Personal Finance

How Trump’s win was helped in part by young men’s financial struggles

Published

3 months ago

November 21, 2024

Voters stand in line at a local polling station in Washington, DC, on November 5, 2024. Americans cast their ballots in the presidential race between Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as multiple state elections that determine the balance of power in Congress. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Nicolas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Going into election day, Americans were sharply divided. But the gender gap was among the most glaring splits, with more women backing Vice President Kamala Harris and a majority of men supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

Women favored Harris by an 8-point margin, with the vice president securing 53% support compared to Trump’s 45%. Men backed Trump by a 13-point margin, with 55% favoring Trump and 42% backing Harris — resulting in a 21-point gender divide, according to NBC News exit polls.

Trump gained massive support among men on economic issues, specifically, including Hispanic and Black voters who were feeling particularly pessimistic. Inflation was the top concern among voters overall, followed by the current state of the economy.

A factor that drove young men to the polls may have been perceived economic disparities, according to experts, which ultimately helped Trump win on Election Day.

“Men feel like there’s no pathway for economic mobility for them,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.

‘That is a huge, huge gap’

There is a growing disillusionment taking hold.

Men are steadily dropping out of the workforce, especially those between the ages 25 to 54, which are considered their prime working years.

A study by the Pew Research Center found that men who are not college-educated leave the workforce at higher rates than men who are. At the same time, fewer younger men have been enrolling in college over the past decade.

In 1995, both young men and women equally were likely to hold a bachelor’s degree, at 25%. Today, 47% of women of ages 25 to 34 in the U.S. have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 37% of men their age, also according to Pew.

“That is a huge, huge gap,” Pollak said.

Schools often tout a four-year degree as the ideal scenario. And in many areas, vocational programs and other alternative pathways “aren’t as widespread” as they used to be, Pollak said.

At the same time, some traditional blue-collar jobs that used to employ more non-college educated men declined due to automation and globalization, leading to job displacement and uncertainty about future employment prospects, experts say.

Altogether, you have a group who feel like they’re “being left behind,” Pollak said.

Brett House, an economics professor at Columbia Business School, agreed: “The great concern is that we are developing a pool of young men that are neither developing the additional skills [nor] education necessary to participate fully in the labor force,” he said — particularly in “former manufacturing industrial powerhouse states.”

These days, young men are more likely to be considered NEETs — neither in employment, education or in training — a cohort that has been hardest hit by globalization and the decline of manufacturing in this country, according to Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew.

“When you don’t get rewarded for working, you work less,” Fry recently told CNBC. “That is a basic tenet of labor economics.”

Men were more likely than women to say they believed the results of the election would impact their financial life in the short term, according to a separate survey by NEFE. Those voters largely favored Trump.

Those with less than a high school diploma and those with a two-year degree were also most likely to say their financial life will be impacted by the presidential election. NEFE polled 1,000 adults about their financial feelings in relation to the 2024 general election in October.

“It’s reasonable that many Americans were weighing their current financial well-being and prospects for the future while casting their votes this November,” said Billy Hensley, NEFE’s president and CEO. Hensley is also a member of the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board.

Young women have ‘made huge gains’ in the workforce

Meanwhile, women have “made huge gains” in their education and careers and working as much, if not more, than their male counterparts, according to Ali Bustamante, an economist and director at the Roosevelt Institute.

Today, women are getting married and having children later, if at all, and are prioritizing their careers, Pollak said. They’re looking to the government to make that choice less difficult through universal child care and access to abortion, she said.

“There was a time when people were either mothers and wives, or spinsters who worked,” Pollak said. “Now women often are prioritizing the career person over the wife and mother.”

However, while the issue of reproductive rights became a major factor in the 2024 presidential race, it did not drive more women to vote. It also did not prove to be one of the most important issues facing the country among voters overall, exit polls showed.

“Trump’s message resonated with young men,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund. “The pain that people in this country has been feeling in terms of the economy is real.”

Still, other issues — such as paid leave, affordable housing, child care and equal pay — are also hugely important to families, she said.

“This was one election, but I think it would be a mistake to suggest that women will stop fighting in larger numbers either for reproductive freedom or the things they care about — we have work to do,” Graves said.

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Personal Finance

Social Security Fairness Act benefit increases to arrive this spring

Published

1 hour ago

February 26, 2025

Business Finance News

Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images

Lump sum payments to begin arriving in February

In a new update released on Tuesday, the SSA said it will begin issuing retroactive payments in February. Most people will receive the one-time payment by the end of March, according to the agency.

The SSA plans to process the increase to monthly benefits starting in April.

The new timeline “supports President Trump’s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible,” Social Security acting commissioner Lee Dudek said in a statement.

“The agency’s original estimate of taking a year or more now will only apply to complex cases that cannot be processed by automation,” Dudek said. “The American people deserve to get their due benefits as quickly as possible.”

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Among those affected include some teachers, firefighters and police officers in certain states; federal employees who are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System and people who worked under foreign social security systems, according to the Social Security Administration.

What affected beneficiaries should know

Retroactive payments, which most people should receive by the end of March, will be deposited directly into bank accounts on file with the Social Security Administration.

All affected beneficiaries should receive a notice by mail from the Social Security Administration with details about their retroactive payment and new benefit amount. Those notices should come two to three weeks after the retroactive payments, according to the agency.

If your direct deposit information or current mailing address are up to date with the agency, no action is needed, according to the agency. If you want to double check the information the agency has on file, you may sign into your personal online account or call the agency.

If you want to ask about the status of your retroactive payment, the Social Security Administration urges you to hold off until April.

Beneficiaries should also wait until after they have received their April monthly check before contacting the agency to ask about their new benefit amount.

Personal Finance

The average IRS tax refund is 32.4% lower this season. Here’s why

Published

24 hours ago

February 25, 2025

Business Finance News

The average tax refund is 10.4% lower than last year according to the latest Internal Revenue Service data, and inflation is taking more of those dollars.

Bill Oxford | E+ | Getty Images

The average tax refund this year is down 32.4% compared to last year, according to early filing data from the IRS.

Tax season opened on Jan. 27, and the average refund amount was $2,169 as of Feb. 14, down from $3,207 about one year prior, the IRS reported on Friday. That figure reflects current-year refunds only.

However, the Feb. 14 filing data doesn’t include refunds receiving the earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit, which aren’t issued before mid-February, the IRS noted. The previous year’s filing data included tax returns claiming these credits. The value of these tax breaks can be substantial, even resulting in five-figure refunds, in some cases.

Typically, you can expect a refund when you overpay taxes throughout the year via paycheck withholdings or quarterly estimated payments. By comparison, there’s generally a tax bill when you haven’t paid enough.

Filing season numbers will ‘even out’

Although the average refund is currently smaller, “historically, filing season numbers even out as more tax returns come in,” according to the agency.

As of Feb. 14, the IRS received roughly 33 million individual tax returns of the more than 140 million it expects before the April 15 deadline.

As of Dec. 27, 2024, the average tax refund for the 2024 season was $3,138, compared to $3,167 in late December 2023.

‘Don’t call the IRS’ for refund updates

The latest filing statistics come amid mass layoffs for the agency as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, continues to cull the federal workforce.

It’s unclear exactly how the staffing reduction could impact future taxpayer service. But experts recommend double-checking returns for accuracy to avoid extra touch points with the agency.

“Don’t call the IRS looking for your refund,” said Tom O’Saben, an enrolled agent and director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals.

You can check the status of your refund via the agency’s “Where’s My Refund?” tool or the IRS2Go app, which is “available 24 hours a day,” O’Saben said.

Typically, the agency issues refunds within 21 days of a return’s receipt. But some returns require “additional review,” which can extend the timeline, according to the IRS.

Personal Finance

Gold prices have spiked in 2025 — what investors need to know

Published

1 day ago

February 25, 2025

Business Finance News

An attendant holds 1-kilogram gold bars on Feb. 17, 2025.

Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gold prices are popping. But investors should avoid the temptation to chase a shiny object, investment experts said.

The SPDR Gold Shares fund (GLD), which tracks the price of gold bullion, is up about 11% in 2025 as of 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. Returns are up about 42% over the past year. (Prices were down more than 1% on Tuesday.)

Gold futures prices are also up about 10% year-to-date and currently 36% higher compared to the price a year ago.

By comparison, the S&P 500 U.S. stock index is up about 1.5% in 2025 and 17% in the past year.

Lee Baker, a certified financial planner, said he wasn’t getting client calls about gold a year ago. Now, he fields them regularly.

He thinks investors would be wise to remember the classic rule from Warren Buffett, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

Goldman Sachs' Daan Struyven on why gold is his favorite commodity

“It feels to me everyone is starting to get greedy as it pertains to gold,” said Baker, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors, based in Atlanta, and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

The typical investor shouldn’t have an allocation to gold that exceeds 3% of a diversified portfolio, Baker said.

Investors enticed by lofty returns may make a knee-jerk reaction and buy a big chunk of gold (literally or figuratively) — and, in the process, make the common investment mistake of buying high and selling low, he said.

“If you’re going to make money with gold you need to buy and sell it — and hopefully sell it at right time,” Baker said. “And if you’re getting in now, are you buying at a peak? I don’t know.”

Why gold prices are up

Investors often perceive gold as a safe haven in times of turmoil and buy the asset when there are high levels of uncertainty, explained Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist and head of global equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

“I think we can check that box right now,” he said.

That said, “in true times of crisis, bonds have shone brighter than gold has,” Samana said.

Additionally, many investors buy gold because they think it’s a good inflation hedge, Samana said. (The data doesn’t always support that investment thesis.) Investors have been concerned by recent data that suggests progress on bringing down inflation may have stalled, he said.

U.S. sanctions on Russia dating to 2022 have been the “turbocharger” for gold returns over the past year or more, Samana said.

Gold rally driven by countries 'starting to give hesitance' in owning U.S. treasuries: CIO

The sanctions led some central banks — in China, most notably — to buy more gold instead of U.S. Treasury bonds to avoid the potential difficulty of accessing assets denominated in U.S. dollars during a future geopolitical conflict, Samana said.

That has driven up gold demand higher compared to the price a year ago — and prices with it, he said.

“Don’t chase” gold returns, Samana said: “As a whole, you probably want to hold off on precious metals at [current] levels.”

Experts don’t expect gold to continue to shine.

“There’s no reason in my mind gold will continue to have a significant uptrend, barring — and I certainly hope not — some sort of protracted war,” Baker said.

How to invest in gold

Sanshandao Gold mine in Laizhou, Shandong province, China, on Jan. 17, 2025.

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Baker recommends getting investment exposure to gold via a fund like an exchange-traded fund or by investing in the stocks of gold mining companies, for example, instead of buying physical gold.

Funds and stocks are generally more liquid in the event an investor needs to sell the asset, Baker said. Investors with a lot of physical gold likely have the additional hassle of storing it somewhere and insuring it, Baker said. Insurance may cost investors 1% to 2% or more of their gold’s value per year.

Similar to Baker, Samana believes it may be okay for investors to hold 1% to 2% of a well-diversified portfolio in gold.

Investors interested in buying gold should consider it as a piece of a broader commodities portfolio, which likely includes allocations to energy, agriculture and base metals like copper alongside precious metals like gold, Samana said.

Wells Fargo’s investment models have an overall commodities allocation that ranges from 2% for conservative investors to 7% for more aggressive growth, he said.