CrowdStrike or the ETF Global X Cybersecurity — Myles J. McHale Jr., president and founder of Wealthcare Advisors

“Many of us have faced credit card fraud or financial/romance scams, and these issues are not going away. I recommend investing in network security, endpoint protection and identity management. Specifically, the individual stock CrowdStrike (CRWD) or the ETF Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) are excellent choices in this space. With the continued expansion of AI, cybersecurity investments will remain crucial,” McHale says, while adding that “there is no need to panic or drastically change your current asset allocation.”

BBB Foods — Rick Munarriz, stock analyst at Motley Fool

“Valuations and tensions are high, so if there were ever a time to be a Peter Lynch disciple and ‘buy what you know,’ this would be it. Don’t chase hot stock tips in companies and industries you don’t fully understand or aren’t passionate about. One of my favorite stocks heading into 2026 is BBB Foods (NYSE: TBBB). It’s the parent company of Tiendas 3B, a fast-growing retail chain in Mexico specializing in ‘hard discount’ groceries.

It’s a stacker, and by that I mean a company that is stacking growth on top of growth. BBB Foods is expanding its chain at a low double-digit percentage rate. It’s also growing average store-level sales — or what they call comparable-store sales — in the low double digits. Stack those two things together consistently, and BBB Foods has rattled off four consecutive years of better-than-30% revenue growth.”

BlackRock, GE Aerospace and Walmart — Jason Bernat, investment adviser, president and CEO of American Financial Services

“We are anticipating several rate cuts in 2026 which will support higher valuations but also increased volatility. I personally believe that AI will continue to remain central. Stocks tied to AI computing and data center buildouts are obvious choices. However, moving beyond pure hype tech, into sectors like financials, industrials, and even value, will give a major growth opportunity.

NVIDIA (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), Marvel (MRVL), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Alphabet (GOOGL) [and] Amazon (AMZN) are your champion AI stocks with high earning potentials, momentum, and cloud and hardware growth expectancy. Outside those, I like BlackRock (BLK), which has strong earnings growth. GE Aerospace (GE) industrial and defense exposure with projected revenue growth. Finally with a more defensive position if markets wobble is Walmart (WMT).”

“Focus on owning high-quality, cash-flow-generative assets” — Josh Katz, CPA and founder of Universal Tax Professionals

“The easy-money era, where simply being in the market guaranteed strong returns, has shifted. This year, focus on owning high-quality, cash-flow-generative assets and let that income, reinvested over time, do the heavy lifting for your portfolio. Patience and discipline will be key differentiators.

I always favor diversified exposure through ETFs that capture the themes above rather than risky individual stock picks. The U.S. equity market is projected for resilient growth, with firms poised to benefit from AI-driven efficiency gains, a friendly policy mix and strong earnings potential. This remains the core, growth-oriented foundation of a portfolio. In a market favoring quality and durable cash flow, funds focused on companies with a history of growing their dividends are essential.”

Renewable energy and energy storage — Jamie Hobkirk, CFP at Reynders McVeigh Capital Management

“As we move into 2026, I think it is important for investors to stay diversified across different sectors and not get hung up on the winners of 2025. More recently, we are starting to see increased breadth in the market, which presents more investment opportunities for investors.

Themes that Reynders McVeigh continues to like are renewable energy, energy storage and the buildout of the electric grid. The expansion of artificial intelligence is creating a growing demand for energy. With current demand outpacing production, multiple energy sources will be needed to support continued growth. Companies that support these themes are Schneider Electric, Nexans, and Nextpower Inc. to name a few.”

AI and tech — Carson K. Odom, CPA, CFP and wealth adviser at Adams Wealth Partners

“AI and technology leadership remain central to the conversation, but concentration is the biggest risk factor here. My biggest warning would be to make sure investors are aware of how concentrated an index fund they own may be. Some may not realize that 40% of their index fund is concentrated in under 10 names.

Themes I like for 2026 are tech and AI infrastructure, quality earnings and underperforming small-cap stocks. AI got the headlines in 2025, and I think the infrastructure behind it can take the lead in 2026. Also, high quality small-cap stocks have really lagged in performance since 2021. We’re nearing one of the largest deficits in small cap performance relative to large caps in recent history. If history tends to give us a lesson, it’s that there’s usually a reversion to the mean with these trends, which makes small caps appear attractive.”

