For many millennials and Gen Zers, financial security remains out of reach — even as their net worths grow on paper.

“We’re living in two separate economies,” said Freddie Smith, an economics content creator who talks about the different financial realities between generations. “The middle class, unfortunately, is dead for millennials and Gen Zers. Or, best-case scenario, the goalpost has just moved and it’s still obtainable, but you have to make over six figures to have that middle-class life.”

Rachel Schneider, CEO of emergency payment fintech company Canary and co-author of “The Financial Diaries,” describes a large portion of Americans as living “at break even.”

“Over the course of the year, they might make enough money to pay for basic living expenses and cover their bills, but if one major thing happens then they can get behind,” Schneider told CNBC.

Meanwhile, costs keep rising. Housing, health care, and insurance have all become more expensive. Additionally, unlike decades ago, Americans now bear more responsibility for funding their own retirement.

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Despite older Americans’ criticism of younger generations for lifestyle inflation, many experts argue the problem is structural, not behavioral.

“It’s a lot harder for young people today to save up for markers of the American Dream than it was for previous generations,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers and a research associate professor.

“People often feel a lot of shame and distress when their financial lives are not going smoothly,” Schneider said. “And yet, a lot of what they’re experiencing is not the result of anything that they have done or could have done differently.”

As traditional markers of success slip further away, young American adults are adapting. More are living with their parents longer, sharing child care across households, and looking for new ways to build community.

Watch the video above to learn more about why “making it” feels impossible for so many young Americans.

The Social Security Administration is under new leadership, after financial services executive Frank Bisignano was sworn in as commissioner this week.

Bisignano’s confirmation follows a host of changes at the federal agency during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, many of them through the Department of Government Efficiency.

For the approximate 73 million beneficiaries who rely on monthly Social Security checks, those changes may affect how they receive services from the agency.

From benefit increases for certain pensioners to changing policies on benefit withholdings and customer service, here are some of the biggest shifts of which beneficiaries should take note.

A new law that went into effect in January will provide almost 3 million individuals with increased Social Security benefits.

The Social Security Fairness Act provides higher monthly Social Security checks for individuals who also receive pensions from work that did not include payment of Social Security payroll taxes. It will also provide lump sum retroactive payments starting from January 2024.

Monthly benefit increases may range from “very little” to “over $1,000 more each month,” according to the Social Security Administration, which began those adjustments in February.

The change affects certain workers such as teachers, firefighters and police officers; federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System; and people who work under foreign social security programs, according to the agency. Those workers had previously seen their benefits reduced or eliminated due to the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which have been nixed with the new law.

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In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, SSA has paid more than $14.8 billion in retroactive payments to more than 2.2 million individuals, according to the agency.

The agency has expedited the processing of the benefit changes under President Donald Trump. However, it may take a year or more to issue payments for some cases that cannot be processed through automation, according to the agency.

Social Security beneficiaries are sometimes overpaid benefits due to errors.

When that happens, the Social Security Administration requires the extra money to be repaid to the agency.

Because it can take months or years to catch on to those mistakes, beneficiaries can be on the hook to repay big sums. That money may be withheld from benefit checks until the overpayment has been repaid.

The Social Security Administration has made various adjustments to the default withholding rate from benefits.

In response to complaints that a 100% default withholding rate caused financial hardship for affected beneficiaries, the agency under President Joe Biden changed that default withholding rate to 10% of a beneficiary’s monthly benefit or $10, whichever was greater.

Under Trump, SSA has had a tougher stance on overpayments. In March, the agency announced it planned to reinstate the default withholding rate to 100% of an individual’s monthly benefit. The change was estimated to generate about $7 billion in overpayment recoveries in the next decade.

However, the agency recently issued an emergency message notifying its employees that new overpayment notices sent on or after April 25 will have a 50% default withholding rate. That applies to retirement, survivors and disability insurance benefits. The withholding rate for Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, benefits is still 10%.

Some experts worry a 50% default withholding rate is still too high.

“Losing 50% [of benefits] for a lot of people could put them into immediate economic hardship,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, recently told CNBC.com.

On May 5, the government resumed collections efforts on federal student loans in default. Now, the Education Department may use the Treasury Department Offset Program to withhold benefits for defaulted loans, as well as other payments like tax refunds and salaries. Some of those garnishments could start as soon as June, according to the Education Department.

The Social Security Administration may also withhold current and future Social Security checks for child support, alimony or restitution payments, according to the agency.

The IRS may take a portion of Social Security payments until it recoups the full balance of overdue federal tax debts.

However, the agency has since scaled back that policy to allow for claims for retirement, survivor and spousal and children’s benefits to still be permitted over the phone. Individuals making other claims, including Social Security disability insurance, Medicare and Supplemental Security Income, can also still use the agency’s 800 number.

Notably, changes to direct deposit information will mostly still need to be handled either online or in person.

Consequently, almost 2 million more elderly and disabled individuals may need to visit Social Security offices in person annually, the Social Security Administration has revealed.

The online process may be difficult for some individuals because it requires multi-factor, multi-step online verification and a one-time PIN code, CBPP notes. Previous estimates have found that about 42% of older adults may lack access to reliable broadband service, according to the AARP.

In some cases, people may be able to change their direct deposit information over the phone if they are also able to verify their identity online, according to Freese.

The agency has “left this very convoluted system in place to use the telephone in order to change your banking information, but for the vast majority of seniors and members of the disability community, they’re never going to be able to use it,” Freese said.

Direct deposit fraud represents less than one-hundredth of one percent of benefits that are misdirected, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The Social Security Administration plans to roll out a new secure digital form of identification as an alternative to traditional paper cards beginning early this summer.

The new digital feature will allow individuals who have either forgotten their Social Security number or who have lost their Social Security cards to access their personal number online through the agency’s My Social Security website.

They will also be able to access their Social Security numbers through digital devices and display them as identification for “reasons other than handling Social Security matters,” according to the agency.

With the new effort, the agency aims to reduce the inconveniences caused by lost or stolen cards, which currently requires individuals to apply for replacements either online or in person.

As negotiations ramp up for President Donald Trump‘s tax agenda, there are key issues to watch, according to policy experts.   

The House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees taxes, released a preliminary partial text of its portion of the bill on Friday evening. However, the bill could change significantly before the final vote. The full committee will debate and advance this legislation on Tuesday.

With control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, Republican lawmakers can pass Trump’s package without Democratic support via a process known as “reconciliation,” which bypasses the Senate filibuster with a simple majority vote.

But reconciliation involves multiple steps, and the proposals must fit within a limited budget framework. That could be tricky given competing priorities, experts say. 

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“The narrow [Republican] majority in the House is going to make that process very difficult” because a handful of votes can block the bill, said Alex Muresianu, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation.

Plus, some lawmakers want a “more fiscally responsible package,” which could impact individual provisions, according to Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center.

As negotiations continue, here are some key tax proposals that could impact millions of Americans.

“The child tax credit is one that we’re watching very closely,” Akabas said. “There’s a lot of bipartisan agreement on preserving and hopefully expanding that.”  

TCJA temporarily increased the maximum child tax credit to $2,000 from $1,000 per child under age 17, and boosted eligibility. These changes are scheduled to sunset after 2025.

The House in February 2024 passed a bipartisan bill to expand the child tax credit, which would have boosted access and refundability. The bill didn’t clear the Senate, but Republicans expressed interest in revisiting the issue.  

The early House Ways and Means text proposes expanding the maximum child tax credit to $2,500 per child for four years starting in 2025.

Another TCJA provision — the $10,000 limit on the deduction for state and local taxes, known as “SALT” — was added to the 2017 legislation to help fund other tax breaks. That provision will also expire after 2025.

Before the change, filers who itemized tax breaks could claim an unlimited deduction for SALT. But the so-called alternative minimum tax reduced the benefit for some higher earners. 

Repealing the SALT cap has been a priority for certain lawmakers from high-tax states like California, New Jersey and New York. In a policy reversal, Trump has also voiced support for a more generous SALT deduction. 

“If you raise the cap, the people who benefit the most are going to be upper-middle-income,” since lower earners typically don’t itemize tax deductions, Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, previously told CNBC.

The SALT deduction was absent from the preliminary House Ways and Means text. But Congressional negotiations are ongoing.

On top of TCJA extensions, Trump has also recently renewed calls for additional tax breaks he pitched on the campaign trail, including no tax on tips, tax-free overtime pay and tax-exempt Social Security benefits. These ideas were not yet included in the early House Ways and Means text.  

However, there are lingering questions about the specifics of these provisions, including possible guardrails to prevent abuse, experts say.

For example, you could see a questionable “reclassification of income” to qualify for no tax on tips or overtime pay, said Muresianu. “But there are ways you could mitigate the damage.”