Personal Finance
Here’s what should be on your financial to-do list for 2025, advisors say
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When it comes to financial resolutions, paying down debt is at the top of many to-do lists for 2025.
But financial advisors who work with clients every day have their own wish lists for what they think should be top financial priorities for 2025.
Here are some tips covering everything from budgeting to estate planning from experts who are members of the CNBC FA Council.
“Start slow and manageable with any new financial goals,” said Lee Baker, a certified financial planner and founder, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors in Atlanta. “You’re better off getting some wins under your belt than trying to build Rome in a day only to end up frustrated.”
Make sure your budget aligns with your goals
A new year is a great time to revisit where your money is going.
“A little bit of time spent on understanding your actual spending and then deciding if it lines up with your goals and values is time very well spent,” said CFP Jude Boudreaux, a partner and senior financial planner with The Planning Center in New Orleans.
Ask yourself if your spending aligns with your goals and values and if it should continue, he suggested. Once you sit down and look at the numbers, it can help identify where you might want to make changes.
Bringing awareness to your spending can help ensure that you’re making the most of the money you’re taking in, advisors say.
“Mindful spending that reflects personal values can lead to greater satisfaction and stronger relationships,” said Rianka Dorsainvil, a CFP and founder and senior wealth advisor at YGC Wealth.
Evaluate where you can cut back on spending
While credit card debt has climbed to record highs and consumers still contend with higher prices, it’s a great time to streamline your spending.
The new year is also a good time to review your credit and debit card statements for the year, said Ted Jenkin, a CFP and founder and CEO of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta.
Look for subscriptions, apps and memberships you don’t use and cancel them, he said.
Also be sure to take a look at how much you’re paying for streaming services, and where you might be able to cut back, Jenkin said. Multiple streaming service subscriptions can now add up to more than a cable bill. Families may save by cutting the number of subscriptions or by having multiple family members on one account, he said.
Also be sure to take a look at grocery bills and the tendency to add spontaneous purchases that can add up, Jenkin said.
Create a personal investment policy statement
When the market inevitably has ups and downs, the temptation is to react.
But research shows the market’s worst days are often closely followed by the best days. If you sell during a market drop, you’ll miss the upside.
By creating a personal investment policy statement, you can avoid reacting to what’s happening in the market and instead stay focused on your goals, said CFP Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.
For example, an investor with a long time horizon before retirement may choose to allocate 80% of their portfolio to equities and the remaining 20% to fixed income. When the market drops or soars, they can choose to rebalance back to that 80% equity allocation rather than give in to the temptation to react to the latest moves, McClanahan said.
Try to negotiate a higher salary
The start of a new year usually provides an opportunity to meet with your supervisor or boss to discuss your achievements and value to your team and company, said Cathy Curtis, a CFP and the founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning, a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm.
Before that meeting, research your market value and determine what salary or other compensation you want to ask for with a clear, concise pitch on why, Curtis said.
Also be sure to evaluate whether your work may be more highly rewarded elsewhere, she said.
Make sure your estate plan is up to date
One area of financial planning that people tend to avoid is estate planning, according to Louis Barajas, a CFP, enrolled agent and CEO of International Private Wealth Advisors in Irvine, California.
For anyone who has young children or who owns property, it’s particularly important to make sure you complete your estate plan, Barajas said.
Notably, estate planning does not necessarily have to be expensive, he said. For people who have financial situations that are not complicated, there are good online estate planning resources that help prepare wills, trusts, powers of attorney and guardian nominations for minimal costs.
Proper estate planning can help ensure your wishes for where you want your money to go are honored when you die. Importantly, that should also include your digital assets, said CFP Preston Cherry, founder and president of Concurrent Financial Planning in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“These areas require annual reviews to help account for life and money milestones and adjustments in your value system,” Cherry said.
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Set time to meet with family to discuss money
More than half of Americans — 56% — say their parents never discussed money with them, according to a recent Fidelity survey.
To get a family money conversation going, it helps to set a formal time to discuss the topic.
Lazetta Rainey Braxton, a CFP and founder and managing principal of The Real Wealth Coterie, recommends scheduling at least two multigenerational family meetings per year to discuss intergenerational wealth.
Possible topics that could be discussed include financial resolutions, long-term care needs for older generations and the status of estate planning documents.
If married, make your spouse a priority
A successful marriage is often a predictor of personal happiness, said Tim Maurer, a CFP and the chief advisory officer at SignatureFD, with offices in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.
If you have a spouse, investing more time and money in your marriage will pay off, he said.
Start with open money conversations, where both spouses answer the questions “What’s working?” and “What could work better?” Maurer said.
It also helps to have weekly standing meetings to discuss calendars and budgets, where you can identify any adjustments that need to be made, he said.
Be sure to create a new budget category that is kept sacred for date nights, and strive to schedule that time together weekly, Maurer said.
Identify key financial deadlines — and start early
Whether it’s getting your tax return in before April 15 or a required minimum distribution before Dec. 31, it helps to get started well before the deadline.
“Think about all the things that come up over the course of the year and plan for it early,” said Baker of Claris Financial Advisors in Atlanta.
“Avoid waiting until the last minute,” Baker said. “You and your advisors will benefit.”
Consider gifting money now
For people who are retired or close to retirement and who have the means, it can make sense to give away money to loved ones now rather than wait, said Boudreaux of The Planning Center in New Orleans.
It provides an opportunity to identify the family’s values, and direct money in alignment with that purpose, Boudreaux said. For example, that could include financial help for adult children who are raising grandchildren now, he said.
In 2025, the annual gift tax exclusion will go up to $19,000 per recipient. However, individuals can still make gifts over that amount by filing a gift tax return with the IRS and counting it against their lifetime gift tax exemption, which will be $13.99 million in 2025, Boudreaux said.
Notably, direct funding for education is not subject to gift tax limitations, he said.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
In what could be Jerome Powell’s last as chair before President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-confirmed nominee Kevin Warsh takes the helm, central bankers maintained the federal funds rate in a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
Inflation has surged since the war with Iran began, leaving policymakers with limited room to act, according to Sean Snaith, the director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting. “We’re in a kind of suspended animation — between Iran and the Fed transition,” Snaith said.
Before the oil shock, inflation was holding above the Fed’s 2% target but not worsening. Now the jump in energy costs could have longer-term inflationary effects, economists say.
For Americans struggling in the face of higher gas prices and overall affordability challenges, the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged does little to ease budgetary pressures. “The cavalry isn’t coming anytime soon,” Snaith said.
How the Fed decision impacts you
The Fed’s benchmark sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending, but also has a trickle-down effect on many consumer borrowing and savings rates.
Short-term rates are more closely pegged to the prime rate, which is typically 3 percentage points above the federal funds rate. Longer-term rates, such as home loans, are more influenced by inflation and other economic factors.
Credit cards
Most credit cards have a short-term rate, so they track the Fed’s benchmark.
After the Fed cut rates three times in the second half of 2025, the average annual percentage rate has stayed just under 20%, according to Bankrate.
“Without Fed rate cuts, there’s not much reason to expect meaningful declines anytime soon, so carrying a balance will remain very expensive,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.
Mortgage rates
Fixed mortgage rates, on the other hand, don’t directly track the Fed but typically follow the lead of long-term Treasury rates.
Concerns about how the Iran war will impact the U.S. economy have already pushed the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage up to 6.38% as of Tuesday, from 5.99% at the end of February, according to Mortgage News Daily.
That leaves homeowners with existing low mortgage rates “feeling stuck,” said Michele Raneri, vice president and head of U.S. research and consulting at TransUnion. “Mortgages, more than any other credit type, work on a churn,” she said, referring to how a dip in rates can boost borrowing activity.
Student loans
Federal student loan rates are also fixed and based in part on the 10-year Treasury note, so most borrowers are somewhat shielded from Fed moves and recent economic uncertainty.
Current interest rates on undergraduate federal student loans made through June 30 are 6.39%, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Interest rates for the upcoming school year will be based in part on the May auction of the 10-year note.
