EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

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We’ll stress you out with stats for a second, if you don’t mind: Health benefit costs are expected to climb 8.2% next year, the highest increase since 2003, according to a recent survey from professional services firm Marsh.

If that rise occurs, it would mark the fifth consecutive year of climbing healthcare benefit costs.

So…good. We’re all stress-y. And that’s probably justified, Antonio Cueto, CFO of Judi Health, a pharmacy and medical benefit management platform, told CFO Brew.

“You have double-digit growth in cost of care year over year, and you know, it’s compounding,” Cueto said. “Even the biggest employers in the country, with strong balance sheets and P&Ls, can’t afford it anymore.”

What’s the answer for forward-thinking CFOs who want to opt out of the annual health benefits cost shocks? “It’s a moment in time when we need to reimagine how we think about benefits,” Cueto said. “It used to be an HR issue. Now it’s a boardroom issue.”

Don’t overlook the data when making coverage decisions.—NP

      

Sponsored By Purdue University

Google, Eli Lilly, Rolls-Royce, and others partner with Purdue University, which helps them and other industry leaders solve their toughest R&D and workforce challenges through industry-changing research while building a steady pipeline of career-ready talent.

The cred stacks up. Purdue has been ranked one of the 10 most innovative public universities in the US for eight years running and comes in at #3 nationally for internships and co-ops (U.S. News & World Report, 2026), which means the talent pool runs deep.

It also lands among the top 10 universities worldwide for interdisciplinary science research (Times Higher Education, 2026).

For CFOs weighing where to direct R&D investment, the calculus is clear. Companies like Accenture and Apple have already bet on Purdue to reimagine the future of their industries.

Partner with Purdue, and get ready to take your next giant leap.

STRATEGIC RISK

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Dealing with ever-changing risks has become the norm for finance executives.

Workiva CFO Barbara Larson put it this way at the company’s Amplify conference in Las Vegas last week: “Since Covid, volatility really stopped being just an event. It’s something that’s become the baseline,” and it affects everything in the CFO’s remit, including “reporting, planning, [and] decision-making.”

However, business leaders indicate a “growing disconnect” between an increasingly unpredictable risk landscape and their “ability to manage those risks strategically,” according to the latest AICPA State of Risk Oversight report.

Drawing on a survey of 331 CROs, CFOs, and other senior executives in the second quarter, the report said roughly seven in 10 (69%) indicated the volume and complexity of risks either “mostly” or “extensively” increased over the last five years. That was up from 61% in last year’s survey.

Yet, just 30% of respondents described their level of risk-management oversight as “mature” or “robust,” down slightly from 32% last year. Two in five respondents indicated their risk-management oversight maturity as “evolving.”

Some boards are asking for more senior executive involvement in managing risk.—AZ

      

MACROECONOMY

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Adobe Stock

Somewhere between the Fed’s latest rate hike and mortgage rates flirting with 7%, a bunch of homebuilders quietly rolled up their blueprints and waved a white flag of defeat.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, 38% of builders slashed prices on new homes in September, up from 35% in August—the highest proportion in eight months. While the average discount held steady at 6%, builders are throwing in everything but the kitchen sink to close deals: Two-thirds offered incentives like mortgage-rate buydowns or free appliance upgrades.

Builders are also building less. Housing starts fell 2.6% in August to 1.275 million, falling short of the 4.9% increase economists had expected. NAHB Chair Bill Owens blamed not only high mortgage rates, but the federal immigration crackdown scaring off workers from showing up to job sites.

Not surprisingly, with builders building less and earning less, morale is in the toilet. Builder confidence sank to its lowest point in a year, according to the NAHB.

Rising construction costs and tariffs on key materials are also hurting builders, Brew Markets reports.—JD

      

Sponsored By Bank of America

Open enrollment is an opportunity for CFOs. Many employees are underutilizing their workplace benefits because they don’t know how to use them. According to Bank of America, only 56% of American workers offered an HSA feel they have a strong understanding of the account features. Annual enrollment is a prime moment to close the gap between what you offer and what employees actually use. Learn more.

market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads

Stat: $736 million. That’s the tax bill the IRS gave an heiress for allegedly misusing grantor-retained annuity trusts, challenging a popular strategy among the ultra-wealthy. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “It is humans who are responsible, not the AI.”—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, when asked if he agreed with President Trump’s aversion to a regulatory crackdown on AI (CNBC)

Read: Everyone’s trying to steal Uncrustables’ $1 billion throne atop the pre-packaged, crustless PB&J market. (CNN Business)

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