The year so far has given us a stock market filled with highs and lows, a flat bond market, high mortgage rates, rising interest rates and the global effects of wars in Europe and the Middle East.

Yet as with any year, a general financial review is necessary at year-end to stay focused on your financial goals and objectives. With that in mind, here are a few year-end topics that would be prudent to review:

Tax-loss harvesting

Tax-loss harvesting is an investing approach used for taxable accounts. Retirement accounts do not qualify.

To take advantage of tax-loss harvesting, consider selling select investments at a loss to help offset tax implications from other holdings that have generated taxable capital gains. Eligible investments aren’t limited to stocks or stock funds, which means losses from bonds and other asset classes can be used to offset gains as well.

Additionally, if losses are larger than gains, you can use the remaining losses to offset up to $3,000 of ordinary taxable income (for married couples filing separately, the limit is $1,500). Any amount over $3,000 can be carried forward to future tax years.

The impact of tax-loss harvesting can be significant for taxable account holders with high incomes. However, an investor selling securities as part of a tax-loss harvesting strategy should trade cautiously due to the Internal Revenue Service restriction known as the wash-sale rule. This states that if you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a “substantially identical” security within 30 days before or after the sale, the loss is typically disallowed for current income tax purposes.

Required minimum distribution

Unless your retirement funds are in a Roth IRA, you may need to take the annual required minimum distribution from your individual retirement account by year-end. If your 70th birthday was before July 1, 2019, you began taking the RMD at age 70 ½. However, due to changes in federal law as part of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure 2.0) Act, which was signed into law in December of 2022, these rules changed for others.

In 2023, one change under Secure 2.0 was to delay RMDs from age 72 to begin at age 73 instead. This applies to people who were born between 1951 and 1959. People born in 1960 or later will not be required to take RMDs until age 75.

The distribution amount varies annually and is determined by an IRS table, the year-end balance of your account, and your age. If you miss the window to take your annual RMD, you will be subject to an IRS penalty of 25% of the RMD amount. Before Secure 2.0, this penalty was 50% of the amount of the RMD that was not withdrawn in the required year.

Roth IRA conversion

If your portfolio values are down this year, it may be a good time to convert some of your assets from an IRA to a Roth IRA.

Assets converted from an IRA to a Roth IRA are taxable as income in the year of the conversion. However, following the conversion, Roth IRAs are not subject to RMDs. Additionally, when the funds are distributed from a Roth IRA during retirement, the income is not taxable. Because IRA assets converted to a Roth IRA are taxable, discussing the tax ramifications with a tax adviser or CPA before the conversion would be best.

Inherited IRA RMD for non-spouse beneficiaries

An inherited IRA is an account that is opened when a person inherits an IRA after the original owner’s death. This may happen at the death of a spouse or when a child inherits their parent’s IRA. On Jan. 1, 2020, the IRS proposed changes for a non-spouse IRA beneficiary of a deceased owner who was subject to RMDs.

In 2022, the IRS proposed new guidance requiring the non-spouse beneficiary to take RMDs as well as empty the inherited IRA by the end of the 10th year. A final ruling was expected early this year. But in July, the IRS waived penalties on missed RMDs for 2023 and indicated that final guidance would not be available until 2024.

There are many rules for inherited IRAs and Roth IRAs. Don’t assume all rules for inheriting an IRA are the same for everyone. They are not. Your financial or tax adviser can help you manage your annual distributions.

Annual gifting

In 2023, an individual can give $17,000 to as many people as they want without reporting the gift on their tax return and paying additional tax. This is called the gift tax annual exclusion or exemption.

If the person is married, both individuals can give $17,000 for a total gift to any person of $34,000. This exemption applies to more than cash gifts. Forgiving debt and transferring stock are two other examples that would also qualify if the fair market value of the gift is under the annual limitation.

This amount is adjusted for inflation and can be given annually. Any amount over the annual gift tax exclusion limit is reportable to the IRS for the given tax year.

Cash donations to public charities

For individuals who can still itemize their deductions, this year you may deduct up to 60 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI) for cash donations to public charities. One caveat is that the 60 percent deduction applies only to cash that is donated to qualified public charities. If you choose to donate non-cash assets to public charities, the deduction falls to a limit of 30 percent of your AGI.

