When Maryland Governor Wes Moore was 8 years old, his mother told him she wanted to send him to military school to correct his behavior.

Yet it wasn’t until he was 13 that she finally did send him to a military school in Pennsylvania. He ran away five times in the first four days.

“That place ended up really helping me change my life,” said Moore while speaking about retirement security at a BlackRock conference in Washington, D.C., on March 12.

One obstacle — the tuition costs — prevented his mother from sending him sooner, he said.

Moore was able to attend the school thanks to help from his grandparents, who borrowed against the home they bought when they immigrated to the U.S., to help pay for the first year’s tuition.

“They ended up sacrificing part of their American dream so I could achieve my own,” Moore said.

“That’s what housing helps provide,” Moore said. “It’s not just shelter. It’s security; it’s an investment. It’s a chance you can tap into something if an emergency happens. It’s a chance that you now have an asset that you can hold onto, and you can pass off to future generations.”

After retirement funds, housing generally represents the second-most-valuable asset people have, Moore said.

Both renters and homeowners across the U.S. are struggling with high housing costs, according to a 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The number of cost-burdened renters — meaning those who spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities — climbed to an all-time high in 2022. At the same time, millions of prospective homebuyers have been priced out by high home prices and interest rates.

Many hopeful first-time home buyers may feel that it was easier for their parents and grandparents’ generations to reach home ownership status.

Research shows those feelings are justified.

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Since 1980, median home prices have increased much faster than median household incomes, according to recent research from the Urban Institute.

Across the country, today’s 35- to 44-years olds — who are in their critical homebuying years — are less likely to be homeowners than in 1980, according to the research.

For that age cohort, the homeownership rate has dropped by more than 10% compared to 45 years ago, the Urban Institute found. Because today’s 35- to 44-year-olds are also forming households at a lower rate, that number is likely understated, according to the research.

Ultimately, that can have lasting impacts on their ability to build wealth, said Jun Zhu, a non-resident fellow at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.

“When you have a house, when the house appreciates, you’re going to earn home equity,” Zhu said. “Earning home equity is actually a very important way to earn wealth.”

Those 35- to 44-year-olds who are in lower income quartiles have seen the biggest declines in homeownership compared to their peers. That is driven in part by the fact that people who are married are more likely to be homeowners, while lower-income individuals are less likely to be married.

Education is also a factor in widening the homeownership gap, according to the Urban Institute, as a smaller share of heads of households who have the lowest incomes are getting college degrees.

Separate research from the National Association of Realtors also points to a racial divide with regard to housing affordability.

In 2023, the latest data available, the Black homeownership rate of 44.7% saw the greatest year-over-year increase among racial groups but was still well behind the white homeownership rate of 72.4%. Other groups fell in between, with Asians having a 63.4% and Hispanics having a 51% homeownership rate.

Strong wage growth and younger generations reaching prime home buying age contributed to the increase in Black homeownership in 2023, said Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors.

Yet the Black homeownership rate has stayed below 50% over the past decade, Evangelou said, which means most continue to rent instead of owning. That ultimately limits their ability to grow their net worth and accumulate wealth.  

Policy changes could make it easier for Americans to buy their first home. That could include providing educational opportunities for low-income households, offering down payment assistance and encouraging housing production by reducing zoning restrictions or other regulatory barriers, according to the Urban Institute.

If you’ve inherited an individual retirement account, you may have big plans for the balance — but costly mistakes can quickly shrink the windfall, experts say.

Many investors roll pre-tax 401(k) plans into traditional IRAs, which trigger regular income taxes on future withdrawals. The tax rules are complicated for the heirs who inherit these IRAs.

The average IRA balance was $127,534 during the fourth quarter of 2024, up 38% from 2014, based on a Fidelity analysis of 16.8 million IRA accounts as of Dec. 31.

But some inherited accounts are significantly larger, and errors can be expensive, said IRA expert Denise Appleby, CEO of Appleby Retirement Consulting in Grayson, Georgia.

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Here are some big inherited IRA mistakes and how to avoid them, according to financial experts. 

