The updates will streamline applications for job seekers and help employers remove impostors from their company pages.
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Walmart.com Amex Offer: Spend $50, Get $10 Back
Walmart.com Amex Offer
American Express cardholders can take advantage of a new Amex Offer to save $10 on their next order on Walmart.com or through the app. As with most Amex Offers, this is targeted, so you’ll want to check all of your cards to see where the deal landed. The offer is popping up on consumer and business credit cards. Let’s see the details.
Offer Details
Earn a one-time $10 statement credit after using your enrolled eligible Card to spend a minimum of $50 in one or more qualifying purchases online at Walmart.com by 11/15/2026.
Offer details and availability may vary by cardholder. Just login to your American Express account(s) to see if you are eligible to add this offer to your card(s).
Important Terms
- Offer valid online only at US website Walmart.com or through the Walmart mobile app.
- Valid on Walmart pickup and delivery purchases made online at Walmart.com.
- Excludes Walmart+ membership purchases.
- Not valid on purchases shipped outside of the US.
- Excludes in-store purchases, bulk gift cards & e-gift cards, layaway purchases, insurance services, auto services, pharmacy, protection plans, home services, and recurring subscription services (for example, Beauty Box and Baby Box).
- Excludes purchases made on third party and affiliate websites associated with Walmart.com (such as, but not limited to, Walmart Contacts, Walmart Checks, Walmart Photo Services, Walmart Stationary, and Walmart Moneygram).
Guru’s Wrap-up
This is a good offer that seems to be widely available for most cardholders. Check your accounts and add it now so you can save $10 on your next Walmart order.
Where AI can help brokers find revenue when new deals are scarce
Anthony Georgiades (pictured top right), board director and advisory committee chair at Pentiv, spoke to the worry that technology will cut brokers out.
“There are so many components of the puzzle here in the process that actually really require a human and human interaction, whether it’s having certain compliance guardrails, whether it’s effectively reaching out to a prospective borrower,” Georgiades said. “You can’t just come in and replace everything with AI. But what you can do is empower those humans to have that information in front of them at the right time, at the right moment.
“Giving people the tools and the processes to really push these things forward versus completely displacing it, which I think is a misconception.”
What Pentiv is launching
Pineapple Financial, which is based in Toronto and trades on the NYSE American, announced the Pentiv launch Thursday. Georgiades said the company is targeting customers across North America, and that he and Maher are based in New York.
The company also named Maher, a former senior director of strategic finance at SoFi, as its chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. Its shares will move from the PAPL ticker to PTIV on or about Oct. 26, and the corporate renaming is subject to a shareholder vote.
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Report: Federal Student Aid Could Become Independent Agency By October 2027
Key Points
- The Washington Sun reported the Education Department wants to make Federal Student Aid an independent agency by Oct. 1, 2027.
- A spokesperson for the department called the report “fake news,” and the White House budget office called it “inaccurate.”
- Federal law keeps FSA inside the Education Department, so a spin-off would require an act of Congress.
According to a report in the Washington Sun, the Education Department is planning to spin off the Office of Federal Student Aid into an independent agency by Oct. 1, 2027. The Sun cited three sources and internal documents. FSA chief operating officer Richard Lucas is reportedly leading the effort with the White House Office of Management and Budget.
If this happens, it would be the largest step yet in the administration’s push to dismantle the Education Department.
The Department of Education denies the report. Spokesperson Ellen Keast told the Sun the story is “fake news“. She said the department “is engaged in an effort to restore FSA as a performance-based organization — not a political tool.” OMB called the reporting “inaccurate” without elaborating, and nothing has changed for borrowers leaving the SAVE forbearance.
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Why It Matters
Federal Student Aid cannot be its own independent department outside of the Department of Education without an act of Congress.
The federal law that made FSA a performance-based organization places the office under the direction of the Secretary of Education. The Sun reported that the department has acknowledged this internally, but it hasn’t approached Capitol Hill.
The stakes are large for the millions of Americans who interact with the agency. FSA manages $1.6 trillion in student debt owed by 45 million borrowers and allocates $120 billion in loans and grants each year. The office now has 800 employees after shedding 43% of its staff since Trump took office.
The department’s inspector general has already found that staff cuts weakened student loan oversight.
The Pushback
The pushback to the idea was swift.
Melanie Storey, who leads the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and once ran policy implementation at FSA, doubts the timeline. “October of 2027, I mean come on,” Storey told The Sun. “This is extraordinarily complex work.”
NASFAA has found that 60% of college aid offices report slower federal processing since the layoffs. Three former Education secretaries have already asked the inspector general to investigate the cost of the department’s layoffs.