Gifting appreciated securities to public charities

Donating long-term, highly appreciated taxable securities—that is, stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have realized significant appreciation over time—to nonprofit organizations is one of the most tax-efficient ways to give. You receive a tax deduction for the full value of the gift without having to pay the capital gains you would have paid if you sold the securities.

Also, you can significantly increase the amount of funds available for charitable giving because you are not paying capital gains taxes on the gift. In other words, you are giving the full value of the security, not the after-tax net value.

Assets held for one year before they are gifted reap the following benefits:

— Capital gains taxes are avoided on the future sale of the securities.

— A tax deduction is received for the full fair market value of the securities, up to 30 percent of your AGI.

Most banks and brokerage firms can assist you with this transaction but will require you to sign a letter of instruction to transfer the shares to a charity. Do not wait until the last week of December to begin this task, or it may not happen in 2023.

This tax deduction is only relevant if you itemize your deductions on your tax return. If the sum of your deductions falls below $13,850 for single filers or $27,700 for joint filers, this strategy will not help reduce your taxes.

Qualified charitable deductions

At the end of 2015, lawmakers approved a permanent measure allowing individuals who are 70 1/2 years old or older to make qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) directly from their IRAs to their favorite qualified charities.

In addition to the well-known benefits of giving to charity, a QCD offers this additional benefit: the donated amount is excluded from taxable income, unlike regular withdrawals from an IRA, which are taxed as ordinary income. A lower income may also help reduce your Medicare premiums, which are income based.

As year-end approaches, remember that markets will always be unpredictable, and the volatility experienced in the past few years will be no exception. Take the time to review your financial situation with your adviser and implement the strategies you can control before the year is over. When you actively manage your finances and plan for your future, the feeling of personal financial empowerment is justly earned.

Note: This column is intended to be informational only and does not constitute legal, accounting or tax advice.

Teri Parker is a vice president for CAPTRUST Financial Advisors. She has practiced in the field of financial planning and investment management since 2000. Reach her via email at Teri.parker@captrustadvisors.com.

Black Friday is Nov. 24 this year. Retailers thrive on tantalizing shoppers ahead of the post-Thanksgiving event, keeping them guessing about how exactly the experience will unfold. But economic conditions, past sales and other factors can provide clues about what’s to come.

Here’s what marketing, retail and supply chain experts expect for Black Friday 2023.

Shoppers and retailers may scale back

“A lot of macroeconomic indicators are pointing to a big slowdown in spending,” says Jeff Galak, associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Signs include record-high consumer credit card debt — balances reached over $1 trillion in the second quarter of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a reduced personal savings rate and the increased cost of goods due to inflation, Galak says.

Consumers are feeling the pinch. Some 2023 shoppers say they plan to purchase gifts for fewer people this holiday season (31%) or spend less on gifts per person (30%) compared with past years, according to the 2023 Holiday Shopping Report from NerdWallet.

Retailers are facing pressures too, which likely means smaller markdowns for Black Friday, Galak says. “Their supply chains are also pushing prices higher, so it’s not like there’s an infinite amount that they can discount whatever the latest television is. There’s still a floor, and that floor is going up.”

Sales will persist

While Black Friday prices probably won’t reach all-time lows, shoppers will find deals galore. In fact, many retailers have been in holiday sales mode since the beginning of October. Among the early entries: Walmart Deals Holiday Kickoff, which ran from Oct. 9 through 12, and Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days on Oct. 10 and 11.

These events preview the products and discounts shoppers might find during Black Friday sales. For example, Amazon and Walmart discounted Apple Airpods Pro (2nd generation) from $249 to $189, the lowest price so far this year.

Retailers bring out some of their best sales when they know customers are most prone to shop. Black Friday remained the most popular shopping day of Thanksgiving weekend in 2022, notes Katherine Cullen, vice president of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation. “It does seem that even with the early start to the shopping season, consumers do still very much look to Thanksgiving weekend for a sense of tradition,” she says.

Expect additional chances to save money as holiday deals continue past November. But if you spot a price that suits your budget, it may be worth buying early.

Deliveries could face interruptions

Lingering effects from a weekslong autoworkers strike could create shipping delays for holiday shoppers and retailers, as could a federal government shutdown.

