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Climate change may cost Americans born in 2024 nearly $500,000 in lifetime

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A man stands outside his flooded home after heavy rain in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 13, 2023.

Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images

The warming planet is already proving expensive.

U.S. weather and climate disasters cost more than $617 billion between 2018 and 2022 — a record figure, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The October report found that around 13% of Americans reported economic hardship over the prior year due to climate change.

More people are likely to experience financial pain as temperatures climb and extreme weather events become more common, experts say.

With each additional degree of warming, the U.S. is expected to take a bigger economic hit, the Fifth National Climate Assessment warns. For example, an increase in global temperatures by 2°F is anticipated to double the financial impact induced by 1°F of warming.

Climate change could cost Americans born in 2024 nearly $500,000, due to higher taxes and pricier housing and food, among many other factors, ICF, a consulting firm, recently found in a report commissioned by Consumer Reports.

“The basic building blocks of our financial lives — housing, insurance, social welfare programs, taxes — will become more expensive or less valuable due to climate change, with lots of consequences for people’s wallets,” said Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

‘Climateflation’ is already affecting prices

‘Household wealth is tied to housing’ — and that’s risky

A destroyed house following Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. 

Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Some of the biggest financial risks of climate change come into play with housing, Wagner said.

“Most household wealth is tied to housing, which [is] directly affected by everything from floods to droughts to wildfires,” he said.

At least 3 million Americans already report being displaced by a disaster, one survey by the U.S. Census Bureau found.

“That is tremendously costly for people and businesses,” Urban Institute’s Rumbach said.

Insurance companies are raising their monthly premiums on homeowner policies and rolling back coverage in areas prone to certain disasters to “adjust to climate risk,” he said.

“Florida, Louisiana and California are all facing severe challenges, and I expect these issues will spread to other states in the years ahead,” Rumbach said.

Globally, natural catastrophes cost insurers $108 billion in 2023, which is well above the annual average over the past 10 years of $89 billion, according to Swiss Re Institute. The institute estimates these losses could double within the next decade, as temperatures rise and storms intensify.

These costs are likely to be passed on to consumers, Rumbach said.

Currently, only around 40% of the expenses from natural catastrophes are covered by insurers, meaning the rest falls on governments and individuals, Swiss Re Institute found.

‘Clear interactions’ between climate and health

The warming planet could result in larger medical bills for many Americans.

Health-care costs due to fossil fuel pollution and climate change already exceed $800 billion a year in the U.S., a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council found.

Some of these expenses are a direct result of individual, dangerous disasters.

For example, Hurricane Sandy, which pounded the mid-Atlantic region in 2012, led to more than 12,000 hospital admissions, emergency room visits and outpatient encounters.

Damage is seen in the Breezy Point area of Queens in New York on October 30, 2012 after fire destroyed about 80 homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy which hit the area on October 29.

Stan Honda | AFP | Getty Images

Other health effects of climate change reflect more widespread shifts in global conditions.

“There are clear interactions between heat waves and health conditions,” said Charles Driscoll, a professor at Syracuse University who studies climate change. “For example, heat waves exacerbate cardiovascular events.”

Air pollution, for its part, is associated with respiratory diseases, cancer and nervous system disorders, Driscoll added.

Knock-on effects for taxes, wages, retirement savings

Federal, local and state governments will likely raise taxes as they deal with the higher costs of a hotter planet and more demand for their services.

At the same time, workers may see their wages shrink as businesses and communities are disrupted by storms and heat waves. Within seven years, up to 3.8% of total working hours around the world could be lost due to higher temperatures, according to the International Labour Organization. That amounts to roughly 136 million full-time jobs.

More than 65 million adult workers in the U.S. are in occupations endangered by climate-related health risks, KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, estimated in a July 2023 analysis. These include fields with increased exposure to heat and decreased air quality, including construction and agricultural jobs.

ICF, the consulting firm, warns that global warming could put people’s retirement savings in jeopardy, too.

“Climate change is expected to decrease retirement income by impacting the value of corporate stocks held in retirement portfolios through higher costs to companies, declines in corporate productivity, damages to physical assets and supply chains, reduced resource availability and new costs associated with transitioning to low-carbon solutions,” it wrote.

A new economy in a hotter planet

The Woolsy fire burns a home near Malibu Lake in Malibu, Calif., Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. 

Ringo H.W. Chiu | AP

The workforce and education system are changing in anticipation of a hotter planet.

People are switching careers to leave fields threatened by global warming, such as gas and coal, while a small number of colleges are offering a new major: climate change studies.

Schools that offer such majors “are reporting a big increase” in demand, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

Meanwhile, the number of jobs in climate science is expected to grow by 6% between 2022 and 2032, compared to an average 3% for all occupations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found.

“Slowing down and stopping climate change is a challenge, but also an opportunity for tremendous innovation and economic growth,” Urban Institute’s Rumbach said.

Climate change leads to droughts, which lead to crop failures, which cause food price spikes.

Gernot Wagner

a climate economist at Columbia Business School

In this new series, CNBC will examine what climate change means for your money, from retirement savings to insurance costs to career outlook.

We start with a story by reporter Greg Iacurci on how people continue to build in and move to Miami, despite the city being, in the words of one expert, “ground zero” for global warming. This dynamic is playing out across the country, and could worsen the financial pain ahead.

Has climate change left you with bigger or new bills? Tell us about your experience by emailing me at [email protected].

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Personal Finance

Millions of older workers lost jobs during Covid. Prospects have improved

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Franckreporter | E+ | Getty Images

Millions of older workers lost their jobs during the Covid-19 recession.

Between March and April 2020, 5.7 million workers ages 55 and up lost their jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of federal data.

Now, five years since the onset of the pandemic, some older workers may be benefitting from policies that help them extend their careers.

“We’re seeing more and more employers putting in benefits and programs that help retain some of that older workforce,” said Carly Roszkowski, vice president of financial resilience programming at AARP.

These programs include phased retirement plans, part-time schedules and remote or hybrid work options, Roszkowski said.

Money is still the main reason why people want to stay in the workforce longer, particularly as inflation has pushed prices higher, according to Roszkowski. But there are also other motivators, including social connections, a sense of purpose or meaningful work that may help inspire individuals to continue to work.

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Working remotely may help extend careers

One lasting impact of the pandemic — increased flexibility to work remotely — may be helping some older workers delay retirement, according to new research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

The research finds that an individual who is working remotely is 1.4 percentage points less likely to retire than a worker in an otherwise comparable situation.

Based on those results, that could enable workers to extend their careers by almost a full year.

“If they delay claiming Social Security for that year, or delay digging into their 401(k) for that year, or contribute to their 401(k) for that year, that’s all going to be good for their finances,” said Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, a research fellow at the Center for Retirement Research and professor of the practice of economics at Boston College.

73% of Americans are financially stressed

Whether or not individuals can work remotely comes down to employer preference. For example, some companies — JPMorgan, AT&T, Amazon and Dell — have moved to five-day in-office policies. The federal government, which has a workforce that skews older, has also moved to enforce in-person work policies under President Donald Trump.

Research suggests older workers benefit from remote work. In particular, the employment rate of older workers who have a disability increased by 10% following the pandemic, according to the Center for Retirement Research.

To be sure, not all careers may allow for remote work.

What career experts say to do now

Career experts say there are certain ways older workers can help extend the longevity of their working years.

Older workers should focus on upscaling — gaining new skills or boosting their current skill set — to help show off their skills to employers, said Vicki Salemi, career expert at Monster.  That may be through a certification, online class or volunteering, she said.

Having a foundational, basic understanding of technology tools used in the workplace is also essential, said Kyle M.K., a talent strategy advisor at Indeed.com.

Older workers may also want to show off their relationship building skills, which can set them apart from younger generations that are more digitally inclined, according to Salemi.