Walmart and American Express — Ekenna Anya-Gafu, CFP, accredited asset management specialist, AIF and founder of Pacific Canyon Investments

“My number one piece of advice is have a long-term thesis and try to ignore the noise (a lot easier said than done). My biggest thought when it comes to the stock market and retail clients is that understanding the source of products, where they are made, and who the company is selling to is extremely important.” Anya-Gafu recommends:

“Walmart (WMT): They have close to a monopoly on low-income shoppers, and if the K curve (different groups in the economy experience very different outcomes at the same time) shows more in 2026, I believe the middle class will start to fade, which puts more individuals and households into lower income thresholds.

American Express (AXP): We saw that 93% of all purchases on Black Friday [were] done on a credit card or Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). I like American Express because their high credit profile requirements will be more protected from people not being able to pay their credit card bills, but because it is a charge card, it should make more profit than a typical credit card company.”

Digital infrastructure and essential services — Martin Robinson, CFP and director at Amzonite

“Areas such as digital infrastructure, the energy transition and essential services continue to attract attention because they tend to be more resilient across different market conditions. Companies with steady cash flows, pricing power and strong ownership are often better positioned when uncertainty is high. Ultimately, stock choices should reflect personal goals, time horizon and comfort with risk, rather than a single prediction about where the market is headed.”

MYR Group, First Solar and Recursion Pharmaceuticals — Peter Krull, director of sustainable investing at Earth Equity Advisors recommends:

“MYR Group (MYRG) — Specialists in electrical infrastructure. Between the clean energy transition and the AI buildout, we’re going to need to move electrons efficiently across the country. MYR designs and builds transmission lines to meet the ever-growing demand for more electricity. I see continued growth for at least the next decade in their services.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) — One of the most promising uses of AI technology is in biotechnology and pharmaceutical development. Recursion teamed up with NVIDIA to build a supercomputer to analyze potential drug opportunities. The analysis performed by the Recursion system has the potential to speed up the drug development process and reduce the cost of development by half. This is a riskier opportunity, but there should be long-term potential.

First Solar (FSLR) — First Solar is a leading designer and manufacturer of solar panels and systems for utility-scale developments, and the largest headquartered in the U.S. They are focused on innovation in the solar manufacturing space, investing in clean manufacturing and higher cell efficiency.”

Healthcare, energy and housing — Chris McMahon, president and CEO at Aquinas Wealth Advisors LLC

“We believe the market will broaden out dramatically over the next few years. The current overconcentration in tech stocks will begin to spread into the broader market. In particular, we think sectors such as construction, banking, and materials are well positioned for growth.” McMahon recommends:

“Healthcare: this sector has languished as the market reduced allocation based on the uncertainty of Secretary Kennedy. We have had time to see that in spite of some changes.

Energy: driven by the demand from AI and also a return to U.S. manufacturing we expect energy to outperform in the coming year.

Housing/material: lower interest rates will drive spending and fuel the growth of this sector. [The] $3-6 million shortage of housing is real and means good things for the sector.”

Commodities — Michael E. Chadwick, CFP and founder at Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management

“The public needs to understand capital is slowing [and] rotating away from stocks to hard assets. While the world chases seven stocks and crypto, the next cycle will favor hard assets and the most richly valued things today will take the biggest bath. Index funds, popular mutual funds, ETFs that are passive, and lifestyle funds are the most dangerous things to own today and will likely see massive falls followed by upswings.

I like the commodity complex in general — precious metals No. 1, miners No. 2, critical metals No. 3, energy No. 4, [hard commodities like energy, gold and silver] and Latin America is also very attractive. I like them because they’re out of favor, undervalued and have been ignored. The whole world is chasing AI, tech and crypto, so some amazing opportunities exist in boring areas. This is where the real money will be made in the next cycle.”

Utilities and industrials — Doug Beath, global equity strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute

“We continue to be very positive on the AI buildout and believe we’re closer to the early innings of the cycle than the end, but are also cognizant of valuations. We downgraded the technology sector to neutral several months ago and now favor the ancillary trends related to AI but with better valuations such as utilities with the data centers, and industrials to help build out those data centers.

