the capacity for 20 students in the workshop at a time, and only three classes offered each year, there is now a waiting list to get in, she said. Of the 120 students who sign up each spring, only 60 ultimately secure spots.
“I could fill Jeff’s classroom twice over,” said Haughey, referring to Jeff Lahdenpera, the building trades teacher.
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“It’s not only throwing nails and two by fours,” Lahdenpera said. Students can get certified in carpentry, plumbing and electrical work, and continue on to pursue various specialties, including construction management, administration, logistics and transportation, marketing and graphics or human resources.
“Construction trades is not just the physical part, there’s other parts of it that encompass the whole industry,” Lahdenpera said.

Construction worker shortage is boosting pay

In addition to providing students with a career-connected pathway available at a lower cost than a four-year college, Riverview’s construction academy was also created to help address a local labor shortage, which mirrors what is happening nationwide.  
The academy was funded, in part, by a $50,000 donation from Neal Communities, a private builder based in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
“There’s a lot of development that’s happening right now in our counties,” said Katie Alderman, Neal’s community affairs coordinator.
America needs construction workers. This year, the construction industry would have to attract more than half a million workers more on top of the normal pace of hiring to meet the demand for labor, according to a model developed by Associated Builders and Contractors. Currently, the unemployment rate in the industry is 3.2%, well below the national average of 4.2%.

The shortage of skilled tradespeople, largely due to experienced workers aging out of the field, is not only boosting the number of job opportunities but also the pay.  
In fact, new construction hires earn more than new hires in the professional services, according to payroll-services provider ADP.
At the end of last year, median pay for new hires in construction was $48,089, up 5.1% from a year earlier. The median pay for new hires in professional services was nearly $10,000 lower, at $39,520, up just 2.7% from the year before.
“This is just the law of supply and demand,” said certified financial planner Ted Jenkin, CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial in Atlanta.

Gen Z is becoming the ‘toolbelt generation’

Roughly half, 49%, of high schoolers now believe a high school degree, trade program, two-year degree or other type of enrichment program is the highest level of education needed for their anticipated career path, according to a report by Junior Achievement and Citizens Bank. 
Even more — 56% — believe that real world and on-the-job experience is more beneficial than obtaining a higher education degree. The survey polled 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 in July.

There’s an insulting presumption that a four-year college is the gold standard — it’s not.

Ted Jenkin
CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial

The college affordability crisis and the rise of alternative career pathways, together, are helping transform Generation Z into the so-called “toolbelt generation,” according to Jenkin, who is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
“There’s an insulting presumption that a four-year college is the gold standard — it’s not,” Jenkin said.
From 2022 to 2023, enrollment in vocational programs jumped 16%, the National Student Clearinghouse found. And many of these young adults are benefiting from the secure job track and high earnings potential these vocational jobs now provide, Jenkin said.
“The delta between white-collar jobs and good blue-collar jobs is not that big anymore,” Jenkin said. “That gap is closing.”
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Today, women who are just starting out, between the ages of 20-24, account for about 50% of total employment, which means that young women are just as likely to work as young men, according to Federal Reserve data.
But women are still picking up a heavier load at home.
Pop culture continues to reflect this stubborn imbalance with a fresh, contemporary flare found in viral TikTok video and song lyrics like Taylor Swift’s.

Damircudic | E+ | Getty Images

Women have been making significant strides in their education and careers and working as much, if not more, than their male counterparts.
Today, women who are just starting out, between the ages of 20-24, account for about 50% of total employment, which means that young women are just as likely to work as young men, according to a recent analysis of Federal Reserve economic data.

That is at least until they reach an age when they often get married or have children, the Fed researchers found — a dynamic that has proved remarkably stubborn.

“The trend was inevitable,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at The New School for Social Research in New York.
Women have achieved parity in the workplace, “but not full equality,” she said.

‘I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art’

From Taylor Swift song lyrics to viral TikTok trends, there’s a point in pop culture that is made clear: The daily grind has taken a toll on women. 
A line from the song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” off of Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” hit home with her mostly female listeners: “I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it’s an art.”

More than 180,000 short-form video posts on TikTok featured the lyric.
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“It resonates with both millennials and Gen Zers, which I think indicates that Gen Z is feeling the same ‘girl-boss’ pressures that millennials famously grew up with,” Casey Lewis, a social media trend forecaster and author of newsletter After School, told CNBC in April.
“There’s a lot of pressure on young women,” Lewis said.
Another song also struck a chord this year: “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6’5″, blue eyes…” Megan Boni first posted the song on a clip from her TikTok account @girl_on_couch on April 30. Her 20-second video has more than 58.4 million views and counting.
While it was originally intended as a fun take on single women with high expectations for who they date, “there are a lot of single women who are looking but not finding what they want,” according to Lewis.
That also helps explain why some women are opting out of the workforce entirely in favor of being a so-called “tradwife,” another one of 2024’s viral social media trends depicting women adhering to very traditional gender roles and embracing domesticity.
Young women, whether they’re married or not, are expressing a desire to “take a step out of the professional rat race,” Lewis previously said. Being a tradwife is “an excuse to step back and do less.”