Before the Secure Act of 2019, heirs could empty inherited IRAs over their lifetime to reduce yearly taxes, known as the “stretch IRA.”

But since 2020, certain heirs must follow the “10-year rule,” and IRAs must be depleted by the 10th year after the original account owner’s death. This applies to beneficiaries who are not a spouse, minor child, disabled, chronically ill or certain trusts.

Many heirs still don’t know how the 10-year rule works, and that can cost them, Appleby said.

If you don’t drain the balance within 10 years, there’s a 25% IRS penalty on the amount you should have withdrawn, which could be reduced or eliminated if you fix the issue within two years.

Starting in 2025, most non-spouse heirs must take required minimum distributions, or RMDs, while emptying inherited IRAs over 10 years, if the original account owner reached RMD age before death, according to final regulations released in July.

That could surprise some beneficiaries since the IRS previously waived penalties for missed RMDs from inherited IRAs, experts say.

While your custodian calculates your RMD, there are instances where it could be inaccurate, Appleby explained.

For example, there may be mistakes if you rolled over a balance in December or there’s a big age difference between you and your spouse.

“You need to communicate those things to your tax advisor,” she said.

Generally, you calculate RMDs for each account by dividing your prior Dec. 31 balance by a “life expectancy factor” provided by the IRS.

If you skip RMDs or don’t withdraw enough in 2025, you could see a 25% IRS penalty on the amount you should have withdrawn, or 10% if fixed within two years.

But the agency could waive the fee “if you act quickly enough” by sending Form 5329 and attaching a letter of explanation, Appleby said.

“Fix it the first year and tell the IRS you’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

The more than 9 million student loan borrowers who are estimated to be late on their payments could experience “significant drops” in their credit scores during the first half of 2025, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York warns.

Some people with a student loan delinquency could see their scores fall by as much as 171 points, the Fed writes in a March 26 report. Credit scores, which impact people’s ability and costs to borrow, typically range from 300 to 850, with around 670 and higher considered good.

The expected drop was highest for borrowers who start with the best scores. Among those with scores under 620, the reported new delinquency could lead to an average 87-point decline.

“Although some of these borrowers may be able to cure their delinquencies,” the Fed writes, “the damage to their credit standing will have already been done and will remain on their credit reports for seven years.”

It’s been a long time since federal student loan borrowers have needed to worry about the consequences of missed payments, which can also include the garnishment of wages and retirement benefits. That’s because collection activity was suspended during the pandemic and for a while after. That relief period officially expired on Sept. 30, 2024.

As student loan delinquencies appear on credit reports again this year, borrowers are likely to face a cascade of financial consequences, said Doug Boneparth, a certified financial planner and the founder and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York.

“This credit score penalty restricts their access to affordable financing, locking them into a cycle of elevated borrowing costs and fewer opportunities to rebuild their financial stability,” said Boneparth, who is a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

For one, finding an affordable repayment plan can lower your chances of falling behind on your bills. Borrowers can apply for an income-driven repayment plan, which will cap their monthly bill at a share of their discretionary income. Many borrowers end up with a monthly payment of zero.

The Education Department recently re-opened several IDR plan applications, following a period during which the plans were unavailable.

Borrowers can also apply for a number of deferments or forbearances, which can pause your payments for a year or more. It may show up on your credit report that you’re not currently making payments on your loan, but you shouldn’t be flagged as late, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

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Additionally if you’re already in default on your loans, you should consider rehabilitating or consolidating your debt to return to a current status, experts said.

Rehabilitating involves making “nine voluntary, reasonable and affordable monthly payments,” according to the Education Department. Those nine payments can be made over “a period of 10 consecutive months,” its website notes.

Consolidation, meanwhile, may be available to those who “make three consecutive, voluntary, on-time, full monthly payments.” At that point, they can essentially repackage their debt into a new loan.

If you don’t know who your loan servicer is, you can find out at Studentaid.gov.

Experts also recommend that you check your credit reports regularly for free at AnnualCreditReport.com to make sure all three credit rating companies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — are showing your correct student loan balance and payment status.