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59% of Americans say this a top sign of success — it’s not wealth

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When Americans measure success, they’re not often thinking about their net worth or account balances.

About 59% of polled Americans say that happiness — specifically, the ability to spend money on things that make them happy — is the most important benchmark of success, according to a new report by Empower, a financial services company. Respondents were asked to pick the top three types of success they most valued.

Meanwhile, 35% of respondents pointed to having free time to pursue their interests. The same share cited physical wellbeing.

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“Few people view wealth itself” as the best benchmark, said Rebecca Rickert, head of communications at Empower. 

Only 27% believe wealth is the highest measure of success, the report found.

Empower surveyed 2,203 U.S. adults in September.

‘You have to strike a balance’

“Americans are equating success with happiness as to what money can buy,” said Rickert.

That’s not surprising, considering that many people live paycheck to paycheck — meaning regular expenses take up most of their income without much left over for savings.

In the third quarter of the year, almost half of survey respondents agreed with the statement “I am living paycheck to paycheck,” according to a recent report by Bank of America.

An analysis of the bank’s internal data found 26% of households are living paycheck to paycheck. That includes 35% of households earning less than $50,000 a year, and 20% of households earning more than $150,000.

Other factors, including inflation and higher interest rates, have made it more difficult for people to make ends meet. About 35% of polled Americans believe the economy is the top barrier to success, followed by income instability at 30%, the Empower report found. 

Those challenges are inherently “forces that are out of your control,” Rickert said.

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But in some ways, “people are their own secret to success,” she said.

Creating a financial plan can help you save for long-term goals and make space in your budget for near-term wants.

“You have to strike a balance,” said Clifford Cornell, a certified financial planner and associate financial advisor at Bone Fide Wealth in New York City.

“It’s great to sock away money for retirement,” a priority in financial planning, he said. “But at the same time, we need to live today. Tomorrow’s not a given.”

Joyful purchases can be as small as going to a coffee shop occasionally instead of making coffee at home, Cornell said.

“For some people, that can almost be medicinal,” he said. “They really enjoy the whole experience.”

How to find room in your budget for joy

Oftentimes, purchasing items and experiences that make you happy comes down to making the most of your cash flow, experts say.

Some recommend the 50-30-20 rule, a budget framework that allocates 50% of your income toward essentials like housing, food and utilities, 30% toward “wants” or discretionary spending and the remaining 20% to savings and investments. 

The structure can be a great starting point, but it can be difficult to follow, especially given high costs for expenses like housing and child care. For example, half of renters in the U.S. were “cost burdened” in 2022, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

If a young person is just starting out their career out of college, saving 20% of their income might not be feasible, said Cornell.

“Maybe we’re really stretching the dollar just to get 5% or 10% saved,” he said.

Shaun Williams, private wealth advisor and partner at Paragon Capital Management in Denver, the No. 38 firm on CNBC’s 2024 Financial Advisor 100 List, agreed: “I don’t really like the 50-30-20 rule, and almost no one follows it.”

Instead, figure out a proportion that works best for you and your current financial picture.

Another way to find room in your budget for joyful spending is to take inspiration from “cash stuffing,” which allocates money for expenses into different envelopes. Decide how much you plan to spend on a given activity for a certain time frame, whether that’s a few months or years, and set up a savings account for that goal, Williams said.

For long-term plans, try to think about the kind of lifestyle you want to live and figure out what the needs, the wants and the dreams might cost, said Williams.

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Trump administration loses appeal of DOGE Social Security restraining order

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A person holds a sign during a protest against cuts made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to the Social Security Administration, in White Plains, New York, U.S., March 22, 2025. 

Nathan Layne | Reuters

The Trump administration’s appeal of a temporary restraining order blocking the so-called Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive personal Social Security Administration data has been dismissed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Tuesday dismissed the government’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The case will proceed in the district court. A motion for a preliminary injunction will be filed later this week, according to national legal organization Democracy Forward.

The temporary restraining order was issued on March 20 by federal Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander and blocks DOGE and related agents and employees from accessing agency systems that contain personally identifiable information.

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That includes information such as Social Security numbers, medical provider information and treatment records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records, and tax information.

DOGE team members were also ordered to delete all nonanonymized personally identifiable information in their possession.

The plaintiffs include unions and retiree advocacy groups, namely the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers. 

“We are pleased the 4th Circuit agreed to let this important case continue in district court,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a written statement. “Every American retiree must be able to trust that the Social Security Administration will protect their most sensitive and personal data from unwarranted disclosure.”

The Trump administration’s appeal ignored standard legal procedure, according to Democracy Forward. The administration’s efforts to halt the enforcement of the temporary restraining order have also been denied.

“The president will continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people is executed,” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said via email.

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The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request from CNBC for comment.

Immediately after the March 20 temporary restraining order was put in place, Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek said in press interviews that he may have to shut down the agency since it “applies to almost all SSA employees.”

Dudek was admonished by Hollander, who called that assertion “inaccurate” and said the court order “expressly applies only to SSA employees working on the DOGE agenda.”

Dudek then said that the “clarifying guidance” issued by the court meant he would not shut down the agency. “SSA employees and their work will continue under the [temporary restraining order],” Dudek said in a March 21 statement.

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Most credit card users carry debt, pay over 20% interest: Fed report

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Many Americans are paying a hefty price for their credit card debt.

As a primary source of unsecured borrowing, 60% of credit cardholders carry debt from month to month, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

At the same time, credit card interest rates are “very high,” averaging 23% annually in 2023, the New York Fed found, also making credit cards one of the most expensive ways to borrow money.