Logistical problems stemming from the United Auto Workers strike could cause delivery issues if trucks can’t get parts needed for repairs, says Rob Handfield, a professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management.

The U.S. government narrowly escaped a shutdown in September, but funding lasts only through Nov. 17 — one week before Black Friday.

“We rely on a lot of government services to make supply chains work: Customs and Border [Protection], a lot of the regulatory agencies, the FAA,” Handfield says. “If there’s a government shutdown and some of those agencies are impacted, it’s going to impact import/exports, it could impact our rail system, it could impact our transportation system.”

Still, experts don’t expect the same level of supply chain disruptions as in the past couple of years.

Retailers have taken steps to diversify their supply chains and work around external shocks, Cullen says. “Oftentimes, they’ve moved up the lead times for holiday inventory for key events. Also, a longer shopping season gives more runway for consumers to come back and find items that may have been in short stock early in the season.”

Cullen adds that retailers have been increasingly transparent about what’s in stock, where it’s available and how long deliveries might take, which can help shoppers decide what to buy and when.

Shoppers have more time to make returns

Black Friday shoppers may get accommodations when it comes to making returns.

Many major retailers relax return policies or extend return windows around the holidays. Walmart, which normally has a 90-day return limit, will allow most purchases made from Oct. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, to be returned through Jan. 31, 2024. Target won’t start its 30-day return clock until Dec. 26 for electronics and entertainment items purchased from Oct. 1 to Dec. 24.

Some consumers can even get a refund without leaving their cars or their homes.

Target rolled out free drive-up returns in time for holiday shopping. The service lets shoppers initiate a return in the app and complete the transaction in the store’s parking lot.

Uber also recently launched a “Return a Package” feature allowing people to send up to five packages via courier to a local post office, UPS or FedEx location for a $5 maximum fee.

Read return policy and service details before you shop Black Friday sales to better understand your options.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

The article Black Friday Shopping Could Look Different This Year, Experts Say originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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  Finalists for the 26th Don Quijote Awards, presented by The Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and Prospera, gather for a group photo after being announced at the Winter Park Library on Thursday, November 14, 2023. The Don Quijote Awards is a signature event in Central Florida that recognizes businesses and individuals committed to excellence and the development of Central Florida’s Hispanic community. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)

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  Dr. Marica Vazquez, Superintendent Orange County Schools; Melissa Marantes, Executive Director of Orlando Center for Justice and Dr. Isis Artze-Vega, Valencia College Provost, gather for a photo after being announced as Don Quijote Awards finalists in the Excellence category at the Winter Park Library on Thursday, November 14, 2023. The Don Quijote Awards is a signature event in Central Florida that recognizes businesses and individuals committed to excellence and the development of Central Florida’s Hispanic community (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel).

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  Dr. Cyndia Muniz, UCF Director of HSI Culture and Partnerships; Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, Executive Director of Hope CommUnity Center and Diahann Smith, Director of Marketing at Florida Dairy Farmers, celebrate together after being named Don Quijote Awards finalists for the Professional of the Year at the Winter Park Library on Thursday, November 14, 2023. The Don Quijote Awards presented by The Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and Prospera is the signature event in Central Florida that recognizes businesses and individuals committed to excellence and the development of Central Florida’s Hispanic community. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)

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  Finalists for the 26th Don Quijote Awards, presented by The Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and Prospera, gather for a group photo after being announced at the Winter Park Library on Thursday, November 14, 2023. The Don Quijote Awards is a signature event in Central Florida that recognizes businesses and individuals committed to excellence and the development of Central Florida’s Hispanic community. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)

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  Dr. Marica Vazquez, Superintendent Orange County Schools, and Dr. Isis Artze-Vega, Valencia College Provost, congratulate each other after being announced as Don Quijote Awards finalists in the Excellence category at the Winter Park Library on Thursday, November 14, 2023. The Don Quijote Awards presented by The Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and Prospera is the signature event in Central Florida that recognizes businesses and individuals committed to excellence and the development of Central Florida’s Hispanic community. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)

DETROIT (AP) — Voting on a tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union that ended a six-week strike against the company appears too close to call after the latest tallies at several GM factories were announced Wednesday.

