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When Kaila Curry started working at Lady Moo Moo in Bed-Stuy, she found herself surrounded by people who, like her, had already built careers and are now navigating an unpredictable job market. Some had been laid off just as she had. Others, like her colleague who is a sex educator and public health advocate, lost funding in their fields. A few are juggling multiple part-time roles to stay afloat. Find out how Curry makes ends meet in the unpredictable job market: cnb.cx/4qiHRxz

If your day job is getting in the way of business growth, quitting the 9–5 might sound like a good idea — but it's not for everyone.

Asia-Pacific markets are set to open mixed Friday to kick off the new year. All three major indexes in the U.S. pulled back on New Year's Eve, but still clocked gains on a year-to -ate basis.

In 2017, Thomas Kelly graduated from medical school and finally became a doctor — a career he had dreamt about as a kid and spent years working towards. But once he started practicing, Kelly realized that the job was different from what he’d imagined. Inspired to tackle this problem, Kelly created an AI tool that helps transcribe medical visits, generates clinical notes and more, with the goal of lessening the load on doctors and clinicians. Now, the 33-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Heidi, an AI medical scribe. The company announced its $65 million Series B round in October, valuing the company at $465 million. Read more: cnb.cx/4quCT0b

Bootmaker Twisted X — known for its Western footwear — was thrown into chaos overnight when President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports in April. The Yale Budget Lab projects that leather goods prices will remain elevated by nearly 22% for at least the next one to two years, driven by inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and heavy tariff exposure, particularly across China, Vietnam, Italy and India. Full details: cnb.cx/4qcnbXC

When Nabeel Khan graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020, he accepted an offer as an operations manager at an Amazon warehouse, which became an entryway into tech. While his initial offer as an operations manager was for $50,000 per year, within five years, Khan says he was working as a senior AI product manager at the company earning $432,000 per year, including base pay and company stock. Khan left Amazon in July 2025 to pursue entrepreneurship and co-founded SkillAxis, which creates AI product managers for non-tech companies. His quick rise at Amazon and the savings he amassed enabled his departure, he says. Read more: cnb.cx/3N0FSyY

Student loan borrowers whose debt is canceled in 2026 or later may face a significant tax bill. A law that shielded student loan forgiveness from taxation at the federal level — part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — expired on Dec. 31, 2025. President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" did not extend or make permanent that provision. As a result, certain borrowers who've recently received education debt cancellation or expect to do so in the future should take steps as soon as possible to be prepared, experts say.

The investing world's north star is beginning to dim. Warren Buffett has handed over the CEO reins to Greg Abel after a six-decade run that turned an unremarkable textile company into one of the most powerful compounding engines in market history, leaving investors grappling with how singular that achievement really was, even as he remains chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. When Buffett took control of Berkshire in the mid-1960s, its shares traded around $19. By the end of 2025, a single Class A share was worth over $750,000.

Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and right-wing Gov. Ron DeSantis agree on virtually nothing. But they found common ground this year as leading skeptics of the artificial intelligence industry's data center boom. The alignment of two national figures on the left and right signals that a political reckoning is brewing over the AI industry's impact on electricity prices, grid stability and the labor market. The opposition could slow the industry's development plans if it reaches a broad bipartisan consensus. Sanders, I-VT, has called for a national moratorium on data center construction.

Beginning January 1, 2026, an estimated 6.1 million more Americans will be eligible to open and contribute to Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts, according to National Disability Institute. ABLE accounts are tax-advantaged investment accounts designed for Americans with disabilities. Created by Congress in 2014, ABLE accounts allow beneficiaries to save for qualified expenses like education, housing, health care and more without affecting their Medicaid or Social Security income eligibility. Previously, beneficiaries had to have a qualifying medical condition that began before their 26th birthday, but that cut-off rises to age 46 as of January 1 due to the ABLE Age Adjustment Act passed in 2022. The expanded age requirement brings the total number of Americans eligible to open ABLE accounts up to around 14 million, per NDI's estimates. CNBC Select is editorially independent and may earn a commission from affiliate partners on links.