Financials also have a favorable AI-related theme in terms of financing and M&A activity — and seem particularly oversold so far in 2026. At some point, we could overweight technology again if there’s a pullback or market conditions changed. This leads to another theme we’re recommending to clients this year, and that is prepare to ‘be nimble.’”

There’s a famous quote attributed to J.P Morgan, the early American financier and banker whose name now adorns the largest investment bank in the world.

“Nothing so undermines your financial judgement as the sight of your neighbour getting rich,” he said.

Social media these days is full of people touting the next big undervalued stock or crypto coin and showing off their gains from investing in speculative markets. And according to new research, it is actually younger, more internet native generations who are more likely to follow dubious investment advice and fall for investment scams online.

It comes as regulators in Australia push for better financial literacy to counter the AI boom and consider cracking down on advertisements of financial products.

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Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Joe Longo, has warned about the proliferation of promotions for financial products, particularly through social media, suggesting they posed a danger to Australian consumers.

Highlighting previous rules to ban cigarette advertisements, Longo flagged a potential crackdown on such advertisements as the watchdog looks to close gaps in the regulatory regime governing the financial services sector.

“Particularly through social media, there’s a whole range of ways in which Australians are exposed to pretty aggressive financial product promotion,” he said.

“So I think we need to be looking for ways of helping Australians navigate that. And secondly, possibly even looking at restrictions or prohibitions of some kinds of advertising, to nip it in the bud.”

The ASIC chair, whose stint as head of the regulator ends on May 31, said the government was intent on pushing more funding towards literacy about both financial products and technology as it prepares for the expected rise of AI agents which are capable of independently performing tasks with minimal human input.

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“The whole question of literacy around technology is related to financial literacy, because we’re seeing a convergence.

“So many financial products are promoted through a range of these technologies or platforms. So I do worry that, as a community, we’re not investing enough in our level of understanding around these issues.”

AI has helped fuel an explosion in advertisements spruiking questionable investments in financial products.

Story Continues

A federal appeals court will soon decide whether the Trump administration can fire a majority of the staff at an agency tasked with helping consumers and take other actions that could gut the bureau.

The Trump administration hasdelayed funding and moved to cut positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to rein in an agency it says has engaged in abusive practices and unfairly targeted some companies and hurt consumers.

Advocates, however, say the administration’s actions could further cripple an agency that has returned more than $21 billion to consumers since 2011, taking away a key entity created by Congress that has consumers’ backs.

The 11 active judges of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit are scheduled to hold a hearing Feb. 24 to decide whether to uphold a preliminary injunction that stopped terminations of most of CFPB’s staff, the canceling of contracts and other actions.

Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that the Trump administration is overhauling an “abusive” agency that was “weaponized against the American people and industries that serve them.”

But several advocates said what’s at stake is the fate of the CFPB consumer complaint system and database, where consumers can turn for help to dispute credit card or loan charges, car repossessions, home foreclosures and other concerns. The CFPB is the one federal agency that has the authority to go to bat for consumers with financial institutions, advocates said – a power given to the bureau when it was created by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis.

“Losing America’s Wall Street watchdog – and in particular the ability for consumers to file a complaint when things go wrong – would be catastrophic,” Protect Borrowers Executive Director Mike Pierce told USA TODAY.

What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

The CFPB is an independent agency established in 2010 by Congress.

It has the authority to investigate and act on consumer complaints. It also monitors financial markets for possible fraud, enforces laws that seek to root out discrimination in consumer finance and has come up with regulations that limit high credit card and overdraft fees.

The CFPB helped consumer David Biddle of Philadelphia in 2023. He fought on the phone with a financial institution for nearly three months to close a fraudulent $27,500 loan, which was tanking his credit. But he didn’t get any action until he filed a complaint.

“I simply went to the CFPB and, boom, they did their job,” Biddle told USA TODAY. Nine business days later, he received a letter from the credit bureau saying the account was closed.

CFPB had critics from the start

But the CFPB has always been unpopular with financial institutions, businesses and many conservative lawmakers.

In a Jan. 5, 2026 blog post, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for the CFPB’s consumer complaint system to be fixed, saying the previous CFPB leadership took actions to allow fraudulent requests.

The American Bankers Association, which had called on President Donald Trump in a January 2025 letter to “halt work on all open regulatory actions,” told USA TODAY it appreciated “efforts by Trump administration regulators, including the CFPB, to correct some of the overreach from the prior administration.”

Trump did not respond to a USA TODAY inquiry but told reporters in February 2025 “we’re trying to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse” and that he wanted to eliminate the agency.

Lawsuits have also challenged the CFPB’s funding, which by law comes through the Federal Reserve. At least one case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the funding was legal.

Vought did not request agency funding for nearly a year. But following a court ruling saying that he could not refuse those monies, on Jan. 9 he requested funds to sustain the CFPB through March.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Vought, a key author of Project 2025 – which called for eliminating the CFPB – said the agency reviewed and “where appropriate, dismissed investigations and cases that went after disfavored industries and companies.”

That included “cases claiming racial discrimination where no evidence of discrimination exists,” he said. “In going after companies they didn’t like, the CFPB ended up actually harming the consumers they claim to protect,” Vought said.

Since February 2025, the CFPB has permanently dismissed 22 pending lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions, according to a Protect Borrowers October report. It has also modified, ended early or otherwise changed 23 court-approved settlements, including three actions since the report, Pierce said. In some actions, like those involving Toyota Motor Credit and Navy Federal Credit Union, the CFPB canceled the companies’ obligations to refund tens of millions of dollars to customers, he said.

Supreme Court ruling: Why more White workers are about to sue for discrimination

‘CFPB RIP’

Erie Meyer, the former CFPB chief technologist whose team built the complaint system in 2011, is worried that consumers won’t have a place to turn if the database and CFPB are shut down. No other federal, local or state agencies have the authority granted by Congress to hold financial institutions accountable like the CFPB, she said. Meyer spoke to USA TODAY exclusively about her worries that the complaint portal her team built could be shut off.

Meyer resigned in February last year. The day she was leaving the building “with my cardboard box, I ran into DOGE” Meyer told USA TODAY, referring to Department of Government Efficiency workers.She then saw Elon Musk’s tweet “CFPB RIP” as she was driving out of the parking lot.

“The CFPB’s consumer complaint process is the most effective tool for Americans to get help with their bank, credit card or student loan servicer,” Meyer said. “In 2024, 2.7 million people got help, including $93 million back in restitution. In 2025, complaints doubled. If it vanishes, so many people will be left in a lurch.”

Complaint system puts pressure on companies

Consumer complaints also helped CFPB employees determine if an issue was more widespread, an attorney with the CFPB told USA TODAY. The newspaper has agreed to grant the employee anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the CFPB and is fearful of employment consequences.

He was among the employees not permitted to work since early February 2025. Many employees have been locked out of the building and are not being given assignments by their supervisors, he said.

“Amid this affordability crisis, the CFPB’s mission is more important than ever, and we just want to get back to work protecting consumers,” the attorney said.  

Chuck Bell, advocacy program director at Consumer Reports, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that his organization has “heard from countless consumers who were unable to resolve disputes until they filed a complaint with the CFPB.”

There has already been a glimpse of what could happen if the consumer complaint portal is shut down, said Meyer.

In February 2025, Vought shut it down for 24 hours, and it “limped along” until the preliminary injunction forced it to reopen, she said. That delay caused more than 16,000 consumer complaints and 75 imminent foreclosure complaints to be stuck in limbo, according to March 11, 2025 testimony from Matthew Pfaff, the current chief of staff for the CFPB’s office of consumer response, in the case that led to the preliminary injunction.

December 2025 ruling: Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau must be funded, judge rules

For now, the complaint system is still operating, but it has lost its bite, said Adam Rust, the director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America.

Complaints have increased: 43.3% of the more than 12.6 million complaints registered since 2011 were filed in the last year and more than 97% of unresolved complaints have come since Vought took over, he said.

“Financial companies know accountability is gone,” Rust told USA TODAY. “With no one in the consumers’ corner, complaints are ignored, and every day people pay the price.”

Biddle doesn’t understand why protecting consumers has become political.

“Everybody in this country is a consumer. Everybody in this country knows the aggravation of having to deal with the corporate and business bureaucracy,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky.