Author: Vishesh Raisinghani

The stock market turmoil has deepened to the point where even some of President Trump’s staunchest allies are voicing concern.

After the so-called “Liberation Day” announcement, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro criticized the administration’s erratic economic approach, calling the now-paused tariffs a covert tax hike on consumers and businesses nationwide.

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" Trump’s reciprocal tariffs impose hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes on Americans,” said Shapiro on his podcast. “[It] would be the largest tax increase since the Revenue Act of 1968. One of the biggest tax increases on American consumers in the history of America."

Surprisingly, Shapiro’s description of the Trump tariffs, which were paused for 90 days on April 9, echoes that of former Vice President Kamala Harris, who referred to Trump’s tariff proposals as a “sales tax on the American people” during last year’s campaign.

Here’s why the administration is facing growing backlash for its global trade war — even from its core supporters.

Covert tax hike

While Trump calls tariffs a “beautiful thing to behold,” economists would describe them as import taxes.

“Tariffs are federal taxes, set by Congress, and applied to goods at the border,” confirmed Robert Gulotty, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

In many cases, these additional taxes are passed along to the consumer. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that an average American family pays an additional $1,200 per year due to tariffs.

It’s worth noting that the institute’s analysis already factors in the offsetting impact of the extended Tax Cuts and Jobs Act but does not account for additional tariffs announced by the Trump administration after February. Put simply, the true cost to families is likely much higher.

Since many consumers and businesses cannot afford these added expenses, the economic outlook has weakened, and the stock market appears to reflect that.

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$11 trillion wealth destruction

From the beginning of this year through April 7, the S&P 500 had lost roughly 15% in value, while the Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 18% and 12%, respectively. According to MarketWatch, U.S. stocks lost $11 trillion in market value in the months since Trump’s inauguration. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 did experience a big jump once the tariffs were paused.

However, the rapid erosion of wealth on this tariff-laden rollercoaster has left many ordinary Americans questioning the White House’s economic policies. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval rating stands at 43%. Meanwhile, another poll by the Marquette Law School found that 58% of adults believe tariffs hurt the U.S. economy.

Unfortunately, these polls haven’t swayed the president’s position. Trump’s added tariffs on China still stand at 145%, and new tariffs on imported auto parts are due to arrive in May.

With no resolution in sight, consumers and investors should brace for a prolonged global trade conflict.

Look for a safe haven

If tariffs start back up again, consumers should build a margin of safety into their household budgets in anticipation of rising costs. Meanwhile, investors may want to seek refuge in hard assets like gold. The price of gold has surged 15.8% over the past six months.

However, no asset class or nation is immune to the economic volatility that appears to be in store ahead.

"Trade wars are, in fact, not good and not easy to win, particularly if you don’t actually have a plan," Shapiro said.

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Tax season is probably everyone’s least favorite time of year. But the experience can be a little more daunting for millions of Americans who receive Social Security benefits and live in a state that applies an additional tax on these payments.

To be clear, most states don’t tax Social Security payments — the federal government will already tax them, beyond a certain gross adjustment income threshold. So the vast majority of retirees don’t need to worry about this. However, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, Montana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Utah will collect some portion of your benefit payments.

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If you live in any of these states, here are three ways you can prepare for this and potentially reduce your liabilities.

Check income thresholds

Most states that charge an additional tax on Social Security benefits do so only above certain income thresholds.

In Connecticut, for instance, married couples filing together would pay state tax on these benefits if their joint threshold exceeds $100,000. Those filing under any other status would owe taxes only if the adjusted gross income (AGI) is above $75,000. New Mexico and Rhode Island also have thresholds at varying levels, depending on your status.

At the federal level, if you’re single and your total income is above $25,000 or if you’re married and your combined income is above $32,000, a portion of your Social Security benefits could be taxable, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

With this in mind, it’s important to keep track of all your various income sources and try to forecast future earnings as well to see if you hit any of these thresholds and so you can plan ahead.

Look for tax credits or exemption rules

Some states do offer exemptions, credits and offsets to lower the burden of taxes on lower- or middle-income retirees.

In Colorado, for example, residents over the age of 65 are allowed to deduct the full amount of Social Security benefits included in their federal taxable income from their state taxable income.

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For instance, if $7,000 of your Social Security benefits were taxed at the federal level, you can subtract that same $7,000 when filing your Colorado state tax return.

