Author: Editor

On an otherwise innocuous morning in January 2025, I lost my job. Loading audio narration… When the CEO asked me into his office, I already knew what was coming. Management had held an emergency meeting earlier that morning, warning us that mass layoffs were coming.Two of my colleagues had already had their meetings and received their letters. I was next.As the HR manager and the CEO said words I was already expecting — “operational layoffs,” “budget cuts,” “severance” — part of me exited the conversation. Their voices faded into a kind of white noise, and my new reality began to…

“If gas prices and other energy prices remain elevated in the coming months, that’s going to hurt the labor market,” economist Guy Berger said.Some sectors could be more immune, such as healthcare, as it isn’t too energy-intensive. Meanwhile, Berger said restaurants, travel, and some recreation jobs could be affected, but he doesn’t expect a recession. “If gas prices and other energy prices remain elevated in the coming months, that’s going to hurt the labor market,” economist Guy Berger said.Some sectors could be more immune, such as healthcare, as it isn’t too energy-intensive. Meanwhile, Berger said restaurants, travel, and some recreation…

When President Donald Trump launched the “Gold Card” visa program last December, the official website promised U.S. residency in “record time.” A new court filing, however, suggests that applicants who pay $1 million for a Gold Card won’t get faster visas.The Gold Card, touted as a new kind of investment visa that would raise revenue and attract tens of thousands of overseas millionaires and billionaires to the U.S., has been dogged by delays and legal questions. In December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that the government would issue 80,000 Gold Cards and raise more than $100 billion in revenue. Yet…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Susie Cranston, CEO of Cresset. It has been edited for length and clarity. Loading audio narration… There’s a famous story in my family: my mom and her twin sister were in first grade at a religious school in the Bay Area. When the teacher asked the students what they wanted to be when they grew up, all the little girls said they wanted to be nuns, except for my aunt. She wanted to be a doctor. The teacher told her that it was impossible: women couldn’t be doctors.When my mom and…

Lake Oswego in Oregon.Bradleyhebdon | Istock Unreleased | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.A wave of states deciding to take aim at a tax incentive for investors and startup founders could sway some high-net-worth residents to relocate, lawyers to the wealthy told Inside Wealth.The One Big Beautiful Bill Act turbocharged the tax breaks on qualified small business stock, better known as QSBS. However, some states, including Maine and Oregon, have targeted the tax…

The corporate benefits rollback is spreading. Loading audio narration… TTEC, a global customer experience outsourcing and technology services provider, has paused its 401(k) matches for US staff through the end of 2026, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.”We have made the difficult decision to suspend the discretionary company match to the TTEC 401(k) program, effective Q2 2026,” said Laura Butler, TTEC’s chief people officer, in the April 30 memo.Butler said the nine-month suspension would “protect the long-term strength” of the business and give TTEC greater financial flexibility to keep investing in “the tools, training, and capabilities that…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s central promise has been to bring down his city’s cost of living. Loading audio narration… But New York’s affordability problems are a result of its own success: Despite slowing population growth, the city’s housing stock and services are still in high demand, pushing prices up. Cities typically get cheaper when people don’t want to live in them anymore — think of Detroit, after its downfall — and not when they’re in high demand and growing.So the question becomes not whether Mamdani can make New York broadly affordable for everyone. It’s whether he can deliver…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maureen McMahon, in her 70s and living in Edmonton, Alberta. It has been edited for length and clarity. Loading audio narration… For years, people would ask me, “Which do you like better, Canada or the US?” I would tell them, “It’s not that simple.”I moved from Canada to the US for a relationship when I was 40. In 2024, about 30 years and several states later, I moved back to Canada for retirement. What I have discovered, to my amazement, is the absolute contentment I experience on a daily basis being…

When Jane Fraser took over as CEO of Citi in 2021, she vowed to modernize and overhaul the bank, heralding in an era of leadership changes, layoffs, and a much-needed winner’s mindset. Loading audio narration… Now, with the firm’s sweeping transformation project more than 90% complete, top executives had to answer for how they’re turning the promised culture shift into a reality for Citi’s more than 200,000 employees. Citi’s new pitbull identity was on display throughout Thursday’s investor day, where the opening video was set to Easy McCoy’s song “Beat the Best” and leaders repeatedly invoked words like “relentless” and…

America is not getting relief from its K-shaped economy problem anytime soon, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said. Loading audio narration… In a Thursday earnings call, Kempczinski said that the macro environment and consumer sentiment are “certainly not improving, and it may be getting a little bit worse.”The K-shaped economy, which refers to a divide in spending patterns between higher and lower-income consumers, has been a hot topic in retail earnings in recent months.Kempczinski said the affluent continue to have “very resilient spending.””And that is true for our business as well, where we’re seeing solid growth, good growth with higher income,…