Borrower advocates say the reorganization ignores the bigger problem. “Changing the name on the agency letterhead will do nothing to lower costs for working-class families,” Protect Borrowers Executive Director Mike Pierce said in a statement. His group says more than 3 million borrowers went into student loan default last year, with 3 million more on track to do so this year.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten joined that statement. She said the union “had to sue McMahon once to force her to follow the law and respect borrowers’ rights to lower student loan payments.” That refers to the AFT lawsuit over income-driven repayment. Weingarten said the reorganization “will only make things worse.“
How This Connects
An independent FSA would be a logical next step in the administration’s 18-month effort to move work out of the Education Department. President Trump proposed in March 2025 that the Small Business Administration “will handle all of the student loan portfolio.” No formal transfer followed, and federal student loans stayed at the Education Department under the Higher Education Act.
The department turned to interagency agreements instead. In November 2025, it shifted most Higher Education Act grant programs to the Labor Department, with Education keeping oversight. In march 2026, another agreement then gave Treasury control of defaulted student loan collections. That plan runs in three phases and could expand to the full loan portfolio and the FAFSA.
Those moves already face challenges. In April 2026, five Senate Democrats called the Treasury transfer an “illegal scheme” and argued the 2026 spending law bars the department from handing its statutory duties to other agencies.
Staffing is another critical issue. FSA had about 1,440 full-time staff before the layoffs, and it was forced to try to re-hire roughly 380 workers this spring to rebuild. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has conceded the cuts went too far.
What’s Next
The Department of Education and OMB are allegedly scheduled to meet on this topic next week. Watch for a formal request to Congress, where House Republicans have already proposed a series of bills to dismantle the department.
Another scenario we’re watching is a rebrand, where what’s left of the department gets a new name built around student aid. Congress created the Department of Education by statute, so a new name wouldn’t change the law or how your student loans work. However, it could give the administration a “win” in that there is no longer an agency named the Department of Education.
For borrowers, none of this changes what you owe or who services your loans today. Borrowers in default should keep working on getting out of default through rehabilitation, whatever happens to the org chart. And borrowers in the SAVE forbearance need to take action when they receive their notices.
Editor: Colin Graves
The post Report: Federal Student Aid Could Become Independent Agency By October 2027 appeared first on The College Investor.
Here’s What a $1,500, $2,000, and $3,000 Social Security Check Will Become After the 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)
Of the nearly 55 million people who receive Social Security retirement benefits, many rely on it for most or all of their retirement income. That’s why the announcement of the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is a big deal. It lets Social Security recipients start planning their budgets for the coming year.
Beginning in 2027, recipients will receive a 3.6% bump to their benefits, one of the larger COLAs in the past 30 years. Here’s how it translates to dollars for different current monthly benefit amounts:
| Current Monthly Benefit | Benefit Beginning January 2027 |
|---|---|
| $1,500 | $1,554 |
| $2,000 | $2,072 |
| $3,000 | $3,108 |
Source: Calculations by author.
In August, the average monthly benefit was $2,087, so a 3.6% COLA would pay out around an extra $75 per month.
Image source: Getty Images.
How did we arrive at the 3.6% COLA?
The COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). It’s a subset of the CPI-U, the U.S.’s main inflation index, and covers around 30% of the U.S. population.
To set the COLA, Social Security averages the CPI-W for the current year, compares it to the previous year’s average, and then sets the COLA as the percentage increase, rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percent.
For example, the CPI-W average in 2025 was 317.265, which was 2.76% higher than the 2024 average of 308.729. That gave us a 2.8% COLA for 2026.
The CPI-W average this year was 328.746, which is 3.62% higher than 2025’s average, and how we landed at the 3.6% COLA for 2027.
How does the 3.6% COLA compare to past COLAs?
The 3.6% COLA for next year is one of the highest in recent years. In 2022 and 2023, the COLAs were 5.9% and 8.7%, respectively. But before then, you’d have to go back to 2012, when it was also 3.6%. Here are the past 20 COLAs:
- 2026: 2.8%
- 2025: 2.5%
- 2024: 3.2%
- 2023: 8.7%
- 2022: 5.9%
- 2021: 1.3%
- 2020: 1.6%
- 2019: 2.8%
- 2018: 2%
- 2017: 0.3%
- 2016: 0%
- 2015: 1.7%
- 2014: 1.5%
- 2013: 1.7%
- 2012: 3.6%
- 2011: 0%
- 2010: 0%
- 2009: 5.8%
- 2008: 2.3%
- 2007: 3.3%
On the one hand, having a nice benefits boost to look forward to next year is a relief. However, that doesn’t help Social Security recipients with the inflation they’re facing right now. The 2027 COLA is high because inflation is high. Unfortunately, you don’t get one without the other.