Meanwhile, Vermont offers exemptions to state taxes on Social Security and partial credits depending on your income.

You should check your state rules during tax season to ensure you’re taking advantage of all these deductions and credits. However, the best way to minimize your liability and maximize your credits is to simply hire a professional.

Speak to an expert

Most Americans expect to file their taxes themselves in 2025, according to a recent survey by Invoice Home.

Only 24% of respondents said they would hire a tax professional to assist them, while 39% said they would use third-party tools like TurboTax or H&R Block and 43% said they would trust AI more than an accountant.

However, given how complex the tax system is, even for retirees on a fixed income, hiring a professional to assist you could be worth the investment. Someone with the right experience could help you navigate this tax season with confidence.

If you’re worried about missing out on some credits or paying state taxes on your Social Security this year, consider reaching out to a tax planner or Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

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While the headlines have been dominated by a rollercoaster in the stock market, financial guru Dave Ramsey isn’t going doom-and-gloom.

In fact, the radio host believes every young American has a shot at becoming a millionaire.

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“If you’re under 40 years old and you don’t retire a millionaire, that’s no one’s fault but yours,” the 64-year-old said on X, formerly known as Twitter..

Here’s a closer look at the math behind his exhortation.

Everyone can be a millionaire

Despite the economic challenges facing young Americans, Ramsey believes that the average 25-year-old needs to save just a fraction of their annual income to retire at 65 with over $1 million.

However, his thesis assumes that this 25-year-old invests in “good growth stock mutual funds.” According to his calculations, diligently investing just $100 a month into such growth funds could create a $1,176,000 nest egg within 40 years.

Ramsey doesn’t mention any specific growth funds, but his calculations imply a roughly 12.85% annual growth rate.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) has delivered a compounded annual growth rate of 14.00% since 2010, and the Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) has delivered 17.24% annually since 2015.

In fact, the S&P 500 has delivered an average annual return of 10.13% since 1957, according to Investopedia.

Given the long-term performance of these index funds, Ramsey’s assumption doesn’t seem unreasonable, even when you take into account the recent volatility in the stock market in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements. There have been many shocks, dips, corrections and outright crashes in the past 100 years, and the market has always eventually bounced back.

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Ramsey’s path to $11.6 million

The four variables of the compound growth calculation are time, initial investment, regular investment and growth rate. Of these, the only variable you can somewhat control is regular investment.

Investing $200 or $300 a month could help you create a nest egg significantly bigger than just $1 million. Ramsey recommends setting the bar even higher at 15% of gross annual income.

“The average household income in America today is $79,000. If you invested 15% of that ($11,850 a year), you would retire with around $11.6 million,” he said on X.

However, most Americans are saving significantly less than Ramsey’s target. As of February 2025, the average personal savings rate is just 4.6%, according to the Federal Reserve. The rising cost of living, stagnant wage growth and debt servicing costs are barriers most families face regardless of age.

If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you should probably set long-term financial goals with a margin of safety. The future is highly unpredictable, and there’s no guarantee that inflation and stock market performance over the next 40 years will match the previous 40 years.

Nevertheless, Ramsey’s post demonstrates that even minor adjustments and minimal monthly savings can make a big difference if you start early. You still have time if you’re under 40, which is your most significant advantage.

This is why he encourages young Americans to reject the doom and gloom. "You can make excuses, or you can take control of your money,” he says. “But you can’t do both."

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Gen Z consumers across the world are so financially stretched right now they’re financing burritos with buy-now-pay-later schemes.

But their financial lives could look remarkably different in just a few years, according to a recent report by the Bank of America.

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“In roughly the next five years, they will have globally amassed $36 trillion in income, and that figure is expected to surge to $74 trillion by around 2040,” says the BofA Global Research report.

Here’s why the youngest generation in the workforce is likely to see a huge bump in prosperity — and why it could slip through their fingers.

Higher income and higher spending

The Gen Z cohort earned roughly $9 trillion in aggregate income in 2023, the Bank of America estimates. As more of this cohort enters the workforce or climbs the corporate ladder, its aggregate income could quadruple by 2030.

This group is also accumulating assets at a rapid pace. At the end of 2024, the median Gen Z American had a net worth of $86,945, according to Empower. That’s 22% higher than the previous year.

Meanwhile, some young consumers are likely to experience a boost to their personal assets from inheritances. Cerulli Associates estimates that Gen Z could inherit roughly $11 trillion in assets by 2045.

However, this generation is currently spending money at a faster rate than other generations because of the cost-of-living crisis.

Gen Z household spending is growing at a faster rate than the rest of the global population, according to Bank of America’s analysis of credit and debit card data. By 2030, this cohort could be spending as much as $12.6 trillion a year in aggregate, compared to $2.7 trillion in 2024.

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This means many younger consumers are struggling to save and piling on expensive debt. On average, a Gen Z consumer has $94,100 in personal debt, far higher than millennials ($59,180) and Gen X ($53,255), according to a recent survey by Talker Research conducted for Newsweek.

For many people in their 20s and 30s, the best way to experience the full benefit of the great wealth and income transfer is to control debt and spending right away.

Short-term sacrifices for long-term rewards

Excessive spending and borrowing could diminish Gen Z’s chances of accumulating wealth in the future, regardless of the trillions of dollars that are expected to flow to the generation over the next decade.

Creating a budget is an old but effective tool to limit discretionary spending. That can provide more room to either pay off debt or start accumulating savings.

It’s also important to resist phantom debt. Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) platforms present themselves differently from traditional credit cards, but the impact on personal finances is strikingly similar.

BNPL transaction volume is expected to surge 106% between 2024 and 2028, according to Juniper Research. This new form of debt is reshaping the consumer economy and could reshape Gen Z’s financial future if they don’t treat it the same way they would any other loan.

Considering the pace of change on the horizon, just a few years of resisting debt, living within their means, focusing on their career and building up savings could put a young person well ahead of their peers.

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Scott Galloway might be a college professor at New York University, but he has a whale of a time living like a rockstar.

In a 2024 interview with Lewis Howes, he said he frequently “bombs off to the Beverly Hills Hotel,” goes to the Stagecoach Festival and enjoys a luxe lifestyle.

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With multiple successful podcasts and business ventures under his belt, Galloway’s fortune isn’t surprising. But he admits that part of his wealth was created by circumstance.

“The ultimate intergenerational theft just happened and it was COVID,” he told Howes, slamming the government’s response for being more focused on preserving wealth than lives.

Galloway said he believes the pandemic relief efforts widened the wealth gap between the young and old, which could be one reason younger Americans are hesitant to start families now.

Great transfer of wealth

According to the Government Accountability Office, from 2020 to 2021 — the height of the pandemic — the federal government passed six laws that released $4.6 trillion of funding for pandemic response and recovery. However, only 85% of it wasn’t spent.

“Where did it end up?” Galloway asked. “It ended up in the market so it sent housing and stock prices skyrocketing.”

The S&P 500 surged roughly 80% from March 2020 to December 2021. Meanwhile, the median U.S. home price has surged 45% from 2020 to 2025, according to Redfin.

Galloway argued that these policies benefited those who already owned most of the assets, usually older Americans like him.

“All you’re doing is seeding advantage to the incumbents,” he says.

Younger people who missed out now face a housing crisis, which is impacting their ability to start families and have children. A study published in the journal Labor Economics found that a 10% rise in home prices suppressed births per woman by 0.01 to 0.03.

That means if you’re under 35, the odds are stacked against you. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities to build and accumulate wealth.

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Against all odds

Since Galloway argued that economic policies bolster those who hold assets, the obvious way to shift the odds in your favor is by playing the game: accumulate assets and boost your earnings.

Acquiring high-value skills in industries facing labor shortages could be an excellent way to bring in more income. For example, an elevator installer can earn roughly $99,000 a year without a college degree.

Minimizing debt and maximizing investments can also tip the scale in your favor. According to Empower, the median net worth of a person in their 20s is just $7,638 and for someone in their 30s, it’s $35,649.

If you’re in these age groups, you can outperform your peers with a few years of above-average income and lower-than-average debt. Remember that time is on your side, so accumulating even modest wealth early can help you enjoy the power of long-term compound growth.

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If you’ve ever received overpayments from Social Security — even through no fault of your own — you’re on the hook for them. Now, a pair of U.S. senators are trying to protect seniors from some of the burden of reimbursing overpayment errors made by the government.

On March 14, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Social Security Overpayment Relief Act. It seeks to prevent the Social Security Administration (SSA) from clawing back benefit overpayments — due to errors on the agency’s part — that are more than 10 years old.

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“Seniors shouldn’t have to pay for the government’s mistakes, especially not mistakes that happened decades ago,” Gallego said in a news release. He added that the bill would ensure seniors aren’t “blindsided by massive repayment amounts through no fault of their own.”

The bill’s introduction comes at a time when the government is getting tough on clawing back Social Security overpayments. Here’s what is going on.

Clawback tactics

The SSA under President Donald Trump has gotten more aggressive about collecting on overpayments.

As of March 27, the agency has returned to its 100% overpayment withholding policy, meaning the agency can keep your entire monthly benefit until reimbursement is complete. This applies only to new overpayments. Previously, the withholding rate was capped at 10% due to potential hardship of beneficiaries.

The SSA’s Office of the Inspector General reported last year nearly $72 billion in improper Social Security payments were made from fiscal years 2015 through 2022. Most of those were overpayments, accounting for less than 1% of the benefits paid over that seven-year period. By the end of fiscal year 2023, the SSA had an uncollected overpayment balance of $23 billion.

Now, according to the SSA, the switch in policy is expected to increase overpayment recoveries by $7 billion over the next decade.

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Overpayment tips

If you’re looking to avoid any surprises when it comes to paying back the SSA, you should be monitoring your Social Security account closely to track payments made and earnings history. If you receive statements in the mail, make sure you don’t neglect them.

If you’re worried about an overpayment in the past, consider reaching out to a financial advisor to help you sift through these accounts and report any mistakes to the SSA.

An advisor can also help you understand how much you can expect in benefits every month or if there’s any changes to the way you’re paid so that you can prepare in advance. If your advisor can spot any underpayments from the SSA, it’s recommended you report this to the agency as well.

If the agency reaches out to you via mail to alert you about an overpayment, you have 30 days to pay the amount due before collection starts. You can also file an appeal if you don’t think you’ve been overpaid or believe the overpayment amount is incorrect.

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In a digital post dripping with outrage, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene echoed the claims made by Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, alleging widespread fraud within the Social Security system.

"Our own government just blindly sends checks to anyone and everyone whether citizen, non-citizen, dead or alive,” Greene said in a recent post on X, formerly Twitter. "We must end this malpractice and outright waste, fraud, and abuse. This is the mission of DOGE."

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To be fair, the Congresswoman has a reputation for making baseless allegations and promoting conspiracy theories. In previous tweets, she has claimed that 9/11 was an inside job, Jewish people control a space laser that causes wildfires and that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged.

Her latest assertion — that cracking down on “widespread” fraud can save the Social Security Administration (SSA) $1 trillion — has also been debunked.

Here’s a closer look at why experts argue that while addressing waste and fraud is necessary, it’s not a silver bullet for the nation’s safety net.

Misleading claims

The claim that the Social Security Administration “blindly” sends out checks is misleading.

Non-citizens or foreign-born workers with legal permits pay into the system at the same rate as citizens but collect fewer benefits on average, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Meanwhile, undocumented workers contributed an estimated $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes — typically through borrowed or fraudulent Social Security numbers. These individuals are not eligible to receive benefits.

While the agency isn’t immune to fraud and improper payments, the overall impact is minimal.

During a press conference on March 18, Lee Dudek, the agency’s acting commissioner, estimated that annual losses due to direct deposit fraud at roughly $100 million. That represents just 0.00625% of the $1.6 trillion the government distributes annually in Social Security benefits, according to the Brookings Institute.

That figure is nowhere close to Greene’s claims of $1 trillion per year on X. Her claim would amount to 62.5% of the SSA’s total projected payouts for 2025.

Nevertheless, the Congresswoman continues to insist that tighter identity verification procedures could help reduce fraud.

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Stringent ID requirements

The SSA has confirmed that updated ID policies will be implemented by April 14. Under the new rules, more people will need to visit a Social Security office in person to make changes to their direct deposit information.

Critics argue that these changes come at a time when the agency is still reeling from mass layoffs and office closures by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. In February, the SSA announced a 12% reduction in its workforce and a reduction in field offices from 10 to 4, according to AARP.

“The customer service situation at Social Security has really declined in the past month or so,” Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs at AARP, told CNBC. He noted that the average wait time for the SSA’s 800 number rose from 11 minutes in November to 21.2 minutes.

This could be a good time to log in to your SSA account and double-check your details to ensure the agency has the correct information. If not, contact SSA to make any necessary corrections or updates and to avoid delays in receiving your benefits.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.