In 2025, CEO turnover in the United States is shattering prior records and shifting the very nature of executive leadership. According to fresh data from executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of CEO departures at U.S. companies increased to 207 in June—a 23% jump from May’s 168. While this represents a 12% decrease from the 234 departures logged in June 2024, the first half of 2025 tells a story of acceleration: A whopping 1,235 CEOs left their posts. That’s a 12% increase from last year and the highest year-to-date total since Challenger began tracking this data in 2002.

This wave of exits isn’t simply a statistical outlier, the firm says. More than ever, companies are relying on interim chiefs, and the short-term revolving door has become so common that the highest-paid corner office is increasingly looking like a “gig economy” job, Challenger says, adding: “2025 marks the rise of the CEO gig economy.”

CEOs as gig workers

Through June 2025, a staggering 33% of newly named CEOs had stepped into their roles on an interim basis, compared to just 9% during the same period last year. Many of these leaders, including veterans who navigated companies through the Covid-19 pandemic, are returning to guide firms on their own terms, choosing flexible, project-based tenures over the once-standard multi-year engagement.

“With growing uncertainty across the economy, shifting corporate values like DEI, the impact of tariffs, potential deregulation, evolving consumer behavior, and the rapid implementation of new technologies such as AI, identifying the right leader for long-term success has become increasingly difficult,” said Andy Challenger, labor and workplace expert at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Interim roles offer both organizations and executives a strategic edge: companies gain agility and fresh perspectives swiftly; executives gain exposure and maintain flexibility.

The perils of the C-suite gig economy

There are real risks to a gig-like approach to the corner office. Teams led by an interim or short-term CEO may struggle with trust, long-term cohesion, and cultural stability. “When teams know their leader could leave at any moment,” Andy Challenger notes, “it’s harder to build lasting cohesion or trust.” Frequent leadership turnover can disrupt culture, diminish morale, and spark higher employee attrition—particularly if staff feel their voices aren’t heard or priorities are in constant flux.

Another sharp trend is the even split between internal and external interim CEOs: 53% were selected from within the organization, while 47% came from outside. When interim roles become permanent, internal and external candidates fare equally: 20% of each ultimately landed the role long-term.

The surge in CEO gig work contrasts with another shift: the lagging rate of new women CEOs. Only 25% of new CEOs appointed in 2025 are women, down from 28% last year.

Industries with surging turnover

Some sectors have been especially hard hit. The government/non-profit space leads (or trails), with 256 CEO exits through June—1.6% higher than last year’s 252 exits through the first half. The space has seen the highest turnover in both years.

Then there’s a big drop to technology, with 138 CEO departures through June, one of the highest monthly totals of the year; the turnover represented a 16% increase from 2024 as well. Health care/products saw 121 exits, a 20% increase from 2024. Hospitals, a subset, saw 68 departures, up 3%. Financial firms had 76 CEO exits year-to-date, a 29% increase year-over-year.

This upheaval reflects broad changes—uncertainty, rapid tech shifts, pressure on traditional leadership models—that are turning the CEO role into something more fluid, flexible, and, increasingly, temporary. In this era of “gig economy” leadership, both organizations and executives face new rules—and new risks—in navigating the future of the C-suite.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

As an aeronautics grad student at MIT in the 2010s, Brian Yutko was obsessed. He’d work deep into the night mining “black box” data and destination codes buried in antiquated computer languages like Fortran for obscure flight stats. He wowed his thesis advisor with his work on fuel efficiency. Among Yutko’s findings: Airlines could reduce pollution by 7% by flying planes at slightly slower speeds, and by 33% by mothballing old models sooner. But Yutko didn’t just study planes—he loved flying them. Yutko, his advisor, and fellow PhD students relished zipping up and down the East Coast on rented Cessna 170s that they would take turns piloting to conferences and blithe sojourns for picnic lunches in the country. 

Fast-forward a decade and suddenly Yutko has a much bigger fleet at his disposal. In May Boeing named Yutko, 39, chief of commercial airplanes product development, the arm tasked with incorporating engineering advances that improve today’s models, and taking a leading role in designing and bringing to market all-new aircraft at Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), the company’s largest division. With this year’s revenues clocking at an annualized rate of around $45 billion, if measured on its own, that unit would rank around 100th on the Fortune 500.

Though Boeing’s litany of safety concerns and union turmoil have dominated the headlines for several years, behind the scenes there are glimmers that things are changing one year into new CEO Kelly Ortberg’s tenure. Ortberg secured a hard-won contract with the machinists’ union following a 54-day strike; reached a deal with the DOJ to avoid criminal prosecution for the crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 passengers and crew; won a contract initially valued at $20 billion over Lockheed to develop the Air Force’s next-gen fighter jet; and worked closely alongside the FAA to gradually raise production of the 737 Max, the bestseller whose production the regulator severely constrained since the notorious door-plug blowout over Portland early last year. He also avoided big risks by raising $21 billion in fresh capital, ensuring that Boeing harbored the cash reserves for weathering the tough times. But it’s the appointment of Yutko, though it has gone largely unnoticed, that may speak eloquently about where Boeing is headed.    

“I’m biased, but my take is that Brian’s appointment is a real indication that Boeing is returning to prioritizing engineering and product innovation,” R. John Hansman, Yutko’s PhD advisor and director of the MIT International Center for Air Transportation, told Fortune. (Boeing declined to make Yutko or other managers available for this story. Yutko, however, sent a message that read in part: “Because I’m just getting my feet wet in this new role and drinking from a firehose a bit, I’ll follow the comms team lead on this one.”) Adds Gary Gysin, the founding CEO of Wisk, where Yutko served on the board before taking the helm: “One guy won’t fix everything, but he’ll help attract more like-minded younger people who will be more aggressive on the tech front.” Several sources I spoke to said that Yutko’s leadership and technical skills could take him a long way at Boeing.

Of course, that will certainly depend on how Yutko helps Boeing navigate the flight ahead—a period in which the company is in the early stages of exploring what could be a $25 billion bet on a brand-new plane, something that the aerospace giant only does once every few decades. Legendary aerospace analyst Richard Safran summarizes the promise and peril Yutko’s facing as this: “He’s a classic MIT, somewhat brilliant guy. Who hasn’t demonstrated he knows how to make money yet.” 

Boeing at a crossroads

Boeing is at a critical juncture. The seeds of its current problems date back to the late 1990s following its acquisition of rival McDonnell Douglas. Before that giant tie-up, Boeing had boasted a culture dominated by engineering excellence that elevated product quality and safety far above profit-making. Though Boeing remained a wellspring of innovation, the McDonnell ethos took over, and was accelerated by a parade of CEOs who seemed to prioritize shareholder value above all. From 2010 to 2018, Boeing radically reduced headcount and R&D as a share of sales, and returned over 100% of its cash flow to shareholders via buybacks and dividends. Over those eight years, its stock delivered annual returns of nearly 30%, beating the likes of Apple and Microsoft. 

But the fatal Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes in late 2018 and early 2019 exposed how far Boeing had veered from the quality obsession and production safeguards that were hallmarks of its storied past. (You can read this author’s cover story on Boeing’s descent here.) 

Now Ortberg’s plan to gradually raise the severely depressed production of its cash cow Max is showing green shoots, but to ensure dominance in the next decade, Boeing’s top chance at besting Airbus is designing and successfully commercializing a totally new and disruptive 737 successor. “Boeing’s not in a good place from a product portfolio standpoint,” says a former executive at a large Boeing supplier. “They haven’t been for four to six years. The new plane can’t be a me-too. When you’re behind, you need to be aggressive. They have to come up with something that’s a real crowd-pleaser for the airlines. And they have to develop the new plane right on schedule to restore their credibility after the delays on the 787,” the last all-new plane that arrived three years late in 2011. 

Much of this will fall to Yutko. To say it’s a tall order is an understatement, but as interviews with colleagues, peers, and friends show, he has again and again surprised those around him. His unlikely rise to the Fortune 500 began in Northeastern Pennsylvania coal country. His hometown’s the tiny village of Buck Mountain nestled near the foothills of Locust Mountain, a hikers’ favorite roamed by white-tailed deer and black bears. Decades ago, one of the biggest draws for this corner of Appalachians was its rowdy annual beer fest. This region comprising historic Schuylkill County holds the world’s largest deposits of anthracite black carbon, but the industry’s decline decimated the local economy. Since the 1930s, Schuylkill has lost around a third of its population, and its often-crumbling homes at a median of $165,000 rank among the nation’s cheapest. Less than 20 miles from Yutko’s alma mater, Mahanoy City High School—where in 2022 he delivered the keynote address to the graduating class of 49, the smallest in its history—sits a virtual ghost town where a coal seam fire has been burning for over 60 years. Brian’s ancestors migrated over a century ago from Eastern Europe to the area’s then-bustling company towns, and generations of Yutkos have worked in the coal trade.

Yutko’s dad ran a shop that changed springs for coal mining trucks, and Brian worked alongside him as a kid. “When Brian got his master’s at MIT, I invited his parents to dinner,” remembers his mentor Hansman. “It was the first time his father had ever been out of the state, and the first time his mother had left the county.”

Yutko and his two brothers were the first in the family to attend college—the younger a project engineer at a large power and metals company who also volunteers as a high school wrestling coach in the area, as does the youngest—all three honed clinches and armlocks on the mats at Mahanoy. At Penn State, where Yutko graduated in 2004, he majored in aerospace engineering and developed a love for jerry-rigging airborne vehicles from everyday materials. In a recent Reddit post, he recalled joining “a project that designs and builds a sailplane” and getting assigned to “weld out metal chromoly tube fuselage … because I knew how to weld.” Yutko didn’t mention whether he learned the metal-bending skills at the family workplace, but jested: “I’m positive my welding wouldn’t pass proper inspection.”

At MIT, Hansman demanded that his PhD candidates pursue work that wasn’t just theoretical, but would improve the way airplanes fly and operate so that the next wave would show big strides in curbing emissions and lowering noise. “You think of MIT as teaching heavy math, nerdy kinds of things,” says a fellow program member. “But Hansman was very applied and practical.” Hansman was also a super-tough taskmaster who, as this Yutko classmate avows, “didn’t suffer fools gladly” and would put his doctoral candidates through “a tear down and rebuild mill.” Glancing at a piece of research, he’d charge, “This is wrong” or “This is BS,” mainly as a test for prompting students to vigorously push back. Once the presenter on the griddle “defended their position to the death,” they could often persuade their revered leader.

For years, in addition to their Cessna-piloting adventures, Yutko joined Hansman and Yutko’s best friend, NASA astronaut and engineer Woody Hoburg, on motorcycle sojourns on their rented BMW 1200 rigs between Christmas and New Year’s to exotic corners of the globe, from the deserts of Morocco to the valleys of Peru. During COVID, Yutko and Hoburg, a former rescue climber in Yosemite, camped in Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas to practice their technical skills deploying lines and harnesses. On foot, Yutko has braved the race to the summit of Pikes Peak, a grueling contest that scales 7,800 vertical feet.

A slim six-footer, his brown hair close-cropped, Yutko in his Wisk incarnation favored T-shirts and jeans. At work, he can be intense and demanding. “He and I are both ‘A’ types, and we had quite a few battles,” says ex–Wisk boss Gysin, who adds that Yutko “would really dig in on an issue” and relentlessly hammer home his position, a stance he learned in the Hansman crucible at MIT. “I have a number of non-consensus views on a number of topics,” Yutko admitted in a recent podcast. Yet Gysin says that despite their dustups, he and Yutko “are friends to this day.” 

According to fellow students and colleagues, Yutko’s as likable as he is doggedly determined. Marvels Hansman, “We’d go to a bar on the Moroccan coast on our motorcycle trips, and Brian would make friends with all the guys in the bar,” says Hansman. “He’s just magnetic.” 

Lishuai Li, a fellow PhD student under Hansman and now a professor at City University of Hong Kong, attests to Yutko’s gift for putting people at ease. “As an international student, I sometimes feel hesitant in social settings, so I’d sometimes be quiet. But Brian had a natural way of making everyone feel included.” Yutko is married, and he and his wife, who holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and previously worked as a White House advance aid, recently welcomed a son.

And Yutko’s funny. In interviews, he lampoons his own wonkish credentials by uncorking such quips as, “I’ll do a little systems engineering on your question.” As a PhD student, he coauthored a semi-satirical editorial that echoes 18th-century essayist Jonathan Swift’s tongue-in-cheek “A Modest Proposal.” The piece soberly calculates the dollars airlines could save if “they could provide incentives for passengers to go the restroom before getting on a flight.” The authors also get serious, extolling the fuel economies garnered by ditching such items as water bottles handed out by flight attendants, and replacing “flight bags” carrying heavy paper manuals, charts, and checklists with versions loaded on computerized tablets. The writing is so clever that, for this judge, it could have been penned by a professional pundit.

Hansman praises Yutko’s willingness to take chances when the potential payoff is big. “This is a guy who listens, who thinks things through, who assesses risk, but doesn’t have fear,” he observes.

Extra lift

After getting his PhD in 2014, Yutko split his time between MIT and Aurora Flight Sciences, an engineering firm that primarily created prototypes of unmanned, electric, and other next-gen planes, helicopters, and drones for the Department of Defense. At Aurora, he participated in a NASA design competition for a revolutionary, highly efficient commercial aircraft configuration called the D8. Boeing teams were competing on other models. Traditional aircraft design features a pressured tube for the passengers flanked by wings. But the D8 put two tubes side by side, which made the fuselage wider, enabling it to, in effect, become part of the wing and add to the lift. The design also placed the engines in the tail, which reduced turbulence from the fuselage. The D8 looked a bit like a shark, and won the moniker “Double Bubble.” Its edge: It could carry wings smaller and lighter than those of regular planes because of the extra lift provided by the reshaped fuselage. Those characteristics lowered drag big-time. The D8 was also originally conceived to fly at slightly lower than normal speeds, a key to saving fuel that Yutko had identified in his doctoral work.

Yutko tested D8 forerunners in a new wind tunnel donated to MIT by Boeing. The D8’s stupendous goal: lowering fuel consumption by 70%. The tech incorporated in the D8 is still a contender for the new wave of narrow-bodies, and the program would prove Yutko’s ticket to Boeing. 

JUSTIN TALLIS—AFP/Getty Images

Yutko had caught the eye of then–Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, who picked the rising star for personal mentorship as part of a Boeing program where top executives nurture future leaders. By early 2023 Yutko was ready for a new challenge, which presented itself when autonomous flying-taxi startup Wisk, (founded by Google cofounder Larry Page but majority owned by Boeing) needed a new CEO. Yutko moved to Silicon Valley for the job.

The Wisk rises like a helicopter; then six of its forward rotors tilt outward, and it flies like a plane. Yutko foresaw a network of “vertiports” at airports, topping highways and mounted on rooftops ferrying passengers up to 100 miles in what he widely praised as possibly “the next big leap in aviation.” Given the resistance of pilots’ unions and traffic controllers, and skepticism from regulators, for autonomous flight, it’s unclear when or if Wisk will reach the market. Still, Yutko continued to advance autonomous technology and added AI applications to simulate flight planning and patterns. Those improvements could potentially improve safety and testing on commercial planes. 

Boeing’s next big bet

Of course, any decision on a new plane will fall to Ortberg and the Boeing board. Once they approve takeoff, the aircraft-maker typically taps two leaders to head a greenfield project, according to an executive who worked for a Boeing supplier: a program manager, and a lead project engineer. The program manager is tasked with hitting key milestones for schedule and costs, and reports to the business side. The lead project engineer is responsible for working with the supply base to optimize the plane’s design and development, and bring it to market. That person is part of the engineering team that, it appears, would work closely with Yutko as chief of commercial airplane development. “You can’t BS Brian on the engineering side,” noted one of his former colleagues.

What’s this airborne breakthrough likely to look like? The advantage to the super avant-garde models Yutko knows so well is that the airframes themselves promise tremendous gains in fuel efficiency and CO2 reductions. The D8 “Double Bubble” technology that Yutko labored on featuring the bulbous fuselage is still a leading candidate. Another potential winner is the so-called X-66, also known as the jawbreaker transonic truss-braced wing or TTBW. Conceived in-house at Boeing, and long supported by grants from NASA, the X-66 features extra-long, thin wings supported by diagonal struts, so that from the nose you’re looking at two triangles. 

In April, Boeing scrapped pursuit of an X-66 demonstrator in partnership with NASA, but pledged to keep working on thin-wing technology. It’s not clear if the TTBW or another model will prove the winner, but Yutko has expressed openness to new aircraft configurations. “It’s really an open book,” says Hansman. Yutko will be leading the evaluation of all the technical and design options, including the use of alternative fuels and new engine technologies, as well as automation. 

In October of 2024, Yutko gathered with many of Hansman’s former students to salute their beloved teacher’s 70^th birthday with a series of lectures. Yutko took the stage for a presentation reviewing 210 years of aviation history. He started by recapping the first primitive, butterfly-shaped gliders, reminding the audience, “[I’m] as you all know … a future-thinker,” then spotlighted the “opportunity for new airplane shapes” and lauded the “Double Bubble … that came out of MIT” and “that I’m so passionate about.” 

Boeing watchers may similarly hope that the storied company is entering a new era, too. And Boeing finally has what it needs, a visionary engineer who can pilot this lagging colossus towards winning the big one, the contest for the aircraft of the future.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Monday’s mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan claimed the life of Wesley LePatner, a 43-year-old executive at Blackstone, the company confirmed Tuesday morning. LePatner was among four victims killed at 345 Park Avenue when a lone gunman stormed the office building, which also serves as the headquarters of the National Football League and features other business clients such as KPMG. The shooter has been identified by police as 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas.

LePatner served as Blackstone’s global head of core+ real estate and chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), a property fund with a $53 billion net asset value and a $275 billion market capitalization. 

The LePatner family provided a statement to Fortune, saying, “We cannot properly express the grief we feel upon the sudden and tragic loss of Wesley. She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable.” The family noted that she was a beloved, loyal, and caring friend to many others and a “driven and extraordinarily talented professional and colleague.”

The family offered its condolences to those who have also lost loved ones, and asked for privacy in the coming days and weeks. “At this unbearably painful time, we are experiencing an enormous, gaping hole in our hearts that will never be filled, yet we will carry on the remarkable legacy Wesley created.”

A decorated background

LePatner joined Blackstone in 2014 after more than a decade with Goldman Sachs and was credited with driving the firm’s real estate ventures to new heights. A Yale graduate, LePatner served on the boards of organizations including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the UJA-Federation of New York, and Yale University Library Council, according to her Blackstone biography page. She is survived by a husband whom she met on the first day of freshman year at Yale, according to their New York Times wedding announcement. She had two children, the New York Post was first to report.

New York Rep. Ritchie Torres posted on social media that LePatner “represented the very best of New York.” Calling her a “distinguished professional,” he honored her sense of civics, as a “devoted congregant” at the Altneu synagogue and a dedicated board member at the Heschel School.

Authorities say Tamura acted alone and had a history of mental-health issues. Investigators recovered a note where Tamura raged against the NFL, claiming to suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—a neurodegenerative disease associated with head injuries in contact sports. While Tamura played football in high school, there is no evidence he played professionally or was ever diagnosed with CTE.

“Words cannot express the devastation we feel. Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed,” Blackstone said in an emailed statement. “She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous and deeply respected within our firm and beyond.”

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Workers making over $100,000 no longer consider themselves “rolling in it”—more than half of six-figure earners no longer feel financially successful. Those with top salaries are shopping at discount grocery stores, and cutting back on dining, clothes, and travel as they try and make ends meet. They’re even stalling major life plans—like renovating their homes, and throwing their weddings. 

Being a six-figure earner once felt like an exclusive club, with the promise of a lavish life—but now those making over $100,000 are feeling the pinch. So much so that they’re even buying their groceries at dollar stores and ditching takeouts.

More than half (58%) of six-figure earners no longer feel financially successful, according to a recent report from Clarify Capital. 

Six-figure earners aren’t choosing to fly economy over first-class—they’re looking for better deals when it comes to the essentials. More than seven in 10 of these high earners are now being forced to shop at discount grocery chains to save cash. 

Around 74% also say they’re cutting back on dining out, 54% are skimping out on entertainment, 51% are getting thrifty with buying clothes, 49% are scaling back their subscriptions, and 49% are spending less on travel. 

However, they’re not ashamed of their new thrifty ways, with 62% of six-figure earners proudly claiming they aren’t embarrassed to admit they’re cutting back. 

“In today’s economy, income alone doesn’t guarantee financial peace of mind,” the report says. “High earners are feeling squeezed by inflation, stressed by social pressure, and more mindful about what it really means to be well-off.” 

“As spending habits shift and priorities change, one thing is clear: real wealth is about security, not just status.”

The wealthy are cutting back on major life purchases too

Once the epitome of “making it” in America, workers earning six figures are now in the same boat as their less wealthy peers. 

And beyond the day-to-day expenses, those considered to be “rich” are also delaying major life purchases. About 47% are setting back their dream vacations and travel, 31% are stalling on home renovations, and 26% are delaying buying or leasing a new car.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tough housing market has forced many to rethink their American dream timelines, as 17% are pushing back buying a new home—and 6% of six-figure earners are even delaying getting married. 

Essentially, the rising cost of living crisis has forced people in all tax brackets to watch their spending, causing anxiety. About 85% of six-figure workers say they feel stressed and anxious due to increased living costs—and it’s even worse for women. Around 88% of top-earning women feel worried about keeping their checkbooks balanced, compared to 81% of men. 

The new upper-class: making more than $200,000

It’s no surprise that six-figure earners are pinching pennies when it comes to daily essentials—after all, more than half of Americans making over $100,000 annually lived paycheck to paycheck in 2022, 7% more than the previous year, according to a 2023 report. The cost-of-living crisis has pushed the needle of wealth to a new high.

In some parts of the U.S., making around $200,000 isn’t even considered to be “rolling in it.” A household making $199,000 a year in Massachusetts and New Jersey would still be considered middle-class, according to a 2025 analysis of 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data. And in every single state in America, a $100,000 salary is no longer enough to be considered to be upper-class. 

There are several reasons why more six-figure earners are struggling to make ends meet. Some employees have been hit with wage deflation, and the prospect of switching jobs for better pay has been upended. Employees who stayed in their current roles received a 4.6% wage bump in January and February, while those who switched jobs received only a marginally higher increase of 4.8%, according to 2025 data from the Atlanta Fed. 

Also, inflation has increased living expenses across the board. People may assume a middle-class lifestyle could at least keep up with the basics, but 65% of those households say their incomes were falling behind the cost of living, according to a 2024 study from Primerica.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• OpenAI just raised $8.3 billion in a fresh round led by Dragoneer Investment Group. The AI startup is well on its way to raising $40 billion by year’s end.

Back in March, OpenAI announced a plan to raise up to $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation by the end of the year, with $10 billion becoming immediately available (thanks to SoftBank, which footed 75% of the bill), and the remaining $30 billion arriving by the end of the year.

On Friday, OpenAI made strong headway on its financial plans, raising another $8.3 billion at that same $300 billion valuation, the New York Times’ DealBook was first to report. Demand for the round was off the charts—five times oversubscribed, according to the NYT—which meant many early investors participating in the new round were reportedly frustrated by getting smaller allocations so OpenAI could prioritize new backers. 

OpenAI’s latest fundraising round was led by Marc Stad’s Dragoneer Investment Group, an early investor in Spotify and Uber. Dragoneer wrote a massive $2.8 billion check, which means OpenAI now represents roughly 10% of the firm’s funds.

The round also included new investors, including T. Rowe Price, as well as a pair of giants from the private equity world, TPG and Blackstone. Other participants in the round included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Fidelity Management, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Coatue Management, and Tiger Global.

The New York Times’ DealBook reports OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue, which was reported as $10 billion in June, now exceeds $13 billion almost two months later, and may pass the $20 billion mark by year’s end. 

To offer some context: Anthropic, OpenAI’s nearest rival in terms of revenue and capital raised, has $14.3 billion in lifetime fundraising, and its valuation is $61.5 billion as of March—though it is currently in talks to raise another $5 billion at a $170 billion valuation. Perplexity AI, another rival, raised $100 million last month, bringing its valuation to $18 billion. Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has raised $10 billion at a reported $80 billion valuation, though current fundraising efforts could bring that number up to $200 billion. 

Of course, all of this money brings OpenAI closer to an initial public offering. The company is currently in the midst of restructuring itself to become a for-profit company (which requires a green light from Microsoft), so there is still no announced timeline for an IPO. But the latest round means OpenAI has raised more than any other AI company by a wide margin, which gives it the upper hand in the red-hot sector.

OpenAI might face a true challenge, though, from some of the more established Silicon Valley giants, such as Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pouring billions into AI resources, including talent; its $72 billion AI infrastructure spend is almost 80% higher than OpenAI’s entire fundraising round this year. Meta is also the sixth-most valuable company in the world with a market cap approaching $2 trillion.

OpenAI did not wish to comment further on the news, or on its future plans.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Financial innovation has come full circle. The blockchain is bringing the U.S. back to the era of private money, when banks and companies could issue their own currencies. This time, instead of gold and silver coins, corporate America is eager to issue their own stablecoins. 

The U.S.’s decision to embrace cryptocurrency through legislation like the GENIUS Act doesn’t just matter domestically. Washington’s move is placing pressure on countries around the world to signal their own stance on stablecoins and cryptocurrency. 

In recent months, financial officials and academics within China have spoken up on the need to at least consider authorizing stablecoins, which Zhiguo He, a professor of finance at Stanford University, says is motivated by the “fear of missing out.” 

And on Friday, the autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong—which is betting on cryptocurrencies to bolster its status as a financial center—will start accepting applications for a Hong Kong-dollar backed stablecoin, potentially opening the door for a renminbi-backed token too. 

With the U.S. going all-in on crypto, Beijing now faces a difficult decision: Does it match the U.S.’s risky bet on a stablecoin-centric future? Or does it play it safe, and risk missing out on cutting-edge financial technology? 

A crypto-happy U.S. 

Stablecoins, unlike their more volatile counterparts in the cryptocurrency space, are meant to be a bit boring. These virtual assets are pegged to the value of a reference asset, such as a fiat currency. Almost all stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar, the world’s reserve currency. Users can tap stablecoins to easily transfer funds between different cryptocurrencies without needing to resort to real-world money.

Users trust stablecoin issuers to have enough liquid reserves to redeem coins for fiat currency at any time. But unlike banks, stablecoin issuers don’t have a lender of last resort to fall back on. The 2022 collapse of TerraUSD, a so-called algorithmic stablecoin, spread concerns about other cryptocurrencies, including more well-established tokens. 

The potential for stablecoins to spark the cryptocurrency version of a financial panic has led governments to be wary of stablecoins. But now U.S. president Donald Trump, in his second term, wants to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.” 

“Trump has done a 180 for the United States and just said, ‘deregulate, deregulate, deregulate,’” says Harvard professor and former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff. 

The U.S. Congress passed the GENIUS Act on July 17^th, establishing the first regulatory framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins. The Act requires issuers to maintain reserves, such as in cash or U.S. Treasury bills, to back their stablecoins on at least a 1:1 basis. 

China considers crypto  

The U.S.’s sudden crypto-happy stance could worry other nations. Dollar-backed stablecoins will be appealing in “really poor countries where people don’t trust the currency and central bank,” says Paul Blustein, journalist and author of King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World’s Dominant Currency. But even countries with strong local currencies could face a future where “citizens prefer to transact with this type of instrument.” 

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is now in a frustrating position. China has banned all cryptocurrency transactions since 2021, citing the risks they could post to the country’s financial system.  

But China doesn’t want to find itself behind the curve—or behind the U.S.—if stablecoins and blockchain technology really are the future of finance.  

Wang Yongli, former vice president of Bank of China, wrote to WeChat in June that it “would be a strategic risk if cross-border yuan payment is not as efficient as dollar stablecoins.” Yongli recommended a “proactive response from other countries, particularly China” to U.S. legislation, according to the Pekinology newsletter.

PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng similarly noted the rising use of stablecoins for cross-border payments at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on June 18. 

Days later, the Securities Times, a newspaper owned by state media outlet People’s Daily, wrote that industry insiders “generally believe that, as an emerging payment tool, the unique advantages and potential risks of stablecoins cannot be ignored, and that the development of [renminbi-pegged] stablecoins should be sooner rather than later.” 

The South China Morning Post reported on July 14 that China was exploring the feasibility of allowing the launch of stablecoins. Two local officials told the newspaper that state-owned entities including the securities firm Guotai Haitong and data infrastructure firm Shanghai Data Group were looking into a trial run of renminbi-pegged tokens. 

“It’s not the fact that the U.S. is going into crypto, per se, that matters,” Evan Auyang, group president of Hong Kong-based blockchain technology company Animoca Brands, says. “It’s really what started as a result of this change…Stablecoins became institutional” after gaining legitimacy from the U.S. (Animoca Brands intends to apply for a license to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong.) 

De-dollarization 

There’s a geopolitical element to the stablecoin conversation. If adoption of U.S. dollar stablecoins grows, issuers will need to hold more dollars and dollar-based assets to back the peg. Tether, which issues the world’s largest stablecoin, was already the world’s seventh largest purchaser of U.S. debt in 2024. 

After chipping away at the dollar’s global dominance for decades, China does not want to give the U.S. an opportunity to regain ground. 

“They’re very concerned about the U.S. exercising power, expanding the use of the dollar,” says Rogoff. 

China has tried to promote greater use of the renminbi for cross-border trade, with limited success. Trade with isolated countries like Russia and Iran may be conducted in the renminbi, but most countries in the world still prefer using the U.S. dollar. The popularity of dollar stablecoins could “smother” Beijing’s efforts to develop its own financial networks, Rogoff says. 

Trump’s trade war has spurred talks of “de-dollarization,” or reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar, due to concerns about the future of the U.S. economy and fears of dollar weaponization. Even Trump himself is worried about challengers to the dollar, threatening massive tariffs against the BRICS bloc if it considered creating an alternative currency.  

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that stablecoins can help keep the U.S. dollar as the dominant reserve currency.  

Some Chinese officials agree with Bessent: former vice minister of finance Zhu Guangyao argued in June that “the strategic purpose behind the United States’ promotion of stablecoins—closely tied to U.S. dollar liquidity—is to preserve dollar supremacy,” as translated by the East is Read newsletter,

Can China launch a stablecoin? 

But even if Beijing is open to launching a stablecoin, it must overcome another hurdle: its closed capital account, which means officials can’t authorize a Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY)-pegged stablecoin. 

There are “still a lot of concerns over capital flight issues” that make the liberalization of China’s capital account unlikely, Auyang says. 

China could authorize a stablecoin pegged to the offshore renminbi (CNH). And since over 70% of offshore renminbi payments are processed in Hong Kong, Huang Yiping, an advisor for the PBOC, suggested using the city as a testing ground for China’s stablecoin launch. Chinese tech giant JD.com reportedly proposed a similar scheme in its discussions with the PBOC. 

Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance, due to go into effect on August 1^st, already establishes a legal framework for leveraging the city’s offshore renminbi pool, if the PBOC chooses to go in that direction and provide sufficient liquidity for offshore renminbi-pegged stablecoin issuers. 

Although the law requires issuers to hold reserves in their stablecoin’s reference currency, since the Hong Kong dollar itself is pegged to the U.S. dollar, HKD-pegged stablecoin issuers can hold U.S. dollar reserves. 

“Hong Kong is pegging to the USD. So, in some sense, they are basically helping the U.S.,” He, from Stanford, explained. “This is perhaps why Beijing [could say], when you do the HKD [stablecoin], I want you to do the CNH as well.” 

‘Rein in the euphoria’ 

Currency experts are worried about how stablecoins could end up posing a threat to the economy—whether in the U.S. or in China. 

Blustein points to the risk of “currency substitution.” If the appeal of stablecoins outweighs the appeal of the local currency, it “screws up the central bank’s ability to control the economy,” he argues, as everyone is engaging in transactions in an instrument outside the bank’s control. 

And without a central bank or lender of last resort, stablecoins are vulnerable to runs—users rushing to redeem their tokens for fiat currency all at once. The possibility of a stablecoin crisis is “very parallel to the U.S.’s free banking era in the 1800s,” says Rogoff.  

“The risk of a financial crisis is high,” he says. 

Blustein, for his part, is less worried about stablecoins messing things up—in part because they make up “a tiny part of international payments.”  

“Stablecoins cannot possibly buy that many short-term treasuries” to compete with central banks and multinational companies, he suggests.  

Another person expressing some skepticism about stablecoins? Eddie Yue, the head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the city’s de facto central banker. 

In a press conference last week, Yue told the public to “rein in the euphoria” over stablecoins, pointing to “overly idealistic” discussions on how they might “disrupt the mainstream financial system.” 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

UnitedHealth Group, America’s largest health care company, shocked investors Tuesday by reporting unexpectedly awful financial performance. It’s the second consecutive quarter the company has committed that sin. As a result, UHG is no longer just a company that missed its numbers. It’s something much more rare: a huge enterprise—No. 3 on the Fortune 500—confessing fundamental, long-standing problems endemic throughout the organization that may take years to remedy.

The crisis first manifested in April. UHG was emerging from the trauma of executive Brian Thompson’s high-profile murder in December when the company released first-quarter profits far below Wall Street’s expectations. The stock plunged, slashing over $100 billion from market value within hours. A month later, CEO Andrew Witty abruptly resigned for unspecified personal reasons, and former CEO Stephen Hemsley returned to the job. The stock plummeted again. The next day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice was investigating UHG for possible criminal Medicare fraud. The company said it hadn’t been notified of any such investigation. The stock nose-dived yet again.

In less than a month, this corporate giant had lost more than half its value. “This is a stock that every growth-oriented portfolio manager in the world owned for a decade and made money on it like clockwork,” Whit Mayo, an analyst at the Leerink health care investment bank, told Fortune at the time. “It’s stunning. It’s unthinkable.”

On July 24, five days before UHG’s second-quarter earnings release, the company acknowledged that the Justice Department was conducting criminal and civil investigations of the company over its Medicare billing practices. You can guess what the stock did.

And then came the report of second-quarter earnings.

Now, after months of being pummeled by investors, regulators, and media, Hemsley has admitted that UHG needs an exhaustive, stem-to-stern rehab—an extraordinarily audacious goal for an organization of some 400,000 employees. It’s a stark acknowledgement of deep and wide problems. How deep and wide? Hemsley says UHG will change “leadership, our businesses, our culture, approaches and practices, our board, governance, and succession oversight …”

Executives now beseech shareholders for patience—quite a change from four months ago, before $330 billion of market cap evaporated. Dr. Patrick Conway, CEO of Optum, one of UHG’s two main divisions, now tells investors, “We know Optum’s performance has not met expectations.” Tim Noel, CEO of the other division, insurance, says, “We are approaching our business with greater humility.”

Hemsley appears to be setting expectations low. He says he does not see profit increasing at all this year. Next year, he sees “solid but moderate” earnings growth. Not until 2027 does he expect “our earnings growth outlook strengthening quickly.”

Even that schedule may not allow enough time. When Hemsley returned as CEO in June, the board of directors gave him a one-time $60-million award of stock options that would vest after three years. That term seemed lengthy for a 73-year-old whose objective was to right the ship. Now, after the latest quarter and the highly ambitious wide-ranging transformation he’s attempting, investors may wonder if three years will be enough.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Delian Alliance Industries, founded by former Apple engineer Dimitrios Kottas, announced Tuesday it’s raised $14 million in Series A funding to accelerate production of its affordable and autonomous defense systems. Kottas, who spent five years working in Apple’s secretive robotics lab, said he applied many learnings from his time in Silicon Valley to his four-year-old defense startup.

Dimitrios Kottas spent years at Apple working in its secretive “Special Projects Group” (SPG), working on autonomous systems for robots—and, for many years, was the team most closely associated with Project Titan, Apple’s since-canceled car project. But a few months after leaving Apple in 2021, he began work on Delian Alliance Industries, a defense startup designed “to protect Europe and its allies.”

On Tuesday, Kottas wrote a blog post announcing Delian had raised $14 million in a Series A funding round, led by Air Street Capital and Marathon Venture Capital, to “accelerate the production” of affordable and autonomous systems that “defend against invasion and incursion at nation scale.”

“We started Delian with a pilot of a single surveillance tower, but after just a few years we are now pursuing multiple nationwide deployments for our autonomous surveillance networks,” Kottas told Fortune. “Beyond this, we’re also helping allies to strike threats, as well as sense them. Our product lineup ranges from autonomous detection to autonomous one way effectors”

Rather than partnering with other defense companies and startups, Delian is borrowing a page from Apple, as well as Tesla, in that it’s choosing vertical integration as its key strategy around production. It makes its own hardware—targeting systems, surveillance towers, drones, and more— as well as the software and systems, which are all “designed to be low cost, deployed in mass, and sovereign,” according to the company’s website. 

“Why do we pursue vertical integration? Speed,” Kottas told Fortune. “Look at the speed that Tesla moved versus its European competitors who sub-contracted out everything to hundreds of different suppliers. By bringing everything under one roof we can move at the speed we need to equip our allies in the face of a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.”

Kottas, who graduated from the University of Minnesota after years of studying computer science and researching machine learning, said Silicon Valley also taught him about the importance of embracing “moonshot” projects, which are ambitious ideas that may result in revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, change. Some of its prototypes reflect this concept, including explosive-laden high-speed boats that launch out of concealed locations to deter attacks by air or by sea. (Kottas told The Financial Times Delian is focused on “the maritime domain,” as airborne drones are a “very saturated market.”)

“Our adversaries are arming themselves with emerging technologies at a rapid industrial scale,” Kottas wrote in a company blog post. “We’re in a race against time and should measure deployments in days, not decades. We’ve proven our systems in mission critical environments and will now ramp up production internationally.”

Delian, which has offices in Athens and London, says it’s built to integrate with “Europe’s evolving defense priorities.” The EU is having a defense boom right now: Ever since President Trump signaled that Europe is no longer a security priority for the U.S., several EU countries have accelerated their own investments as they attempt to reduce their dependency on U.S. support.

At the NATO summit in June, all 32 member countries committed to raising security-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035; separately, 18 EU countries have applied for billions of euros from The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund, which is a new $173 billion defense program aimed at providing cheap loans for member countries so they can buy military equipment together. As you might imagine, defense companies and startups like Delian are reaping the benefits of these policy shifts.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Gen Z can get a one-way ticket to the millionaires’ club sooner than they may think, according to multimillionaire venture capitalist and Shark Tank star Rashaun Williams. It all comes down to three simple steps: establishing an emergency fund, maxing out retirement accounts, and keeping investments simple, he exclusively tells Fortune.

Dreams of a comfortable retirement feel increasingly out of reach for young people—especially as even boomers, who spent decades saving, are now being forced back into the workforce. For Gen Z, it’s easy to feel hopeless and turn to bad financial habits like doom spending as a coping mechanism.

But the possibility of Gen Z retiring as millionaires may not be as complicated as the generation thinks it is. With proper financial planning, Gen Z can easily have seven figures to their name, according to Rashaun Williams, a multimillionaire venture capitalist returning as a guest judge on Shark Tank this upcoming season. 

The secret, he tells Fortune, relies on just following three simple steps: establishing an emergency fund, maxing out retirement accounts, and keeping investments simple.

The ‘Shark Tank’ investor’s 3 steps for Gen Z wanting to become millionaires: 1. Create an emergency fund

The path toward million-dollar wealth can’t begin without planning for the unexpected, such as a job loss or medical emergency. Williams says an emergency fund should start with saving up three months worth of expenses into your savings account.

“Make sure you have enough cash for a rainy day, so you’re not pulling from your 401(k) prematurely,” Williams tells Fortune.

For those who want to be a little extra careful—or are unlucky enough to have  life throw wrenches their way—many financial institutions, like Wells Fargo, suggest that up to six months’ worth of expenses could be worth it.

2. Maxing out your 401(k) and Roth IRA

Saving money using tax-advantaged accounts, like a 401(k) or Roth IRA, remains one of the most efficient ways to grow your wealth. Williams says Gen Z  should try to put as much money within their budgets into retirement accounts.

“If you just do that from 25 to 50 years old, you’re going to retire a millionaire,” Williams says. “…Just by maxing out your 401(k), it grows tax deferred, and it goes in tax-free. There’s no better return than to get your returns without taxes.”

The standard 401(k) limit for employee salary deferrals is about $23,500 in 2025. The maximum amount you can contribute each year to a Roth IRA is $7,000 for those under 50 (though your income must be below a certain adjusted income threshold).

Fidelity recommends individuals save at least 15% of their annual income for retirement—something that can be a tough ask for those Gen Z early in their career. 

But, it’s a number that fellow Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has echoed: “Take 15% of your salary each week, or every two weeks when you get paid, and put it into an investment account, and never touch it until you turn 65,” O’Leary told Us Weekly in 2023. “That’s how you will retire a multimillionaire.”

In reality, the average savings rate is about 14.1%, according to Fidelity. Taking advantage of any employer match program is also important.

3. Keep investments simple

While there are many ways to invest money—including seemingly fun opportunities like individual stocks or cryptocurrencies—Williams encourages people to keep their choices simple. He specifically called out S&P 500 indexes as one of the best places to invest, with a long history of sustained growth. After all, it delivered an average return of about 10% over the last century, helping usher an unprecedented level of millionaires and billionaires.

“You don’t have to get cute, you don’t need international, you don’t need bonds. You’re not 90 years old. Just do S&P,” Williams tells Fortune.

4. A bonus tip for Gen Z wanting to become millionaires before retirement

For many young people, becoming a millionaire is more than just a retirement dream—it’s an aspiration they want to hit as soon as possible. And while for some, hitting financial goals will mean temporarily saying goodbye to expensive lattes or a vacation to Europe, one of the best ways to build wealth is to simply create your own venture.

“Start something that you can invest in, that you can grow, and start your own business,” said multimillionaire Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec. “It’s the only path to wealth.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• John Hess, CEO of the Hess Corp., has struck a deal to keep the gas company’s toy line in the family following its buyout by Chevron. Hess will also join the Chevron board of directors. The Hess trucks have been a holiday offering since 1964.

The Hess gas-station chain’s acquisition by Chevron may have wrapped up earlier this month, but when it comes to the Hess toy trucks that are a regular presence each holiday season, those are going to stay in the hands of the family.

John Hess, CEO of the Hess Corp, plans to buy back the toy-truck business from Chevron. The price has yet to be determined, but the deal is expected to close next year.

News of the return of Hess trucks to the Hess family came in a filing with the SEC on Wednesday. John Hess was also appointed to the Chevron board, the company announced in that filing.

Hess and the toy trucks have been linked together for decades—and they’re popular enough that when the merger was Chevron was announced, Mike Wirth, the CEO of that company, felt the need to announce the truck sales would continue when the merger closed.

It’s not just trucks. All Hess-themed toys, which have included helicopters, rescue vehicles, airplanes and even space shuttles, will revert to the Hess family. Hess also has struck a deal to retain the trademarks associated with his family name.

Independent appraisers will determine the value of the toy business, the filing said.

Hess toys have been sold since 1964 and have a rabid fan based. Some collectors have spend as much as $2,500 for past models.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Managing your finances doesn’t have to be complicated, and there are so many tools available now that can make things easier (and even partially automated) for you. I was a Mint user for many years, but I was forced to find a new budgeting app after the service shut down in March 2024. Mint’s parent company, Intuit, prompted folks to try their other financial app, Credit Karma. However, after testing Credit Karma myself, I found it to be a poor Mint replacement. So I set out to try all of the best budgeting apps available today to find a new home for all of my financial tracking and goal-setting. Hopefully my journey can help you find the best budgeting app for you and your money as well.

Best budget apps of 2025

Other budgeting apps we tested

PocketGuard

PocketGuard used to be a solid free budget tracker, but the company has since limited its “free” version to just a free seven-day trial. Now, you’ll have to choose between two plans once the trial is over: a $13 monthly plan or a $75 annual plan. When I first tested it, I found it to be more restricted than NerdWallet, but still a decent option. The main overview screen shows you your net worth, total assets and debts; net income and total spending for the month; upcoming bills; a handy reminder of when your next paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you have; and any goals. Like some other apps, including Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an “after bills” approach, where you enter all of your recurring bills, and then PocketGuard shows you what’s left, and that’s what you’re supposed to be budgeting: your disposable income.

Although PocketGuard’s UI is easy enough to understand, it lacks polish. The “accounts” tab is a little busy, and doesn’t show totals for categories like cash or investments. Seemingly small details like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy occasionally make the app feel janky. More than once, it prompted me to update the app when no updates were available. The web version, meanwhile, feels like the mobile app blown up to a larger format and doesn’t take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Ultimately, now that the free tier is gone, it just doesn’t present the same value proposition as it once did.

How we test budgeting apps

Before I dove in and started testing out budgeting apps, I had to do some research. To find a list of apps to try out, I consulted trusty ol’ Google (and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store; and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps (or other budgeting methods) they might be using for money management. Some of the apps I found were free and these, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me, “offers”) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.)

All of the services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps are available for iOS, Android and on the web.

Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the sake of thoroughly testing these apps, I made a point of adding every account to every budgeting app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

Budgeting app FAQs

What is Plaid and how does it work?

Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to pull in financial data, so it’s worth explaining what it is and how it works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid, the company claims.

To be clear, you don’t need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology is baked into a wide array of apps, including all of the budgeting apps listed in this guide. Once you find the “add an account” option in whichever one you’re using, you’ll see a menu of commonly used banks. There’s also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you find yours, you’ll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have two-factor authentication set up, you’ll need to enter a one-time passcode as well.

As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting “more financial data than was needed.” As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to change some of its business practices.

In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that “the crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more transparency into Plaid’s role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track.”

Why did Mint shut down?

When parent company Intuit announced in December 2023 that it would shut down Mint, it did not provide a reason why it made the decision to do so. It did say that Mint's millions of users would be funneled over to its other finance app, Credit Karma. "Credit Karma is thrilled to invite all Minters to continue their financial journey on Credit Karma, where they will have access to Credit Karma’s suite of features, products, tools and services, including some of Mint’s most popular features," Mint wrote on its product blog. In our testing, we found that Credit Karma isn't an exact replacement for Mint — so if you're still looking for a Mint alternative, you have some decent options.

What about Rocket Money?

Rocket Money is another free financial app that tracks spending and supports things like balance alerts and account linking. If you pay for the premium tier, the service can also help you cancel unwanted subscriptions. We did not test it for this guide, but we'll consider it in future updates.

• Jain Global, one of the buzziest hedge fund launches, recently wrapped its first year of trading.
• After a slow start, Jain started gathering momentum in 2025.
• Business Insider dug into the numbers and charts that explain Jain Global's first year.

Jain Global launched last July with great fanfare and even greater expectations. It landed with a thud — at first — before gathering momentum toward the end of its first year.

While Jain Global didn't end up being the largest hedge fund launch ever, as founder Bobby Jain had once envisioned, it nonetheless holds a claim to being the most complex and ambitious.

Jain raised $5.3 billion in commitments from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, and wealth management platforms from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, among others. Jain Global didn't start trading that full amount right away. Instead, it received and put the money to work in stages, the last $700 million arriving in July.

The firm started trading with 215 employees and six overarching investment strategies, as well as a seventh Asia-specific business line that trades in each strategy — an unprecedented and expensive rollout intended to lay the foundation for future growth. In its first year, the firm traded about 50 products — everything from convertible bonds to significant risk transfers, Delta 1 options, and natural gas — across 45 countries.

Fair or not, the heft of Jain's undertaking immediately thrust it into competition with the world's largest multistrategy hedge funds, drawing comparisons to Millennium, Citadel, and Exoduspoint, which holds the crown as the largest ever hedge fund launch.

Business Insider dug into more of the numbers and charts that explain Jain Global's first year. Charts are based on BI conversations with people familiar with the firm as well as public media reports.

A Jain Global spokesman declined to comment.

Jain's headcount has kept growing

Jain Global's roster has expanded significantly since launch, growing nearly 80% to more than 380, about half of which are investment professionals, a person close to the firm said. PMs are still joining as their noncompete provisions and garden leaves expire.

One upshot of launching seven businesses at once, according to people familiar with the firm's strategy, is minimizing technology headaches from bolting on businesses years later.

Each of the seven business lines has a dedicated CIO overseeing the operation, apart from equity arbitrage. That business, which includes strategies like index rebalance and volatility trading, is overseen by founder and firm-wide CIO Jain, who spent decades at Millennium and Credit Suisse deeply involved in such trades.

How Jain Global has put money to work

How exactly a fund deploys its capital fluctuates depending on market conditions and personnel, among other factors. When Jain was pitching investors in late 2023, he included details on how he expected to allocate investor capital once at full strength, BI reported at the time.

Here's how those estimates compare with its capital allocation as it hit the one-year mark (The Asia business wasn't included in the strategy breakdown early on):

Having received its last tranche of capital this month, the firm expects to have its $5.3 billion fully deployed by year-end, a person familiar with the matter said.

Jain Global got off to an inauspicious start, losing money in its first two months but clawing into the black by the end of 2024, finishing up 0.5%.

But it started to hit its stride in the second quarter of 2025, posting three straight months of gains and ending its first 12 months of trading up 2.7%.

Here's a breakdown of Jain's performance in each of the first 12 months:

Investors don't gush over returns that lag the Treasury yield. But they also don't sign up for a three-year commitment to a new fund — as Jain's backers did — without some inherent patience.

"Setting up and effectively competing with the other Multi-Strats, which is already an extremely competitive backdrop, is an uphill battle," Brian Payne, chief private markets and alternatives strategist at BCA Research, said in an email to BI. "Getting the proper talent, infrastructure, technology, etc. on top of making sure the portfolio is properly balanced and meeting objectives is not one that can be done overnight."

It's taken ExodusPoint, which launched with a record $8.5 billion, seven years, including plenty of fits and starts, to begin hitting its stride, BI previously reported.

Jain envisioned a fund that could one day scale to as much as $12 billion. The initial investors get first crack at future Jain Global capital raises, and one telling sign will be who signs up for more and what external investors decide to pile in.

529 accounts are tax-advantaged savings plans designed primarily for education expenses, and recent legislation has significantly broadened their uses. As of July 2025 and the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), 529 funds can now be used for a much wider range of educational pursuits and related expenses.

The changes reflect a seismic shift in education as more Gen Zers shun the traditional four-year degree—and resulting student loan debt. Instead, many are picking up trade skills or reaping the benefits of the Creator Economy.

Key features and recent legislative changes (2025):

• Expanded K–12 qualified expenses: 529 accounts were previously limited to K–12 tuition (up to $10,000 per year), but they can now be used for additional expenses such as books, online educational materials, testing fees (e.g., SAT/ACT), dual enrollment fees, tutoring by qualified professionals, and educational therapies for students with disabilities. The annual limit for all K–12 expenses will rise to $20,000 starting January 1, 2026.
• Broader postsecondary and career use: In addition to traditional college and university costs, 529 funds may now pay for adult learners’ and career changers’ credential programs, including professional licenses, certificates (including registered apprenticeships), and continuing education courses in fields such as automotive repair or food safety. Recognized credentials include those covered by federal programs and military career advancement resources.
• 529-to-Roth IRA rollover: Under the SECURE 2.0 Act (effective since 2024), up to $35,000 in unused 529 funds can be rolled over into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA, subject to annual Roth contribution limits and other conditions (such as the 529 account being open for at least 15 years). This allows families to avoid penalties on unused funds if a beneficiary doesn’t need all 529 savings for education.
• Additional changes and flexibility: 529 funds can also be applied to student loan repayments (up to certain limits), pay for K–12 and higher education expenses across public, private, or religious institutions, and support a broader set of personal education and development goals.

Implications:

• 529 accounts now serve not just as college savings plans, but as comprehensive education savings vehicles adaptable to a variety of academic and professional needs. This flexibility recognizes modern realities, such as students pursuing alternative postsecondary training paths and adults shifting careers.
• These updates provide greater clarity and planning assurance for families, especially those saving for children who may take nontraditional education or career routes.

Caveats:

• Rules regarding eligible expenses, contribution and rollover limits, and state-level nuances may still apply, so consulting a tax professional or financial advisor is highly recommended for those planning to leverage these new benefits.
• The expansion’s implementation details (such as some effective dates and regulatory guidance) are still emerging as of July 2025.

In summary, 529 accounts have evolved into versatile, tax-advantaged savings vehicles for many forms of education and career development, with recent Congressional changes making them more broadly applicable and beneficial for American families and individuals.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Boeing Co. expects more than 3,200 union workers at three St. Louis-area plants that produce U.S. fighter jets to strike after they rejected a proposed contract Sunday that included a 20% wage increase over four years.

The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said the vote by District 837 members was overwhelmingly against the proposed contract. The existing contract was to expire at 11:59 p.m. Central time Sunday, but the union said a “cooling off” period would keep a strike from beginning for another week, until Aug. 4.

Union leaders had recommended approving the offer, calling it a “landmark” agreement when it was announced last week. Organizers said then that the offer would improve medical, pension and overtime benefits in addition to pay.

The vote came two days before Boeing planned to announce its second quarter earnings, after saying earlier this month that it had delivered 150 commercial airliners and 36 military aircraft and helicopters during the quarter, up from 130 and 26 during the first quarter. Its stock closed Friday at $233.06 a share, up $1.79.

The union did not say specifically why members rejected the contract, only that it “fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices” of the union’s workers. Last fall, Boeing offered a general wage increase of 38% over four years to end a 53-day strike by 33,000 aircraft workers producing passenger aircraft.

“Our members are standing together to demand a contract that respects their work and ensures a secure future,” the union said in a statement.

Dan Gillan, general manager and senior Boeing executive in St. Louis, said in a statement that the company is “focused on preparing for a strike.” He described the proposal as “the richest contract offer” ever presented to the St. Louis union.

“No talks are scheduled with the union,” said Gillan, who is also vice president for Boeing Air Dominance, the division for the production of several military jets, including the U.S. Navy’s Super Hornet, as well as the Air Force’s Red Hawk training aircraft.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is worth $151 billion—and he’s bringing his team along to the billionaires club with him. The AI boss said that he’s minted more billionaires on his management team than “any CEO in the world.” The culture at Nvidia is intense, but by shelling out for staffers, Huang reasons: “You take care of people, everything else takes care of itself.”

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang has amassed a $151 billion net worth thanks to the success of his $4 trillion semiconductor company. And the ninth richest person in the world says he’s bringing his team into the exclusive billionaire club thanks to Nvidia’s envy-inducing compensation packages. 

“I’ve created more billionaires on my management team than any CEO in the world,” Huang said recently during a panel hosted by venture capitalists running the All-In podcast. “They’re doing just fine.”

Tech leaders at Meta, OpenAI, and Google are now also shelling out to attract top AI experts—with Meta even attempting to poach OpenAI employees with $100 million signing bonuses, according to leader Sam Altman. With the AI race being so hot, chief executives are reaping billion-dollar net worth gains from their company’s rising stock valuation, begging the question of whether their staffers are getting in on the pot of gold too. But Huang asserts that his employees are well-rewarded for Nvidia’s success.

“Don’t feel sad for anybody at my layer,” Huang said. “My layer is doing just fine.”

In fact, Huang noted that he personally reviews all employee compensation to ensure staffers’ wallets are stuffed. While he said the rumor that he has a stash of stock options on deck “is nuts,” he does confirm that he bumps wages every year to keep Nvidia workers happy. 

“I review everybody’s compensation up to this day,” Huang said. “I sort through all 42,000 employees, and 100% of the time I increase the company’s spend on [operating expenses]. And the reason for that is because you take care of people, everything else takes care of itself.”

Fortune reached out to Huang for comment. 

Huang’s loves a small, well-paid team of AI geniuses—and ‘tortures’ them into greatness

Nvidia employs tens of thousands of people—but having a small, nimble, well-funded AI team may be the ticket to the top. Huang emphasized that DeepSeek and Moonshot AI both have relatively slim AI crews, yet have capitulated to great business success. 

“150 or so AI researchers can probably, with enough funding behind them, create an OpenAI,” Huang said during the panel. “OpenAI was about 150 people, [as well as] Deepmind. They’re all about that size. There’s something about the elegance of small teams.”

Once talent manages to get onto the lean-and-mean AI team at Nvidia, they have to reckon with Huang’s cutthroat culture. Current and former staffers have described an “always-on” expectation, with one ex-employee saying she attended seven to 10 meetings every day, where fighting and shouting was common. The CEO’s grindset has clearly bled into the way staffers approach their work, and Huang’s leadership strategy entails pushing workers to the brink. But he isn’t willing to give up and fire people if they can’t do the job at hand, because he always thinks “they could improve.” 

“I’d rather torture you into greatness because I believe in you,” Huang said during a fireside chat with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison last year. While the CEO said he was being “tongue-in-cheek,” he doubled down: “I think coaches that really believe in their team torture them into greatness.”

And there’s an upside for working long hours and sitting through tense meetings—Nvidia employees get special compensation perks. The tech company allows employees to contribute up to 15% of their salaries to buy up company shares at a 15% discount. One mid-level employee even reportedly bought in for 18 years, and retired with shares worth $62 million. It’s a deal that’s so lucrative that it’s become “golden handcuffs” for many staffers who can’t bear the thought of losing the perk. In 2023, Nvidia had a 2.7% turnover rate, compared to 17.7% in the semiconductor industry at large. 

As Huang said in an interview with 60 Minutes last year: “If you want to do extraordinary things, it shouldn’t be easy.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging near record highs Monday after the United States agreed to tax cars and other products coming from the European Union at a 15% rate, lower than President Donald Trump had earlier threatened. Many details are still to be worked out, however, and Wall Street is heading into a week full of potential flashpoints that could shake markets.

The S&P 500 added another 0.1% in early trading after setting an all-time high every day last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite is 0.3% higher, coming off its own record.

Stocks of U.S. companies that produce and move liquefied natural gas helped drive the market after the head of the European Commission said the bloc’s members would buy $750 billion of U.S. energy products over the next three years. That would help lessen Europe’s reliance on Russia for natural gas. Cheniere Energy climbed 4.2%, while NextDecade rose 3.4%.

Tesla added 0.2% after its CEO, Elon Musk, said it signed a deal with Samsung Electronics that could be worth more than $16.5 billion to provide chips for the electric-vehicle company. Samsung’s stock in South Korea jumped 6.8%.

Many more fireworks may be ahead this week. “This is about as busy as a week can get in the markets,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Hundreds of U.S. companies are lined up and ready to report how much profit they made during the spring, with nearly a third of all the businesses in the S&P 500 index scheduled to deliver updates. That includes market heavyweights Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Those companies have grown so huge that their stock movements can almost solely dictate what the overall S&P 500 index does. Microsoft alone is worth roughly $3.8 trillion,

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rates.

Trump has been loudly and angrily calling for the Fed to cut interest rates, a move that could help give the economy a boost. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been insisting that he wants to wait for more data about how Trump’s tariffs are affecting the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move. Lower interest rates also can give inflation more fuel, and the economy only recently came out of its scarring run where inflation briefly topped 9%.

The widespread expectation on Wall Street is that the Fed will wait until September to resume cutting interest rates, though a couple of Trump’s appointees could dissent in the vote. The Fed has been on hold with interest rates this year since cutting them several times at the end of 2024.

This week will also feature several potentially market-moving updates about the economy. On Tuesday will come reports on how confident U.S. consumers are feeling and how many jobs openings U.S. employers were advertising. Wednesday will show the first estimate of how quickly the U.S. economy grew during the spring, and economists expect to see a slowdown from the first three months of the year.

On Thursday, the latest measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve prefers to use will arrive. A modest reading could give the Fed more leeway to cut interest rates in the short term, while a hotter-than-expected figure could make it more cautious.

And Friday will bring an update on how many more workers U.S. employers hired during June than they fired.

Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market ahead of all that action. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was remaining at 4.40%, where it was late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, edged up to 3.92% from 3.91%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe amid mostly modest movements following the announcement of the trade deal’s framework.

Chinese stocks rose as officials from the world’s second-largest economy prepare to meet with a U.S. delegation in Sweden for trade talks. Stocks climbed 0.7% in Hong Kong and 0.1% in Shanghai.

Indexes were mixed across the rest of Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% for one of the world’s bigger losses. Doubts surfaced over what exactly last week’s trade truce between Japan and Trump entails, especially Japan’s $550 billion pledge of investment in the U.S.

Terms of the deal are still being negotiated, and nothing has been formalized in writing, said an official who insisted on anonymity to detail the terms of the talks. The official suggested the goal was for a $550 billion fund to make investments at Trump’s direction.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

As a long-time Mint user, I was frustrated to say the least when news broke at the end of 2023 that Intuit would shut Mint down. I, like millions of others, enjoyed how easily Mint allowed us to track all accounts in one place and monitor credit scores. I also used it regularly to track spending, set goals like pay my mortgage down faster and with general money management.

So I set out to find the best Mint alternatives in the wake of its disappointing demise. I gave Credit Karma, Intuit’s other financial app, a try but found it to be a poor Mint substitute. The following guide lays out my experience testing some of the most popular Mint replacement apps available today in search of my next budgeting app.

Our pick for best Mint alternative remains Quicken Simplifi, even long after Mint shutting down, thanks to its easy to use app, good income and bill detection and its affordable price. But there are plenty of other solid options out there for those with different needs. If you’re also on the hunt for a budgeting app to replace Mint, we hope these details can help you decide which of the best budgeting apps out there will be right for you.

Table of contents

• Best Mint alternatives in 2025

• Other Mint alternatives we tested

• What is Plaid and how does it work?

• How to import your financial data from the Mint app

• How we tested Mint alternatives

• What about Rocket Money?

Best Mint alternatives in 2025

No pun intended, but what I like about Quicken Simplifi is its simplicity. Whereas other budgeting apps try to distinguish themselves with dark themes and customizable emoji, Simplifi has a clean user interface, with a landing page that you just keep scrolling through to get a detailed overview of all your stats. These include your top-line balances; net worth; recent spending; upcoming recurring payments; a snapshot of your spending plan; top spending categories; achievements; and any watchlists you’ve set up.

Another one of the key features I appreciate is the ability to set up savings goals elsewhere in the app. I also appreciate how it offers neat, almost playful visualizations without ever looking cluttered. I felt at home in the mobile and web dashboards after a day or so, which is faster than I adapted to some competing services (I’m looking at you, YNAB and Monarch).

Getting set up with Simplifi was mostly painless. I was particularly impressed at how easily it connected to Fidelity; not all budget trackers do, for whatever reason. This is also one of the only services I tested that gives you the option of inviting a spouse or financial advisor to co-manage your account. One thing I would add to my initial assessment of the app, having used it for a few months now: I wish Simplifi offered Zillow integration for easily tracking your home value (or at least a rough estimate of it). Various competitors including Monarch Money and Copilot Money work with Zillow, so clearly there's a Zillow API available for use. As it stands, Simplifi users must add real estate manually like any other asset.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

In practice, Simplifi miscategorized some of my expenses, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to any of these budget trackers. As you’re reviewing transactions, you can also mark if you’re expecting a refund, which is a unique feature among the services I tested. Simplifi also estimated my regular income better than some other apps I tested. Most of all, I appreciated the option of being able to categorize some, but not all, purchases from a merchant as recurring. For instance, I can add my two Amazon subscribe-and-saves as recurring payments, without having to create a broad-strokes rule for every Amazon purchase.

The budgeting feature is also self-explanatory and can likely accommodate your preferred budgeting method. Just check that your regular income is accurate and be sure to set up recurring payments, making note of which are bills and which are subscriptions. This is important because Simplifi shows you your total take-home income as well as an “income after bills” figure. That number includes, well, bills but not discretionary subscriptions. From there, you can add spending targets by category in the “planned spending” bucket. Planned spending can also include one-time expenditures, not just monthly budgets. When you create a budget, Simplifi will suggest a number based on a six-month average.

Not dealbreakers, but two things to keep in mind as you get started: Simplifi is notable in that you can’t set up an account through Apple or Google. There is also no option for a free trial, though Quicken promises a “30-day money back guarantee.”

Monarch Money grew on me. My first impression of the budgeting app, which was founded by a former Mint product manager, was that it's more difficult to use than others on this list, including Simplifi, NerdWallet and Copilot. And it is. Editing expense categories, adding recurring transactions and creating rules, for example, is a little more complicated than it needs to be, especially in the mobile app. (My advice: Use the web app for fine-tuning details.) Monarch also didn’t get my income right; I had to edit it.

Once you’re set up, though, Monarch offers an impressive level of granularity. In the budgets section, you can see a bona fide balance sheet showing budgets and actuals for each category. You'll also find a forecast, for the year or by month. And recurring expenses can be set not just by merchant, but other parameters as well. For instance, while most Amazon purchases might be marked as “shopping,” those for the amounts of $54.18 or $34.18 are definitely baby supplies, and can be automatically marked as such each time, not to mention programmed as recurring payments. Weirdly, though, there’s no way to mark certain recurring payments as bills, specifically.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Not long after I first published this story in December 2023, Monarch introduced a detailed reporting section where you can create on-demand graphs based on things like accounts, categories and tags. That feature is available just on the web version of the app for now. As part of this same update, Monarch added support for an aggregator that makes it possible to automatically update the value of your car. This, combined with the existing Zillow integration for tracking your home value, makes it easy to quickly add a non-liquid asset like a vehicle or real estate, and have it show up in your net worth graph.

The mobile app is mostly self-explanatory. The main dashboard shows your net worth; your four most recent transactions; a month-over-month spending comparison; income month-to-date; upcoming bills; an investments snapshot; a list of any goals you’ve set; and, finally, a link to your month-in-review. That month-in-review is more detailed than most, delving into cash flow; top income and expense categories; cash flow trends; changes to your net worth, assets and liabilities; plus asset and liability breakdowns. In February 2024, Monarch expanded on the net worth graph, so that if you click on the Accounts tab you can see how your net worth changed over different periods of time, including one month, three months, six months, a year or all time.

On the main screen, you’ll also find tabs for savings and checking accounts (and all others as well), transactions, cash flow, budget and recurring. Like many of the other apps featured here, Monarch can auto-detect recurring expenses and income, even if it gets the category wrong. (They all do to an extent.) Expense categories are marked by emoji, which you can customize if you’re so inclined.

Monarch Money uses a combination of networks to connect with banks, including Plaid, MX and Finicity, a competing network owned by Mastercard. (I have a quick explainer on Plaid, the industry standard in this space, toward the end of this guide.) As part of an update in late December, Monarch has also made it easier to connect through those other two networks, if for some reason Plaid fails. Similar to NerdWallet, I found myself completing two-factor authentication every time I wanted to get past the Plaid screen to add another account. Notably, Monarch is the only other app I tested that allows you to grant access to someone else in your family — likely a spouse or financial advisor. Monarch also has a Chrome extension for importing from Mint, though really this is just a shortcut for downloading a CSV file, which you’ll have to do regardless of where you choose to take your Mint data.

Additionally, Monarch just added the ability to track Apple Card, Apple Cash, and Savings accounts, thanks to new functionality brought with the iOS 17.4 update. It's not the only one either; currently, Copilot and YNAB have also added similar functionality that will be available to anyone with the latest versions of their respective apps on a device running iOS 17.4. Instead of manually uploading statements, the new functionality allows apps like Monarch's to automatically pull in transactions and balance history. That should make it easier to account for spending on Apple cards and accounts throughout the month.

Monarch also recently launched investment transactions in beta. It also says bill tracking and an overhauled goals system are coming soon. Monarch hasn't provided a timeline for that last one, except to say that the improved goals feature is coming soon.

Copilot Money might be the best-looking budgeting app I tested. It also has the distinction of being exclusive to iOS and Macs — at least for now. Andres Ugarte, the company’s CEO, has publicly promised that Android and web apps are coming soon. But until it follows through, I can’t recommend Copilot for most people with so many good competitors out there.

There are other features that Copilot is missing, which I’ll get into. But it is promising, and one to keep an eye on. It’s just a fast, efficient, well designed app, and Android users will be in for a treat when they’ll finally be able to download it. It makes good use of colors, emoji and graphs to help you understand at a glance how you’re doing on everything from your budgets to your investment performance to your credit card debt over time. In particular, Copilot does a better job than almost any other app of visualizing your recurring monthly expenses.

Behind those punchy colors and cutesy emoji, though, is some sophisticated performance. Copilot’s AI-powered “Intelligence” gets smarter as you go at categorizing your expenses. (You can also add your own categories, complete with your choice of emoji.) It’s not perfect. Copilot miscategorized some purchases (they all do), but it makes it easier to edit than most. On top of that, the internal search feature is very fast; it starts whittling down results in your transaction history as soon as you begin typing.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Copilot is also unique in offering Amazon and Venmo integrations, allowing you to see transaction details. With Amazon, this requires just signing into your Amazon account via an in-app browser. For Venmo, you have to set up [email protected] as a forwarding address and then create a filter, wherein emails from [email protected] are automatically forwarded to [email protected]. Like Monarch Money, you can also add any property you own and track its value through Zillow, which is integrated with the app.

While the app is heavily automated, I still appreciate that Copilot marks new transactions for review. It’s a good way to both weed out fraudulent charges, and also be somewhat intentional about your spending habits.

Like Monarch Money, Copilot updated its app to make it easier to connect to banks through networks other than Plaid. As part of the same update, Copilot said it has improved its connections to both American Express and Fidelity which, again, can be a bugbear for some budget tracking apps. In an even more recent update, Copilot added a Mint import option, which other budgeting apps have begun to offer as well.

Because the app is relatively new (it launched in early 2020), the company is still catching up to the competition on some table-stakes features. Ugarte told me that his team is almost done building out a detailed cash flow section as well. On its website, Copilot also promises a raft of AI-powered features that build on its current “Intelligence” platform, the one that powers its smart expense categorization. These include “smart financial goals,” natural language search, a chat interface, forecasting and benchmarking. That benchmarking, Ugarte tells me, is meant to give people a sense of how they’re doing compared to other Copilot users, on both spending and investment performance. Most of these features should arrive in the new year.

Copilot does a couple interesting things for new customers that distinguish it from the competition. There’s a “demo mode” that feels like a game simulator; no need to add your own accounts. The company is also offering two free months with RIPMINT — a more generous introductory offer than most. When it finally does come time to pony up, the $7.92 monthly plan is cheaper than some competing apps, although the $95-a-year-option is in the same ballpark.

You may know NerdWallet as a site that offers a mix of personal finance news, explainers and guides. I see it often when I google a financial term I don’t know and sure enough, it’s one of the sites I’m most likely to click on. As it happens, NerdWallet also has the distinction of offering one of the only free budgeting apps I tested. In fact, there is no paid version; nothing is locked behind a paywall. The main catch: There are ads everywhere. To be fair, the free version of Mint was like this, too.

Even with the inescapable credit card offers, NerdWallet has a clean, easy-to-understand user interface, which includes both a web and a mobile app. The key metrics that it highlights most prominently are your cash flow, net worth and credit score. (Of note, although Mint itself offered credit score monitoring, most of its rivals do not.) I particularly enjoyed the weekly insights, which delve into things like where you spent the most money or how much you paid in fees — and how that compares to the previous month. Because this is NerdWallet, an encyclopedia of financial info, you get some particularly specific category options when setting up your accounts (think: a Roth or non-Roth IRA).

Dana Wollman / Engadget

As a budgeting app, NerdWallet is more than serviceable, if a bit basic. Like other apps I tested, you can set up recurring bills. Importantly, it follows the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which has you putting 50% of your budget toward things you need, 30% toward things you want, and the remaining 20% into savings or debt repayments. If this works for you, great — just know that you can’t customize your budget to the same degree as some competing apps. You can’t currently create custom spending categories, though a note inside the dashboard section of the app says “you’ll be able to customize them in the future.” You also can’t move items from the wants column to “needs” or vice versa but “In the future, you'll be able to move specific transactions to actively manage what falls into each group.” A NerdWallet spokesperson declined to provide an ETA, though.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that NerdWallet had one of the most onerous setup processes of any app I tested. I don’t think this is a dealbreaker, as you’ll only have to do it once and, hopefully, you aren’t setting up six or seven apps in tandem as I was. What made NerdWallet’s onboarding especially tedious is that every time I wanted to add an account, I had to go through a two-factor authentication process to even get past the Plaid splash screen, and that’s not including the 2FA I had set up at each of my banks. This is a security policy on NerdWallet’s end, not Plaid’s, a Plaid spokesperson says.

Precisely because NerdWallet is one of the only budget trackers to offer credit score monitoring, it also needs more of your personal info during setup, including your birthday, address, phone number and the last four digits of your social security number. It’s the same with Credit Karma, which also does credit score monitoring.

Related to the setup process, I found that NerdWallet was less adept than other apps at automatically detecting my regular income. In my case, it counted a large one-time wire transfer as income, at which point my only other option was to enter my income manually (which is slightly annoying because I would have needed my pay stub handy to double-check my take-home pay).

YNAB is, by its own admission, “different from anything you’ve tried before.” The app, whose name is short for You Need a Budget, promotes a so-called zero-based budgeting system, which forces you to assign a purpose for every dollar you earn. A frequently used analogy is to put each dollar in an envelope; you can always move money from one envelope to another in a pinch. These envelopes can include rent and utilities, along with unforeseen expenses like holiday gifts and the inevitable car repair. The idea is that if you budget a certain amount for the unknowns each month, they won’t feel like they’re sneaking up on you.

Importantly, YNAB is only concerned with the money you have in your accounts now. The app does not ask you to provide your take-home income or set up recurring income payments (although there is a way to do this). The money you will make later in the month through your salaried job is not relevant, because YNAB does not engage in forecasting.

The app is harder to learn than any other here, and it requires more ongoing effort from the user. And YNAB knows that. Inside both the mobile and web apps are links to videos and other tutorials. Although I never quite got comfortable with the user interface, I did come to appreciate YNAB’s insistence on intentionality. Forcing users to draft a new budget each month and to review each transaction is not necessarily a bad thing. As YNAB says on its website, “Sure, you’ve got pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants — but you’ve still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants.” I can see this approach being useful for people who don’t tend to have a lot of cash in reserve at a given time, or who have spending habits they want to correct (to riff off of YNAB’s own example, ordering Seamless four times a week).

My colleague Valentina Palladino, knowing I was working on this guide, penned a respectful rebuttal, explaining why she’s been using YNAB for years. Perhaps, like her, you have major savings goals you want to achieve, whether it’s paying for a wedding or buying a house. I suggest you give her column a read. For me, though, YNAB’s approach feels like overkill.

Other Mint alternatives we tested

PocketGuard

PocketGuard used to be a solid free budget tracker, but the company has since limited its “free” version to just a free seven-day trial. Now, you’ll have to choose between two plans once the trial is over: a $13 monthly plan or a $75 annual plan. When I first tested it, I found it to be more restricted than NerdWallet, but still a decent option. The main overview screen shows you your net worth, total assets and debts; net income and total spending for the month; upcoming bills; a handy reminder of when your next paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you have; and any goals. Like some other apps, including Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an “after bills” approach, where you enter all of your recurring bills, and then PocketGuard shows you what’s left, and that’s what you’re supposed to be budgeting: your disposable income.

Although PocketGuard’s UI is easy enough to understand, it lacks polish. The “accounts” tab is a little busy, and doesn’t show totals for categories like cash or investments. Seemingly small details like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy occasionally make the app feel janky. More than once, it prompted me to update the app when no updates were available. The web version, meanwhile, feels like the mobile app blown up to a larger format and doesn’t take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Ultimately, now that the free tier is gone, it just doesn’t present the same value proposition as it once did.

What is Plaid and how does it work?

Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to pull in financial data, so it’s worth explaining in its own section what it is and how it works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid, the company claims.

