Wealthy investors and family offices shied away from stocks leading up to market swings this week, but many saw the drop in prices as an opportunity for tax savings and estate planning, according to wealth advisors.

Private banks and wealth managers say their clients have been reducing their stock holdings for over a year as part of a broader shift from public to private markets in light of recent concerns about an overheated tech sector.

According to a UBS family office survey, family offices have 35% of their portfolios in private equity — the largest of any asset class — compared with just 28% in equities. A Deloitte survey found that family office holdings of equities fell from 34% to 25% from 2021 to 2023, while their private equity jumped from 22% in 2021 to 30% in 2023.

When stocks tumbled Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 3%, wealthy investors neither panicked nor jumped in to buy, according to several advisors. They did have a lot of questions.

“The common question from clients was ‘What’s going on?’” said Sean Apgar, partner and co-head of portfolio and wealth advisory at BBR Partners, which advises ultra-wealthy clients. “It was more out of curiosity; there was no real motive for action.”

Apgar said the clients BBR advises — most worth hundreds of millions or billions — don’t react to short-term market events given their long investing horizons. Yet they did want to be educated about the market moves, the Japanese carry trade, the growing recession fears and rate cut odds. For his clients, their investment plan is still their investment plan. 

“The best thing clients can do right now is sit back and feel good about the investment plan we put in place with them long ago, with expected volatility and corrections along the way,” Apgar said.

The drop in prices last Friday and Monday also offered a chance for wealthy investors to take advantage of tax benefits and gift strategies.

William Sinclair, head of the financial institutions group and the U.S. family office practice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said a growing number of clients have so-called “separately managed accounts,” discreet accounts designed to hold a specific group of assets or stocks. With separate accounts, clients can more easily sell stocks that have declined in value and realize losses they can use to offset capital gains from their winning stocks, known as “tax-loss harvesting.”

With some Big Tech stocks down 15% or more over the past month, wealthy investors are selling at a loss, reaping the tax benefits and buying the stock back at a later date to retain their position.

“For taxable clients, the biggest inflows have been in tax loss harvesting strategies,” Sinclair said.

Others are using the price swings for estate planning. Under the current rules of the estate and gift tax, married couples can transfer up to $27.22 million to heirs and family members, while individuals can transfer up to $13.61 million. With the gift and estate exemption amount scheduled to expire at the end of next year, many wealthy investors are working to give away the maximum before the expiration.

Gifting stocks that have declined in value carries more benefits, since it allows investors to gift more stock under the exemption amount.

“Say you have a stock that was worth $100 and now it’s worth $80, you can transfer that lower value to the next generation, assuming the assets will eventually appreciate again,” Apgar said. “So you’re taking advantage of the depressed values. Tax advisors get generally excited about these environments because it opens up new opportunities.”

One group of clients that’s more sensitive to the recent bouts of volatility is made up of corporate founders and top executives. Since they often have a large portion of their wealth tied up in one company stock, advisors can help them structure complex hedges — such as variable prepaid forwards and exchange funds — to help dampen the blow of big stock declines. The stock decline of the past week highlighted the benefits of so-called “collaring” structures to many founders and CEOs. 

“People in these roles, in the C-suite, know that their job, as well as career, is going to center on the stock,” said Jennifer Povlitz, division director at UBS Wealth Management U.S., which advises many clients with concentrated stock positions. “So the financial planning part has to be a consideration.”

While the S&P 500 is still up roughly 10% this year, after gaining 24% in 2023, ultra-wealthy investors and family offices are continuing to shift more of their money into alternatives, especially private equity. Many see private companies as more stable and profitable over the long term compared to equities — especially after days like Monday. And they can have more impact on management with direct stakes in private companies. 

“Most family offices are so invested in alternatives, hedge funds, PE and real estate, that they aren’t moving their investments around anyway,” said Geoffrey von Kuhn, an advisor to several of the nation’s largest family offices.

Richard Weintraub, family office group head of the Americas at Citi Private Bank, said family offices have been moving their money to longer-term investments — which can grow over decades or generations — with less volatility. Along with private equity and venture, the big trend among family offices is direct deals to buy stakes or control of private companies.

“The larger family offices, so $10 billion plus, are deploying capital into operating companies they can hold in perpetuity and pass down generation to generation,” Weintraub said. “Like building the Buffett model.”

He added that the stock swoons of the past week “reinforced the idea of making that shift toward private investments.”

Michael Pelzar, head of investments at Bank of America Private Bank, said high-net-worth investors are still catching up to family offices when it comes to private markets and alternatives.

“In general, I think high-net-worth investors are under-allocated to alternatives,” Pelzar said. “We see this [volatility] as a catalyst to enable high-net-worth investors to continue to broaden their portfolio. I think that after this week there will be more open-mindedness when it comes to alternatives, whether in PE or real estate.”