Mentoring, conflict resolution or other interpersonal skills are highly sought after skills that should be highlighted, where possible, M.K. said.

By keeping digital profiles up to date on job search sites, older workers can emphasize their skills and experience, he said.

“Digital presence is sometimes the very first introduction that the employer will have with you,” M.K. said.

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Personal Finance

Here’s what your student loan bill could be under a new GOP plan

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U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon smiles during the signing event for an executive order to shut down the Department of Education next to U.S. President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 20, 2025. 

Carlos Barria | Reuters

House Republicans have a plan to drastically change how millions of Americans repay their student debt.

Under the GOP’s new proposal, known as the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan, there would be just two repayment options for those with federal student loans. Currently, borrowers have about 12 ways to repay their student debt, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

If the GOP plan is enacted, borrowers would be able to pay back their debt through a plan with fixed payments over 10 to 25 years, or via an income-driven repayment plan, called the “Repayment Assistance Plan.”

Under the RAP plan, monthly bills for borrowers would be set as a share of their income, said Jason Delisle, a nonresident senior fellow at the Urban Institute. The percentage of income borrowers’ would have to pay rises with their earnings, starting at 1% and going as high as 10%.

House Republicans unveiled their agenda to overhaul the student loan and financial aid system at the end of April, in an effort to tout savings for President Donald Trump’s planned tax cuts.

Here’s what monthly bills for student loan borrowers could be if the proposal becomes law.

What’s new about the GOP student loan payment plan

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Personal Finance

This lesser-known 401(k) feature provides tax-free retirement savings

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Don Mason | The Image Bank | Getty Images

If you’re eager to increase your retirement savings, a lesser-known 401(k) feature could significantly boost your nest egg, financial advisors say. 

For 2025, you can defer up to $23,500 into your 401(k), plus an extra $7,500 in “catch-up contributions” if you’re age 50 and older. That catch-up contribution jumps to $11,250 for investors age 60 to 63.

Some plans offer after-tax 401(k) contributions on top of those caps. For 2025, the max 401(k) limit is $70,000, which includes employee deferrals, after-tax contributions, company matches, profit sharing and other deposits.

If you can afford to do this, “it’s an amazing outcome,” said certified financial planner Dan Galli, owner of Daniel J. Galli & Associates in Norwell, Massachusetts.    

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“Sometimes, people don’t believe it’s real,” he said, because you can automatically contribute and then convert the funds to “turn it into tax-free income.”

However, many plans still don’t offer the feature. In 2023, only 22% of employer plans offered after-tax 401(k) contributions, according to the latest data from Vanguard’s How America Saves report. It’s most common in larger plans.

Even when it’s available, employee participation remains low. Only 9% of investors with access leveraged the feature in 2023, the same Vanguard report found. That’s down slightly from 10% in 2022.

How to start tax-free growth

After-tax and Roth contributions both begin with after-tax 401(k) deposits. But there’s a key difference: The taxes on future growth.

Roth money grows tax-free, which means future withdrawals aren’t subject to taxes. To compare, after-tax deposits grow tax-deferred, meaning your returns incur regular income taxes when withdrawn.

That’s why it’s important to convert after-tax funds to Roth periodically, experts say.

“The longer you leave those after-tax dollars in there, the more tax liability there will be,” Galli said. But the conversion process is “unique to each plan.”

Often, you’ll need to request the transfer, which could be limited to monthly or quarterly transactions, whereas the best plans convert to Roth automatically, he said.

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Focus on regular 401(k) deferrals first

Before making after-tax 401(k) contributions, you should focus on maxing out regular pre-tax or Roth 401(k) deferrals to capture your employer match, said CFP Ashton Lawrence at Mariner Wealth Advisors in Greenville, South Carolina.

After that, cash flow permitting, you could “start filling up the after-tax bucket,” depending on your goals, he said. “In my opinion, every dollar needs to find a home.” 

In 2023, only 14% of employees maxed out their 401(k) plan, according to the Vanguard report. For plans offering catch-up contributions, only 15% of employees participated. 

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