Car loans
Auto loan rates are tied to several factors, including the Fed’s benchmark. Because financing costs remain elevated, new car buyers are taking on longer loans to keep their monthly payments manageable, according to the latest data from Edmunds.
Even so, with the rate on a five-year new car loan near 7%, the average monthly payment on a new car rose to $773 in the first quarter of 2026, an all-time high.
“Car buyers are in a tough spot right now because they’re getting squeezed from both ends: high sticker prices and high interest rates, with neither showing any signs of letting up,” said Joseph Yoon, consumer insights analyst at Edmunds.
“Until the rate picture shifts, buyers will keep stretching loan terms to make payments work, which only adds to the total cost of ownership down the road,” Yoon said.
Savings rates
While the Fed has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated with changes in the target federal funds rate. So, although rates on certificates of deposit and high-yield savings accounts have fallen from recent highs, they are holding above the annual rate of inflation.
For now, top-yielding online savings accounts and one-year CD rates pay around 4%, according to Bankrate.
“Yields on high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit are down from their peaks of a few years ago, but they’re still strong compared to what we’ve seen for most of the past decade,” Schulz said.
Milan Markovic | E+ | Getty Images
The average tax refund is 11.2% higher this season, compared with about the same period in 2025, according to the latest IRS filing data.
As of April 10, the average refund amount for individual filers was $3,397, up from $3,055 about one year ago, the IRS reported on Friday.
The IRS data reflects about 114 million individual returns received, out of about 164 million expected through Tax Day. Next week’s filing update is expected to include data through the April 15 deadline.
President Donald Trump‘s 2025 legislation, rebranded to the “working families tax cuts,” was a key talking point for Republicans on Tax Day.
With the November midterm elections approaching and Republicans defending slim majorities in Congress, many GOP lawmakers have highlighted Trump’s tax breaks and higher average refunds.
Meanwhile, affordability has been top of mind for many Americans amid rising costs of gas, electricity, food and other living expenses.
For filers who expected a refund this season, nearly one-quarter, or 23%, planned to use the funds to pay down credit card debt, and the same share said they would save the payment, according to the CNBC and SurveyMonkey Quarterly Money Survey, released in April. It polled 3,494 U.S. adults at the end of March.
Who benefited from Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’
“It’s been a great tax season for the American people,” many of whom have benefited from Trump’s tax breaks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
More than 53 million filers claimed at least one of Trump’s “signature new tax cuts” — the deductions for tip income, overtime earnings, seniors and auto loan interest — the Department of the Treasury also announced on Wednesday.
Those filers, who claimed the deductions on Schedule 1-A, have seen an average tax cut of over $800, according to the Treasury. Tax cuts can trigger a higher refund or reduce taxes owed, depending on the filer’s situation.
Some filers who itemize tax breaks have also seen benefits from the bigger federal deduction limit for state and local taxes, known as SALT. Trump’s legislation raised that cap to $40,000, up from $10,000, for 2025.
The latest SALT deduction limit change is expected to primarily benefit higher earners, according to a May 2025 analysis of various proposals from the Tax Foundation.
The Treasury has not released data on how many filers have claimed the SALT deduction during the 2026 filing season.
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on April 16, 2026.
NYSE
U.S. stocks climbed to record highs on Thursday against a backdrop of war, an oil supply shock and economic forecasts warning of stunted growth amid a protracted conflict.
Many investors may be thinking: Why?
Largely, it’s because the stock market is a barometer of what investors think will happen in the future, rather than an assessment of the present day, according to economists and market analysts.
Investors are essentially shrugging off the Middle East conflict as a blip that will be resolved relatively quickly, they said.
“The stock market isn’t trying to price what’s happening today,” said Joe Seydl, a senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “The stock market is always trying to price what the world is going to look like six to 12 months from now.”
Why stocks have been ‘resilient’
The S&P 500, a U.S. stock index, fell about 8% in the initial weeks of the Iran war, from the start of the conflict on Feb. 28 to a recent low on March 30.
But stocks have rebounded since then, erasing all losses since the beginning of the war. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Thursday — about 11% higher than its nadir at the end of March. That followed a record close on Wednesday.
“The market has remained very resilient in the face of the war and has rallied strongly on the prospect that it will be resolved,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s.
A ship waits to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran, which is conditional on the opening of the strait, in Oman on April 8, 2026.
Shady Alassar | Anadolu | Getty Images
And while investors cheered the possibility of a diplomatic off-ramp to the conflict, the temporary ceasefire has appeared tenuous, with the U.S. and Iran each accusing the other of breaking the agreement.
Nations haven’t been able to reach a peace deal ahead of the ceasefire’s end. Vice President JD Vance said U.S. officials left peace talks in Pakistan over the weekend after the Iranian delegation refused to agree to American demands not to develop a nuclear weapon.
The markets ‘have memory’
Ultimately, the stock market is signaling a collective belief that tensions will ratchet down, the war will end in the near term and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz will normalize, economists said.
That’s largely because investors have been conditioned to believe that President Donald Trump will back off if the economic pain becomes too intense, economists said — the so-called “TACO” trade, shorthand for “Trump always chickens out.”
“Investors strongly believe — and have been conditioned to believe — he’s going to stand down, find a way to pivot, declare victory and move on,” Zandi said.
Trump has pushed back on the notion of backing down, framing his brinkmanship as a savvy negotiating tactic.
Economists pointed to a recent example of this dynamic: in April 2025 during so-called liberation day, when the Trump administration levied a host of tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Within days — after the stock market had cratered more than 12% — Trump announced a 90-day pause on those tariffs. Stocks then saw one of their biggest daily rallies in history following Trump’s reversal.
Investors remember that Trump often de-escalates geopolitical shocks — which is why they’ve seized on positive headlines that hint at progress in peace talks, for example, Seydl said.
“The markets have memory,” Seydl said.
AI stocks and the ‘tech boom’
Traders celebrating at the New York Stock Exchange on April 15, 2026, as the S&P 500 closed above the 7,000 level for the first time.
NYSE
There are other factors underpinning market resilience during wartime, economists said.
One is the investors’ enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and technology stocks, which account for almost half of the S&P 500’s market capitalization, Zandi said.
“Those stocks run on their own dynamic independent of anything, including the war in Iran,” Zandi said. “I think we would have been down a lot more and it would have been harder for us to recover had it not been for the very, very optimistic perspectives on AI.”
We’re in the middle of a “tech boom” — and investors are likely to remain optimistic until they think the tech cycle has run its course, Seydl said.
More broadly, stock investors are essentially making a bet on the future earnings growth of a company — and the earnings backdrop has been “pretty solid,” Seydl said.
Consumer spending appears to be stable, for example, economists said. And companies are getting a boost to their after-tax earnings from the GOP’s so-called “big beautiful bill,” which, among other things, made it easier to write off investments upfront and therefore reduce their tax liability, Zandi said.
Going forward
Experts said there will be an economic hit from the Iran war, though.
“Despite the recent news of a temporary ceasefire, some damage is already done, and the downside risks remain elevated,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, director of research at the International Monetary Fund, wrote Tuesday.
A protracted conflict risks deep and global economic pain, he wrote.
Even if the conflict is short-lived — as the broad market expects — stocks are unlikely to march much higher until it’s clear the U.S. is on the other side of the war and its economic fallout, Zandi said.
If investors are incorrect, and President Trump doesn’t back down or quickly extricate the U.S. from the war, the stock market may see a “full-blown correction” or worse, Zandi said. A stock market correction is a decline of at least 10% from recent highs.
“Everyone thinks they know what the script is,” Zandi said. “Now they just need to follow the script. If they don’t, the market will have some real problems.”
The uncertainty provides yet another example of why the average investor with a long time horizon should stick to their investment plan and ignore the noise, experts said.
“Trying to time the market is very difficult if not impossible for the average investor,” Seydl said. “It’s better to take a long-term perspective and ride out bouts of volatility.”
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