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Managing social media doesn't have to be like herding cats. Later simplifies the chaos by letting you control all your social media platforms from one dashboard. Schedule posts, track engagements, and breathe easier -- all without flipping through a dozen tabs.
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Jordi Lippe-McGraw is a freelance personal finance writer who has appeared in publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, TODAY, and Saving for College. In addition to personal finance, Jordi has a passion for travel. She's visited all 7 continents and over 55 countries, writing for outlets such as Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler.
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Netflix announced it will no longer offer the basic plan, its cheapest ad-free subscription tier, for U.S. and French users. The plan had already been phased out in Canada and the U.K. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
Netflix is removing its cheapest ad-free plan for subscribers in the U.S. and France.
The change was announced Thursday as part of the streaming giant's second-quarter earnings report.
The basic plan was $11.99 per month, and had already been phased out for subscribers in Canada and the U.K. The company stopped allowing new sign-ups for the basic plan in July 2023, but existing subscribers were allowed to keep the plan until now.
Basic plan subscribers can switch to the ad-free Standard plan, which is $15.49 per month, or downgrade to the ad-supported plan that is $6.99 per month, which was launched in November 2022 . There is also a premium plan for $22.99 per month.
The basic plan was the only tier that didn’t allow multiple users to stream simultaneously.
When asked about the results of phasing out the basic plan in Canada and the U.K., Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix, said that the Standard with ads plan has seen success since its launch.
“Essentially, we're providing them a better experience, two streams versus one. We've got higher definition. We got downloads. And, of course, all at a lower price, $6.99 in the United States. We think that represents a tremendous entertainment value. And it includes ads,” Peters said. “And for members who don't want that ads experience, they, of course, can choose our ads-free standard or premium plans as well.”
Netflix reported a record 277.65 million subscribers globally across all of its tier options in the earnings report. After a crackdown on password sharing , the company has seen a surge in new subscribers.
The rooftop where a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources familiar with the agency’s operations told NBC News.
The building, owned by a glass research company, is adjacent to the Butler Farm Show, an outdoor venue in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service was aware of the risks associated with it, the sources said.
“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so no one could get on the roof,” said one of the sources, a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with the planning.
Understanding how the gunman got onto the roof — despite those concerns — is a central question for investigators scrutinizing how a lone attacker managed to shoot at Trump during Saturday’s campaign event.
The Secret Service worked with local law enforcement to maintain event security, including sniper teams poised on rooftops to identify and eliminate threats, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. But no officers were posted on the building used by the would-be assassin, outside the event’s security perimeter but only about 148 yards from the stage — within range of a semiautomatic rifle like the one the gunman was carrying.
The Secret Service had designated that rooftop as being under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, a common practice in securing outdoor rallies, Guglielmi said.Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said his office maintains an Emergency Services Unit team, which deployed four sniper teams and four “quick response teams” at the rally. But he said the Secret Service agents were in charge of security outside the venue.
“They had meetings in the week prior. The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” Goldinger said. “In the command hierarchy, they were top, they were No. 1.”
Goldinger said the commander of the Emergency Services Unit told him it was not responsible for securing areas outside the venue. “To me, the whole thing is under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service. And they will delineate from there,” he said.
The former senior Secret Service agent also said that even if local law enforcement “did drop the ball,” it’s still the agency’s responsibility “to ensure that they are following through either beforehand or in the moment.”
“Just because it is outside of the perimeter, it doesn’t take it out of play for a vulnerability, and you’ve got to mitigate it in some fashion,” the source added.
A volley of shots rang out minutes into Trump’s speech. He reached for his right ear — he said later it was pierced by a bullet — then dropped to the ground as Secret Service agents rushed to shield him. Trump emerged with blood on his ear and his face. One attendee was killed , and two others were injured.Witnesses listening to Trump’s speech from outside the event’s security perimeter recalled pointing out the gunman to law enforcement a couple of minutes before the shooting began. After the gunfire started, Secret Service personnel shot and killed the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks .
The clamor over the Secret Service’s biggest failure since the shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 is coming from both political parties, from former agents and from security experts.
“My question is: How did he get onto that roof undetected?” said Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent who worked on protective details for presidential candidates, including John Kerry in 2004.
The Secret Service’s work on campaign events like Saturday’s begins with advance planning, setting up a security perimeter and positioning teams on the ground and on rooftops — often in partnership with local law enforcement. The ground deployments include a counterassault team, and the rooftop personnel include counter-sniper teams.
Guglielmi, the Secret Service spokesman, said the agency had two of its counterassault agents at the event and filled out the rest of the platoon with at least six officers from Butler County tactical units. The Secret Service also deployed two counter-sniper teams. Two other security units needed for the event were staffed by local law enforcement agencies, Guglielmi said. Those details were first reported by The Washington Post.Investigators will want to examine the Secret Service’s site security plan for the rally, said Cangelosi, the former Secret Service agent. He expects they’ll discover one of two things: Either officials failed to make an effective plan for keeping potential shooters off the building Crooks fired from, or officers on the ground failed to execute the plan.
“I don’t like making any assumptions, but it does look like some mistakes were made, that this was preventable,” said Cangelosi, now a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Although it’s common to task local law enforcement agencies with patrolling outside an event’s security perimeter, Cangelosi said, the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that all vulnerabilities are covered rests with the Secret Service.
If officials had placed an officer on the building where the gunman fired from, Cangelosi said, chances are he “wouldn’t even attempt what he attempted.”
“You don’t surrender the discretion of what’s supposed to be done to the local police,” he said. “In other words, you guys have the outer perimeter, but you would want to say, ‘We need an officer on that roof.’ Not ‘that’s your responsibility; do what you see fit.’”
Jim Cavanaugh, a retired special agent in charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who has worked on Secret Service details, told NBC News that while the Secret Service did a good job taking out the gunman after shots began, the failure to post officers on the building he scaled was “a tremendous lapse.”
“The only way to stop that is you have a lot of people, you get there first, and you command the high ground,” Cavanaugh said. “This is basic, and the Secret Service has done it for years successfully, so I’m really surprised that they did not have that high ground covered.”
The questions extended to Congress, where members demanded answers from the Secret Service and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.“This raises serious concerns regarding how a shooter was able to access a rooftop within range and direct line of sight of where President Trump was speaking,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Green asked Mayorkas to provide documentation relating to the event’s security plan, the screening of attendees and the level of resources provided to Trump’s Secret Service detail. A committee spokesperson told NBC News that Republican members would hold a briefing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday “to voice their concerns and ask pressing questions.”
Another lawmaker, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote Cheatle asking who approved the security plan, whether a proper threat assessment was conducted, whether attendees raised alarms and whether there were failures in following protocols that allowed the attack to happen.
“I call on all those responsible for the planning, approving, and executing of this failed security plan to be held accountable and to testify before Congress immediately,” Gallego wrote in a letter to Cheatle .
Robert McDonald, a former Secret Service agent who ran protection for Joe Biden when he was vice president, told NBC News that he believes the assassination attempt will prompt soul-searching and procedural changes at the agency.
“The Secret Service is going to need to ask some hard questions of itself here and be prepared to stand up and represent why, what happened,” McDonald said.
Cangelosi, the former Secret Service agent, said investigators are also likely to ask when agents identified Crooks as a potential threat, how they reacted and whether it’s possible they could have taken him down before he fired at Trump.Secret Service snipers are trained to make rapid decisions, he said. But it’s possible that if they noticed Crooks on the roof but couldn’t tell whether he had a rifle, agents might have waited to fire on him.
“If the sniper can’t tell whether he has a gun, he or she is not going to take the shot,” Cangelosi said. “Because God forbid it’s a child who’s just excited to see a political candidate, right? So you want to make sure that there’s actually a threat.”
If there was uncertainty, Cangelosi said, it’s possible the sniper team would have dispatched officers to investigate and confirm. But investigating a potential threat can take minutes, he said, while a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle can fire several shots in a matter of seconds.
That’s why, Cangelosi said, the best defense would have been to plan ahead to keep the shooter off the roof in the first place.
“Who wants to be in that position?” he said of the snipers protecting Trump on Saturday. “You’ve got to make a split-second call. And imagine if you’re wrong.”
Sarah Fitzpatrick is a senior investigative producer and story editor for NBC News. She previously worked for CBS News and "60 Minutes."
Julia Ainsley is the homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
Mike Hixenbaugh is a senior investigative reporter for NBC News, based in Maryland, and author of "They Came for the Schools."
Andrea Mitchell is chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.
Jon Schuppe is an enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York.
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Airlines to banks to retailers were affected in many countries. Businesses are struggling to recover.
By Eshe Nelson and Danielle Kaye
Eshe Nelson reported from London and Danielle Kaye from New York.
Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.
In many countries, flights were grounded, workers could not get access to their systems and, in some cases, customers could not make card payments in stores. While some of the problems were resolved within hours, many businesses, websites and airlines continued to struggle to recover.
A series of outages rippled across the globe as information displays, login systems and broadcasting networks went dark.