The union hasn’t posted final vote totals yet, but workers at several large factories who finished voting in the past few days have turned down the four year and eight month deal by fairly large margins. However a factory in Arlington, Texas, with about 5,000 workers voted more than 60% to approve the deal in tallies announced Wednesday.

The vote tracker on the UAW’s website Wednesday shows the deal by 958 ahead by votes. But those totals do not include votes from GM assembly plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Lansing Delta Township, Michigan, and a powertrain plant in Toledo, Ohio, which all voted against the agreement, according to local union officials.

In most cases the vote tallies ranged from 55% to around 60% against the contract.

But in Arlington the vote was 63% in favor with 60.4% of production workers approving the deal and nearly 65% of skilled trades workers voting in favor, making the tally tight.

Spokesmen for both the union and General Motors declined comment while the voting continues.

It wasn’t clear what would happen next, but local union officials don’t expect an immediate walkout if the contract is voted down.

Voting continues at Ford, where the deal is passing with 66.1% voting in favor so far with only a few large factories still counting.

The contract was passing overwhelmingly in early voting at Jeep maker Stellantis. The union’s vote tracker shows that 79.7% voted in favor with many large factories yet to finish.

Workers at some smaller facilities have yet to vote, and final tallies are expected to be announced late Thursday.

Keith Crowell, the local union president in Arlington, said the plant has a diverse group of workers from full- and part-time temporary hires to longtime assembly line employees. Full-time temporary workers liked the large raises they received and the chance to get top union pay, he said. But many longtime workers didn’t think the immediate 11% pay raises were enough to make up for concessions granted to the company in 2008, he said.

“There was something in there for everybody, but everybody couldn’t get everything they wanted,” Crowell said. “At least we’re making a step in the right direction to recover from 2008.”

The union agreed to accept lower pay for new hires and gave up cost of living adjustments and general annual pay raises in 2008 to help the automakers out of dire financial problems during the Great Recession. GM and Stellantis, then Chrysler, went into government-funded bankruptcies.

In the contracts with all three automakers, long time workers will get 25% general raises over the life of the deals with 11% up front. Including cost of living adjustments, they’ll get about 33%, the union said.

The contract took steps toward ending lower tiers of wages for newer hires, reducing the number of years it takes to reach top pay. Many newer hires wanted defined benefit pension plans instead of 401(k) retirement plans. But the company agreed to contribute 10% per year into the 401(k) instead.

At other factories, local union officials said that longtime workers at GM were unhappy that they didn’t get larger pay raises like newer workers, and they wanted a larger pension increase.

Tony Totty, president of the union local at the Toledo powertrain plant, said the environment is right to seek more from the company. “We need to take advantage of the moment,” he said. “Who knows what the next environment will be for national agreements. The company never has a problem telling us we need to take concessions in bad economic times. Why should we not get the best economic agreement in good economic times?”

Thousands of UAW members joined picket lines in targeted strikes against Detroit automakers over a six-week stretch before tentative deals were reached late last month. Rather than striking at one company, the union targeted individual plants at all three automakers. At its peak last month about 46,000 of the union’s 146,000 workers at the Detroit companies were walking picket lines.

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This story has been updated to clarify that the vote is too close to call.

That will come later after staff discussions, Orange County Administrator Byron W. Brooks said.

Commissioners said some of Visit Orlando’s 30% share of every tourist-tax dollar could be better spent addressing more pressing county needs like the scarcity of affordable housing or funding other worthwhile projects.

“What we’re talking about is balance,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who first used the “haircut” term.

She suggested chopping as much as $30 million from the agency’s budget, much of which has been used for “global marketing” efforts in U.S. and international markets including Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Visit Orlando gets $96 million. Lynx gets $54 million. That’s messed up | Commentary

The budget, which has grown from about $62 million in 2019 to an estimated $108 million next year, became a focus of debate for the board as it weighed requests for millions in future revenue from the tourist development tax.

The tax, also known as TDT or bed, hotel, resort or tourist tax, is a 6% levy on the cost of a hotel room, home-sharing rental or other short-term lodging in Orange County. Revenues in fiscal year 2022-23, which ended Sept. 30, topped $359 million, shattering the previous mark of $336.3 million set the year before.

Under a county agreement approved in 2019, Visit Orlando’s share of tourist-tax money grew over the past four years from 23% to a 30% cap in 2023, with funds promoting the region’s attractions and luring conventions to town.

Uribe suggested an annual budget between $70 million and $80 million.

Commissioner Emily Bonilla said $75 million a year or 25% of hotel-tax collections — whichever was less.

Casandra Matej, Visit Orlando’s president and CEO, said the agency is important, not only to theme park giants Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, but to hundreds of smaller attractions, hotels and restaurants that employ 450,000 workers.

She said the agency’s work has helped make Orlando among the most-visited travel destinations in the world — a title it must fight to retain as competition for tourists heats up with old rivals like Las Vegas and new ones such as Dubai.

Matej said Orlando boasts 130,000 hotel rooms with an annual occupancy rate of 75% but still has room to grow.

“What we know is if we can grow the occupancy number even one or two percentage points that could be hundreds of millions of TDT dollars to use within the community,” she said.

After defending the agency’s work inside the chambers, Matej left sounding resigned to likely cuts.

“It is disheartening the fact they want to cut our budget because we are part of the tourism ecosystem and, I think, a very important part of that,” she said. “I think there’s going to be more conversations ahead to understand what their direction, their priorities are but hopefully we were able to share with the community the importance of Visit Orlando.”

Since the summer, commissioners have weighed requests for a $560 million expansion of the Orange County Convention Center, a $400 million upgrade of Camping World Stadium, a $90 million appeal for a sports tower at the University of Central Florida’s football stadium and other projects that are expected to draw tourists to Orlando.

Dozens of people signed up to plead with commissioners to support Visit Orlando, including hospitality workers, many of whom wore orange T-shirts distributed by the agency bearing the message: “When tourism works, so do I.”

Some hoteliers and International Drive executives spoke out against a budget cut for the nonprofit marketing group, citing growing domestic and global competition that threatens to take Central Florida’s title as tourism capital.

“There’s huge investment in tourism in foreign countries right now and they’re going after our visitors,” said Chris Jaskiewicz, president & CEO of ICON Park Orlando, which includes the 400-foot-tall Wheel and other attractions on I-Drive. “When I consider the billions being spent there, I think we should raise Visit Orlando’s marketing budget not cut it.”

But Michael Perkins, board president of the Christian Service Center for Central Florida which serves homeless people, said the county should do all it can “to prevent a crisis of homelessness from impacting our area more than it already is.”

“Let the theme park companies and hotel conglomerates market for themselves,” Perkins said.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com

Retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart pushed October sales as an early start to the holiday shopping season again this year. But only about a quarter of Amazon Prime Big Deal Days shoppers used the Oct. 10-11 event to buy holiday gifts, according to a survey of verified buyers from market research firm Numerator.

The rest might be waiting for Black Friday (Nov. 24 this year) to get the gift list going.

If that’s you, here’s a short list of what to buy (or skip) during the traditional start to holiday shopping, which is the sale period that includes Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23), Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Nov. 27).

Buy: TVs and big-ticket tech

This one is no secret, but you may be looking for confirmation: Black Friday is still the “sweet spot” for TVs, says Trae Bodge, shopping expert from truetrae.com. “Yes, we saw some TVs on sale over Amazon [Prime Big Deal Days], but I really think that we’ll see better deals over Black Friday.”

Expect discounts on electronics like laptops, wireless headphones and soundbars at all the usual big-box stores. And if you need more time to save for the right size and model TV, the next best time to buy is around the Super Bowl.

Skip (for a couple of weeks): Toys and holiday decor

Toys aren’t off limits on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but you may save more if you wait a couple of weeks for when retailers start to sweat. It’s better to hold off on holiday decorations too, if you can.

Bodge says there’ll be better prices on kids’ toys and holiday decorations as December wears on. “I like to wait on those things because as we get closer to the Christmas holidays, that’s when retailers are going to be scrambling to get rid of that stuff to clear space for the new year,” she says.

Buy: Small kitchen appliances

NerdWallet’s latest holiday sale price-tracking data shows Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring great deals on kitchen gadgets. Prices on the three kitchen items NerdWallet watched since late last year — which included a Ninja air fry oven, KitchenAid mixer and Nespresso coffee machine — hit bottom dollar last Cyber Monday.

The price of the KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, for example, dropped to $220.99 at Target (down from its $329.99 retail price) last Cyber Monday.

Skip: Sporting goods

Some sporting goods are hard to wrap and hide. That may be reason enough to wait until closer to Christmas. Another reason is based on data from software company Adobe’s holiday season forecast for online shopping. The company, which analyzes U.S. e-commerce transactions across many retailers, predicts Dec. 4 will be the best day to get geared up for sports.

“Historically the best pricing for these items tends to be during the first week of December as older inventory clears and new personal fitness equipment and other sporting goods become available,” said Vivek Pandya, group manager at Adobe Digital Insights, in an email.

Buy: Winter apparel

In a bit of a twist, Bodge says Black Friday may bring better buys on winter clothes than are typically expected, possibly due to the weather staying warmer longer in many regions. Retailers fearing they’ll have too much supply could move sales on parkas, beanies and sweaters up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“[It’s] notable because, in my experience, winter apparel is most deeply discounted in December,” says Bodge.

So, look for layers while you’re browsing for clothes with a hot beverage Black Friday morning.

Skip (maybe): Tools and home improvement items

Many major product categories are fair game for good discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but you may want to double-check the price history before you order a new drill or circular saw.

“Tools and home improvement equipment tend to lag behind [other categories] in the percentage of discounts during the holiday season,” said Pandya.

That’s not to say all deals on tools won’t be good enough. If you’re unsure, try a coupon-finding browser extension like PayPal Honey or Rakuten, or a site like Camelcamelcamel.com, which tracks product prices over time.

You can always look to June, around Father’s Day, to buy tools.

Holiday shopping tips

Comparing prices and doing your research will certainly help you save money this holiday season, but make sure you consider how you’ll manage expenses too.

Read up before you buy now, pay later

Many shoppers will rely on credit for their purchases. Adobe’s forecast predicts record use of “buy now, pay later” options — an estimated $17 billion in online spending to fund purchases during the holiday season.

When you can adhere to the payment schedule, Bodge says, BNPL is like “the modern layaway.” “It’s a great way to spread out your financial outlay for a particular month,” she says.

She also recommends that those newer to the concept read the fine print before signing up, because late payments can lead to late fees, which could negate any discounts realized.

NerdWallet’s 2023 holiday shopping report found 52% of Americans incurred credit card debt when shopping last holiday season and, among them, nearly a third (31%) have still not paid off those balances.

“If you’re dragging credit card debt month to month, you should maybe use debit only or just cash,” says Bodge.

Check your feelings at checkout

With the holiday season comes pressure to make others happy, reminds Bodge.

The holiday shopping report found that more than half of 2023 holiday shoppers said holiday shopping stresses them out.

You have to block out the urge to keep up with the Joneses and try to buy within your means, says Bodge.

“Be mindful of your own personal financial situation and gift accordingly.”

The article What to Buy (and Skip) on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Four days are left until the government faces another shutdown.

A government shutdown would stop or reduce operations for national parks, benefits verification, food inspections and more. It would also send millions of federal workers home without pay for the duration.

All that is on the line unless Congress passes crucial budget appropriations or agrees on another funding extension. The latter may be more likely with this bunch.

What you need to know

• Congress must fund 12 key appropriation bills in order to fund the government for its new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
• A last-minute stopgap was passed Sept. 30 and extended government funding through Nov. 17.
• Come Nov. 18, the government shuts down.
• The looming shutdown is a test for newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said at a press conference Tuesday that the House GOP conference “had a very refreshing, constructive, family conversation” on the options on the table to prevent a shutdown. He added that they would “be revealing what our plan is in short order.”
• Senate Democrats are reportedly working on their own funding measure. Last week, the Senate passed a package of three government funding bills for the 2024 fiscal year.

Why you should care

• Shutdowns are disruptive for the federal government at large. For consumers, a government shutdown could result in various problems and inconveniences.
• Unless you work for the federal government, a government shutdown might not have an immediate impact on you.

What happens during a shutdown

• Nonessential services like national parks, customer service for the IRS and Federal Student Aid assistance will be suspended.
• Essential services like air traffic control, national security, law enforcement, and power grid maintenance continue to operate.
• Some essential services like benefit verifications for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; food and environmental inspections; scientific research; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have reduced operations.
• If you have travel plans, a shutdown could get in your way.
• It could hamper your homebuying plans if you are trying to get a reverse mortgage or Title I loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration or a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• The brunt of the disruption would fall on furloughed government workers. But all federal workers go without pay during a shutdown even if they’re not furloughed. Federal workers are paid retroactively once funding is restored.

The basics

• There have been 21 government shutdowns since 1976, and most ended in under a week,  according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
• When Congress passes some of the required appropriations, but not all of them, it results in a partial shutdown.
•  The most recent shutdown, which was partial, lasted 34 days beginning in December 2018.

What happens next

• House Republicans say they’re aiming to bring a bill to the floor next week. It would likely be a continuing resolution.
• Senate Democrats are working on their own stopgap bill.
• However, lawmakers will balk at any continuing resolution that goes beyond Dec. 31, thanks to the Fiscal Responsibility Act that was passed in spring. It includes a provision that says if a continuing resolution is in effect come Jan. 1, then the spending limit revises on its own — and that automatic revision includes a significant cut to defense, which would be at odds with House Republicans’ efforts to increase defense spending.

More From NerdWallet

The article Government Shutdown Looms Yet Again: What You Need to Know originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Seminole

Pho Au Lac Restaurant And Teahouse at 158 Tuskawilla Road Suite 1300 in Winter Springs shut down on Nov. 7. Inspectors found 16 violations, six of which were a high priority.

Those violations included roach excrement, food held at the wrong temperatures, an improperly stored toxic substance and a sanitizing solution exceeding the maximum concentration allowed.

Officials revisited the restaurant on Nov. 8. They found five violations, but none were a high priority.

The restaurant met inspection standards.

Complaints and warnings

Orange County had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida, with 25.

Volusia had 16, Brevard had seven, Lake had one, Seminole had five and Osceola had five. Warnings given with required follow-up inspections could lead to a business being shut down if problems remain.

Disney accounted for 263,000 jobs in Florida, more than three times the actual workforce Disney World, according to the study conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by Disney. Besides direct employment and spending, the study covering fiscal year 2022 attributed the company’s multibillion-dollar impact to indirect influences such as supply chain and employee spending.

The jobs include Disney employees as well as jobs supported by visitor spending off Disney World property. In Central Florida, Disney directly accounts for 1 in 8 jobs, and for every direct job at Disney World, another 1.7 jobs are supported across Florida, Oxford Economics said.

The time period in the study is before the takeover of Disney World’s governing district by DeSantis and his appointees after Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. The law was championed by DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Disney officials in the past year have said the company plans to invest an additional $17 billion over the next decade in Central Florida, including potentially adding another 13,000 jobs.

However, the company has shown a willingness to pull back on investing in Florida.

Earlier this year, Disney scrapped plans to relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to the Lake Nona neighborhood of Orlando to work in digital technology, finance and product development, an investment estimated at $1 billion.

Disney is battling DeSantis and his appointees in federal and state courts over the takeover of what was formally called the Reedy Creek Improvement District but was renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District after DeSantis appointees gained control.

The district was created by the Florida Legislature in 1967 to handle municipal services like firefighting, road repairs and waste hauling, and it was controlled by Disney supporters until earlier this year.

Before control of the district changed hands from Disney allies to DeSantis appointees, the Disney supporters on its board signed agreements with Disney shifting control over design and construction at Disney World to the company. The new DeSantis appointees said the “eleventh-hour deals” neutered their powers, and the district sued the company in state court in Orlando to have the contracts voided.

Disney has filed counterclaims, which include asking the state court to declare the agreements valid and enforceable.

Disney also has sued DeSantis, a state agency and DeSantis appointees on the district’s board in federal court in Tallahassee, saying the company’s free speech rights were violated when the governor and Republican lawmakers targeted it for expressing opposition to the law dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics.

The glut of deals suggests that the airline industry’s supercharged pandemic recovery may finally be slowing as the supply of tickets catches up and, on some routes, overtakes demand, which appears relatively robust.