Advisors say that when it comes to the overall investing environment, the biggest worries of high-net-worth investors are about geopolitical risks and fiscal spending. Jimmy Chang, CIO for Rockefeller Global Family Office, said the most common question clients are asking is not about stock market volatility but about the impact of government debt and deficits.

“They want to know the implications for tax planning and also for the economy and the market,” he said.

Trump Media, the social media company whose majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, on Friday reported a net loss of more than $16 million for the most recent financial quarter, mostly due to legal expenses, as well as consulting and licensing expenses.

Trump Media, which owns the Truth Social app often used by the former president, also reported that its already meager revenue dropped by 30% for the three months that ended June 30, compared to the same period last year.

The stock price of Trump Media, which trades under the DJT ticker, has fallen sharply from a high of more than $71 per share shortly after began publicly trading in late March following a merger with a so-called special purpose acquisition corporation. Trump Media stock closed at $26.21 per share Friday afternoon, a decrease of .49%.

The company has a market capitalization of nearly $5 billion, an extraordinarily high valuation given its very modest sales.

In its 10-Q filing Friday afternoon, Trump Media reported a loss of $16.37 million for the quarter ending June 30, compared to a $22.8 million loss for the same quarter in 2023.

About half of the loss for the past quarter was due to legal expenses related to Trump Media’s merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., the company said.

“Additionally, the Company incurred $3.1 million of IT consulting and software licensing expenses, primarily related to its software licensing agreement to power its new TV streaming service,” Trump Media said in a press release.

Revenue for the most recent quarter was just $839,000, compared to $1.2 million for the same quarter last year.

“A significant portion of the decrease was attributable to a change in the revenue share with one of our advertising partners, in connection with an agreement intended to improve the Company’s short-term, pre-Business Combination financial position,” Trump Media said in its 10-Q filing.

“Additionally, revenue has varied as we selectively test a nascent advertising initiative on the Company’s Truth Social platform,” the company said.

Trump Media said it ended the quarter with $344 million in cash and cash equivalents, with no debt.

“The Company believes its strong balance sheet will enable the expansion and refinement of its new TV streaming platform, Truth+, which was launched in August 2024 on the Company’s custom-built content delivery network (‘CDN’),” Trump Media said in a press release.

“With its strong balance sheet and zero debt load, the Company believes it has sufficient working capital to fund operations for the foreseeable future,” the company said.

Donald Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio are set to face the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in November’s election.

Held off on taking a summer vacation? You may still be able to squeeze in one on the cheap.

Record numbers of travelers have been flooding airports since the pandemic, but U.S. airlines now face a surplus of empty seats after racing to add capacity. Many are slashing prices to fill them, making bargain flights more readily available than they have been in years, travel agents and industry experts say.

“Deals are easier to find this summer since prices are already so low,” said Hayley Berg, lead economist at the travel booking site Hopper.

Flights overall were at least 5% cheaper as of June than the year before, government inflation data shows. Hopper estimated domestic airfares for August are down about 6% since a year ago, and it flagged supercheap domestic round-trip deals this month — like $69 for Chicago to Baltimore and $82 for New York to Nashville.

And it’s not just airfares — costs are cooling off for car rentals and hotel rooms too. They were down roughly 6% and 3% year over year, respectively, in the federal data and are now about flat in most cities on Priceline.

The discounts expand the map for late-season travelers and coincide with a broader value push this summer. Restaurant chains from McDonald’s to P.F. Chang’s are dangling promotions to hang on to frugal customers. The gambit is largely working, with major retailers’ recent sales helping prop up consumer spending and the economy as a whole.

Vacation-planning procrastinators are having better luck this year.

On July 26, Debra Banton, 61, and her 26-year-old daughter Rachel booked a trip overseas departing in two weeks.

“We usually plan way in advance, never last minute,” said Banton, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina. But Rachel works full time while attending school, leaving little down time, and since she’s never been to Europe and is getting married next May, they figured now’s their best shot.

“With just four weeks’ planning time, I was able to secure the last few rooms at some fabulous resorts in Greece and get them a great deal on business-class air to Athens,” said Kimberly Hilliard, their Annapolis, Maryland-based travel adviser with Front Porch Travel.

While prices typically come down heading into the fall, the current end-of-summer season is a “unique window” for travelers who haven’t booked far in advance, said Jesse Neugarten, the CEO and founder of Dollar Flight Club.

The flight alert site said the average international airfare from the U.S. over the next three months is $401, and the average domestic flight costs $212 — collectively down an average of 29% from the same period a year ago.

“For clients with a little flexibility in their travel dates, I’ve been able to get very low airfare for last-minute trips,” said Ashley D’Aristotile, the owner of Orlando, Florida-based Flyaway Travel.

Lousson Smith, a flight expert at the travel site Going, agrees: “At this point in the summer, if you’re flexible, you can find something really nice under $150 nonstop from major markets, but anything under $200 this late in the game is a decent deal.”

While the costs of U.S. flights to Europe soared during the post-pandemic travel boom, Hopper estimates international airfares have fallen 9% since last summer. Round trips from Boston to Dublin, for example, have been going for as low as $415 this month, Hopper said, and there are $461 options between Chicago and Paris.

Domestically, the Southeast is seeing some of the best bargains, according to Priceline, with both Miami and Nashville making its “most affordable” list for August.

The Biden Administration on Monday unveiled a new, multi-agency regulatory initiative to target corporate practices that officials claim are designed to waste consumers’ time and needlessly burden them with red tape, in order to maximize profits.

“I think we can all relate to this,” White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden told reporters Friday.

“For example, you want to cancel your gym membership or subscription service or newspaper. It took one or two clicks to sign up. But now … you have to go in person, or wait on hold for 20 minutes … just to opt out,” she said.

Dubbed the “Time is Money” initiative, the actions will make it easier for consumers to cancel subscriptions, get refunds, submit health care and insurance forms online, and access high-quality customer service.

The new initiative is being launched at a unique moment for the Biden administration. Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to unveil her presidential campaign’s first economic policy plans this week.

Broad efforts like “Time is Money” could serve as opportunities for Harris to carry forward the Biden administration’s longstanding consumer protection mandate in new ways.

“In all of these practices, the companies are delaying services to you, or really trying to make it so difficult for you to cancel the service, that they get to hold on to your money for longer and longer,” Tanden said Friday.

Among the new initiatives announced Monday are a series of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule makings, that will target customer service “doom loops” and ineffective chatbots used by some financial institutions.

“The CFPB will identify when the use of automated chatbots or automated artificial intelligence voice recordings is unlawful, including in situations in which customers believe they are speaking with a human being,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will launch a parallel inquiry into whether to expand the CFPB’s proposed customer service requirements to include phone, broadband and cable providers.

The second FCC inquiry will consider adopting requirements similar to the Federal Trade Commission’s current “Click to Cancel” proposal. The FTC plan would require companies to make it as easy to cancel subscriptions and memberships as it is to sign up for them.

The initiative also calls on health insurance companies to allow policyholders to submit claims online.

A letter from Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su will be sent to health insurance companies and group health plans on Monday, urging them “to take concrete actions to save people time and money when interacting with their health coverage,” according to the White House fact sheet.

Not all of the “Time is Money” initiatives are new, however. Several are previously announced actions, including a rule issued by the Department of Transportation in April that requires airlines to automatically issue cash refunds.

Another existing effort cited by the White House is a June 2023 FTC proposal to target companies that use deceptive customer feedback practices, like fake reviews.

None of the actions that make up the “Time is Money” initiative will require congressional approval, a senior administration official said. Republicans currently control the House of Representatives, and any new consumer protection bills would face long odds.

Monday’s “Time is Money” initiatives are the latest step in a long line of aggressive consumer protection actions the Biden administration has taken over the past three years.

The White House has pursued aggressive antitrust regulations and taken a highly skeptical approach to crypto currencies, both of which have rankled Wall Street.

Biden has also championed a fight against what he labels “unfair and illegal pricing,” including so-called junk fees, corporate “price gouging” and shrinkflation.

Still, the White House official insisted to reporters Friday that “this is not about shaming corporations writ large.”

Instead, the “Time is Money” initiatives represent “a new frontier of consumer protections,” the official said. “That is the way that we are thinking about it.”

DETROIT — General Motors on Monday revealed redesigned versions of its entry-level GMC Terrain crossover, including a new standard “Elevation” model.

The compact crossover features a more rugged exterior design. It also has a new interior with 26 inches of screens, including a 15-inch center touchscreen and an 11-inch driver information cluster.

Those screens are part of a group of new standard safety and convenience features for the vehicle, including adaptive cruise control, front heated seats and enhanced automatic emergency braking. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which replicate phone apps for navigation and music, among other things, also are standard.

With the increase in standard features, GM also is simplifying the model lineup for the Terrain, combining its “SLE” and “SLT” entry-level trims into Elevation. The brand uses the Elevation trim on other vehicles as well.

GM declined to disclose pricing for the redesigned Terrain, which is expected to begin arriving in GMC showrooms late this year. Current starting prices range from about $30,000 to $40,000.

The Elevation trim will launch first, followed by the off-road-inspired AT4 and luxury Denali models.

The Terrain is typically one of the bestselling non-truck nameplates for GMC, which has vehicles ranging from the compact crossover to large trucks and SUVs, including the GMC Hummer EVs.

Sales of the Terrain, which is produced in Mexico, were up 31% year over year through the first half of the year after a 17% decline in 2023.