“With the vast majority of the American public using credit cards for their purchases, the interest rate that is attached to these products is significant,” said Erica Sandberg, consumer finance expert at CardRates.com. “The more a debt costs, the more stress this puts on an already tight budget.”

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Most credit cards have a variable rate, which means there’s a direct connection to the Federal Reserve’s benchmark. And yet, credit card lenders set annual percentage rates well above the central bank’s key borrowing rate, currently targeted in a range between 4.25% to 4.5%, where it has been since December.

Following the Federal Reserve’s rate hike in 2022 and 2023, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% to more than 20% today — a significant increase fueled by the Fed’s actions to combat inflation.

“Card issuers have determined what the market will bear and are comfortable within this range of interest rates,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.

APRs will come down as the central bank reduces rates, but they will still only ease off extremely high levels. With just a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs aren’t likely to fall much, according to Schulz.

Credit card debt?

Despite the steep cost, consumers often turn to credit cards, in part because they are more accessible than other types of loans, Schulz said. 

In fact, credit cards are the No. 1 source of unsecured borrowing and Americans’ credit card tab continues to creep higher. In the last year, credit card debt rose to a record $1.21 trillion.

Because credit card lending is unsecured, it is also banks’ riskiest type of lending.

“Lenders adjust interest rates for two primary reasons: cost and risk,” CardRates’ Sandberg said.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s research shows that credit card charge-offs averaged 3.96% of total balances between 2010 and 2023. That compares to only 0.46% and 0.43% for business loans and residential mortgages, respectively.

As a result, roughly 53% of banks’ annual default losses were due to credit card lending, according to the NY Fed research.

“When you offer a product to everyone you are assuming an awful lot of risk,” Schulz said.

Further, “when times get tough they get tough for most everybody,” he added. “That makes it much more challenging for card issuers.”

The best way to pay off debt

The best move for those struggling to pay down revolving credit card debt is to consolidate with a 0% balance transfer card, experts suggest.

“There is enormous competition in the credit card market,” Sandberg said. Because lenders are constantly trying to capture new cardholders, those 0% balance transfer credit card offers are still widely available.

Cards offering 12, 15 or even 24 months with no interest on transferred balances “are basically the best tool in your toolbelt when it comes to knocking down credit card debt,” Schulz said. “Not accruing interest for two years on a balance is pretty hard to argue with.”

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The 60/40 portfolio may no longer represent ‘true diversification’: Fink

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Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Nov. 30, 2022.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

It may be time to rethink the traditional 60/40 investment portfolio, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

In a new letter to investors, Fink writes the traditional allocation comprised of 60% stocks and 40% bonds that dates back to the 1950s “may no longer fully represent true diversification.”

“The future standard portfolio may look more like 50/30/20 — stocks, bonds and private assets like real estate, infrastructure and private credit.” Fink writes.

Most professional investors love to talk their book, and Fink is no exception. BlackRock has pursued several recent acquisitions — Global Infrastructure Partners, Preqin and HPS Investment Partners — with the goal of helping to increase investors’ access to private markets.

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The effort to make it easier to incorporate both public and private investments in a portfolio is analogous to index versus active investments in 2009, Fink said.

Those investment strategies that were then considered separately can now be blended easily at a low cost.

Fink hopes the same will eventually be said for public and private markets.

Yet shopping for private investments now can feel “a bit like buying a house in an unfamiliar neighborhood before Zillow existed, where finding accurate prices was difficult or impossible,” Fink writes.

60/40 portfolio still a ‘great starting point’

After both stocks and bonds saw declines in 2022, some analysts declared the 60/40 portfolio strategy dead. In 2024, however, such a balanced portfolio would have provided a return of about 14%.

“If you want to keep things very simple, the 60/40 portfolio or a target date fund is a great starting point,” said Amy Arnott, portfolio strategist at Morningstar.

If you’re willing to add more complexity, you could consider smaller positions in other asset classes like commodities, private equity or private debt, she said.

However, a 20% allocation in private assets is on the aggressive side, Arnott said.

The total value of private assets globally is about $14.3 trillion, while the public markets are worth about $247 trillion, she said.

For investors who want to keep their asset allocations in line with the market value of various asset classes, that would imply a weighting of about 6% instead of 20%, Arnott said.

Yet a 50/30/20 portfolio is a lot closer to how institutional investors have been allocating their portfolios for years, said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments.

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The 60/40 portfolio, which Rosen previously said reached its “expiration date,” hasn’t been used by his firm’s endowment and foundation clients for decades.

There’s a key reason why. Institutional investors need to guarantee a specific return, also while paying for expenses and beating inflation, Rosen said.

While a 50/30/20 allocation may help deliver “truly outsized returns” to the mass retail market, there’s also a “lot of baggage” that comes with that strategy, Rosen said.

There’s a lack of liquidity, which means those holdings aren’t as easily converted to cash, Rosen said.

What’s more, there’s generally a lack of transparency and significantly higher fees, he said.

Prospective investors should be prepared to commit for 10 years to private investments, Arnott said.

And they also need to be aware that measurement issues with asset classes like private equity means past performance data may not be as reliable, she said.

For the average person, the most likely path toward tapping into private equity will be part of a 401(k) plan, Arnott said. So far, not a lot of companies have added private equity to their 401(k) offerings, but that could change, she said.

“We will probably see more plan sponsors adding private equity options to their lineups going forward,” Arnott said.

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