But women are not doing less by any standard — nor were they back then.
Although women are more likely than men to take time out of the labor force or reduce the number of hours worked because of caretaking responsibilities, whether working or not, they still pick up a heavier load at home, according to a separate Pew Research Center survey.
“The lack of affordable childcare may be playing a role,” according to Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew.
“The childcare crisis, which was simmering prior to the pandemic, has come to a boil,” according to a KPMG analysis. Between 1991 and 2024, the costs for child care rose at nearly twice the pace of overall inflation.

Where are the men?

Meanwhile, men are steadily dropping out of the workforce, especially those between the ages 25 to 54, which are considered their prime working years.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that men who are not college-educated leave the workforce at higher rates than men who are. At the same time, fewer younger men have been enrolling in college over the past decade.
Often referred to as NEETs — neither in employment, education or in training — this cohort has been hardest hit by globalization and the decline of manufacturing in this country, according to Pew’s Fry.
“When you don’t get rewarded for working, you work less,” Fry said. “That is a basic tenet of labor economics.”

Last summer’s blockbuster “Barbie” movie captured that well, other economists say, “describing Ken as a young man in America who just has no place and no role,” according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.
Still, overall, men continue to outpace women by other measures. 
Real median earnings for men who worked full-time, year-round increased by 3%. Meanwhile, real median earnings increased 1.5% for women who worked full-time, year-round, the Census Bureau found.
At the same time, 37% of women said they feel like they have to prioritize their partner’s career over their own — up slightly from 2023, according to Deloitte’s most recent Women at Work report, in part because their partner earns more but also due to societal or cultural expectations. More

More than 7 million adults of ages 65 and above rent instead of own their homes, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Here are the pros and cons to renting instead of owning your home later in life. 

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Older Americans make up the largest share of homeowners in the U.S. compared to other generations. However, many are renting in their retirement years. 
Most older adults, those at least 65 years old, own their homes, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. Yet, more than 1 in 5 older households — 7 million — rent instead of own, according to the 2023 Housing America’s Older Adults by the JCHS.

Renting in retirement years can be a positive because older people can avoid costly maintenance associated with the upkeep of a home. Renting also offers the flexibility to move vs. the complexity of selling a home, experts say.
“Renting often offers more amenities, less maintenance, more accessibility,” said Jennifer Molinsky, director of the housing an aging society program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies.
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However, older renters are subject to the same issue younger tenants face: rent price increases.
In 2022, half of all renter households, 22.4 million, were cost burdened, or spent more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities, the Center found in the 2024 State of the Nation’s Housing.

And unlike younger renters, adult renters in retirement years could be especially vulnerable to rent hikes because they are on fixed income, experts say.
“As a retired renter, you are faced each month with a housing expense for the rest of your life. It’s an expense that is not fixed, it is variable by market trends,” said certified financial planner Lazetta Rainey Braxton, CEO and president of The Real Wealth Coterie, a virtual wealth management and RIA firm.
 Braxton is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

Why there are less older homeowners

In 2023, older baby boomers made up the largest share of home sellers at 45%, according to the National Association of Realtors. They were most likely to downsize their home. NAR defined younger baby boomers to have been 59 to 68 years old in 2023, and older boomers, are ages 69 to 77.
Meanwhile in 2022, the homeownership rate among households ages 65 and over was 79.1%, slightly lower from 79.5% in 2021, the Joint Center for Housing Studies found. The record high was 81.1% in both 2004 and 2012.
Similarly, homeownership for those between the ages of 50 and 64 dropped to 74.2% in 2022 from the two-decade high of 80.4% in 2004. This group was hit by the Great Recession and suffered a loss of homeownership, according to Molinsky.
To be sure, it can be hard to regain homeownership at the cusp of retirement age, she said. Their lower homeownership rate will likely foreshadow lower ownership rates in the future, the Center found.
Meanwhile, people who didn’t buy a home in their 40s and 50s are now aging, so “you’re now seeing people who have always been renters coming into their old age,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist, retirement specialist and professor of economics at The New School for Social Research. 

Pros and cons to renting in retirement years

Being a renter, however, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re worse off than homeowners, Ghilarducci explained.
The cost of maintaining your home will vary. Experts recommend budgeting between 1% and 4% of your home’s value annually to cover typical home maintenance costs, according to Homeguide.com. For example: If your house is valued at $450,000, expect to budget from $4,500 to $18,000 for costs to upkeep your home.
Even if you’ve paid for the upkeep of your home over the years, elements in your house don’t stop deteriorating in your retirement years, experts point out.
Capital improvements like fixing or replacing the roofs can be difficult, said Molinsky. Additionally, there are tasks you may not want to do yourself anymore, and it can be expensive to hire a professional, she added.
Homeowners spent an average $9,542 on home improvements in 2023, a 12% increase from a year prior, according to the State of Home Spending by Angi. At the same time, the amount of projects decreased to an average of 2.8 projects in 2023 from 3.2 in 2022. The survey polled 6,400 consumers between Oct. 22 and Oct. 23.

While a fair amount of attention is paid on affording a home in retirement, it’s important to also consider the care and services you might need in order to stay in that house, said Molinsky. More