Consider the fares that Denise Diorio, a retired teacher in Tampa, Florida, recently scored. She spent less than $40 on flights to and from Chicago and paid just $230 for a round-trip ticket from New York to Paris and back, a trip she plans to take this month.

“I’ve been telling all my friends, ‘If you want to go somewhere, get your tickets now,’” she said.

The bargains she found may be exceptional, but Diorio is right that deals abound.

Early this month, the average price for a domestic flight around Thanksgiving was down about 9% from a year ago. And flights around Christmas were about 18% cheaper, according to Hopper, a booking and price-tracking app. Kayak, the travel search engine, looked at a wider range of dates around the holidays and found that domestic flight prices were down about 18% around Thanksgiving and 23% around Christmas.

“In a lot of cases, we’re seeing some of the lowest fares that we’ve seen really since travel started coming back after the drop-off in 2020,” said Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, a travel blog and deal-watching service.

Domestic ticket prices fell over the summer, Potter said, and deals on international travel, particularly to Europe, have become more common recently.

Airlines lower their fares when they are trying to get more people to book tickets as demand is slowing or they are facing stiffer competition. There’s little question that competition has intensified on some routes, but travel experts say it’s not clear whether demand is waning.

Thanksgiving this year is expected to set a record for air travel, with nearly 30 million passengers forecast, according to Airlines for America, an industry group. That would be about 9% more than last year and 6% more than in 2019, before the pandemic.

But some airlines say demand is slowing outside of holiday and other peak travel periods. In addition, some airports have been so flooded with flights that carriers have been forced to cut fares to fill planes.

That hadn’t been much of a problem for most of the recovery from the pandemic. Weather and other disruptions limited the supply of flights last year and in 2021, as did shortages of trained pilots, parts and planes, among other factors. That drove up ticket prices, kept planes full and helped airlines take in strong profits.

“The airline industry has never delivered the types of profit margins and return on capital that it has done over the last 2.5 years,” said John Grant, chief analyst with OAG, an aviation advisory and data firm. “We’re getting back to a more normal industry.”

For the largest U.S. airlines, the good times have continued, fueled in particular by thriving demand for international travel. But smaller and low-fare carriers have started to suffer. Several reported disappointing financial results for the three months that ended in September. Executives at those airlines have said demand is weakening, fares are falling and costs remain high. They also say bad weather and a shortage of air traffic controllers have made flying more difficult.

JetBlue Airways, for example, lost $153 million in the third quarter, compared with a $57 million profit in the same period last year. The company said recently that it was moving flights away from crowded markets, such as New York, to those where it expected stronger performance, such as the Caribbean. The budget carriers Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines recently told investors that they were looking to cut costs by tens of millions of dollars.

Competition has been fierce in some important markets, driving down fares and profits.

In Denver, where Frontier is based, about 14% more seats were available on flights this summer than in the summer of 2019, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. Miami and Orlando, Florida, two popular destinations served by many budget carriers, saw even larger increases in capacity.

But while airlines added flights in popular markets as they chased passengers, airports in other cities, including Los Angeles, a hub for several major airlines, had large declines in capacity from the summer of 2019.

“You’ll find that there’s a large correlation between the airlines that are doing well and the ones that are struggling, margin-wise, when you compare where their concentrations are,” Barry Biffle, Frontier’s CEO, said last month on a conference call to discuss the airline’s third-quarter results.

When it comes to international routes, analysts are less certain of why fares are falling and whether they will remain low. The kinds of deals that Diorio got for her Paris trip could mean that larger airlines soon find themselves facing a financial squeeze or merely that the industry is returning to a pre-pandemic normal.

“Historically, demand to Europe softens in the winter,” said Steve Hafner, Kayak’s CEO. “So I think that reflects normal trends.”

But demand for international travel could face challenges, partly because of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Analysts also warn that many consumers may be less willing or able to splurge on travel than they were in the last couple of years, when they had pandemic savings to draw from. Even if demand remains strong, airlines risk offering too many seats on popular overseas routes.

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Whatever the cause of the recent drop in fares, the deals are a welcome break to travelers from years of high prices, Potter said.

“Either way the recipe is there for cheap flights,” he said. “If it’s just a little bit of overcapacity, that’s a win for consumers. If travel demand is dropping, in some ways that’s an even bigger win for people who are never going to give up on travel.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.