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Tax filing season is in full swing, and while preparing your taxes can often be filled with stress, misplaced documents, and worries about proper filing, this year, there may be a silver lining. According to analysts, many Americans may get larger refunds in 2026 due to Trump’s 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill legislation. Last year, the average refund was $3,167, but, given there are a number of new changes and deductions, experts say many Americans are looking to get back an additional $1,000 or more. Overall, that could come out to around $90 billion more dollars in tax returns.Here are the biggest changes that could boost your tax refund this year: No tax on overtime One of the biggest changes hitting tax filers this year is that overtime hours won’t be taxed. Under the newly signed legislation, there is now a deduction for up to $12,500 of qualifying overtime wages. According to the Tax Policy Center, the law will make for an average tax cut of $1,400. The change applies from this year through 2028. Larger child tax credit One change many Americans will see on their tax returns this year is an increase to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The credit will go from $2,000 per child (under 17 at the end of last year) to $2,200 per child (up from $2,000). The credit begins to phase out for married couples filing jointly with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $400,000 and $200,000 for single filers. A new senior deduction This year, those over 65 are set to receive a new $6,000 Senior Deduction ($12,000 for married couples filing jointly). The temporary deduction is available for 20252028, but there are income limits. The deduction is only for those earning under $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples). No tax on tips Tips also won’t be taxed this year, although there are limitations based on the taxpayers income, occupation, and type of work. Still, those that rely on tips, such as servers, drivers, and more, can deduct up to $25,000 from their taxable income. The benefit won’t apply for anyone with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above $150,000 (or $300,000 for couples). The deduction is scheduled to expire after 2028/ Change to standard deduction There’s also a change in the standard deduction this year. For single taxpayers the dedication is $15,750 and $31,500 for joint filers. For heads of households, the standard deduction is $23,625. Overall, the new deductions make for an increase of 7.9% since last year. Change to state and local (SALT) deduction The SALT deduction, which allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct up to a certain limit of state and local income/sales and property taxes from their federal taxable, will see a temporary increase in the cap. For the 2025 tax year the deduction will increase from $10,000 to $40,000. For high tax states, that could make a huge dent in overall deductions. Still, when it comes to this particular dedication, most people won’t see the benefit at all. That’s because most people don’t earn enough to itemize deductions and are better off taking the standard deduction. Those in the 1% to 5% income bracket are set to receive the largest benefit of the change.
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In the United States, its one of our annual holidays today, Presidents Day, which celebrates the dozens of American presidents weve had over the centuries. But on the other side of the world, an even larger holiday is kicking off: Chinese New Year. Heres what you need to know about the festival and its importance to the millions of Chinese Americans in the United States. What is Chinese New Year? Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or, in China, the Spring Festival, is an annual holiday that marks the beginning of the new lunar year. Unlike many Western holidays, the lunar new year does not have a fixed date. Instead, it typically falls on the full moon closest to Spring. But the Lunar New Year is just the beginning of the festivities in China. It kicks off the beginning of the Spring Festival, which continues for the first week of the new year. Given the cultural importance of the holiday period, hundreds of millions of Chinese travel each year to be with their families and loved ones, making it the worlds largest annual migration event. As Reuters notes, the Lunar New Year travel period officially began on February 2 and will run for 40 days. During this time, Chinese officials estimate that 9.5 billion domestic trips will be made related to the holiday period. Thats nearly half a billion more trips than last year. When is Chinese New Year? This year, the Lunar New Year falls on Tuesday, February 17 in China. But, as with the Gregorian New Year on January 1, celebrants hold festivities the night before, leading up to midnight. In this way, Lunar New Years Eve falls on Monday, February 16 in China, just as New Years Eve is celebrated on December 31 in the West. However, because China is 13 to 18 hours ahead of America, both Lunar New Years Eve and Lunar New Years Day in China fall on Monday, February 16, in the United States. However, many who celebrate the festivities in America often stick with the local time zone midnight divide. Whats the significance of the horse? Each new Lunar New Year is represented by one of 12 animals. The animals correspond to the Chinese Zodiac. This year, for the Lunar New Year that commenses on February 17, is the Year of the Horse. The horse represents hard work, bravery, and resilience, according to the Smithsonian. Are businesses closed on Chinese New Year or Chinese New Years Eve in America? In most years, usually not. While millions of Americans celebrate the Chinese New Year, its not an official federal or state holiday. However, as Lunar New Years Eve 2026 falls on today, the same day as Presidents Day 2026 in America, the same businesses and institutions that are closed for Presidents Day will also be closed on Chinese New Years Eve. Fast Company has a rundown of the businesses and government offices that are closed on Presidents Day. Where can I celebrate Chinese New Year? Millions of Americans celebrate the Chinese New Year every year. As with the Gregorian New Year, many choose to celebrate it in their homes with their families. However, public Chinese New Year celebration events are held all over America as well. If youve got a Chinatown in your area, its worth popping by to see what festivities are being held.
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E-Commerce
After more than a decade of planning, an overlooked side of the ski haven of Aspen, Colorado, will soon be revamped into a new base village. Named Chalet Alpina and covering two-and-a-half city blocks, the development will build a new modern ski lift that is closer to the city’s downtown and flank it with a luxury hotel and residences, a restaurant and ski museum inside relocated historic chalet buildings, and a broad new public plaza. The project, which broke ground last fall, is situated at the loading point of the 1937 tow line that was the city’s first mechanized route up the mountain. Remnants of the steel lift that replaced it a decade later will be preserved as part of the project. With cost estimates totaling nearly $350 million and an expected completion in 2029, the 200,000-square-foot project will “fundamentally change” Aspen Mountain, according to a local official. [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] Jason Grosfeld, CEO of Irongate Group, the project’s lead developer, says the change is much needed and will provide skiers a more accessible alternative to Aspen’s existing ski base village, known as the Little Nell site. “That’s been built out for years. It’s wonderful, it’s great. People love it,” he says. The side of the mountain where he’s developing Chalet Alpina, however, “has been a little bit forgotten,” he notes. The Lift One site in the 1960s. [Photo: Aspen Historical Society] As the site of the city’s first ski lift, this area certainly had a heyday, but Grosfeld says a decision in the 1970s to build a replacement lift that required skiers to walk a bit higher up the mountain to get on board pushed more activity to the Little Nell side. “That was sort of the beginning of the end of this area. In fact, in the ’50s and ’60s and even a little later than that, this area was actually pretty vibrant,” Grosfeld says. He sees the Chalet Alpina project as a chance to breathe life into this side of the mountain. “I’ve been skiing in in Aspen since I was about seven or eight years old,” he says. “I am incredibly nostalgic about what skiing did for my childhood and my kids’ childhood, and what it still does for me. And so I really did want to bring that back.” [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] A close vote and a decade of development Set in one of the most prestigious and expensive ski resort towns in the U.S., the project has endured a lengthy approval process and no shortage of opposition from developer-weary locals. Plans first started taking shape in the early 2010s, and Grosfeld says the project was shaped by extensive community outreach. A 2019 public vote on the project passed by 0.8%, a margin of just 26 votes. The slow motion is partly due to the project’s unique makeup. It’s technically a complex combination of land parcels owned by Irongate Group and local developer HayMax Capital, the Aspen Skiing Company, the City of Aspen, and the luxury hotel company Aman Group, all of which had to collaborate to lay out a plan for the project, while also appeasing locals. Permits for the project began to solidify in 2023 and the project was cleared for construction in 2025. “It’s been over a decade since we started this and it’s been really, really time consuming, and really difficult, but also really, really meaningful,” Grosfeld says. “Many developers don’t get that opportunity in a lifetime. So we’re super lucky and we’re treating the opportunity with the care and attention that it deserves.” [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] Callbacks to the past, designed for the present Working from the beginning of the project with New York-based Guerin Glass Architects, Grosfeld says the project was deeply shaped by the historic nature of the site, including the 1940s-era steel chair lift structure that will be preserved, as well as the two mid-century chalet buildings that are being relocated and retrofitted. (One will be turned into a restaurant; the other into a ski museum, in partnership with the Aspen Historical Society.) [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] Scott Glass, cofounder of Guerin Glass Architects, says elements of these historic structures helped shape the new project, both in the forms of the buildings and in their details. “First and foremost, we wanted to be really intentional about the way the building sits on the site and how it cascades down the hill,” he says. “It doesn’t get too big in any single place, and it really feels like it’s part of the slope.” [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] The design team pulled on other elements of the surroundings, right down to some board formed retaining walls put in place back in the 1940s, which they then used to inform the look of various walls, planters, and even the ski hut at the base of the extended ski lift. It’s all in service of blending the project into the city and the mountain. After all, a ski run splices right through the project’s site, making it a gateway to a new Aspen base village. “For us, one of the real treats and important elements of the project is the public nature of everything,” Glass says. “It’s a resort hospitality project, but it’s also a ski museum and a portal to one of the more important elements of the town.” [Image: courtesy of Chalet Alpina] Some of these details have had more than a decade to coalesce. Grosfeld says that drawn out timeline, grueling as it may have felt at times, ultimately made the entire project better. “The nice thing about a long process is we get to stare at this thing for like 10 years before we’ve even built it,” he says. “We’ve been staring at these renderings for a long, long time and nobody’s sick of them yet. I can’t say that for every rendering that I’ve stared at for a long time.”
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E-Commerce
For Americans with conventional work schedules, Monday holidays are often a blessing. However, despite the extra weekend day, these observances can also sneak up on you and be confusing. Today (Monday, February 16) is Presidents’ Day, which is officially known as Washington’s Birthday. In this story, we’ll break down what exactly is open and closed on the day that we celebrate all the commanders in chief. Before we get into all that, lets look at the history of the day and how it came to be. What does George Washington have to do with it? George Washington, the first president of the United States, has everything to do with Presidents’ Day. The holiday evolved out of a remembrance of the man who helped defeat the British and usher the country into a new era as an independent nation. Washington served as head of state from 1789 to 1797 and died in 1799. The following year many began celebrating his legacy on his birthday, February 22. It wasnt until 1879 that his birthday became a federal holiday, when President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law. At first this new edict only included Washington, D.C., but in 1885 the whole country got in on the act. What about Abraham Lincoln? The 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, is also associated with Presidents’ Day because of his February 12 birthday. Some states such as Illinois recognized it as day of observance even though it was never an official federal holiday. Lincoln’s leadership through the Civil War cemented his legacy as a major political figure. What is the Uniform Monday Holiday Act? The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed into law on June 28, 1968, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It did not take effect until January 1, 1971. This new law essentially created the modern three-day weekend. Before it was the law of the land, Representative Robert McClory of Illinois tried to attach a provision to the act that would have combined both Washington’s and Lincolns birthdays into one observance. The Virginians in Congress disagreed, and the provision was dropped. Officially, on the federal level, the holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February is George Washingtons birthday. But over time, advertisers and many on the state level began calling the holiday Presidents Day. Now that you know who and why we celebrate, lets get into what this means on the day itself. Are stock markets open on Presidents Day? No. Because it is a federal holiday, most markets are closed. This includes the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange. This also applies to most U.S. bond markets. The only exception is cryptocurrency markets. Will mail be delivered on Presidents Day? Post offices will be closed and no mail will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Presidents Day. UPS will conduct business as usual. FedEx will also operate but some early on-call or drop box pickups may be modified or unavailable. Are banks open on Presidents Day? No. Banks will be closed on Presidents Day. This includes major chain banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. The good news is online banking and ATMs outside of branch locations are available. Are schools open on Presidents Day? No. Most public schools will be closed. Some may even take Lincolns birthday off in addition. Are restaurants and fast-food chains open on Presidents Day? Yes. Most restaurants and fast-food joints want your business and hope you dine out. Your local McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Popeyes, or Wendy’s should be open for business. Are grocery stores open on Presidents Day? Yes. Most grocery stores are open on Presidents Day. Some may have modified hours so it is always a good idea to check ahead. Aldi and Costco are typically open, but hours vary by location. Are stores open on Presidents Day? Yes. Most stores are open on Presidents Day. Many will also have sales to attract business on the three-day weekend. This includes big-box retailers such as Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and others. Presidents’ Day is typically a big day for mattress and furniture sellers like Mattress Firm and Raymour & Flanigan. Are pharmacies open on Presidents Day? Yes. Most pharmacies are open on Presidents Day, including chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, but it is always good practice to double-check with your preferred location to prevent a wasted trip.
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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. With apologies to T.S. Eliot, some CEOs are finding that February, not April, may be the cruelest month. In recent weeks, Workday, PayPal, and The Washington Post parted ways with their chief executives, suggesting that high CEO turnover, which reached record levels in recent years, may continue in 2026. CEO turnover remains high Russell Reynolds Associates, the global leadership advisory firm, found that 234 CEOs of globally listed companies departed their roles last year, up 16% from 2024 and 21% above the eight-year average. Last year marked the second consecutive record-breaking year for CEO exits, according to the firms Global CEO Turnover Index Report. The Russell Reynolds report attributes the high turnover in part to pressure from activist investors who want faster results. (Its research shows that 32 CEOs resigned within one year of an activist campaign in 2025, compared to 27 in 2024.) The data also suggests that boards are willing to pull the trigger earlier when performance stalls. Its too early to predict whether 2026 will set another record for CEO turnover, but the underlying macro pressuresincluding activist influence, market volatility, and ongoing transformationremain in place, says Laura Mantoura, managing director in Russell Reynoldss U.S. Board & CEO Advisory practice. As a result, sustained high levels of CEO turnover should be expected.” However, not everyone is convinced this is the new normal. Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, sees turnover leveling off after three years of brisk executive change, which followed a reluctance to change leaders during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 and 2021. I think our initial expectation right now is that the demand for change at the top is cooling a bit despite some big recent examples, he says. Challenger notes that theres one scenario that could trigger another record wave of CEO exits: a recession. Experience wins Investor demands appear to be pushing boards to favor experienced CEOs at public companies. Of the CEOs who took the reins at S&P 500 companies in 2025, 79% were first-time CEOs, down from 83% in 2024, and lower than the eight-year average of 85%, according to Russell Reynolds. That trend is playing out in 2026 succession scenarios: Alex Chriss, who had been an executive vice president at Intuit before becoming CEO of PayPal, is being replaced by Enrique Lores, who spent six years as president and CEO of HP. Workday cofounder Aneel Bhusri, who has served as the software companys CEO or co-CEO at various points during the last 15 years, takes over from Carl Eschenbach, who had been a partner at Sequoia Capital and president and chief operating officer at VMware before joining Workday. Whether the recent spike in CEO turnover represents a temporary surge or permanent shift, executive recruiters and advisers say boards need to prioritize succession planning, and they need to think about the companys needs in the coming years. As leadership expert Bill George has said: Figure out what [the company] is going to need for the next 10 years, and find people with the mental agility and courage to look at it differently than you looked at it. Your leadership outlook Do you see CEO turnover continuing at a rapid pace? Or are you, like Challenger, expecting it to level off? Let me know your thoughts. My email address is stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Read more: CEO turnover The surprising power of interim CEOs How two CEOs hold themselves to a high productivity standard AI is rewriting the CEO job description. Are you ready?
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