To be clear, you don’t need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology is baked into a wide array of apps, including the budget trackers I tested for this guide. Once you find the “add an account” option in whichever one you’re using, you’ll see a menu of commonly used banks. There’s also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you find yours, you’ll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have two-factor authentication set up, you’ll need to enter a one-time passcode as well.

As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting “more financial data than was needed.” As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to change some of its business practices.

In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that “the crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more transparency into Plaid’s role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track.”

How to import your financial data from the Mint app

Mint users should consider getting their data ready to migrate to their new budgeting app of choice soon. Unfortunately, importing data from Mint is not as easy as entering your credentials from inside your new app and hitting “import.” In fact, any app that advertises the ability to port over your stats from Mint is just going to have you upload a CSV file of transactions and other data.

To download a CSV file from Mint, do the following:

1. Sign into Mint.com and hit Transactions in the menu on the left side of the screen.

2. Select an account, or all accounts.

3. Scroll down and look for “export [number] transactions” in smaller print.

4. Your CSV file should begin downloading.

Note: Downloading on a per-account basis might seem more annoying, but could help you get set up on the other side, if the app you’re using has you importing transactions one-for-one into their corresponding accounts.

How we tested Mint alternatives

Before I dove into the world of budgeting apps, I had to do some research. To find a list of apps to test, I consulted trusty ol’ Google (and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store; and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps they might be using. Some of the apps I found were free, just like Mint. These, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me, “offers”) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.)

Since this guide is meant to help Mint users find a permanent replacement, any services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps are available for iOS, Android and on the web.

Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the sake of thoroughly testing these apps (and remember, I really was looking for a Mint alternative myself), I made a point of adding every account to every budgeting app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

What about Rocket Money?

Rocket Money is another free financial app that tracks spending and supports things like balance alerts and account linking. If you pay for the premium tier, the service can also help you cancel unwanted subscriptions. We did not test it for this guide, but we'll consider it in future updates.

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

• My parents sold their home of 40 years and retired to Barranquilla, Colombia.
• They enjoyed 15 years there, but a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease changed everything.
• Now they're back in in Houston, and I'm navigating their care and finances.

When my parents retired at 70, they both knew immediately where they wanted to go.

With its year-round temperatures of 80 to 90 degrees, peaceful blue waters and a welcoming and lively culture the seaside city of Barranquilla, Colombia, called to them. After all, my Colombian father would be going back to his homeland, and my Cuban mother relished in the Latin culture that seemed so fragmented in the U.S.

They sold their home of more than 40 years in Houston and purchased a two-story condo with a partial ocean view for $135,000 USD. Their social security and retirement money went a long way in Barranquilla, where the average cost of living is much lower than it is in the US.

The move was great, until it wasn't

In the beginning, their retirement life was idyllic. They enjoyed afternoon coffee with friends at sidewalk cafes, they walked along the beach every morning and they would attend parties in their condo development with fellow retirees.

But one day, while they were visiting my family in Texas, my mother stopped and stared at my younger son splashing away in the pool. "Who's that little boy?" she asked. I stared at her face, as she scrutinized my son, with his dark curls and almond brown eyes that looked like mine. "Ma, that's your grandson," I said.

That's when I knew something was terribly wrong. On another visit, my father would wander in the kitchen aimlessly, looking for the cabinet where we kept our water glasses, despite the fact that he had no problem finding them a year ago.

A trip to the neurologist confirmed what I had already suspected. They both had Alzheimer's disease.

We needed to make a plan

While the diagnosis for both of them was still early-stage, I knew what the future held. My grandmother (my mother's mother) and my mother's brother both had Alzheimer's. Worst yet, my father seemed to be progressing at an alarmingly rapid rate. Unfortunately, retiring on the Colombian coast would be a dream unfulfilled.

They decided to move back to Houston to be closer to family and their doctors. They agreed to sell their condo and move in with us temporarily until we could find a suitable assisted living apartment. But it's been tricky. Some days, they would say they were moving back to Barranquilla permanently. It was a constant flip-flop, but my husband and I made an executive decision to keep them in Houston.

They've been living with us since February. In that time, I've had to reset all their passwords because they couldn't remember them. I spend every morning scrambling to the kitchen to make sure I'm there to give them their medication, a routine they consistently forget.

The biggest challenge, though, has been navigating foreign laws. One thing I did early on was get a power of attorney and medical power of attorney. While those two documents have been incredibly helpful in the states, I'm not entirely sure the legal weight these documents may carry in Colombia. I'm currently looking for a lawyer and a real estate agent abroad who can help me with the sale of their condo. Once that's taken care of, I then have to sell all the stuff they've amassed in the 15 years they've lived there.

I'm planning for my own future, too

Perhaps the biggest lesson I've learned in all of this is to be prepared. I plan to sign up for long-term care insurance so my children won't have to stress over how they plan to pay for my care in the same way I have had to with my parents. I've been taking steps to improve my health and I'm also financially prepared for the inevitable — when my parents pass away. Right now, though, I'm going to relish the time I still have with them, here, close to my family.

• Wall Street interns face pressure for return offers as summer ends.
• Internships are crucial for securing full-time investment banking roles.
• Regina Savage of Morgan Stanley emphasizes seizing opportunities and knowing strengths.

With Wall Street summer internships in their final stretch, young bankers in training have a new concern: the return offer.

On Wall Street, internships are more than a summer gig. They're often the main gateway to full-time investment banking jobs — making the stakes especially high.

Regina Savage knows a thing or two about building a successful investment banking career. A managing director at Morgan Stanley — a top Wall Street bank and coveted destination for aspiring bankers — she played a key role in taking electric vehicle company Rivian public in 2021

Savage began her banking career at Goldman Sachs in Los Angeles, advising on media mergers and acquisitions, before moving to Morgan Stanley in 2009, where she has remained since. She now serves as global head of the firm's automotive and mobility technology group, focusing on electric and autonomous vehicles at a time when companies like Waymo and Tesla are making waves. Savage is also cohead of North America industrials within the investment bank, advising manufacturing and other industrial clients on M&A. She is based in Chicago.

In an effort to understand how young bankers can succeed in this competitive industry and put their best foot forward, Business Insider spoke with Savage, who has spent many years interacting with interns. She talked about the importance of seizing opportunities when they arise, understanding your own strengths and "superpowers" rather than trying to emulate others, and described the way lists help keep her organized.

Checking things off the list

As a managing director, Savage travels a lot to interface with clients. For her, early mornings are key to productivity.

"I think people have to know when they're most productive," she said. "I'm actually really ruthless and conscious of how I spend my time, and so as part of that, I know that I'm most productive in the morning."

When she's not on the road (or in the sky), she uses the first hour or two of her morning to get through the less fun, more administrative stuff.

"I tend to be up really early," she said. "I get myself ready and I get myself a coffee, log in, and I try to triage what came in overnight."

Lists are also a key part of her organization, Savage said.

"I also keep a running list of my priorities. And I reset that list every week, and look at that and make sure that I'm spending my time on what those are," she said.

The right attitude

When it comes to hiring young talent, Savage looks for curiosity, enthusiasm, and a genuine interest in the work, rather than just technical skills.

"I think it's really important that they have curiosity about the job and what it is that we're doing and why we're doing it. So it's not just about putting together a slide, but why are we pulling this slide together?" she said.

"You're only going to be successful at this job if you find it interesting," she said. "Seeing people who really do want to understand how it all fits together is important."

The attribute that the most successful interns and young hires tend to share is a good outlook and attitude.

"Attitude is well more than 50% of what makes somebody truly great at that level," she said. "We can teach you the skills you need."

Seizing opportunities

Savage didn't plan to become an expert in the automotive space. Not long after arriving at Morgan Stanley, the bank needed someone to help lead Chrysler's restructuring after its bankruptcy. Savage raised her hand.

"You don't know where the opportunities are going to be. You just have to be ready to grab them when they come," she said.

After spending about a year on that deal, she saw a "white space" in auto coverage and decided to focus on technology within the sector just as electric and autonomous vehicles were taking off. Aspiring bankers, take note.

"Being resilient and adaptable and, when you see an opportunity, jumping at it and with both hands, I think that's the number one piece of advice I would give."

Savage also warns not to dwell on "what could've been."

"There's no point in looking at closed doors or other paths that are closed to you. I feel like people worry that they missed something," she said. "Don't waste calories, energy, brainpower on regret."

Know your superpower

Savage advises young people trying to find their way in the industry to be really honest with themselves about their strengths and weaknesses.

"Know your superpower," she said. "I find people try to emulate others, but nobody is you."

She gave herself as an example: "There are some people who strut into a room and they just command the room immediately and ooze charisma — that's never going to be me. But I know what I am really good at. I'm really good at making connections and synthesizing information and being able to see patterns across different things," Savage said.

Savage suggests starting by looking for people you admire who have similar strengths as you and at what they've done. This advice is particular important for young women, she said.

"It's a lot less likely that there's another woman that you're working with that has a similar skillset to you that you can emulate. So being able to take little bits from everybody that you meet that you think is successful, and seeing how that works with your style, is really important."

• Otter Rock is the latest member of the extended Tiger Management family tree.
• The long-short equity fund is a great-grandcub, as its founder worked at Tom Purcell's Alua Capital.
• Alix Karlan previously worked for Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global as well.

Alix Karlan is taking advantage of the renewed appetite for old-school stock pickers.

The former technology sector head for Tom Purcell's $3 billion hedge fund Alua Capital is planning to launch Otter Rock in the fourth quarter of this year, a person close to the firm told Business Insider. The fund's commingled vehicle is expected to raise $300 million before launch, and there's a chance the firm might take on additional capital via a separately managed account, the person said.

Karlan declined to comment.

The new fund will invest in stocks across different sectors, with a focus on companies undergoing technological disruption, the person said. It will be based in Stamford, the Connecticut town that is also the headquarters for Steve Cohen's Point72 and Paul Tudor Jones' long-running investment manager.

So far, the firm has hired Dan Beckham as chief operating officer. Beckham, according to his LinkedIn profile, has worked in various executive roles in asset management for decades, most recently as the head of investor relations and business development at private equity firm Saturn V Capital.

Karlan started as an analyst at Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global before going to Stanford Business School. He joined Purcell's firm in 2015 and worked there until the start of 2024, when he began trading his own capital using the strategy he plans to deploy at Otter Rock.

He's the latest addition to the extended Tiger Management family tree, which includes big-name managers known as Tiger Cubs, such as Tiger Global, Coatue, Lone Pine, and the aforementioned Viking, as well as funds started by former employees of these managers. Alua, for example, is run by Purcell, a former executive at Viking, and Marco Tablada, a onetime Lone Pine investor.

Despite Julian Robertson, the billionaire founder of the legendary firm, passing away in 2022, his firm is still active and continues his legacy of backing external managers. The Tiger Cubs, started by former analysts of Robertson's, have spawned the next generation of stockpicking hedge funds, led by Viking in particular.

Former Viking investors who have become founders include Purcell, D1 founder Dan Sundheim, Avala Global founder Divya Nettimi, and Voyager Global founder Grant Wonders. The industry is also closely tracking the progress of former Viking executive Ning Jin's soon-to-launch firm, Avantyr Capital.