The problem affecting the majority of services was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike , an American cybersecurity firm, whose systems are intended to protect users from hackers. Microsoft said on Friday that it was aware of an issue affecting machines running “CrowdStrike Falcon.”
But Microsoft had also said there was an earlier outage affecting U.S. users of Azure, its cloud service system. Some users may have been affected by both. Even as CrowdStrike sent out a fix, some systems were still affected by midday in the United States as businesses needed to make manual updates to their systems to resolve the issue.
George Kurtz, the president and chief executive of CrowdStrike, said on Friday morning that it could take some time for some systems to recover.
Here’s a visual explanation for how a faulty software update crippled machines.
Share of canceled flights at 25 airports on Friday
50% of flights
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Carrying debt for too long — even if you're leveraging it to grow your wealth — can quickly begin to feel like a burden.
You're not alone in your debt. Most of us don't have immediate access to cash to pay for everything we want, so we borrow money in the form of credit cards, loans, or mortgages. The average American debt is $104,215.
While this is a problem that many people share with you, it is still a problem. The more debt you have and the longer you hold it, the more interest eats at you and the more expensive it becomes. If you're holding too much debt on your credit cards — specifically more than 30% of your overall limit — this credit utilization ratio can also hurt your credit score and make future borrowing more costly.
With these consequences laid out, it's clear that the faster you pay off your debt, the better. Here's how you can become debt-free fast.
Cost: 15-25% of total enrolled debt
List all of your debt.
If you have multiple sources of debt — say several credit cards, student loans, and a personal loan — the first step to paying off debt is determining how much debt you have to pay off. This means keeping identifying all outstanding balances, their interest rates, any minimum payments, and payment due dates. Google Sheets — or a simple pen and paper — can be an invaluable tool for keeping track.
This can be an intimidating exercise for people with a lot of debt, but there's no way to make a clear plan for tackling it without a hard look at the numbers.
Taking on more debt while you're trying to repay a load of other debt can complicate things. While you're in repayment mode, avoid taking out another loan or using credit cards, unless you can absolutely afford to pay off the balance at the end of the month.
Cutting off credit card spending can be a challenge. It may be worth your time to look into budgeting apps or plans that divide your take-home income into sections like the 70-20-10 budget or the 50-30-20 budget . Ideally, once your budget is laid out, you'll see how much money you can devote toward paying off debts.
At the bare minimum, you should be setting aside enough money each month to make your monthly payments. Missing any of these, particularly missing your payments by over 30 days, will put you in credit delinquency , which can hurt your credit score and stay on your credit report for up to seven years.
Create a debt repayment plan .
Once you've got an idea of all your outstanding balances and made all your minimum payments, you can strategically distribute extra funds money across all your debts. One such strategy is the debt avalanche method, which focuses on paying off debts as fast as possible.
Once you've made all your minimum payments, the avalanche payment method concentrates any extra funds toward the debt with the highest interest rate. Focusing on paying off the most expensive debts first can speed up the entire repayment process as you save money on interest.
Most people don't know you can call your credit card issuer to ask for a reduced APR (annual percentage rate), which can make a difference of hundreds of dollars in interest payments. There's no guarantee that they'll give you a reduced rate, but you'll be more likely to get it if you've consistently made on-time payments.
If you have debt on multiple credit cards, you may consider consolidating your credit card debt onto one card so you can make a single monthly payment. There are two main ways you can do this:
Balance transfer credit card: A balance transfer card allows borrowers to consolidate various credit card balances onto a new credit card, ideally one with a lower APR. You'll have to pay a transfer fee that's usually 3% to 5% of the total balance transferred, but it should be worth it in the long run.
The best balance transfer credit cards also typically come with a 0% introductory APR that can last up to 21 months. If you're able to pay off your debt within that promotional period (which should be your goal), you have the potential to save a lot of money on interest.
Debt consolidation loan: If you have other debts in addition to your credit card debt, you can look into debt consolidation loans . These work similarly to balance transfer cards, rolling all your debts into one big loan at a lower interest rate, which will depend on your credit score. Debt consolidation loans often have higher interest rates than other loan types, ranging from 6% to 36%.
Paying off debt is a good goal to have, but paying off debt by a specific date is even better.
Carious online calculators can tell you exactly how many months you have until you're free and clear, according to your current interest rate and monthly payments. If 18 months (or more) sounds like too much, increase your monthly payment by $50 or $100 to start and see what difference it makes.
Now that you have paid off your debt, it can be easy to rack up debt again. Those credit cards that once carried debt now have zero balances, and you may fall back into bad spending habits. It's important to set a budget, stick to it, and plan to spend so you'll be prepared for that expense.