Annual COLAs, while appreciated, haven’t fully offset inflation over the years, and recipients have consistently lost purchasing power. Every $100 in benefits in 2016 would buy around $86.30 worth of items today. Needless to say, that isn’t ideal.
There isn’t a quick solution, aside from Congress issuing a one-time adjustment, but I wouldn’t hold your breath, especially with the program already operating at a deficit. For now, recipients should budget accordingly, expecting the COLA might not stretch as far as they’d like.
ADP CEO Maria Black says employees who trust their CEO are 41% more likely to be engaged at work
If companies want more engaged workers, ADP CEO Maria Black says CEOs and senior leaders should start by asking themselves if employees trust them.
Speaking with Fortune executive editorial director Diane Brady at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in California this week, Black said trust and engagement gang together. Employees who trust the people around then at work with are 60% more likely to be dialed in, she told Brady,
“Trust is a direct corollary to engagement,” said Black. “So if we want to drive engagement, productivity, and a vibrant world of work that, candidly, I want to be in and I want my children to grow up working, we have to focus there.”
ADP’s finding turns some current thinking about employees being lackadaisical or blasé about work squarely on its head. Engagement is often seen as a metric about sentiment that can be measured and tracked, but is treated as something employees bring—or fail to bring—to their jobs. ADP’s data implies it depends pretty heavily on whether workers actually believe and trust in the people leading them, placing a lot of responsibility for engagement squarely on management and C-suites.
The company’s research arm previously found that for every 1% drop in full engagement, the likelihood of voluntary attrition increases by 45%. Black said only 30% of employees are overly engaged at work. Meanwhile, if employees trust CEOs and senior leadership, they’re 41% more likely to be engaged and 60% more likely if they trust the people around them that they work with.
The current moment is jam-packed with reasons not to trust, explained Black. Echo chambers, firehoses of information, discerning what’s real and what’s AI-generated, all accumulate to chip away at trust. At work, driving more focus and engagement comes down to whether people trust those around them and their leaders all the way up to the top. As a leader herself, Black said she gets boots on the ground and holds listening posts, noting that she arrived in California on the heels of a trip to Las Vegas where she spoke with 1,000 company leaders, and a Florida trip to chat with employees over the “universal love language of ice cream.”
“The only way to keep current is to be on the ground and be trusted,” said Black.
The other issue of the moment for business leaders is the obligation facing companies to upskill and reskill, she continued. ADP oversees payroll and human capital for more than 1 million clients across 140 countries and Black said the new AI era will only play out with human agency in terms of how people actually choose—or don’t choose—to engage with AI tools.
“We know that, generally speaking, workers in today’s workplace don’t feel as though their employer has prepared them properly,” said Black.
She joined ADP in 1996, starting as a sales associate and eventually rising to become president and CEO in 2023. She is the seventh CEO in the company’s history and said she has a ground level view from growing up in that business. As AI continues its expansion in new facets of work and life, Black said it can serve people well in terms of expanding their expertise beyond the current domain and, in turn, expanding their ability to increase their income as they take on new tasks and responsibilities.
“But we have to shepherd them there,” warned Black. “I think that’s the other part that sometimes we don’t spend enough time on.”
What Is Grok Bot? xAI’s AI Agent Explained for Physicians
Imagine handing off a task, closing your laptop, and having the work continue without you.
That is what Grok Bot is built to do. It is an AI agent from xAI (also called SpaceXAI) that launched in beta on August 11, 2026. It is not the same as the Grok chatbot. It is a separate app with its own usage allowance.
This guide covers what it is, how it differs from a regular AI chat, what it can help physicians with, and what to check before trying it.
Disclaimer: While these are general suggestions, it’s important to conduct thorough research and due diligence when selecting AI tools. We do not endorse or promote any specific AI tools mentioned here. This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, financial, or clinical advice. Always comply with HIPAA and institutional policies. For any decisions that impact patient care or finances, consult a qualified professional.
What Grok Bot is
xAI describes Grok Bot as a team of always-on AI assistants. You create a “Bot” for each job, such as inbox management, expenses, or research. You message it like a coworker. It signs into your tools, does the work, and comes back when it needs your approval.
The basics:
- Bots can use a cloud computer, connected apps, websites, and files.
- Work continues in the background, even when your laptop or phone is closed.
- Apps are available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, with companion apps for iPhone and Android, according to the docs FAQ.
- It is in beta and updates often. The release notes list version 0.70.2 on October 11.
- Access comes through a paid Cursor plan or a linked SuperGrok subscription, with weekly usage included. The FAQ points to Cursor’s pricing page for current terms.
How it differs from a regular AI chat
A regular chat answers a question and waits. Grok Bot takes on a job and keeps going. A few things set it apart.
- It works in real apps. xAI says Bots can sign in and work inside tools and websites, including ones with no clean integration. Some sites may still block automation or show a CAPTCHA.
- It hands over sensitive steps. For passwords, two-factor codes, CAPTCHAs, and payment confirmations, the Bot is meant to give control back to you.
- Bots can work as a team. xAI describes a “chief of staff” Bot that passes work to specialist Bots for inbox, expenses, or bug fixes.
- It can learn your process. A feature called Teach a task lets a Bot watch one browser workflow and turn it into a draft skill that you review and test. The docs say the rollout may be gradual. Routines can then run on a schedule.
- It asks before it acts. Emails and Slack messages can be drafted for your review. The release notes also describe an approval check before actions that cannot be undone, such as sending, posting, buying, or deleting.
One detail to know: the launch post says each Bot has its own computer, but the docs say all Bots on an account share one cloud computer. That matters for security, covered below.
Why physicians should care
Grok Bot is built to take over repeat admin work, the kind that fills a day outside of patient care. xAI’s examples come from its own teams, but similar tasks show up in a physician’s week, in a practice’s back office, or in a side business.
Here is what it can help with:
- Inbox and follow-ups. A Bot can handle inbox tasks, draft replies for your approval, and follow up on threads that went quiet.
- Invoices and bookkeeping. xAI’s example is a Bot that processes invoices arriving in Gmail. The release notes list QuickBooks Online as a connector.
- Recurring reports. A routine can run on a schedule. xAI’s example is a Bot that keeps its CRM clean and posts a Monday scoreboard. The same idea could fit a weekly summary for a practice or a business.
- Research and outreach. xAI’s sales Bot researches accounts overnight and prepares personalized drafts to approve. That could apply to vendor research or partner outreach for a physician’s business.
- Slide decks. The release notes say Bots can build slide decks and deliver them as PowerPoint or Google Slides files.
All of these are business and admin tasks, not clinical ones. Results will vary, since xAI’s examples come from its own teams. Patient information is a separate question, covered next.
What to check before trying it
- Shared computer. All Bots on an account share one computer’s files, browser sessions, and logins. xAI’s security docs say not to use separate Bots as a security boundary. Anything you connect is reachable by every Bot.
- Data storage. The FAQ says Grok Bot requires cloud data storage and does not support Legacy Privacy Mode. It uses Cursor account and data settings, and training opt-out follows those settings.
- Patient information. xAI’s BAA request page is about its APIs. Nothing reviewed says Grok Bot is covered, so keep patient information out unless your organization confirms coverage in writing with xAI and its compliance team.
- Approval limits. An approval controls the proposed action. It does not undo work already done. The docs also say Auto Review is model-based and should complement, not replace, a least-privilege setup.
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How to start
xAI’s own advice is to connect only what a task needs, use limited-access accounts where possible, and start with read-only tasks and drafts. Sending, publishing, buying, and deleting should stay behind approval. Connected apps and routines should be reviewed regularly. A good first task is one where the worst outcome is a bad draft.
Grok Bot is an early look at AI that finishes tasks instead of only answering questions.
For physicians, the appeal is handing off repeat admin work. The tradeoff is giving an agent access to your accounts, so start small and keep patient data out.
Download The Physician’s Starter Guide to AI – a free, easy-to-digest resource that walks you through smart ways to integrate tools like ChatGPT into your professional and personal life. Whether you’re AI-curious or already experimenting, this guide will save you time, stress, and maybe even a little sanity.
Want more tips to sharpen your AI skills? Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights and practical advice. You’ll also get access to our free AI resource page, packed with AI tools and tutorials to help you have more in life outside of medicine. Let’s make life easier, one prompt at a time. Make it happen!
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical, legal, compliance, or professional advice. The information provided here is based on available public data and may not be entirely accurate or up-to-date. It’s recommended to contact the respective companies/individuals for detailed information on features, pricing, and availability. All screenshots, if any, are used under the principles of fair use for editorial, educational, or commentary purposes. All trademarks and copyrights belong to their respective owners.
If you want more content like this, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on the latest trends for AI, tech, and so much more.
Further Reading
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The Offer
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What is a Business Management Degree? [Simple Summary]
![What is a Business Management Degree? [Simple Summary]](https://globalinvestmentstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/1792109233_maxresdefault-768x432.jpg "What is a Business Management Degree? [Simple Summary]")
What is a Business Management degree? And what can it do for you? Find out from Jeri Retzlaff, business program coordinator at Rasmussen University’s Mankato, MN campus.
Ready to take the lead in business? A degree in Business Management from Rasmussen University can give you the perspective you need to plan for the future – while managing your company’s current workflow and human capital.
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Considering a career in business, but feel like people are speaking a different language? Get a start on cracking the code, here, “30 Basic Accounting Terms, Acronyms and Abbreviations Students Should Know”:
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