Try to stay motivated by increasing your savings and living frugally. Increasing your savings and establishing financial stability should replace spending unnecessarily and will help you stay out of debt.
You can increase your income by taking on a side job, freelancing, or selling unused items to generate extra income to pay your debt off faster.
Yes, debt consolidation can be a good idea. It may be beneficial if it lowers your interest rate and simplifies your payments.
You can stay motivated during your debt repayment journey by setting clear goals, tracking your progress, celebrating small victories, and having a clear target date for paying off your debt.
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Tips on Writing a Business Plan. 1. Be clear and concise: Keep your language simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms. A clear and concise business plan is easier for investors and stakeholders to understand and demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively. 2.
A good business plan guides you through each stage of starting and managing your business. You'll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. It's a way to think through the key elements of your business. Business plans can help you get funding or bring on new business partners.
Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...
To create a business plan using a generator, start by selecting a template that aligns with your industry and business type. Here are the steps to use a business plan generator: Identify Your Business Details: Start by providing the name of your business and the industry it operates in.
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Let's walk through writing a detailed business plan step-by-step and explore an example of what a finished business plan (for a local swim club Pools & Laps) built with LivePlan looks like. 1. Executive summary. Yes, the executive summary comes first in your plan, but you should write it last—once you know all the details of your business plan.
This is why crafting a business plan is an essential step in the entrepreneurial process. In this post, we'll walk you through the process of filling out your business plan template, like this free, editable version: Download a free, editable one-page business plan template. We know that when looking at a blank page on a laptop screen, the idea ...
Once you've got your audience in mind, you can start your business plan, which should include: 1. Executive summary. Even though it appears first in the official plan, write this section last so you can condense essential ideas from the other nine sections. For now, leave it as a placeholder.
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Step #4: Research Your Competition. Step #5: Outline Your Products or Services. Step #6: Summarize Your Financial Plan. Step #7: Determine Your Marketing Strategy. Step #8: Showcase Your Organizational Chart. 14 Business Plan Templates to Help You Get Started.
Our free business plan template walks you through how to create a new business from scratch, or re-imagine your existing business in a new market. Our business plan template helps new business owners understand what information they'll need to create a three to five year roadmap for their business. Ultimately, your goal is to create a final ...
A business plan is a formal written document that you can use to identify the purpose of your company, make important decisions about your future and help grow your company. HubSpot's free business plan templates provides guidance to establishing your company mission, customer research, competition, and a business strategy to profitability.
Step 2: Do your market research homework. The next step in writing a business plan is to conduct market research. This involves gathering information about your target market (or customer persona), your competition, and the industry as a whole. You can use a variety of research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and online research to ...
The rest, while still useful, go a bit lighter on guidance in favor of tailoring the plan to a specific industry. Explore: PandaDoc's business plan template library. 5. Canva — Pitch with your plan. Canva is a great option for building a visually stunning business plan that can be used as a pitch tool.
Learn how to create a business plan for any stage of your company, with free templates and expert advice. Find out the steps, elements, and types of business plans, and how to choose the right one for your goals and audience.
Download Wix's free business plan template. Creating a successful business plan is no easy feat. That's why we've put together a simple, customizable, and free-to-download business plan template that takes the guesswork out of getting started. Use it to create a new business plan or to refresh an existing one.
Follow these step-by-step instructions to create a business plan using the free generator in no time. Creating a business plan requires filling in 4 critical fields—company overview, marketing details, competitor information, and financial overview. Let's start with the first. 1. Enter the Company Overview.
This depends on the kind of business plan you need to write and how you intend to use the plan that you create. For example, a plan for a small business seeking potential investors or a business loan will need to provide income statements, cash flow statements, and a balance sheet (usually for a three-year or five-year forecast period).
Download free business plan templates and find help and advice on how to write your business plan. Business plan templates. Download a free business plan template on The Prince's Trust website.
Mailchimp's free plan includes management of 500 contacts and sends up to 1,000 emails a month. Launching a small business is like setting off on a great adventure -- it's thrilling, a bit ...
The basic plan was the only tier that didn't allow multiple users to stream simultaneously. When asked about the results of phasing out the basic plan in Canada and the U.K., Greg Peters, co-CEO ...
The rooftop where a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources ...
Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.
A white circle with a black border surrounding a chevron pointing up. It indicates 'click here to go back to the top of the page.'
The global computer outage affecting airports, banks and other businesses on Friday appears to stem at least partly from a software update issued by major US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike ...